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- .odHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM}-_\r
- .oHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM#d:.\r
- ?9MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH-$ .\r
- ,::dHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH:\.?? -.\r
- dMdboHMMHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH, ' .\r
- HMMMM7MMMb$R***MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH\ - .\r
- dMMMMM/MMMMM* `$MMMM*'"*MMMM?&' . :\r
-|MMMMMMb1H*' HMP' '9MMM| &. . .\r
-dMMMMMMM##~` `#\ |.`*" .-9. :\r
-9MMMMMMMM* ` |v7? .,H `' ` :\r
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-`:MMMMM}.d} .?bM6,| |\r
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- .?MMM- `' &MMMMMMMM|.\r
- -`HM- HMH#*MMM?:\r
- '. ' `#*:`\r
- - -'/\r
- ` . . '\r
- ` . . `\r
- '--##HH#HMMMHH#""`\r
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- .vdMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH\.\r
- .,HHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH&,.\r
- /?RMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH|..\r
- ,\?>`T#RMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM6`\|/\r
- dMMbd#ooHMMMHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH,`' '\r
- HMMMMMMMTMMMMb$ZP**HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM|. :\r
- dMMMMMMMM}$MMMMMH' `HMMMH?"`MMMM?T' . :\r
-|MMMMMMMMMMoMH*'' `MM? ``MMM| +\ .\r
-1MMMMMMMMMMMb#/ ?#? |`#" -T: :\r
-*'HMMMMMMMMMM*' " ~?& .?} ' ' .\r
-- 4MMMMMMMMP" `M? HMTc:\\.:\r
-: `MMMMMMM[ "#:::`>`"?M{\r
-. |MMMMMMH. ``'``'_`:-\r
-- |MMMMMMM|.dD ,#Mb\'\r
- : *MMMMM: iM| . _oHMMMM:\r
- . ?MMMM' "' ,MMMMMMP\r
- : `HMH JM#*MMT\r
- -. ' ` #'\r
- . /\r
- -. - .'\r
- -. . `\r
- '--=&&MH##HMHH#"""\r
-\e[H .-:?,Z?:&$dHH##b\_\r
- ,:bqRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHo.\r
- .?HHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHo.\r
- -o/*M9MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMv\r
- .:H\b\'|?#HHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM6?Z\\r
- .?MMMHbdbbodMMMMHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM\':\r
- :MMMMMMMMMMM7MMMMb?6P**#MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM_ :\r
- \MMMMMMMMMMMMb^MMMMMM? `*MMMM*"`MMMR<' . -\r
-.1MMMMMMMMMMMMMb]M#"" 9MR' `?MMb \. :\r
--MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH##|` *&. |`*' .\ .\r
--?""*MMMMMMMMMMMMM' ' |?b ,}" :\r
-: MMMMMMMMMMH' `M_|M}r\?\r
-. `MMMMMMMMM' `$_:`'"H\r
-- TMMMMMMMM, '"``::\r
-: {MMMMMMMM| oH| .#M-\r
- : `9MMMMMM' .MP . ,oMMT\r
- . HMMMMP' `' ,MMMP\r
- - `MMH' HH9*\r
- '. ` ` .'\r
- - . '\r
- ` . - .-\r
- ` . .-\r
- ' -==pHMMH##HH#"""\r
-\e[H _..-:b&::&?&&##bo_\r
- ...?-#&9MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHo_\r
- .. .1&#MMHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHo.\r
- . .o/##R9MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?.\r
- .- |MSd?|'`$?#HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH\\r
- - dMMMMHbd##oodMMMM#MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH:\r
- - JMMMMMMMMMMMMM7HMMMH$SR***MMMMMMMMMMMMb>\r
- : {MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM`9MMMMMH' ``HMMM?"*MM[| :\r
-- |MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM<MH*'' `MM' 'HM? |.\r
-: `MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM##H-' `#, ` |`? /|\r
-. ?"""?HMMMMMMMMMMMMMH' " v& .}?\r
-- |MMMMMMMMMMMP' `H:&H&\r
-i `9MMMMMMMMMT `|?"?\r
-: MMMMMMMMMH "`\\r
-: MMMMMMMMMH-.dH ,|\r
- : ?MMMMMMM? {M' . .dT\r
- . ?MMMMMR' `' ,MP\r
- - `HMM#' .&*\r
- '. ' `.\r
- - . '\r
- `.. .-\r
- -. .-\r
- '-.==p##HMMHp&#"""\r
-\e[H _v---:?&?:?&?&#b\_\r
- ..' i: #M$MMMMMMMMMMMMMHo_\r
- .. -]M#HMHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHo.\r
- . ooP*&6&MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?.\r
- . - &Rbbd-/`?:##HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH?\r
- - ,HMMMMM#od#boodMMMMHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMb\r
- - iMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM[*MMMH&$R***MMMMMMMMMb\r
- : |MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMML"MMMMMM' ``MMMP"HMM:\r
-. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMb/MH"" `MR *M,|\r
-: TMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMd#&` `D. ?|\\r
-. `*"'"*HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMP' ' -d,J\r
-: |MMMMMMMMMMMMP' ||M\r
-M, ?MMMMMMMMMM| `\?\r
-&| HMMMMMMMMM} ``\r
-`L .MMMMMMMMMMP ,d| :\r
- *. ?MMMMMMMF' .MP /\r
- | TMMMMMM' `"' /\r
- `. `MMMP' ./\r
- -. ` .\r
- . . '\r
- - . .-\r
- -\ ..-\r
- '-..=p####HMH&="""\r
-\e[H _vo~^'':&b::d,#b\_\r
- ..`" `:v +9P]MMMMMMMMMMHo_\r
- ,- ?Mb#MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHo.\r
- . " ,ooM*&&&HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHb.\r
- . - 99Soo?|'`*?##HMMMMMMMMMMMMMH\\r
- - .HMMMMMM#od#boodMMMMHMMMMMMMMMMb\r
- - :MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM67HMMH&$R**HMMMMMb\r
- : .MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM/HMMMMM| `9MM'HL\r
-: {MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM\MM*'' `H[ `9|\r
-| `HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMb##| `F. :?\r
-H `"*"'"`#MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM? ' k\r
-M. MMMMMMMMMMMMM"' H\r
-MMH. `HMMMMMMMMMM: |\r
-&MM| `MMMMMMMMMM, -\r
-`MM| dMMMMMMMMMM|.oH :\r
- 9ML `HMMMMMMM? dH' -\r
- Hi |MMMMMMP "' .'\r
- T. `MMM#' -\r
- `. ` .`\r
- ` -\r
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- ... .-\r
- '-. //######M#b~""\r
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- .-`^" "'o |&M:MMMMMMMMHo_\r
- o/' -$Mb#MMMMMMMMMMMMMMHo.\r
- /' .ooHP*&R&MMMMMMMMMMMMMM?.\r
- .' `MRbod?|'`+?##9MMMMMMMMMH\\r
- .` .,MMMMMMH#od##obdMMMMHMMMMMMb\r
- - ?MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM$HMMH$ZP*HMMb\r
- ? |MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM|9MMMMP "M6\\r
-.- dMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMb]M*' |R |\r
-1| `HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMd#| ?,:\r
-MH, ``*""'"*#MMMMMMMMMMMMMM* '`\r
-MM6_ |MMMMMMMMMMMMH" :\r
-MMMMMb. "MMMMMMMMMMT -\r
-&MMMMM' |MMMMMMMMMH `\r
-!MMMMb .HMMMMMMMMM+.?& :\r
- TMMMM *MMMMMMMP dH' . :\r
- 9MM' `MMMMMMP' "' .\r
- 9ML `MMM#' -\r
- `H ` :\r
- `\. .'\r
- `-\ . .-\r
- ' ._ .-`\r
- '-\. ,b#####p&**^`\r
+++ /dev/null
-\e[A
\ No newline at end of file
+++ /dev/null
-\r
-\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\r
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/bash
-
-cd /opt/azureus
-./azureus
-
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/sh
-#
-# BOINC - start and stop the BOINC client daemon on Unix
-#
-# Unix start/stop script to run the BOINC client as a daemon at
-# system startup, as the 'boinc' user (not root!).
-#
-# This version works on Red Hat Linux, Fedora Core, Mandrake, Debian,
-# and Slackware Linux, and should work on generic Linux systems
-# provided that they have 'pidof' (most do).
-# Metadata for chkconfig and the SUSE equivalent INIT info are included below.
-#
-# Usage: boinc { start | stop | status | restart }
-#
-###
-# chkconfig: 345 98 03
-# description: This script starts the local BOINC client as a daemon
-# For more information about BOINC (the Berkeley Open Infrastructure
-# for Network Computing) see http://boinc.berkeley.edu
-# processname: boinc
-# config: /etc/sysconfig/boinc
-#
-### BEGIN INIT INFO
-# Provides: boinc
-# Required-Start: $network
-# Required-Stop: $network
-# Default-Start: 3 4 5
-# Default-Stop: 0 1 2 6
-# Description: This script starts the local BOINC client as a daemon
-# For more information about BOINC (the Berkeley Open Infrastructure
-# for Network Computing) see http://boinc.berkeley.edu
-### END INIT INFO
-#
-# Eric Myers <myers@vassar.edu> - 27 July 2004
-# Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie NY
-# Eric Myers <myers@spy-hill.net>
-# Spy Hill Research, Poughkeepsie, New York
-# @(#) $Id: boinc,v 1.8 2007/09/02 01:05:35 myers Exp $
-########################################################################
-
-##
-# Defaults, which can be overridden in /etc/sysconfig/boinc (Red Hat)
-# or /etc/default/boinc (Debian)
-
-BOINCUSER=boinc
-BOINCDIR=/home/boinc
-BUILD_ARCH=i686-pc-linux-gnu
-BOINCEXE=/usr/local/bin/boinc_client
-
-
-# Log and error files (you should rotate these occasionally)
-LOGFILE=boinc.log
-ERRORLOG=error.log
-
-# Additional BOINC options:
-# Be wary of -allow_remote_gui_rpc, as it can open your machine up
-# to the world if you don't set a password, or if you set a poor one.
-# Should be okay if you are behind a NAT firewall.
-
-#BOINCOPTS="-allow_remote_gui_rpc" # opens up your machine to the world!
-
-
-# Mandrake 10.1 really wants a subsys lock file ...
-if [ -d /var/lock/subsys ]; then
- LOCKDIR=/var/lock/subsys
-elif [ -d /var/lock ]; then
- LOCKDIR=/var/lock
-fi
-
-# su on Linux seems to need this to be set to work properly in a script
-export TERM dumb
-
-
-##
-# Init script function library. This stuff is Red Hat specific,
-# but if the functions are not found we create our own simple replacements.
-# (The idea for replacing the functions comes from OpenAFS. Thanks guys!)
-
-if [ -f /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions ] ; then
- . /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
-else
- export PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
- function echo_success () { echo -n " [ OK ] " ; }
- function echo_failure () { echo -n " [FAILED] " ; }
- function echo_warning () { echo -n " [WARNING] " ; }
- function killproc() {
- PID=$(pidof -s -x -o $$ -o $PPID -o %PPID $1)
- [ $PID ] && kill $PID ; }
-fi
-
-
-## Look for any local configuration settings which override all above
-
-if [ -f /etc/sysconfig/boinc ]; then
- . /etc/sysconfig/boinc
-elif [ -f /etc/default/boinc ]; then
- . /etc/default/boinc
-fi
-
-
-## Verify the working directory exists:
-
-if [ ! -d $BOINCDIR ]; then
- echo -n "Cannot find BOINC directory $BOINCDIR "
- echo_failure
- echo
- exit 7
-fi
-
-
-# Some additional places to look for the client executable
-# (Should do this after init.d/functions and sysconfig/boinc, which sets PATH)
-
-export PATH=$BOINCDIR:/usr/local/bin:$PATH
-
-
-## Locate the executable, either boinc_client, boinc,
-## or boinc_M.mm_.... with highest version number
-## We only do this if BOINCEXE set above isn't found and executable.
-
-if [ ! -x $BOINCEXE ]; then
- BOINCEXE=$(/usr/bin/which boinc_client 2>/dev/null)
- if [ ! -x "$BOINCEXE" ]; then
- BOINCEXE=$(/usr/bin/which boinc 2>/dev/null)
- if [ ! -x "$BOINCEXE" ]; then
- BOINCEXE=$(/bin/ls -1 $BOINCDIR/boinc_*_$BUILD_ARCH 2>/dev/null | tail -1 )
- fi
- fi
-fi
-
-if [ ! -x "$BOINCEXE" ]; then
- echo -n "Cannot find an executable for the BOINC client."
- echo_failure
- echo
- exit 2
-fi
-
-
-
-## Functions: $1 is one of start|stop|status|restart
-
-case "$1" in
- start)
- cd $BOINCDIR
-
- if [ -f lockfile ] ; then
- echo -n "Another instance of BOINC is running (lockfile exists)."
- echo_failure
- echo
- exit 4
- fi
-
- if [ ! -d projects ] ; then
- echo -n "The BOINC client requires initialization."
- echo_warning
- echo
- fi
-
- echo -n "Starting BOINC client as a daemon: "
- su $BOINCUSER -c "$BOINCEXE $BOINCOPTS" >>$LOGFILE 2>>$ERRORLOG &
- sleep 1
- PID=$(pidof -s -x -o $$ -o $PPID -o %PPID $BOINCEXE)
- if [ $PID ]; then
- [ -d $LOCKDIR ] && touch $LOCKDIR/boinc
- echo_success
- else
- echo_failure
- fi
- echo
- ;;
-
- stop)
- cd $BOINCDIR
- if [ ! -f lockfile -a ! -f $LOCKDIR/boinc ] ; then
- echo -n "BOINC is not running (no lockfiles found)."
- echo_success
- else
- echo -n "Stopping BOINC client daemon: "
- killproc $BOINCEXE && echo_success || echo_failure
- # clean up in any case
- rm -f $BOINCDIR/lockfile
- rm -f $LOCKDIR/boinc
- fi
- echo
- ;;
-
- restart)
- $0 stop
- $0 start
- ;;
-
- status)
- PID=$(pidof -x -o $$ -o $PPID -o %PPID boinc_client)
- if [ "$PID" == "" ]; then
- PID=$(pidof -x -o $$ -o $PPID -o %PPID $BOINCEXE)
- fi
- if [ "$PID" != "" ]; then
- echo "BOINC client is running (pid $PID)."
- else
- if [ -f $BOINCDIR/lockfile -o -f $LOCKDIR/boinc ]; then
- echo "BOINC is stopped but lockfile(s) exist."
- else
- echo "BOINC client is stopped."
- fi
- fi
- ;;
-
- *)
- echo "Usage: boinc {start|stop|restart|status}"
- exit 1
-esac
-
-exit
-
-#EOF#
+++ /dev/null
-
-# BOINC daemon configuration settings. The examples below are the defaults
-# you'd get if you left them out, so you only need the lines that are different.
-#
-BOINCUSER=fred
-BOINCDIR=/home/fred/BOINC
-#BUILD_ARCH=i686-pc-linux-gnu
-BOINCEXE=/home/fred/BOINC/boinc
-#LOGFILE=boinc.log
-#ERRORLOG=error.log
-
-#BOINCOPTS="-allow_remote_gui_rpc"
-# opens up your machine to the world!
-
-#LOCKDIR=/var/lock/subsys
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-
-the files in etc/sysconfig and etc/init.d should be copied into the
-real /etc directory.
-
-the file /etc/init.d/boinc starts the boinc client on system startup
-and the init process will ensure that it gets restarted if it crashes.
-
-the file /etc/sysconfig/boinc has configuration information for the
-boinc process. the user and path will need to be changed to make them
-appropriate for your installation.
-
-
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-#
-# Choose-OS 0.81 example configuration file.
-#
-
-#
-# Traditional (version <= 0.41) lookalike interface.
-#
-#############################################################################
-
-# Do we wanna use a cooler color instead of light gray ? yeah.
-#
-color=lightcyan,brown
-
-# Wanna have another selection color ? yeah.
-#
-selection=green,black
-
-# Set a cooler banner? yeah.
-#
-banner=Booting the OS of your choice today, Sir!
-
-# Wanna see copyright 'n keyhelp ?? (Set this to off if U don't.)
-#
-infoline=on
-
-#
-# General stuff
-#
-#############################################################################
-
-# wait 60 secs before bootin' the first image
-#
-delay=14
-
-# Install the boot sector on /dev/hda (makes it MBR).
-#
-install=/dev/hda
-
-# Want emergency boot sector ?
-#
-#emergency=/dev/hda1
-
-#
-# Next are the boot images...
-#
-#############################################################################
-
-# a Linux kernel image
-#
-linux "Linux" {
- image=/boot/vmlinuz
- cmdline=vga=EXTENDED root=/dev/hda5 read-only
- color=green
- initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.5-15.img
-}
-# a DOS bootsector
-#
-bootsect "DOS" {
- image=/dev/hda1
- color=red
-}
-
+++ /dev/null
-boot=/dev/hda
-map=/boot/map
-install=/boot/boot.b
-prompt
-timeout=50
-image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.5-15
- label=linux
- root=/dev/hda5
- initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.5-15.img
- read-only
-other=/dev/hda1
- label=dos
- table=/dev/hda
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-* * * * * /bin/rm -f $HOME'/C:\nppdf32Log\debuglog.txt'
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-# backs up our databases on a weekly basis.
-28 4 * * 2 (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; mysqldump -u root '-pPASSWORD' --all-databases | gzip > /z/stuffing/archives/database_backup_$(hostname)_$(date_stringer).sql.gz) &>/tmp/database_backup_${USER}.log
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-# backs up the maildir folder for fred monthly
-* * 1 * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; tar -czf /z/stuffing/archives/maildir_backup_$(date_stringer).tar.gz $HOME/Maildir) &>/tmp/maildir_backup_${USER}.log
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-# regenerate the bookmarks pages.
-24 10 * * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/bookmarks/create_marks.sh ) &>>/tmp/zz_bookmarkingering_$USER.log
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-# this runs chkrootkit to demonstrate a bug in the vm kernel currently
-# provided by...?
-# who's the vendor?
-
-3 * * * * (/usr/sbin/chkrootkit -q &>/var/www/rootkit_report_quiet.txt )
-4 * * * * (/usr/sbin/chkrootkit -x &>/var/www/rootkit_report_expert.txt )
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-20 4 * * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; cd $HOME/hoople/docs; make) &>>/tmp/zz_doxy_make_$USER.log
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-# do a backup of the config files once a week.
-28 7 * * 4 (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; cd /z/stuffing/archives; perl $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/snarf_linux_config.pl) &>>/tmp/zz_linux_config_snarf_$USER.log
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# fix the mailman binaries.
-23 5 * * * chmod -R 02775 /var/lib/mailman/logs &>/dev/null
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-14 7 * * * bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/database/backup_mysql_dbs.sh &>>/tmp/zz_backup_mysql_$USER.log
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-* * * * * (export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; perl $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/text/new_sig.pl) &>>/tmp/zz_nechung_fortune_$USER.log
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-# make sure opensim is started if we can't detect it as running.
-*/5 * * * * export FOOP=/tmp/opensim_restart_$USER.log; export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh &>>$FOOP ; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/opensim/maybe_restart_opensim.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-# a crontab for periodically dumping the process state.
-* * * * * (export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/processes/show_hot_ones.sh) &>>/home/$USER/zz_hot_processes.log
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-* * * * * (export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/multimedia/randomly_play.sh) &>>/tmp/zz_random_sound_$USER.log
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-# update the source code to the latest, every day at 3am or so.
-14 3 * * * (cd ~/hoople1 ; cvs update . ; cd ~/hoople2 ; svn update . ; cd ~/yeti ; svn update . ) &>/dev/null
-
-# this packs up our source code distributions once a day.
-32 6 * * * (source $HOME/yeti/scripts/core/profile.sh; bash $HOME/yeti/scripts/archival/pack_yeti.sh ; bash $HOME/yeti/scripts/archival/pack_hoople1.sh ; bash $HOME/yeti/scripts/archival/pack_hoople2.sh) &>$HOME/.tmp/zz_packing_cron.log
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-USER=jurgis
-
-# we need these for the XSEDE and GenesisII environment.
-GENII_INSTALL_DIR=/home/jurgis/xsede/code/GenesisII/trunk
-XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER=$GENII_INSTALL_DIR/xsede_tools
-GENII_USER_DIR=/home/jurgis/.tmp/dot-genesis-xcg3
-JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
-
-##############
-
-# variegated scheme: we run the container during non-working hours.
-
-# during non-weekday hours, make sure grid container is started if can't detect it as running.
- # first is for weekdays, during non-working hours.
-#*/10 0-8,19-23 * * 1-5 export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/maybe_restart_container.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
- # second is for weekends.
-#*/10 * * * 0,6 export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/maybe_restart_container.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
-
-# stop the container during working hours, so it doesn't hose up our desktop performance.
-#*/10 9-18 * * 1-5 export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/zap_genesis_javas.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
-
-##############
-
-# a fairly rude scheme; always stop the container.
-
-#*/5 * * * * export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/zap_genesis_javas.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
-
-##############
-
-#current scheme, always run it.
-*/5 * * * * export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; set &>$FOOP ; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/maybe_restart_container.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
-
-##############
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-##############
-
-# backs up config files and important parts of home directories to off-machine storage.
-14 2 * * */7 (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/serene_backer_upper.sh) &>/tmp/offmachine_backup.log
-
-##############
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# this cron job updates the feisty meow repository on source forge based on
-# the real one at feistymeow.org.
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-# update the source code to the latest, every day at 3am or so.
-14 */2 * * * (export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/rev_control/push_repo_upstream.sh $HOME/repos/sf-feistymeow-trunk ) &>>/tmp/zz_nechung_fortune_$USER.log
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-# special for equanimity; get zooty informed of our IP so we can make
-# the back-connection and get home.
-14,28,42,56 * * * * (bash /home/fred/feisty_meow/scripts/security/tell_zooty_our_ip.sh serene.feistymeow.org fred fred ) &>>/tmp/zooty_tell_report.txt
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-# standard to synch to local machine.
-0,4,8,12,16,20,24,28,32,36,40,44,48,52,56 * * * * /usr/sbin/sntp -P no -r equanimity
-or
-0,4,8,12,16,20,24,28,32,36,40,44,48,52,56 * * * * /usr/bin/rdate -s -n equanimity
-
-# one machine on the network uses this version, to synch externally.
-0 0,4,8,12,16,20 * * * /usr/sbin/sntp -P no -r time.nist.gov
-or
-0 0,4,8,12,16,20 * * * /usr/bin/rdate -s -n time.nist.gov
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-# the script writes the current time and current uptime to the log file.
-0 * * * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/system/write_uptime_report.sh) &>>/tmp/zz_uptime_report_$USER.log
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# fix the web directories for group access.
-0 * * * * chmod -R g+w /var/www &>/dev/null
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-# whack this troublesome process that can go cpu crazy on a logout.
-# so far this is the best solution to this major annoyance.
-*/3 * * * * killall knotify4 &>/dev/null
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-SHELL=/bin/bash
-
-# m h dom mon dow command
-
-USER=fred
-
-# this packs up our archives once a day.
-32 6 0 * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/pack_yeti.sh ; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/pack_hoople.sh ) &>>/tmp/zz_packing_cron_$USER.log
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-# opensim select statement to find items in the prims table (items that still
-# exist in some sim or at least exist in the database) that are owned by
-# a particular avatar. the {uuid} below should be replaced with the UUID
-# that you care about showing prim ownership for.
-
-select * from prims where creatorid = '{uuid}'
-
-# this is a very similar select that shows the items which are NOT owned by
-# the avatar in question.
-
-select * from prims where creatorid != '{uuid}'
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-# this sql statement fixes ownership for items that may have come in with
-# erroneous owner UUIDs due to second inventory and the vagaries of crossing
-# between grids.
-# this particular example is pretty brutal. it finds any item that is owned
-# by the old avatar ID {old_ID} and swaps out the owner with the {new_ID}
-# avatar. This task is made more difficult by the lack of a wildcard in
-# the SQL replace function, so we only stomp out one bogus ID at a time.
-
-UPDATE inventoryitems
-SET creatorid = replace(creatorid, '{old_ID}', '{new_ID}')
-WHERE creatorid == '{old_ID}';
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-# usb ram drive support on fairly common scsi interface mapping.
-/dev/sda1 /mnt/usb auto noauto,owner,user 0 0
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-# mount for zip disk on scsi device where it happens to show up on my machine.
-# look for a message in /var/messages to determine which adapter is right.
-/dev/sda4 /mnt/zip vfat noauto,rw,user,nosuid,sync,mode=0777
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-# example dhcp configuration.
-
-default-lease-time 600;
-max-lease-time 1200;
-option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
-option broadcast-address 192.168.2.255;
-option routers 192.168.2.1;
-option domain-name-servers 14.28.42.1, 14.28.42.2;
-option domain-name "fredulocorp.com";
-
-subnet 192.168.2.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
- range 192.168.2.200 192.168.2.253;
-}
-
-subnet 10.0.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
-}
-
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
-<profiles version="1">
-<profile kind="CodeFormatterProfile" name="cpp-fredstyle" version="1">
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_method_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_for" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_in_empty_block" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.lineSplit" value="98"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_member_access" value="0"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_base_types" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.keep_else_statement_on_same_line" value="false"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_switchstatements_compare_to_switch" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_constructor_initializer_list" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_brace_in_array_initializer" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_method_declaration_parameters" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_if" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_parenthesized_expression" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_exception_specification" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_base_types" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_body_declarations_compare_to_access_specifier" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_exception_specification" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_template_arguments" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_brace_in_block" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_method_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.use_tabs_only_for_leading_indentations" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_labeled_statement" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_colon_in_case" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.comment.min_distance_between_code_and_line_comment" value="2"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_array_initializer" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_enum_declarations" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_expressions_in_array_initializer" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_declarator_list" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_bracket" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_for" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_prefix_operator" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.tabulation.size" value="2"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_before_else_in_if_statement" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_enumerator_list" value="48"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_parenthesized_expression" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_parens_in_method_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_switch" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_declarator_list" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_parenthesized_expression" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_empty_lines" value="false"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_switchstatements_compare_to_cases" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.keep_empty_array_initializer_on_one_line" value="false"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_brace_in_method_declaration" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.put_empty_statement_on_new_line" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_brace_in_switch" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_cast" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_braces_in_array_initializer" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_method_declaration" value="next_line"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_while" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_question_in_conditional" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_semicolon" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_closing_angle_bracket_in_template_arguments" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_base_clause" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_breaks_compare_to_cases" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_unary_operator" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.join_wrapped_lines" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_declarator_list" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_arguments_in_method_invocation" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.comment.never_indent_line_comments_on_first_column" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_while" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_brackets" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_bracket" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_parameters_in_method_declaration" value="20"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_before_closing_brace_in_array_initializer" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.number_of_empty_lines_to_preserve" value="1"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_method_invocation" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_brace_in_array_initializer" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_semicolon_in_for" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_conditional" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.comment.preserve_white_space_between_code_and_line_comments" value="false"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_block" value="next_line_on_wrap"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_type_declaration" value="next_line"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_assignment_operator" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_angle_bracket_in_template_arguments" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_expression_list" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_angle_bracket_in_template_parameters" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.continuation_indentation" value="2"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_expression_list" value="0"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_method_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_template_parameters" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_default" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_binary_operator" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_conditional_expression" value="18"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_parens_in_method_invocation" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_array_initializer" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_if" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.format_guardian_clause_on_one_line" value="false"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_access_specifier_extra_spaces" value="0"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_cast" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_access_specifier_compare_to_type_header" value="false"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_brace_in_type_declaration" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.continuation_indentation_for_array_initializer" value="2"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_colon_in_labeled_statement" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_method_declaration_parameters" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_semicolon_in_for" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_method_invocation" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_body_declarations_compare_to_namespace_header" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_compact_if" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_assignment_operator" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_closing_brace_in_block" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_brace_in_array_initializer" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_at_end_of_file_if_missing" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_assignment" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_conditional_expression_chain" value="18"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_template_parameters" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_expression_list" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_question_in_conditional" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_exception_specification" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_binary_operator" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_base_clause_in_type_declaration" value="20"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_before_identifier_in_function_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_method_declaration_throws" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_parens_in_exception_specification" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_method_invocation_arguments" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_declaration_compare_to_template_header" value="false"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_unary_operator" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_switch" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_statements_compare_to_body" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_method_declaration_throws" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_binary_expression" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_statements_compare_to_block" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_template_arguments" value="do not insert"/>
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+++ /dev/null
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+++ /dev/null
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-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_angle_bracket_in_parameterized_type_reference" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_brace_in_anonymous_type_declaration" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.keep_empty_array_initializer_on_one_line" value="false"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_in_empty_enum_declaration" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.keep_imple_if_on_one_line" value="false"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_constructor_declaration_parameters" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_closing_angle_bracket_in_type_parameters" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_at_end_of_file_if_missing" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_colon_in_for" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_labeled_statement" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_parameterized_type_reference" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_superinterfaces_in_type_declaration" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_binary_expression" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_enum_declaration" value="end_of_line"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_after_annotation_on_type" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_while" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.compiler.codegen.inlineJsrBytecode" value="enabled"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_try" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.put_empty_statement_on_new_line" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_after_label" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_after_annotation_on_parameter" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_angle_bracket_in_type_parameters" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_parens_in_method_invocation" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_before_while_in_do_statement" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_arguments_in_enum_constant" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.format_javadoc_comments" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.line_length" value="100"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_after_annotation_on_package" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.blank_lines_between_import_groups" value="1"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_enum_constant_arguments" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_semicolon" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_constructor_declaration" value="next_line"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.number_of_blank_lines_at_beginning_of_method_body" value="0"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_conditional" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_body_declarations_compare_to_type_header" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_annotation_type_member_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.wrap_before_binary_operator" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_body_declarations_compare_to_enum_declaration_header" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.blank_lines_between_type_declarations" value="1"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_synchronized" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_statements_compare_to_block" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_superinterfaces_in_enum_declaration" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.join_lines_in_comments" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_question_in_conditional" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_multiple_field_declarations" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_compact_if" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_for_inits" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_switchstatements_compare_to_cases" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_array_initializer" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_default" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_and_in_type_parameter" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_parens_in_constructor_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.blank_lines_before_imports" value="1"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_colon_in_assert" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.format_html" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_throws_clause_in_method_declaration" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_angle_bracket_in_type_parameters" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_bracket_in_array_allocation_expression" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_in_empty_anonymous_type_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_colon_in_conditional" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_angle_bracket_in_parameterized_type_reference" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_for" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_postfix_operator" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.format_source_code" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_synchronized" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_allocation_expression" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_constructor_declaration_throws" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_parameters_in_method_declaration" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_brace_in_array_initializer" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.compiler.codegen.targetPlatform" value="1.7"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_resources_in_try" value="80"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.use_tabs_only_for_leading_indentations" value="false"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_arguments_in_annotation" value="16"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.format_header" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.format_block_comments" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_enum_constant" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_enum_constants" value="49"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_in_empty_block" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_body_declarations_compare_to_annotation_declaration_header" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_parenthesized_expression" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_parenthesized_expression" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_catch" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_multiple_local_declarations" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_switch" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_for_increments" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_method_invocation" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_assert" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_type_declaration" value="next_line"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_brace_in_array_initializer" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_braces_in_array_initializer" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_method_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_semicolon_in_for" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_catch" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_angle_bracket_in_parameterized_type_reference" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_multiple_field_declarations" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_annotation" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_parameterized_type_reference" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_method_invocation_arguments" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.new_lines_at_javadoc_boundaries" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.blank_lines_after_imports" value="1"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_multiple_local_declarations" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_body_declarations_compare_to_enum_constant_header" value="true"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_semicolon_in_for" value="insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.never_indent_line_comments_on_first_column" value="false"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_semicolon_in_try_resources" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_angle_bracket_in_type_arguments" value="do not insert"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.never_indent_block_comments_on_first_column" value="false"/>
-<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.keep_then_statement_on_same_line" value="false"/>
-</profile>
-</profiles>
+++ /dev/null
-
-# this is an example .emacs file with my preferred indentation for code.
-
-(setq c-default-style "linux"
- c-basic-offset 2)
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/sh
-
-# this could be invoked from rc.local to set up firewall filtering.
-
-# new firewalling setup.
-###ipchains -P forward DENY
-# this is too permissive. what are we hoping to block?
-###ipchains -A forward -j ACCEPT -b -s 14.28.42.0/24 -d 0.0.0.0/0
-###ipchains -A forward -j ACCEPT -b -s 14.28.42.128/24 -d 0.0.0.0/0
-###ipchains -A forward -j ACCEPT -p tcp -s 0.0.0.0/0 -d 14.28.42.3 25
-###ipchains -A forward -j ACCEPT -p tcp -s 0.0.0.0/0 -d 14.28.42.2 80
-
-# input/output rules to dictate valid sides. this can't be used
-# when there's a shunt around the gateway; that blocks the packets
-# from eth1 that really are from addresses besides 14.28.42.*.
-#ipchains -P input DENY
-#ipchains -A input -i eth0 -s 14.28.42.1 -j ACCEPT
-#ipchains -A input -i eth0 -s 14.28.42.71 -j ACCEPT
-#ipchains -A input -i eth0 -s ! 14.28.42.0/24 -j ACCEPT
-#ipchains -A input -i eth1 -s 14.28.42.0/24 -j ACCEPT
-
-# masquerade setup.
-#/sbin/depmod -a
-#/sbin/modprobe ip_masq_ftp
-#/sbin/modprobe ip_masq_raudio
-#/sbin/modprobe ip_masq_irc
-#ipchains -P forward DENY
-#ipchains -A forward -j MASQ -s 14.28.42.0/24 -d 0.0.0.0/0
-#ipchains -A forward -j MASQ -s 14.28.42.128/24 -d 0.0.0.0/0
-
+++ /dev/null
-# Firewall configuration written by lokkit
-# Manual customization of this file is not recommended.
-# Note: ifup-post will punch the current nameservers through the
-# firewall; such entries will *not* be listed here.
-*filter
-:INPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
-:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
-:OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
-:RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT - [0:0]
--A INPUT -j RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT
-
-# allow smtp.
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 25 --syn -j ACCEPT
-# allow ssh.
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 22 --syn -j ACCEPT
-
-# allow nfs.
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 111 --syn -j ACCEPT
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 111 -j ACCEPT
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 369 --syn -j ACCEPT
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 369 -j ACCEPT
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 530 --syn -j ACCEPT
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 530 -j ACCEPT
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 2049 --syn -j ACCEPT
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 2049 -j ACCEPT
-
-# allow SMB (netbios).
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 137 --syn -j ACCEPT
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 137 -j ACCEPT
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 138 --syn -j ACCEPT
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 138 -j ACCEPT
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 139 --syn -j ACCEPT
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 139 -j ACCEPT
-
-# accept anything from loopback adapter on our own host.
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
-
-# accept dns info going to the server.
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp -s 14.28.42.28 --sport 53 -d 0/0 -j ACCEPT
-
-# otherwise, reject all input.
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --syn -j REJECT
--A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp -j REJECT
-
-COMMIT
-
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/bash
-#
-# team_city_startup by Chris Koeritz
-#
-# /etc/init.d/team_city_startup
-#
-#uhhh... chkconfig: 2345 01 99
-# description: starts the Team City Agent as our buildor user.
-#
-### BEGIN INIT INFO
-# Provides: team_city_startup
-# Required-Start:
-# Required-Stop:
-# Default-Start: 3 4 5
-# Default-Stop: 0 1 2 6
-# Short-Description: Team City Agent initialization
-# Description: team city rc file. This rc script runs the agent as the
-# buildor user.
-### END INIT INFO
-
-usage() {
- echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|kill}"
-}
-
-function teamcity_action()
-{
- export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
- export HOME=/home/buildor
- export PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
-
- # should become the buildor user and tell team city the proper action.
- su -m -c "/home/buildor/teamcity_agent/bin/agent.sh $*" buildor
-}
-
-test -x ${PARSER} || exit 0 # by debian policy
-
-case "$1" in
- start)
- teamcity_action start
- rc=$?
- ;;
- stop)
- teamcity_action stop
- rc=$?
- ;;
- kill)
- teamcity_action stop kill
- rc=$?
- ;;
- status)
- procs_found=$(ps wuax | grep teamcity | grep -v grep)
- if [ -z "$procs_found" ]; then
- echo "Team City Agent is not running."
- else
- echo "Team City Agent is running."
- fi
- rc=$?
- ;;
- *)
- usage
- exit 1
- ;;
- esac
-exit $rc
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/bash
-#
-# tracd startup script by Chris Koeritz
-#
-# Note that this has been superceded by the (IMHO) much better approach of
-# running tracd from apache using mod_python.
-#
-# /etc/init.d/trac_startup
-#
-#uhhh... chkconfig: 2345 04 11
-# description: starts the trac daemon as the www-data user.
-#
-### BEGIN INIT INFO
-# Provides: trac_startup
-# Required-Start:
-# Required-Stop:
-# Default-Start: 3 4 5
-# Default-Stop: 0 1 2 6
-# Short-Description: trac server initialization
-# Description: Keeps the trac server running at our chosen port.
-### END INIT INFO
-
-usage() {
- echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|kill}"
-}
-
-function trac_action()
-{
-# export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
-# export HOME=/home/buildor
- export TRAC_PORT=24108
- export PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
-
- # should become www-data and start trac on our port.
- su -m -c "tracd -d -b universalbuilds.com --port $TRAC_PORT /home/trac/ubuilds_project $*" www-data
-}
-
-test -x ${PARSER} || exit 0 # by debian policy
-
-case "$1" in
- start)
- trac_action start
- rc=$?
- ;;
- stop)
- trac_action stop
- rc=$?
- ;;
- kill)
- trac_action stop kill
- rc=$?
- ;;
- status)
- procs_found=$(ps wuax | grep tracd | grep -v grep)
- if [ -z "$procs_found" ]; then
- echo "tracd is not running."
- else
- echo "tracd is running."
- fi
- rc=$?
- ;;
- *)
- usage
- exit 1
- ;;
- esac
-exit $rc
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
->>> goes into /etc/inputrc:
-
-# Completed names which are symbolic links to
-# directories have a slash appended.
-set mark-symlinked-directories On
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-error /^FAIL:/
-
-error /^ERROR:/
-
-error /^FAILURE for/
-
-error /^LAMENESS for/
-
-ok /^SUCCESS for/
-
-ok /^OKAY:/
-
+++ /dev/null
-# Log all kernel messages to the console.
-# Logging much else clutters up the screen.
-kern.* /dev/console
-kern.* /var/log/kernel.log
-
-# Log anything (except mail) of level info or higher.
-# Don't log private authentication messages!
-# Also don't log daemon messages (which go to daemon) or ppp messages (which
-# are somehow coming on local2?).
-*.info;kern.none;local2.none;daemon.none;mail.none;news.none;authpriv.none /var/log/messages
-
-# The authpriv file has restricted access.
-authpriv.* /var/log/secure
-
-# Log all the mail messages in one place.
-mail.* /var/log/mail.log
-
-# Everybody gets emergency messages, plus log them on another machine.
-*.emerg *
-
-# Save mail and news errors of level err and higher in a
-# special file.
-uucp,news.crit /var/log/spooler
-
-# logging for ppp.
-local2.*;daemon.notice /var/log/ppp
-daemon.* /var/log/daemon
-
-# example of breaking up a log facility into its components.
-#daemon.=debug /var/log/d.debug
-#daemon.=info /var/log/d.info
-#daemon.=notice /var/log/d.notice
-#daemon.=warning /var/log/d.warning
-#daemon.=err /var/log/d.err
-#daemon.=crit /var/log/d.crit
-#daemon.=alert /var/log/d.alert
-#daemon.=emerg /var/log/d.emerg
-
-# testing to find out what these are.
-local1.* /var/log/local1
-local3.* /var/log/local3
-local4.* /var/log/local4
-local5.* /var/log/local5
-local6.* /var/log/local6
-
-# Save boot messages also to boot.log
-local7.* /var/log/boot.log
-
-#
-# INN
-#
-news.=crit /var/log/news/news.crit
-news.=err /var/log/news/news.err
-news.notice /var/log/news/news.notice
-
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/sh
-#inspired by http://art.ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9744970&postcount=19
-#...and http://thecodecentral.com/2011/01/18/fix-ubuntu-10-10-suspendhibernate-not-working-bug
-# tidied by tqzzaa :)
-
-VERSION=1.1
-DEV_LIST=/tmp/usb-dev-list
-DRIVERS_DIR=/sys/bus/pci/drivers
-DRIVERS="ehci xhci" # ehci_hcd, xhci_hcd
-HEX="[[:xdigit:]]"
-MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS=2
-BIND_WAIT=0.1
-
-unbindDev() {
- echo -n > $DEV_LIST 2>/dev/null
- for driver in $DRIVERS; do
- DDIR=$DRIVERS_DIR/${driver}_hcd
- for dev in `ls $DDIR 2>/dev/null | egrep "^$HEX+:$HEX+:$HEX"`; do
- echo -n "$dev" > $DDIR/unbind
- echo "$driver $dev" >> $DEV_LIST
- done
- done
-}
-
-bindDev() {
- if [ -s $DEV_LIST ]; then
- while read driver dev; do
- DDIR=$DRIVERS_DIR/${driver}_hcd
- while [ $((MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS)) -gt 0 ]; do
- echo -n "$dev" > $DDIR/bind
- if [ ! -L "$DDIR/$dev" ]; then
- sleep $BIND_WAIT
- else
- break
- fi
- MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS=$((MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS-1))
- done
- done < $DEV_LIST
- fi
- rm $DEV_LIST 2>/dev/null
-}
-
-case "$1" in
- hibernate|suspend) unbindDev;;
- resume|thaw) bindDev;;
-esac
+++ /dev/null
-
-
-this file goes in /etc/pm/sleep.d as described in this article:
-http://thecodecentral.com/2011/01/18/fix-ubuntu-10-10-suspendhibernate-not-working-bug
+++ /dev/null
-
-this is a meld config file explanation...
-meld is a great tool for comparing a large directory tree against another
-large directory tree (or even against 1 or two more trees).
-
-what we want out of this file is to have a list of items that will be ignored
-when meld does a comparison on our tree of java projects. the list provided
-below may or may not be useful to you, but some variant might be.
-
-to add a new filter that will get meld to ignore any files in any folder named
-in our list, open meld's settings via the menu path "Edit | Preferences | File Filters".
-
-once you're in that tab of the dialog, create a new filter called something like:
- binary-code
-and add these folder names as values for the filter:
- bin bin.eclipse subprojects bin-eclipse codegen genned-src genned-obj unit-test-reports
-
-any directory listed there will be ignored during comparisons and merges, which is
-more convenient than the alternative of seeing all the binaries that are different,
-in every compare. ugh.
- --fred the hamster
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-# personal storage areas.
-
-/fatty/walrus *.lachrymose.net(ro,no_root_squash,sync)
-/fatty/stuffing *.lachrymose.net(rw,no_root_squash,sync)
-/fatty/opsystems *.lachrymose.net(rw,no_root_squash,sync)
-
-# allow cd drive to be used remotely for installs, etc.
-/media/cdrom *(ro,sync)
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-# nfs mounts to our server.
-
-pretzel:/fatty/opsystems /mnt/opsystems nfs exec,dev,suid,rw,user 0 0
-pretzel:/fatty/stuffing /stuffing nfs exec,dev,suid,rw,user 0 0
-pretzel:/fatty/walrus /walrus nfs exec,dev,suid,ro,user 0 0
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/bash
-#PBS -l nodes=1,mem=20m
-#PBS -M my-email@whereiwork.com
-
-##PBS -l ncpus=2
-##PBS -l nodes=4
-##PBS -l select=4:ncpus=1
-
-echo here is the nodefile:
-cat $PBS_NODEFILE
-
-echo here is pbs envir variable:
-echo $PBS_ENVIRONMENT
+++ /dev/null
-
-this directory is related to PBS: portable batch system
-
-there is one example so far, a completely skeletal script that just
-prints out some facts about how it was run by pbs.
-
+++ /dev/null
-// fred server for free for all.
-// version 0.18
-// last significant modification: 11/8/2003
-
-g_gametype 0
- // g_gametype is 0 for free for all, 1 for team deathmatch, 2 for tournament,
- // and 3 for capture the flag.
-
-fraglimit 42
- // Sets the maximum number of frags before victory. Set this to zero to not
- // have a frag limit.
-
-timelimit 14
- // Set the timelimit for the game (in minutes). The person with the most
- // points when the timer expires is the winner. Set this to zero if there
- // should not be a time limit.
-
-sv_maxclients 10
- // Set the maximum number of clients that can connect at once. This includes
- // the bots that have been added to the game.
-
-sv_hostname "fredstonia"
- // This is the name of this quake3 server.
-
-sv_allowDownload 0
- // Allow auto-download since we are on a lan in this case. The client
- // needs to have the 'cl_allowdownload' flag set to 1 for it to even try.
-
-sets "Administrator" "fred"
-sets "Email" "fred@gruntose.com"
-sets "URL" "http://www.gruntose.com"
-sets "Location" "Grunston"
-sets "CPU" "AMD Athlon 1Ghz"
-
-//set requirement for client password. 1=require password, 0=no password required (Default: 0)
-sv_privateClients 0
-
-//set password for private server "" for no password
-sv_privatePassword ""
-
-//set remote console password
-rconpassword ""
-//turn on/off pak cheat check. 1=on, 0=off (Default: 1)
-sv_pure 1
-
-//set max allowable rate for a client. 8000 to 10000 recommended. Max: 25000 (Default: 0)
-sv_maxRate 25000
-
-//add up to 4 additional master servers to report to (As you can see the ingame configs don't report to id automatically)
-sv_master1 ""
-sv_master2 ""
-sv_master3 ""
-sv_master4 ""
-sv_master5 ""
-
-////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-// This is the list of maps that the server will rotate through. To change
-// a map, just change the name after 'map'. To add a new map, make sure that
-// you update the name after 'nextmap vstr' to point to it and that the last
-// map still wraps around to the first map.
-set m0001 "map 17+ ; set nextmap vstr m0002"
-set m0002 "map addict ; set nextmap vstr m0003"
-set m0003 "map adventuredm ; set nextmap vstr m0004"
-set m0004 "map alkdm13 ; set nextmap vstr m0005"
-set m0005 "map bk_thetruth ; set nextmap vstr m0006"
-set m0006 "map catq3dm02 ; set nextmap vstr m0007"
-set m0007 "map catq3dm03 ; set nextmap vstr m0008"
-set m0008 "map cpm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0009"
-set m0009 "map cpm1a ; set nextmap vstr m0010"
-set m0010 "map cpm2 ; set nextmap vstr m0011"
-set m0011 "map cpm4 ; set nextmap vstr m0012"
-set m0012 "map cpm5 ; set nextmap vstr m0013"
-set m0013 "map cpm6 ; set nextmap vstr m0014"
-set m0014 "map cpm7 ; set nextmap vstr m0015"
-set m0015 "map cpm9 ; set nextmap vstr m0016"
-set m0016 "map cpm11 ; set nextmap vstr m0017"
-set m0017 "map cpm13 ; set nextmap vstr m0018"
-set m0018 "map cpm14 ; set nextmap vstr m0019"
-set m0019 "map gon ; set nextmap vstr m0020"
-set m0020 "map hope ; set nextmap vstr m0021"
-set m0021 "map ik3dm2 ; set nextmap vstr m0022"
-set m0022 "map ktsdm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0023"
-set m0023 "map lae3dm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0024"
-set m0024 "map LDAQ3A03DM ; set nextmap vstr m0025"
-set m0025 "map LDAQ3A06DM ; set nextmap vstr m0026"
-set m0026 "map mvdm04 ; set nextmap vstr m0027"
-set m0027 "map obiwanshouse ; set nextmap vstr m0028"
-set m0028 "map ospca1 ; set nextmap vstr m0029"
-set m0029 "map ospctf1 ; set nextmap vstr m0030"
-set m0030 "map ospctf2 ; set nextmap vstr m0031"
-set m0031 "map ospdm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0032"
-set m0032 "map ospdm2 ; set nextmap vstr m0033"
-set m0033 "map ospdm3 ; set nextmap vstr m0034"
-set m0034 "map ospdm4 ; set nextmap vstr m0035"
-set m0035 "map ospdm5 ; set nextmap vstr m0036"
-set m0036 "map ospdm6 ; set nextmap vstr m0037"
-set m0037 "map ospdm7 ; set nextmap vstr m0038"
-set m0038 "map ospdm8 ; set nextmap vstr m0039"
-set m0039 "map ospdm9 ; set nextmap vstr m0040"
-set m0040 "map ospdm10 ; set nextmap vstr m0041"
-set m0041 "map ospdm11 ; set nextmap vstr m0042"
-set m0042 "map ospdm12 ; set nextmap vstr m0043"
-set m0043 "map pands ; set nextmap vstr m0044"
-set m0044 "map pjw3dm3 ; set nextmap vstr m0045"
-set m0045 "map pjw3tourney2 ; set nextmap vstr m0046"
-set m0046 "map pjw3tourney2f ; set nextmap vstr m0047"
-set m0047 "map polo3dm3 ; set nextmap vstr m0048"
-set m0048 "map polo3dm5 ; set nextmap vstr m0049"
-set m0049 "map pqarena ; set nextmap vstr m0050"
-set m0050 "map pureskillz1 ; set nextmap vstr m0051"
-set m0051 "map q3fex5 ; set nextmap vstr m0052"
-set m0052 "map q3mbd ; set nextmap vstr m0053"
-set m0053 "map q3mexx1 ; set nextmap vstr m0054"
-set m0054 "map q3tbdm4 ; set nextmap vstr m0055"
-set m0055 "map q3tbds1 ; set nextmap vstr m0056"
-set m0056 "map railroad ; set nextmap vstr m0057"
-set m0057 "map rdogdm4 ; set nextmap vstr m0058"
-set m0058 "map reloader ; set nextmap vstr m0059"
-set m0059 "map rqm3arena2 ; set nextmap vstr m0060"
-set m0060 "map shad3dm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0061"
-set m0061 "map simetrik ; set nextmap vstr m0062"
-set m0062 "map spk3dm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0063"
-set m0063 "map storm3tourney1 ; set nextmap vstr m0064"
-set m0064 "map tep ; set nextmap vstr m0065"
-set m0065 "map teqdm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0066"
-set m0066 "map teqdm2 ; set nextmap vstr m0067"
-set m0067 "map wintergames ; set nextmap vstr m0070"
-set m0068 "map yog3dm2 ; set nextmap vstr m0071"
-set m0069 "map yog3dm4 ; set nextmap vstr m0072"
-set m0070 "map yurch ; set nextmap vstr m0073"
-set m0071 "map ztn3dm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0074"
-set m0072 "map ztn3dm1-ho ; set nextmap vstr m0075"
-set m0073 "map ztn3dm2 ; set nextmap vstr m0001"
-
-// now start the server on the first map... after this point, the settings
-// apply to the game we have started. some settings will only work properly
-// after this point.
-vstr m0009
-
-////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-
-g_motd "The Fraggingest Place on Earth"
- // the message of the day, played for people connecting.
-
-//set weapon respawn times for free for all in seconds. May need to decrease for large number of clients. (Default: 5)
-g_weaponrespawn 4
-
-//set voting. 1=on, 0=off (Default: 1)
-g_allowvote 1
-
-//set power multiples for quad damage (Default: 3)
-g_quadfactor 3
-
-//synchronous clients is necessary to allow client demo recording. Setting to 1 allows recording but play is not smooth and is not recommended for normal use. (Default: 0)
-g_synchronousClients 0
-
-//additions by Dekard- Anything with sets will be seen in the server settings in gamespy and in game for server settings.
-//If you are using special maps here would be a good place to add where to download them!!
-//sets "mappack" "http://www.myserver.com/mappack.zip"
-
-//reduce the zoom factor to allow farther zooming.
-zoom 10
-
-addbot bender
-addbot uriel
-addbot phobos
-addbot klesk
-addbot orbb
-addbot xaero
-addbot sandtrooper
-
+++ /dev/null
-// test config file for dan's server.
-//set Gametype to 0 for Free for All Mode
-g_gametype 0
-//Free For All Settings Below
-//set ffa fraglimit. Set to 0 for no limit.
-fraglimit 42
-//set ffa timelimit. Set to 0 for no limit.
-timelimit 14
-//set Maximum number of clients
-sv_maxclients 8
-//set host name that shows up in server list. Change below to your server name preference and remove the //
-sv_hostname "fredstonia"
-//set message of the day that players see while connecting to the server. Must be set before level loads. Change below to your message of the day preference and remove the //
-g_motd "The Fraggingest Place on Earth"
-//set requirement for client password. 1=require password, 0=no password required (Default: 0)
-sv_privateClients 0
-//set password for private server "" for no password
-sv_privatePassword ""
-//set remote console password
-rconpassword ""
-//turn on/off pak cheat check. 1=on, 0=off (Default: 1)
-sv_pure 1
-//set max allowable rate for a client. 8000 to 10000 recommended. Max: 25000 (Default: 0)
-sv_maxRate 10000
-//add up to 4 additional master servers to report to (As you can see the ingame configs don't report to id automatically)
-sv_master1 ""
-sv_master2 ""
-sv_master3 ""
-sv_master4 ""
-sv_master5 ""
-//Set map selection, cycle order, and load first map for free for all
-set d1 "map metro ; set nextmap vstr d2"
-set d2 "map coralctf ; set nextmap vstr d3"
-set d3 "map addict ; set nextmap vstr d4"
-set d4 "map antilogic ; set nextmap vstr d5"
-set d5 "map bk_thetruth ; set nextmap vstr d6"
-set d6 "map bluemonday ; set nextmap vstr d7"
-set d7 "map falloutbunker ; set nextmap vstr d8"
-set d8 "map hydrogen ; set nextmap vstr d9"
-set d9 "map ik3dm1 ; set nextmap vstr d10"
-set d10 "map ik3dm2 ; set nextmap vstr d11"
-set d11 "map 17+ ; set nextmap vstr d12"
-set d12 "map yog3dm4 ; set nextmap vstr d13"
-set d13 "map lae3dm1 ; set nextmap vstr d14"
-set d14 "map q3mbd ; set nextmap vstr d15"
-set d15 "map teqdm1 ; set nextmap vstr d16"
-set d16 "map wintergames ; set nextmap vstr d17"
-set d17 "map obiwanshouse ; set nextmap vstr d18"
-set d18 "map she'k ; set nextmap vstr d1"
-vstr d1
-//set weapon respawn times for free for all in seconds. May need to decrease for large number of clients. (Default: 5)
-g_weaponrespawn 4
-//set voting. 1=on, 0=off (Default: 1)
-g_allowvote 1
-//set power multiples for quad damage (Default: 3)
-g_quadfactor 3
-//syncronous clients is necessary to allow client demo recording. Setting to 1 allows recording but play is not smooth and is not recommended for normal use. (Default: 0)
-g_syncronousClients 0
-//additions by Dekard- Anything with sets will be seen in the server settings in gamespy and in game for server settings.
-//If you are using special maps here would be a good place to add where to download them!!
-sets "Administrator" "fred"
-sets "Email" "fred@gruntose.com"
-sets "URL" "http://www.gruntose.com"
-sets "Location" "Grunston"
-sets "CPU" "AMD Athlon 1Ghz"
-//sets "mappack" "http://www.myserver.com/mappack.zip"
-
-//addbot stormtrooper
-addbot legoman
-addbot uriel
-addbot phobos
-addbot klesk
-addbot orbb
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-this is an example of running quake3 in dedicated server mode and with
-no console. the config file can be swapped out for other ones.
-
-nohup quake3 +set dedicated 1 +exec fred_free_for_all.cfg &
-
-the fred_...cfg file needs to be in the quake3/baseq3 directory unless
-the directory where it is stored is pointed at using q3 command line options
-that i don't know but which i have heard of.
-
-this just automates the copying of the config file before running quake.
-
-cp ~/feisty_meow/database/quake3/fred_free_for_all.cfg /usr/local/games/quake3/baseq3/ ; nohup quake3 +set dedicated 1 +exec fred_free_for_all.cfg
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/sh -e
-#
-# rc.local
-#
-# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
-# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
-# value on error.
-#
-# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
-# bits.
-#
-# By default this script does nothing.
-
-####
-
-# special for equanimity; get zooty informed of our IP so we can make
-# the back connection and get home.
-bash /home/fred/feisty_meow/scripts/security/tell_zooty_our_ip.sh &>/tmp/zooty_tell_report.txt &
- # we put this in the background and hope it doesn't intrude too much.
-
-exit 0
+++ /dev/null
-
-this directory provides a bunch of example configuration files for different
-services and programs.
-
-some of the files here are named "dot.something", and that generally should
-be translated to a real name of ".something". otherwise, these configuration
-example files would be hidden (since the start with a dot), which doesn't
-make a very good example.
-
+++ /dev/null
-# gated example configuration.
-
-interfaces {
- # passive keeps the route from dying if there's no communicating router.
- interface eth0 passive ;
- interface eth1 passive ;
-};
-
-rip yes {
- interface all noripin noripout;
- interface eth0 ripin ripout version 2 broadcast;
- interface eth1 ripin ripout version 2 broadcast;
-};
-
-import proto rip {
- all ;
- default restrict ;
-};
-
-export proto rip {
- proto direct ;
- proto static metric 1;
-};
-
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/sh
-
-# this could be invoked by the rc.local to set up routes.
-
-# add the routes for this machine.
-####/sbin/route >/root/route_list_before_add.txt
-# rip out bogus routes first.
-####/sbin/route del default
-####/sbin/route del -net 14.28.42.0 netmask 255.255.255.0
-####/sbin/route del -net 14.28.42.0 netmask 255.255.255.0
-# add in the correct routes.
-####/sbin/route add router eth0
-####/sbin/route add 14.28.42.71 eth0
-####/sbin/route add -net 14.28.42.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 eth1
-####/sbin/route add -net 14.28.42.128 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 14.28.42.5 eth1
-####/sbin/route add default gw 14.28.42.71
-####/sbin/route >/root/route_list_after_add.txt
-
-# add ipx routes.
-###/usr/bin/ipx_interface add eth1 802.2 0x2
-###/usr/bin/ipx_interface add eth1 802.2 0x3
-
+++ /dev/null
-# This is the main Samba configuration file. You should read the
-# smb.conf(5) manual page in order to understand the options listed
-# here. Samba has a huge number of configurable options (perhaps too
-# many!) most of which are not shown in this example
-#
-# Any line which starts with a ; (semi-colon) or a # (hash)
-# is a comment and is ignored. In this example we will use a #
-# for commentry and a ; for parts of the config file that you
-# may wish to enable
-#
-# NOTE: Whenever you modify this file you should run the command "testparm"
-# to check that you have not many any basic syntactic errors.
-#
-#======================= Global Settings =====================================
-[global]
-
-# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name
- workgroup = TwainNet
-
-# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
- server string = Bartron the Gateway
-
-# This option is important for security. It allows you to restrict
-# connections to machines which are on your local network. The
-# following example restricts access to two C class networks and
-# the "loopback" interface. For more examples of the syntax see
-# the smb.conf man page
-; hosts allow = 192.168.1. 192.168.2. 127.
- hosts allow = 14.28.42. 127.
-
-# if you want to automatically load your printer list rather
-# than setting them up individually then you'll need this
- printcap name = /etc/printcap
- load printers = yes
-
-# It should not be necessary to spell out the print system type unless
-# yours is non-standard. Currently supported print systems include:
-# bsd, sysv, plp, lprng, aix, hpux, qnx
-; printing = bsd
-
-# Uncomment this if you want a guest account, you must add this to /etc/passwd
-# otherwise the user "nobody" is used
-; guest account = pcguest
-
-# this tells Samba to use a separate log file for each machine
-# that connects
- log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
-
-# Put a capping on the size of the log files (in Kb).
- max log size = 100
-
-# Security mode. Most people will want user level security. See
-# security_level.txt for details.
- security = user
-# Use password server option only with security = server
-; password server = <NT-Server-Name>
-
-# Password Level allows matching of _n_ characters of the password for
-# all combinations of upper and lower case.
-; password level = 8
-; username level = 8
-
-# You may wish to use password encryption. Please read
-# ENCRYPTION.txt, Win95.txt and WinNT.txt in the Samba documentation.
-# Do not enable this option unless you have read those documents
- encrypt passwords = yes
- smb passwd file = /etc/smbpasswd
-
-# Unix users can map to different SMB User names
-; username map = /etc/smbusers
-
-# Using the following line enables you to customise your configuration
-# on a per machine basis. The %m gets replaced with the netbios name
-# of the machine that is connecting
-; include = /etc/smb.conf.%m
-
-# Most people will find that this option gives better performance.
-# See speed.txt and the manual pages for details
- socket options = TCP_NODELAY
-
-# Configure Samba to use multiple interfaces
-# If you have multiple network interfaces then you must list them
-# here. See the man page for details.
-; interfaces = 192.168.12.2/24 192.168.13.2/24
-
-# Configure remote browse list synchronisation here
-# request announcement to, or browse list sync from:
-# a specific host or from / to a whole subnet (see below)
-; remote browse sync = 192.168.3.25 192.168.5.255
-# Cause this host to announce itself to local subnets here
-; remote announce = 192.168.1.255 192.168.2.44
-
-# Browser Control Options:
-# set local master to no if you don't want Samba to become a master
-# browser on your network. Otherwise the normal election rules apply
- local master = yes
-
-# OS Level determines the precedence of this server in master browser
-# elections. The default value should be reasonable
- os level = 34
-
-# Domain Master specifies Samba to be the Domain Master Browser. This
-# allows Samba to collate browse lists between subnets. Don't use this
-# if you already have a Windows NT domain controller doing this job
- domain master = yes
-
-# Preferred Master causes Samba to force a local browser election on startup
-# and gives it a slightly higher chance of winning the election
- preferred master = yes
-
-# Use only if you have an NT server on your network that has been
-# configured at install time to be a primary domain controller.
-; domain controller = <NT-Domain-Controller-SMBName>
-
-# Enable this if you want Samba to be a domain logon server for
-# Windows95 workstations.
- domain logons = yes
-
-# if you enable domain logons then you may want a per-machine or
-# per user logon script
-# run a specific logon batch file per workstation (machine)
-; logon script = %m.bat
-# run a specific logon batch file per username
-; logon script = %U.bat
-
-# Where to store roving profiles (only for Win95 and WinNT)
-# %L substitutes for this servers netbios name, %U is username
-# You must uncomment the [Profiles] share below
-; logon path = \\%L\Profiles\%U
-
-# All NetBIOS names must be resolved to IP Addresses
-# 'Name Resolve Order' allows the named resolution mechanism to be specified
-# the default order is "host lmhosts wins bcast". "host" means use the unix
-# system gethostbyname() function call that will use either /etc/hosts OR
-# DNS or NIS depending on the settings of /etc/host.config, /etc/nsswitch.conf
-# and the /etc/resolv.conf file. "host" therefore is system configuration
-# dependant. This parameter is most often of use to prevent DNS lookups
-# in order to resolve NetBIOS names to IP Addresses. Use with care!
-# The example below excludes use of name resolution for machines that are NOT
-# on the local network segment
-# - OR - are not deliberately to be known via lmhosts or via WINS.
-; name resolve order = wins lmhosts bcast
-
-# Windows Internet Name Serving Support Section:
-# WINS Support - Tells the NMBD component of Samba to enable it's WINS Server
- wins support = yes
-
-# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
-# Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
-; wins server = w.x.y.z
-
-# WINS Proxy - Tells Samba to answer name resolution queries on
-# behalf of a non WINS capable client, for this to work there must be
-# at least one WINS Server on the network. The default is NO.
-; wins proxy = yes
-
-# DNS Proxy - tells Samba whether or not to try to resolve NetBIOS names
-# via DNS nslookups. The built-in default for versions 1.9.17 is yes,
-# this has been changed in version 1.9.18 to no.
- dns proxy = no
-
-# Case Preservation can be handy - system default is _no_
-# NOTE: These can be set on a per share basis
-; preserve case = no
-; short preserve case = no
-# Default case is normally upper case for all DOS files
-; default case = lower
-# Be very careful with case sensitivity - it can break things!
-; case sensitive = no
-
-#============================ Share Definitions ==============================
-[homes]
- comment = Home Directories
- browseable = no
- writable = yes
-
-# Un-comment the following and create the netlogon directory for Domain Logons
-[netlogon]
- comment = Network Logon Service
- path = /home/netlogon
- guest ok = yes
- writable = no
- share modes = no
-
-
-# Un-comment the following to provide a specific roving profile share
-# the default is to use the user's home directory
-;[Profiles]
-; path = /home/profiles
-; browseable = no
-; guest ok = yes
-
-
-# NOTE: If you have a BSD-style print system there is no need to
-# specifically define each individual printer
-[printers]
- comment = All Printers
- path = /var/spool/samba
- browseable = no
-# Set public = yes to allow user 'guest account' to print
- guest ok = no
- writable = no
- printable = yes
-
-# This one is useful for people to share files
-;[tmp]
-; comment = Temporary file space
-; path = /tmp
-; read only = no
-; public = yes
-
-# A publicly accessible directory, but read only, except for people in
-# the "staff" group
-;[public]
-; comment = Public Stuff
-; path = /home/samba
-; public = yes
-; writable = yes
-; printable = no
-; write list = @staff
-
-# Other examples.
-#
-# A private printer, usable only by fred. Spool data will be placed in fred's
-# home directory. Note that fred must have write access to the spool directory,
-# wherever it is.
-;[fredsprn]
-; comment = Fred's Printer
-; valid users = fred
-; path = /homes/fred
-; printer = freds_printer
-; public = no
-; writable = no
-; printable = yes
-
-# A private directory, usable only by fred. Note that fred requires write
-# access to the directory.
-;[fredsdir]
-; comment = Fred's Service
-; path = /usr/somewhere/private
-; valid users = fred
-; public = no
-; writable = yes
-; printable = no
-
-# a service which has a different directory for each machine that connects
-# this allows you to tailor configurations to incoming machines. You could
-# also use the %u option to tailor it by user name.
-# The %m gets replaced with the machine name that is connecting.
-;[pchome]
-; comment = PC Directories
-; path = /usr/pc/%m
-; public = no
-; writable = yes
-
-# A publicly accessible directory, read/write to all users. Note that all files
-# created in the directory by users will be owned by the default user, so
-# any user with access can delete any other user's files. Obviously this
-# directory must be writable by the default user. Another user could of course
-# be specified, in which case all files would be owned by that user instead.
-;[public]
-; path = /usr/somewhere/else/public
-; public = yes
-; only guest = yes
-; writable = yes
-; printable = no
-
-# The following two entries demonstrate how to share a directory so that two
-# users can place files there that will be owned by the specific users. In this
-# setup, the directory should be writable by both users and should have the
-# sticky bit set on it to prevent abuse. Obviously this could be extended to
-# as many users as required.
-;[myshare]
-; comment = Mary's and Fred's stuff
-; path = /usr/somewhere/shared
-; valid users = mary fred
-; public = no
-; writable = yes
-; printable = no
-; create mask = 0765
-
-[top]
- comment = BartronTop
- path = /
- valid users = fred
- public = no
- writable = yes
- printable = no
-
-[stuffing]
- comment = Stuffings
- path = /home/fred/stuffing
- public = no
- writable = yes
- printable = no
- valid users = fred
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-
-##############
-#
-# fred's bastion of drives...
-#
-
-# shaggy's archive drive.
-#shaggy:/z/archivonia /z/archivonia nfs exec,dev,suid,rw,user 0 0
-
-# hal's buffalo drive.
-hal:/z/buffaloon /z/buffaloon nfs exec,dev,suid,rw,user 0 0
-
-# NAS mounts...
-
-#nfs not currently allowing writes. grrrrr.
-#vitalstore:/DataVolume/chunky /z/chunky nfs exec,dev,suid,rw,user 0 0
-#vitalstore:/DataVolume/stuffing /z/stuffing nfs exec,dev,suid,rw,user 0 0
-#vitalstore:/DataVolume/walrus /z/walrus nfs exec,dev,suid,ro,user 0 0
-
-//vitalstore/chunky /z/chunky cifs credentials=/etc/samba/vitalstore_cifs.txt,uid=1008,gid=1008 0 0
-//vitalstore/stuffing /z/stuffing cifs credentials=/etc/samba/vitalstore_cifs.txt,uid=1008,gid=1008 0 0
-//vitalstore/walrus /z/walrus cifs credentials=/etc/samba/vitalstore_cifs.txt,uid=1008,gid=1008 0 0
-//vitalstore/virtual-fred /z/fredgrid cifs credentials=/etc/samba/vitalstore_cifs.txt,uid=1008,gid=1008 0 0
-
-#
-##############
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-//gulliver/build /home/fred/gullybuild cifs uid=1000,gid=1001,noauto,credentials=/etc/gulliver_credentials.txt 0 0
- # in this example, a box named gulliver has an SMB share called "build".
- # we are mounting that to a local directory /home/fred/gullybuild.
- # the uid/gid items should be set to the actual user id and group id for
- # whatever user will need to access and modify those files. the credentials
- # file is used to specify authentication parameters for the share. an
- # example of the credential file format is below.
-
-###############
-
-# example credentials file:
-# the information below is all that should be needed to access the share on
-# gulliver. note that the user can contain a windows domain.
-# this file does not go in /etc/fstab! it should be a separate file in the
-# /etc directory or some other safe place. the file permissions should only
-# allow root to read/write the file, such as when these three commands
-# are used to set the ownership and permissions:
-# chown root /etc/gulliver_credentials.txt
-# chgrp root /etc/gulliver_credentials.txt
-# chmod 600 /etc/gulliver_credentials.txt
-
-## /etc/gulliver_credentials.txt
-username=sluggocorp\dhughley
-password=semjendradok89
-workgroup=smezzo_group
-
+++ /dev/null
-# This is the main Samba configuration file. You should read the
-# smb.conf(5) manual page in order to understand the options listed
-# here. Samba has a huge number of configurable options (perhaps too
-# many!) most of which are not shown in this example
-#
-# Any line which starts with a ; (semi-colon) or a # (hash)
-# is a comment and is ignored. In this example we will use a #
-# for commentry and a ; for parts of the config file that you
-# may wish to enable
-#
-# NOTE: Whenever you modify this file you should run the command "testparm"
-# to check that you have not many any basic syntactic errors.
-#
-#======================= Global Settings =====================================
-[global]
-
-# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name
- workgroup = TwainNet
-
-# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
- server string = TheWheel Code Archiver
-
-# This option is important for security. It allows you to restrict
-# connections to machines which are on your local network. The
-# following example restricts access to two C class networks and
-# the "loopback" interface. For more examples of the syntax see
-# the smb.conf man page
-; hosts allow = 192.168.1. 192.168.2. 127.
- hosts allow = 14.28.42. 127.
-
-# if you want to automatically load your printer list rather
-# than setting them up individually then you'll need this
- printcap name = /etc/printcap
- load printers = yes
-
-# It should not be necessary to spell out the print system type unless
-# yours is non-standard. Currently supported print systems include:
-# bsd, sysv, plp, lprng, aix, hpux, qnx
-; printing = bsd
-
-# Uncomment this if you want a guest account, you must add this to /etc/passwd
-# otherwise the user "nobody" is used
-; guest account = pcguest
-
-# this tells Samba to use a separate log file for each machine
-# that connects
- log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
-
-# Put a capping on the size of the log files (in Kb).
- max log size = 50
-
-# Security mode. Most people will want user level security. See
-# security_level.txt for details.
- security = user
-# Use password server option only with security = server
-; password server = <NT-Server-Name>
-
-# Password Level allows matching of _n_ characters of the password for
-# all combinations of upper and lower case.
-; password level = 8
-; username level = 8
-
-# You may wish to use password encryption. Please read
-# ENCRYPTION.txt, Win95.txt and WinNT.txt in the Samba documentation.
-# Do not enable this option unless you have read those documents
- encrypt passwords = yes
- smb passwd file = /etc/smbpasswd
-
-# The following are needed to allow password changing from Windows to
-# update the Linux sytsem password also.
-# NOTE: Use these with 'encrypt passwords' and 'smb passwd file' above.
-# NOTE2: You do NOT need these to allow workstations to change only
-# the encrypted SMB passwords. They allow the Unix password
-# to be kept in sync with the SMB password.
-; unix password sync = Yes
-; passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
-; passwd chat = *New*UNIX*password* %n\n *ReType*new*UNIX*password* %n\n *passwd:*all*authentication*tokens*updated*successfully*
-
-# Unix users can map to different SMB User names
-; username map = /etc/smbusers
-
-# Using the following line enables you to customise your configuration
-# on a per machine basis. The %m gets replaced with the netbios name
-# of the machine that is connecting
-; include = /etc/smb.conf.%m
-
-# Most people will find that this option gives better performance.
-# See speed.txt and the manual pages for details
- socket options = TCP_NODELAY
-
-# Configure Samba to use multiple interfaces
-# If you have multiple network interfaces then you must list them
-# here. See the man page for details.
-; interfaces = 192.168.12.2/24 192.168.13.2/24
-
-# Configure remote browse list synchronisation here
-# request announcement to, or browse list sync from:
-# a specific host or from / to a whole subnet (see below)
-; remote browse sync = 192.168.3.25 192.168.5.255
-# Cause this host to announce itself to local subnets here
-; remote announce = 192.168.1.255 192.168.2.44
-
-# Browser Control Options:
-# set local master to no if you don't want Samba to become a master
-# browser on your network. Otherwise the normal election rules apply
-; local master = no
-
-# OS Level determines the precedence of this server in master browser
-# elections. The default value should be reasonable
-; os level = 33
-
-# Domain Master specifies Samba to be the Domain Master Browser. This
-# allows Samba to collate browse lists between subnets. Don't use this
-# if you already have a Windows NT domain controller doing this job
-; domain master = yes
-
-# Preferred Master causes Samba to force a local browser election on startup
-# and gives it a slightly higher chance of winning the election
-; preferred master = yes
-
-# Use only if you have an NT server on your network that has been
-# configured at install time to be a primary domain controller.
-; domain controller = <NT-Domain-Controller-SMBName>
-
-# Enable this if you want Samba to be a domain logon server for
-# Windows95 workstations.
-; domain logons = yes
-
-# if you enable domain logons then you may want a per-machine or
-# per user logon script
-# run a specific logon batch file per workstation (machine)
-; logon script = %m.bat
-# run a specific logon batch file per username
-; logon script = %U.bat
-
-# Where to store roving profiles (only for Win95 and WinNT)
-# %L substitutes for this servers netbios name, %U is username
-# You must uncomment the [Profiles] share below
-; logon path = \\%L\Profiles\%U
-
-# All NetBIOS names must be resolved to IP Addresses
-# 'Name Resolve Order' allows the named resolution mechanism to be specified
-# the default order is "host lmhosts wins bcast". "host" means use the unix
-# system gethostbyname() function call that will use either /etc/hosts OR
-# DNS or NIS depending on the settings of /etc/host.config, /etc/nsswitch.conf
-# and the /etc/resolv.conf file. "host" therefore is system configuration
-# dependant. This parameter is most often of use to prevent DNS lookups
-# in order to resolve NetBIOS names to IP Addresses. Use with care!
-# The example below excludes use of name resolution for machines that are NOT
-# on the local network segment
-# - OR - are not deliberately to be known via lmhosts or via WINS.
-; name resolve order = wins lmhosts bcast
-
-# Windows Internet Name Serving Support Section:
-# WINS Support - Tells the NMBD component of Samba to enable it's WINS Server
-; wins support = yes
-
-# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
-# Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
-; wins server = w.x.y.z
-
-# WINS Proxy - Tells Samba to answer name resolution queries on
-# behalf of a non WINS capable client, for this to work there must be
-# at least one WINS Server on the network. The default is NO.
-; wins proxy = yes
-
-# DNS Proxy - tells Samba whether or not to try to resolve NetBIOS names
-# via DNS nslookups. The built-in default for versions 1.9.17 is yes,
-# this has been changed in version 1.9.18 to no.
- dns proxy = no
-
-# Case Preservation can be handy - system default is _no_
-# NOTE: These can be set on a per share basis
-; preserve case = no
-; short preserve case = no
-# Default case is normally upper case for all DOS files
-; default case = lower
-# Be very careful with case sensitivity - it can break things!
-; case sensitive = no
-
-#============================ Share Definitions ==============================
-[homes]
- comment = Home Directories
- browseable = no
- writable = yes
-
-# Un-comment the following and create the netlogon directory for Domain Logons
-; [netlogon]
-; comment = Network Logon Service
-; path = /home/netlogon
-; guest ok = yes
-; writable = no
-; share modes = no
-
-
-# Un-comment the following to provide a specific roving profile share
-# the default is to use the user's home directory
-;[Profiles]
-; path = /home/profiles
-; browseable = no
-; guest ok = yes
-
-
-# NOTE: If you have a BSD-style print system there is no need to
-# specifically define each individual printer
-[printers]
- comment = All Printers
- path = /var/spool/samba
- browseable = no
-# Set public = yes to allow user 'guest account' to print
- guest ok = no
- writable = no
- printable = yes
-
-# This one is useful for people to share files
-;[tmp]
-; comment = Temporary file space
-; path = /tmp
-; read only = no
-; public = yes
-
-# A publicly accessible directory, but read only, except for people in
-# the "staff" group
-;[public]
-; comment = Public Stuff
-; path = /home/samba
-; public = yes
-; writable = yes
-; printable = no
-; write list = @staff
-
-# Other examples.
-#
-# A private printer, usable only by fred. Spool data will be placed in fred's
-# home directory. Note that fred must have write access to the spool directory,
-# wherever it is.
-;[fredsprn]
-; comment = Fred's Printer
-; valid users = fred
-; path = /homes/fred
-; printer = freds_printer
-; public = no
-; writable = no
-; printable = yes
-
-# A private directory, usable only by fred. Note that fred requires write
-# access to the directory.
-;[fredsdir]
-; comment = Fred's Service
-; path = /usr/somewhere/private
-; valid users = fred
-; public = no
-; writable = yes
-; printable = no
-
-# a service which has a different directory for each machine that connects
-# this allows you to tailor configurations to incoming machines. You could
-# also use the %u option to tailor it by user name.
-# The %m gets replaced with the machine name that is connecting.
-;[pchome]
-; comment = PC Directories
-; path = /usr/pc/%m
-; public = no
-; writable = yes
-
-# A publicly accessible directory, read/write to all users. Note that all files
-# created in the directory by users will be owned by the default user, so
-# any user with access can delete any other user's files. Obviously this
-# directory must be writable by the default user. Another user could of course
-# be specified, in which case all files would be owned by that user instead.
-;[public]
-; path = /usr/somewhere/else/public
-; public = yes
-; only guest = yes
-; writable = yes
-; printable = no
-
-# The following two entries demonstrate how to share a directory so that two
-# users can place files there that will be owned by the specific users. In this
-# setup, the directory should be writable by both users and should have the
-# sticky bit set on it to prevent abuse. Obviously this could be extended to
-# as many users as required.
-;[myshare]
-; comment = Mary's and Fred's stuff
-; path = /usr/somewhere/shared
-; valid users = mary fred
-; public = no
-; writable = yes
-; printable = no
-; create mask = 0765
-
-[top]
- comment = TheWheelTop
- path = /
- valid users = fred
- public = no
- writable = yes
- printable = no
-
-[data]
- comment = Data
- path = /home/fred/data
- public = no
- writable = yes
- printable = no
- valid users = fred
-
-[pinheader]
- comment = zip drive
- path = /mnt/zip
- public = no
- writable = yes
- printable = no
- valid users = fred
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-nethack on
-
-logfile $HOME/.tmp/zz_screenlog_%t_%Y_%m_%d_%c.%n
-
-defscrollback 1024
-
-# Display the status line
-hardstatus on
-hardstatus alwayslastline
-hardstatus string "%{.kW}%-w%{.bW}%t [%n]%{-}%+w %=%{..G} %H %{..Y} %Y/%m/%d %c"
-
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/bash
-#
-# team_city_startup by Chris Koeritz
-#
-# /etc/init.d/team_city_startup
-#
-#uhhh chkconfig: 2345 01 99
-# description: Starts the Team City Agent as our swbuild user.
-#
-### BEGIN INIT INFO
-# Provides: team_city_startup
-# Required-Start:
-# Required-Stop:
-# Default-Start: 3 4 5
-# Default-Stop: 0 1 2 6
-# Short-Description: Team City Agent initialization
-# Description: team city rc file. This rc script runs the agent as the
-# swbuild user.
-### END INIT INFO
-
-usage() {
- echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|kill}"
-}
-
-function teamcity_action()
-{
- export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
- export HOME=/home/swbuild
-
- # should become the swbuild user and tell team city the proper action.
- su -m -c "/home/swbuild/teamcity_agent/bin/agent.sh $*" swbuild
-}
-
-test -x ${PARSER} || exit 0 # by debian policy
-
-case "$1" in
- start)
- teamcity_action start
- rc=$?
- ;;
- stop)
- teamcity_action stop
- rc=$?
- ;;
- kill)
- teamcity_action stop kill
- rc=$?
- ;;
- status)
- procs_found=$(ps wuax | grep teamcity | grep -v grep)
- if [ -z "$procs_found" ]; then
- echo "Team City Agent is not running."
- else
- echo "Team City Agent is running."
- fi
- rc=$?
- ;;
- *)
- usage
- exit 1
- ;;
- esac
-exit $rc
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/bash
-#
-# (c) Copyright by Wolfgang Fuschlberger
-#
-# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
-# (at your option) any later version.
-#
-# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
-# GNU General Public License for more details.
-# ( http://www.fsf.org/licenses/gpl.txt )
-#####################################################################
-
-# first Release: 2004-07-30
-RELEASE="2007-10-19"
-#
-# The latest version of the script is available at
-# http://www.fuschlberger.net/programs/ssh-scp-sftp-chroot-jail/
-#
-# Feedback is welcome!
-#
-# Thanks for Bugfixes / Enhancements to
-# Michael Prokop <http://www.michael-prokop.at/chroot/>,
-# Randy K., Randy D., Jonathan Hunter and everybody else.
-#####################################################################
-
-#
-# Features:
-# - enable scp and sftp in the chroot-jail
-# - use one directory (default /home/jail/) as chroot for all users
-# - create new accounts
-# - move existing accounts to chroot
-#####################################################################
-
-# path to sshd's config file: needed for automatic detection of the locaten of
-# the sftp-server binary
-SSHD_CONFIG="/etc/ssh/sshd_config"
-
-# Check if we are called with username or update
-if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
- echo
- echo "ERROR: Parameter missing. Did you forget the username?"
- echo "-------------------------------------------------------------"
- echo
- echo "USAGE:"
- echo "Create new chrooted account or"
- echo "add existing User to chroot-jail:"
- echo "-> $0 username"
- echo
- echo "or specify \$SHELL and path where the jail should be located:"
- echo "-> $0 username [/path/to/chroot-shell [/path/to/jail]]"
- echo "Default shell = /bin/chroot-shell"
- echo "Default chroot-path = /home/jail"
- echo "-------------------------------------------------------------"
- echo
- echo "Updating files in the chroot-jail:"
- echo "-> $0 update [/path/to/chroot-shell [/path/to/jail]]"
- echo "-------------------------------------------------------------"
- echo
- echo "To uninstall:"
- echo " # userdel \$USER"
- echo " # rm -rf /home/jail"
- echo " (this deletes all Users' files!)"
- echo " # rm -f /bin/chroot-shell"
- echo " manually delete the User's line from /etc/sudoers"
- exit
-fi
-
-if [ -z "$PATH" ] ; then
- PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin
-fi
-
-echo
-echo Release: $RELEASE
-echo
-
-echo "Am I root? "
-if [ "$(whoami &2>/dev/null)" != "root" ] && [ "$(id -un &2>/dev/null)" != "root" ] ; then
- echo " NO!
-
-Error: You must be root to run this script."
- exit 1
-fi
-echo " OK";
-
-# Check existence of necessary files
-echo "Checking distribution... "
-if [ -f /etc/debian_version ];
- then echo " Supported Distribution found"
- echo " System is running Debian Linux"
- DISTRO=DEBIAN;
-elif [ -f /etc/SuSE-release ];
- then echo " Supported Distribution found"
- echo " System is running SuSE Linux"
- DISTRO=SUSE;
-elif [ -f /etc/fedora-release ];
- then echo " Supported Distribution found"
- echo " System is running Fedora Linux"
- DISTRO=FEDORA;
-elif [ -f /etc/redhat-release ];
- then echo " Supported Distribution found"
- echo " System is running Red Hat Linux"
- DISTRO=REDHAT;
-else echo -e " failed...........\nThis script works best on Debian, Red Hat, Fedora and SuSE Linux!\nLet's try it nevertheless....\nIf some program files cannot be found adjust the respective path in line 98\n"
-#exit 1
-fi
-
-# Specify the apps you want to copy to the jail
-if [ "$DISTRO" = SUSE ]; then
- APPS="/bin/bash /bin/cp /usr/bin/dircolors /bin/ls /bin/mkdir /bin/mv /bin/rm /bin/rmdir /bin/sh /bin/su /usr/bin/groups /usr/bin/id /usr/bin/netcat /usr/bin/rsync /usr/bin/ssh /usr/bin/scp /sbin/unix_chkpwd"
-elif [ "$DISTRO" = FEDORA ]; then
- APPS="/bin/bash /bin/cp /usr/bin/dircolors /bin/ls /bin/mkdir /bin/mv /bin/rm /bin/rmdir /bin/sh /bin/su /usr/bin/groups /usr/bin/id /usr/bin/nc /usr/bin/rsync /usr/bin/ssh /usr/bin/scp /sbin/unix_chkpwd"
-elif [ "$DISTRO" = REDHAT ]; then
- APPS="/bin/bash /bin/cp /usr/bin/dircolors /bin/ls /bin/mkdir /bin/mv /bin/rm /bin/rmdir /bin/sh /bin/su /usr/bin/groups /usr/bin/id /usr/bin/nc /usr/bin/rsync /usr/bin/ssh /usr/bin/scp /sbin/unix_chkpwd"
-elif [ "$DISTRO" = DEBIAN ]; then
- APPS="/bin/bash /bin/cp /usr/bin/dircolors /bin/ls /bin/mkdir /bin/mv /bin/rm /bin/rmdir /bin/sh /bin/su /usr/bin/groups /usr/bin/id /usr/bin/rsync /usr/bin/ssh /usr/bin/scp /sbin/unix_chkpwd"
-else
- APPS="/bin/bash /bin/cp /usr/bin/dircolors /bin/ls /bin/mkdir /bin/mv /bin/rm /bin/rmdir /bin/sh /bin/su /usr/bin/groups /usr/bin/id /usr/bin/rsync /usr/bin/ssh /usr/bin/scp /usr/sbin/unix_chkpwd"
-fi
-
-# Check existence of necessary files
-echo "Checking for which... "
-#if [ -f $(which which) ] ;
-# not good because if which does not exist I look for an
-# empty filename and get OK nevertheless
-if ( test -f /usr/bin/which ) || ( test -f /bin/which ) || ( test -f /sbin/which ) || ( test -f /usr/sbin/which );
- then echo " OK";
- else echo " failed
-
-Please install which-binary!
-"
-exit 1
-fi
-
-echo "Checking for chroot..."
-if [ $(which chroot) ];
- then echo " OK";
- else echo " failed
-
-chroot not found!
-Please install chroot-package/binary!
-"
-exit 1
-fi
-
-echo "Checking for sudo..."
-if [ $(which sudo) ]; then
- echo " OK";
-else
- echo " failed
-
-sudo not found!
-Please install sudo-package/binary!
-"
-exit 1
-fi
-
-echo "Checking for dirname..."
-if [ $(which dirname) ]; then
- echo " OK";
-else
- echo " failed
-
-dirname not found!
-Please install dirname-binary (to be found eg in the package coreutils)!
-"
-exit 1
-fi
-
-echo "Checking for awk..."
-if [ $(which awk) ]; then
- echo " OK
-";
-else
- echo " failed
-
-awk not found!
-Please install (g)awk-package/binary!
-"
-exit 1
-fi
-
-# get location of sftp-server binary from /etc/ssh/sshd_config
-# check for existence of /etc/ssh/sshd_config and for
-# (uncommented) line with sftp-server filename. If neither exists, just skip
-# this step and continue without sftp-server
-#
-#if (test ! -f /etc/ssh/sshd_config &> /dev/null); then
-# echo "
-#File /etc/ssh/sshd_config not found.
-#Not checking for path to sftp-server.
-# ";
-#else
-if [ ! -f ${SSHD_CONFIG} ]
-then
- echo "File ${SSHD_CONFIG} not found."
- echo "Not checking for path to sftp-server."
- echo "Please adjust the global \$SSHD_CONFIG variable"
-else
- if !(grep -v "^#" ${SSHD_CONFIG} | grep -i sftp-server &> /dev/null); then
- echo "Obviously no sftp-server is running on this system.
-";
- else SFTP_SERVER=$(grep -v "^#" ${SSHD_CONFIG} | grep -i sftp-server | awk '{ print $3}')
- fi
-fi
-
-#if !(grep -v "^#" /etc/ssh/sshd_config | grep -i sftp-server /etc/ssh/sshd_config | awk '{ print $3}' &> /dev/null); then
-APPS="$APPS $SFTP_SERVER"
-
-# Get accountname to create / move
-CHROOT_USERNAME=$1
-
-if ! [ -z "$2" ] ; then
- SHELL=$2
-else
- SHELL=/bin/chroot-shell
-fi
-
-if ! [ -z "$3" ] ; then
- JAILPATH=$3
-else
- JAILPATH=/home/jail
-fi
-
-# Exit if user already exists
-#id $CHROOT_USERNAME > /dev/null 2>&1 && { echo "User exists."; echo "Exiting."; exit 1; }
-
-# Check if user already exists and ask for confirmation
-# we have to trust that root knows what she is doing when saying 'yes'
-if ( id $CHROOT_USERNAME > /dev/null 2>&1 ) ; then {
-echo "
------------------------------
-User $CHROOT_USERNAME exists.
-
-Are you sure you want to modify the users home directory and lock him into the
-chroot directory?
-Are you REALLY sure?
-Say only yes if you absolutely know what you are doing!"
- read -p "(yes/no) -> " MODIFYUSER
- if [ "$MODIFYUSER" != "yes" ]; then
- echo "
-Not entered yes. Exiting...."
- exit 1
- fi
-}
-else
- CREATEUSER="yes"
-fi
-
-# Create $SHELL (shell for jailed accounts)
-if [ -f ${SHELL} ] ; then
- echo "
------------------------------
-The file $SHELL exists.
-Probably it was created by this script.
-
-Are you sure you want to overwrite it?
-(you want to say yes for example if you are running the script for the second
-time when adding more than one account to the jail)"
-read -p "(yes/no) -> " OVERWRITE
-if [ "$OVERWRITE" != "yes" ]; then
- echo "
-Not entered yes. Exiting...."
- exit 1
-fi
-else
- echo "Creating $SHELL"
- echo '#!/bin/sh' > $SHELL
- echo "$(which sudo) $(which chroot) $JAILPATH /bin/su - \$USER" \"\$@\" >> $SHELL
- chmod 755 $SHELL
-fi
-
-# make common jail for everybody if inexistent
-if [ ! -d ${JAILPATH} ] ; then
- mkdir -p ${JAILPATH}
- echo "Creating ${JAILPATH}"
-fi
-cd ${JAILPATH}
-
-# Create directories in jail that do not exist yet
-JAILDIRS="dev etc etc/pam.d bin home sbin usr usr/bin usr/lib"
-for directory in $JAILDIRS ; do
- if [ ! -d "$JAILPATH/$directory" ] ; then
- mkdir $JAILPATH/"$directory"
- echo "Creating $JAILPATH/$directory"
- fi
-done
-echo
-
-# Comment in the following lines if your apache can't read the directories and
-# uses the security contexts
-# Fix security contexts so Apache can read files
-#CHCON=$(which chcon)
-#if [ -n "$CHCON" ] && [ -x $CHCON ]; then
-# $CHCON -t home_root_t $JAILPATH/home
-# $CHCON -t user_home_dir_t $JAILPATH/home/$CHROOT_USERNAME
-#fi
-
-# Creating necessary devices
-[ -r $JAILPATH/dev/urandom ] || mknod $JAILPATH/dev/urandom c 1 9
-[ -r $JAILPATH/dev/null ] || mknod -m 666 $JAILPATH/dev/null c 1 3
-[ -r $JAILPATH/dev/zero ] || mknod -m 666 $JAILPATH/dev/zero c 1 5
-[ -r $JAILPATH/dev/tty ] || mknod -m 666 $JAILPATH/dev/tty c 5 0
-
-# if we only want to update the files in the jail
-# skip the creation of the new account
-if [ "$1" != "update" ]; then
-
-# Modifiy /etc/sudoers to enable chroot-ing for users
-# must be removed by hand if account is deleted
-echo "Modifying /etc/sudoers"
-echo "$CHROOT_USERNAME ALL=NOPASSWD: $(which chroot), /bin/su - $CHROOT_USERNAME" >> /etc/sudoers
-
-# Define HomeDir for simple referencing
-HOMEDIR="$JAILPATH/home/$CHROOT_USERNAME"
-
-# Create new account, setting $SHELL to the above created script and
-# $HOME to $JAILPATH/home/*
-if [ "$CREATEUSER" != "yes" ] ; then echo "
-Not creating new User account
-Modifying User \"$CHROOT_USERNAME\"
-Copying files in $CHROOT_USERNAME's \$HOME to \"$HOMEDIR\"
-"
-usermod -d "$HOMEDIR" -m -s "$SHELL" $CHROOT_USERNAME && chmod 700 "$HOMEDIR"
-fi
-
-if [ "$CREATEUSER" = "yes" ] ; then {
-echo "Adding User \"$CHROOT_USERNAME\" to system"
-useradd -m -d "$HOMEDIR" -s "$SHELL" $CHROOT_USERNAME && chmod 700 "$HOMEDIR"
-
-# Enter password for new account
-if !(passwd $CHROOT_USERNAME);
- then echo "Passwords are probably not the same, try again."
- exit 1;
-fi
-echo
-}
-fi
-
-# Create /usr/bin/groups in the jail
-echo "#!/bin/bash" > usr/bin/groups
-echo "id -Gn" >> usr/bin/groups
-chmod 755 usr/bin/groups
-
-# Add users to etc/passwd
-#
-# check if file exists (ie we are not called for the first time)
-# if yes skip root's entry and do not overwrite the file
-if [ ! -f etc/passwd ] ; then
- grep /etc/passwd -e "^root" > ${JAILPATH}/etc/passwd
-fi
-if [ ! -f etc/group ] ; then
- grep /etc/group -e "^root" > ${JAILPATH}/etc/group
-# add the group for all users to etc/group (otherwise there is a nasty error
-# message and probably because of that changing directories doesn't work with
-# winSCP)
- grep /etc/group -e "^users" >> ${JAILPATH}/etc/group
-fi
-
-# grep the username which was given to us from /etc/passwd and add it
-# to ./etc/passwd replacing the $HOME with the directory as it will then
-# appear in the jail
-echo "Adding User $CHROOT_USERNAME to jail"
-grep -e "^$CHROOT_USERNAME:" /etc/passwd | \
- sed -e "s#$JAILPATH##" \
- -e "s#$SHELL#/bin/bash#" >> ${JAILPATH}/etc/passwd
-
-# if the system uses one account/one group we write the
-# account's group to etc/group
-grep -e "^$CHROOT_USERNAME:" /etc/group >> ${JAILPATH}/etc/group
-
-# write the user's line from /etc/shadow to /home/jail/etc/shadow
-grep -e "^$CHROOT_USERNAME:" /etc/shadow >> ${JAILPATH}/etc/shadow
-chmod 600 ${JAILPATH}/etc/shadow
-
-# endif for =! update
-fi
-
-# Copy the apps and the related libs
-echo "Copying necessary library-files to jail (may take some time)"
-
-# The original code worked fine on RedHat 7.3, but did not on FC3.
-# On FC3, when the 'ldd' is done, there is a 'linux-gate.so.1' that
-# points to nothing (or a 90xb.....), and it also does not pick up
-# some files that start with a '/'. To fix this, I am doing the ldd
-# to a file called ldlist, then going back into the file and pulling
-# out the libs that start with '/'
-#
-# Randy K.
-#
-# The original code worked fine on 2.4 kernel systems. Kernel 2.6
-# introduced an internal library called 'linux-gate.so.1'. This
-# 'phantom' library caused non-critical errors to display during the
-# copy since the file does not actually exist on the file system.
-# To fix re-direct output of ldd to a file, parse the file and get
-# library files that start with /
-#
-
-# create temporary files with mktemp, if that doesn't work for some reason use
-# the old method with $HOME/ldlist[2] (so I don't have to check the existence
-# of the mktemp package / binary at the beginning
-#
-TMPFILE1=$(mktemp) &> /dev/null || TMPFILE1="${HOME}/ldlist"; if [ -x ${TMPFILE1} ]; then mv ${TMPFILE1} ${TMPFILE1}.bak;fi
-TMPFILE2=$(mktemp) &> /dev/null || TMPFILE2="${HOME}/ldlist2"; if [ -x ${TMPFILE2} ]; then mv ${TMPFILE2} ${TMPFILE2}.bak;fi
-
-for app in $APPS; do
- # First of all, check that this application exists
- if [ -x $app ]; then
- # Check that the directory exists; create it if not.
-# app_path=$(echo $app | sed -e 's#\(.\+\)/[^/]\+#\1#')
- app_path=$(dirname $app)
- if ! [ -d .$app_path ]; then
- mkdir -p .$app_path
- fi
-
- # If the files in the chroot are on the same file system as the
- # original files you should be able to use hard links instead of
- # copying the files, too. Symbolic links cannot be used, because the
- # original files are outside the chroot.
- cp -p $app .$app
-
- # get list of necessary libraries
- ldd $app >> ${TMPFILE1}
- fi
-done
-
-# Clear out any old temporary file before we start
-for libs in $(cat ${TMPFILE1}); do
- frst_char="$(echo $libs | cut -c1)"
- if [ "$frst_char" = "/" ]; then
- echo "$libs" >> ${TMPFILE2}
- fi
-done
-for lib in $(cat ${TMPFILE2}); do
- mkdir -p .$(dirname $lib) > /dev/null 2>&1
-
- # If the files in the chroot are on the same file system as the original
- # files you should be able to use hard links instead of copying the files,
- # too. Symbolic links cannot be used, because the original files are
- # outside the chroot.
- cp $lib .$lib
-done
-
-#
-# Now, cleanup the 2 files we created for the library list
-#
-#/bin/rm -f ${HOME}/ldlist
-#/bin/rm -f ${HOME}/ldlist2
-/bin/rm -f ${TMPFILE1}
-/bin/rm -f ${TMPFILE2}
-
-# Necessary files that are not listed by ldd.
-#
-# There might be errors because of files that do not exist but in the end it
-# may work nevertheless (I added new file names at the end without deleting old
-# ones for reasons of backward compatibility).
-# So please test ssh/scp before reporting a bug.
-if [ "$DISTRO" = SUSE ]; then
- cp /lib/libnss_compat.so.2 /lib/libnss_files.so.2 /lib/libnss_dns.so.2 /lib/libxcrypt.so.1 ${JAILPATH}/lib/
-elif [ "$DISTRO" = FEDORA ]; then
- cp /lib/libnss_compat.so.2 /lib/libnsl.so.1 /lib/libnss_files.so.2 /lib/ld-linux.so.2 /lib/ld-ldb.so.3 /lib/ld-lsb.so.3 /lib/libnss_dns.so.2 /lib/libxcrypt.so.1 ${JAILPATH}/lib/
- cp /lib/*.* ${JAILPATH}/lib/
- cp /usr/lib/libcrack.so.2 ${JAILPATH}/usr/lib/
-elif [ "$DISTRO" = REDHAT ]; then
- cp /lib/libnss_compat.so.2 /lib/libnsl.so.1 /lib/libnss_files.so.2 /lib/ld-linux.so.2 /lib/ld-lsb.so.1 /lib/libnss_dns.so.2 /lib/libxcrypt.so.1 ${JAILPATH}/lib/
- # needed for scp on RHEL
- echo "export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/kerberos/lib" >> ${JAILPATH}/etc/profile
-elif [ "$DISTRO" = DEBIAN ]; then
- cp /lib/libnss_compat.so.2 /lib/libnsl.so.1 /lib/libnss_files.so.2 /lib/libcap.so.1 /lib/libnss_dns.so.2 ${JAILPATH}/lib/
-else
- cp /lib/libnss_compat.so.2 /lib/libnsl.so.1 /lib/libnss_files.so.2 /lib/libcap.so.1 /lib/libnss_dns.so.2 ${JAILPATH}/lib/
-fi
-
-# if you are using a 64 bit system and have strange problems with login comment
-# the following lines in, perhaps it works then (motto: if you can't find the
-# needed library just copy all of them)
-#
-#cp /lib/*.* ${JAILPATH}/lib/
-#cp /lib/lib64/*.* ${JAILPATH}/lib/lib64/
-
-# if you are using PAM you need stuff from /etc/pam.d/ in the jail,
-echo "Copying files from /etc/pam.d/ to jail"
-cp /etc/pam.d/* ${JAILPATH}/etc/pam.d/
-
-# ...and of course the PAM-modules...
-echo "Copying PAM-Modules to jail"
-cp -r /lib/security ${JAILPATH}/lib/
-
-# ...and something else useful for PAM
-cp -r /etc/security ${JAILPATH}/etc/
-cp /etc/login.defs ${JAILPATH}/etc/
-
-if [ -f /etc/DIR_COLORS ] ; then
- cp /etc/DIR_COLORS ${JAILPATH}/etc/
-fi
-
-# Don't give more permissions than necessary
-chown root.root ${JAILPATH}/bin/su
-chmod 700 ${JAILPATH}/bin/su
-
-exit
-
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/bash
-#
-# Init Script to run stunnel in daemon mode at boot time.
-#
-# Author: Riccardo Riva - RPM S.r.l.
-# Revision 1.0 - 2010 November, 11
-
-#====================================================================
-# Run level information:
-#
-# chkconfig: 2345 99 99
-# description: Secure Tunnel
-# processname: stunnel
-#
-# Run "/sbin/chkconfig --add stunnel" to add the Run levels.
-# This will setup the symlinks and set the process to run at boot.
-#====================================================================
-
-#====================================================================
-# Paths and variables and system checks.
-
-# Source function library
-. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
-
-# Check that networking is up.
-#
-[ ${NETWORKING} ="yes" ] || exit 0
-
-# Path to the executable.
-#
-SEXE=/usr/bin/stunnel
-
-# Path to the configuration file.
-#
-CONF=/etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf
-
-# Check the configuration file exists.
-#
-if [ ! -f $CONF ] ; then
- echo "The configuration file cannot be found!"
-exit 0
-fi
-
-# Path to the lock file.
-#
-LOCK_FILE=/var/lock/subsys/stunnel
-
-#====================================================================
-
-# Run controls:
-
-prog=$"stunnel"
-
-RETVAL=0
-
-# Start stunnel as daemon.
-#
-start() {
- if [ -f $LOCK_FILE ]; then
- echo "stunnel is already running!"
- exit 0
- else
- echo -n $"Starting $prog: "
- $SEXE $CONF
- fi
-
- RETVAL=$?
- [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && success
- echo
- [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && touch $LOCK_FILE
- return $RETVAL
-}
-
-# Stop stunnel.
-#
-stop() {
- if [ ! -f $LOCK_FILE ]; then
- echo "stunnel is not running!"
- exit 0
-
- else
-
- echo -n $"Shutting down $prog: "
- killproc stunnel
- RETVAL=$?
- [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ]
- rm -f $LOCK_FILE
- echo
- return $RETVAL
-
- fi
-}
-
-# See how we were called.
-case "$1" in
- start)
- start
- ;;
- stop)
- stop
- ;;
- restart)
- stop
- start
- ;;
- condrestart)
- if [ -f $LOCK_FILE ]; then
- stop
- start
- RETVAL=$?
- fi
- ;;
- status)
- status stunnel
- RETVAL=$?
- ;;
- *)
- echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|condrestart|status}"
- RETVAL=1
-esac
-
-exit $RETVAL
-
+++ /dev/null
-; Sample stunnel configuration file by Michal Trojnara 2002-2009
-; Some options used here may not be adequate for your particular configuration
-; Please make sure you understand them (especially the effect of the chroot jail)
-
-; Certificate/key is needed in server mode and optional in client mode
-cert = /etc/ssl/certs/stunnel.pem
-;key = /etc/stunnel/mail.key
-
-; Protocol version (all, SSLv2, SSLv3, TLSv1)
-sslVersion = SSLv3
-
-; Some security enhancements for UNIX systems - comment them out on Win32
-chroot = /var/run/stunnel/
-setuid = nobody
-setgid = nobody
-; PID is created inside the chroot jail
-pid = /stunnel.pid
-
-; Some performance tunings
-socket = l:TCP_NODELAY=1
-socket = r:TCP_NODELAY=1
-;compression = zlib
-
-; Workaround for Eudora bug
-;options = DONT_INSERT_EMPTY_FRAGMENTS
-
-; Authentication stuff
-;verify = 2
-; Don't forget to c_rehash CApath
-; CApath is located inside chroot jail
-;CApath = /certs
-; It's often easier to use CAfile
-;CAfile = /etc/stunnel/certs.pem
-;CAfile = /etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt
-; Don't forget to c_rehash CRLpath
-; CRLpath is located inside chroot jail
-;CRLpath = /crls
-; Alternatively you can use CRLfile
-;CRLfile = /etc/stunnel/crls.pem
-
-; Some debugging stuff useful for troubleshooting
-debug = 7
-output = stunnel.log
-
-; Use it for client mode
-;client = yes
-
-; Service-level configuration
-
-; [pop3s]
-;accept = 995
-;connect = 110
-
-;[imaps]
-;accept = 993
-;connect = 143
-
-;[ssmtp]
-;accept = 465
-;connect = 25
-
-;[https]
-;accept = 443
-;connect = 80
-;TIMEOUTclose = 0
-
-; vim:ft=dosini
-
-[tracd]
-; port offering ssl trac visibility to the web.
-accept = 8042
-; port on localhost for service.
-connect = localhost:10042
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-copy the included files into /etc in the same hierarchy structure, which is:
-
- etc/
- etc/init.d
- etc/init.d/stunnel
- etc/stunnel
- etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf
-
-fix permissions:
-
- chmod 755 /etc/init.d/stunnel
-
-fix configuration:
-
- modify /etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf to represent your desired tunneling
- configuration. the example turns a trac install on localhost with standard
- http protocol into a TLS version on the https protocol.
-
-run this command to get stunnel registered:
-
- sudo /sbin/chkconfig --add stunnel
-
-afterwards the service should start with:
-
- /etc/init.d/stunnel start
-
-if problems result from starting the service:
-
- + maybe you need to fix the path in the /etc/init.d/stunnel script.
- try running:
- "which stunnel" (or "whence stunnel")
- and updating the script with the path shown for stunnel.
-
- + maybe there's a port conflict from another service?
- check with the configuration files or ask the system administrators for
- assistance. the telnet tool will connect to an arbitrary tcp service and
- inform you if the connection succeeded, e.g. "telnet myhost 23230".
- if it says "Connected to ...." then the connection was successful,
- regardless of the type of tcp protocol actually on that port. if that
- reports instead "unable to connect to remote host", then no answer was
- received. if the telnet session just says "Trying ...." and never comes
- back or takes a really long time, then a firewall may be blocking the
- port or the machine may be down.
-
+++ /dev/null
-### This file is an example password file for svnserve.
-### Its format is similar to that of svnserve.conf. As shown in the
-### example below it contains one section labelled [users].
-### The name and password for each user follow, one account per line.
-
-[users]
-# harry = harryssecret
-# sally = sallyssecret
-fred = passwdgoeshere
+++ /dev/null
-### This file controls the configuration of the svnserve daemon, if you
-### use it to allow access to this repository. (If you only allow
-### access through http: and/or file: URLs, then this file is
-### irrelevant.)
-
-### Visit http://subversion.tigris.org/ for more information.
-
-[general]
-### These options control access to the repository for unauthenticated
-### and authenticated users. Valid values are "write", "read",
-### and "none". The sample settings below are the defaults.
-# anon-access = read
-# auth-access = write
-### The password-db option controls the location of the password
-### database file. Unless you specify a path starting with a /,
-### the file's location is relative to the directory containing
-### this configuration file.
-### If SASL is enabled (see below), this file will NOT be used.
-### Uncomment the line below to use the default password file.
-password-db = passwd
-### The authz-db option controls the location of the authorization
-### rules for path-based access control. Unless you specify a path
-### starting with a /, the file's location is relative to the the
-### directory containing this file. If you don't specify an
-### authz-db, no path-based access control is done.
-### Uncomment the line below to use the default authorization file.
-# authz-db = authz
-### This option specifies the authentication realm of the repository.
-### If two repositories have the same authentication realm, they should
-### have the same password database, and vice versa. The default realm
-### is repository's uuid.
-# realm = My First Repository
-
-[sasl]
-### This option specifies whether you want to use the Cyrus SASL
-### library for authentication. Default is false.
-### This section will be ignored if svnserve is not built with Cyrus
-### SASL support; to check, run 'svnserve --version' and look for a line
-### reading 'Cyrus SASL authentication is available.'
-# use-sasl = true
-### These options specify the desired strength of the security layer
-### that you want SASL to provide. 0 means no encryption, 1 means
-### integrity-checking only, values larger than 1 are correlated
-### to the effective key length for encryption (e.g. 128 means 128-bit
-### encryption). The values below are the defaults.
-# min-encryption = 0
-# max-encryption = 256
+++ /dev/null
-
-https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Subversion
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-#! /bin/sh
-### BEGIN INIT INFO
-# Provides: svnserve
-# Required-Start: $local_fs $syslog $remote_fs
-# Required-Stop: $local_fs $syslog $remote_fs
-# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
-# Default-Stop: 0 1 6
-# Short-Description: Start svnserve
-### END INIT INFO
-
-# Author: Michal Wojciechowski <odyniec@odyniec.net>
-
-PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
-DESC="svnserve"
-NAME=svnserve
-DAEMON=/usr/bin/$NAME
-DAEMON_ARGS="-d -r /z/repo"
-PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid
-SCRIPTNAME=/etc/init.d/$NAME
-
-[ -x "$DAEMON" ] || exit 0
-
-[ -r /etc/default/$NAME ] && . /etc/default/$NAME
-
-. /lib/init/vars.sh
-
-. /lib/lsb/init-functions
-
-do_start()
-{
- start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON --test > /dev/null \
- || return 1
- start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON -- \
- $DAEMON_ARGS \
- || return 2
-}
-
-do_stop()
-{
- start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=TERM/30/KILL/5 --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
- RETVAL="$?"
- [ "$RETVAL" = 2 ] && return 2
- start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --retry=0/30/KILL/5 --exec $DAEMON
- [ "$?" = 2 ] && return 2
- rm -f $PIDFILE
- return "$RETVAL"
-}
-
-case "$1" in
- start)
- [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME"
- do_start
- case "$?" in
- 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
- 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
- esac
- ;;
- stop)
- [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME"
- do_stop
- case "$?" in
- 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
- 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
- esac
- ;;
- restart|force-reload)
- log_daemon_msg "Restarting $DESC" "$NAME"
- do_stop
- case "$?" in
- 0|1)
- do_start
- case "$?" in
- 0) log_end_msg 0 ;;
- 1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running
- *) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start
- esac
- ;;
- *)
- # Failed to stop
- log_end_msg 1
- ;;
- esac
- ;;
- *)
- echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|restart|force-reload}" >&2
- exit 3
- ;;
-esac
-
-exit 0
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-# real time clock config.
-dev.rtc.max-user-freq=1024
-
+++ /dev/null
-"id","summary","reporter","component","description"
-"","title","fred","compon","desc"
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/bash
-#
-# Runs the trac server startup if it's not already going.
-# This is a lighter-weight solution than adding trac to init scripts,
-# and it can be run as a normal user with the trac repository in their
-# home directory.
-#
-# Author: Chris Koeritz
-
-source "$FEISTY_MEOW_SCRIPTS/core/functions.sh"
-
-# we only try to do something if trac is missing.
-if [ "$(psfind tracd)" ]; then
- exit 0
-fi
-
-#...adjust this for where you have your repository.
-# this configuration also assumes that stunnel is routing the non-ssl trac
-# service to the web; the below does not make trac visible off-machine.
-tracd -s --hostname=localhost -p 7000 --basic-auth="MyTracSite,/home/trac/trac_sites/authFile," /home/trac/trac_sites/MyTracSite &
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-fred:x:1008:
-
-fredhuff:x:14000:fred
-chronical:x:14001:fred
-zeno:x:14002:fred
-mojo:x:14003:fred
-sedge:x:14004:fred
-ddm:x:14005:fred
-glorpenz:x:14006:fred
-
-eepaw:x:14108:fred
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-fred:x:1008:1008:fred hamster,,,:/home/fred:/bin/bash
-
-fredhuff:x:14000:14000:Fred Huffhines,,,,:/home/fredhuff:/bin/bash
-chronical:x:14001:14001:Chronical Koolhoven,,,,:/home/chronical:/bin/bash
-zeno:x:14002:14002:Zeno Olifone,,,,:/home/zeno:/bin/bash
-mojo:x:14003:14003:mojopickle haystack,,,,:/home/mojo:/bin/bash
-sedge:x:14004:14004:sedgeweaver jupiter,,,,:/home/sedge:/bin/bash
-ddm:x:14005:14005:DharmaDrum Magic,,,,:/home/ddm:/bin/bash
-glorpenz:x:14006:14006:Glorpenz Caggles,,,,:/home/glorpenz:/bin/bash
-
-eepaw:x:14108:14108:eepaw mater,,,,:/home/eepaw:/bin/bash
+++ /dev/null
-
-" cranks up the register saved buffer size to 1000 lines, since otherwise the cut buffer will only
-" preserve the default 50 lines for a paste to another file. this makes all registers go up to
-" this size though, so if you save to a lot of different ones, you will use more space in your
-" viminfo file.
-set viminfo='100,<1000,s10,h
-
-" tells vim not to make a backup of the file before editing it; this is living dangerously.
-set nobk
-
-" nocompatible|nocp turns off compatibility mode, allowing filename completion.
-set nocompatible
-
-" elflord just happens to be the color scheme i prefer. there are a bunch.
-colorscheme elflord
-
-" map the normal copy, cut and paste keys (ctrl-c, ctrl-x & ctrl-v) for vim.
-nmap <C-V> "+gP
-imap <C-V> <ESC><C-V>i
-vmap <C-C> "+y
-vmap <C-X> "+c
-
-" map ctrl-a to select all of the file. ctrl-i increments, whatever that is.
-noremap <C-I> <C-A>
-noremap <C-A> gggH<C-O>G
-inoremap <C-A> <C-O>gg<C-O>gH<C-O>G
-cnoremap <C-A> <C-C>gggH<C-O>G
-onoremap <C-A> <C-C>gggH<C-O>G
-snoremap <C-A> <C-C>gggH<C-O>G
-xnoremap <C-A> <C-C>ggVG
+++ /dev/null
-\r
-this is a kind of useful compare filter for visual studio. it drops checking of a lot\r
-of commonly present files which in general one does not care about.\r
-\r
-note: this pattern will hide changes to AssemblyInfo files. we do that because these often\r
-are updated for versions and we don't want to see every one of those as being modified.\r
-\r
-!AssemblyInfo.cpp;!AssemblyInfo.cs;!logs\;!waste\;!generated\;!binaries\;!objects\;!lib\;!*_version.h;!*_version.rc;!obj\;!dll\;!exe\;!obj\;!pdb\;!install\;!*.user;!*.vspscc;!tests\;!*.fb2;!*.fxb;!*.fn2;!*.res;!html\;!*.pyc\r
+++ /dev/null
-
-Redirect permanent /google "http://google.com"
-
-# so, given this file in a web directory at: http://frenziedogmatics.com/
-# a web browser pointed at: http://frenziedogmatics.com/google
-# would actually just show http://google.com instead.
-
-
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-[grab]
- device = /dev/video0
- text = "webcam %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
-# infofile = filename
- fg_red = 255
- fg_green = 255
- fg_blue = 255
- width = 320
- height = 240
- delay = 1
- wait = 0
-# input = composite1
- norm = pal
- rotate = 0
- top = 0
- left = 0
- bottom = 239
- right = 319
- quality = 85
- trigger = 100
- once = 0
-
-[velma]
- host = velma
- user = anonymous
- pass = fred@
- dir = incoming
- file = webcam.jpeg
- tmp = uploading.jpeg
- passive = 1
- debug = 0
- auto = 0
- local = 0
- ssh = 0
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-<html>
-<head>
-<script type="text/javascript">
-<!--
-function delayer(){
- window.location.reload(true);
-}
-//-->
-</script>
-</head>
-<body onLoad="setTimeout('delayer()', 2321)">
-<h2>Webcamomatic Yo!</h2>
-<p>oof</p>
-
-<center><img src="webcam.jpeg"></center>
-
-<p>The horrendous new picture will be up shortly.</p>
-
-</body>
-</html>
-
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/bash
-# this is a simple shell that can be dropped in ~/.kde/Autostart to run a
-# fishtank on the root X window.
-# note: you must enable desktop | behavior | general | allow programs in
-# desktop window for the fishtank to show up.
-xfishtank -c deepblue -f 14 -b 28 -d &
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-#!/bin/bash
-# this is a simple shell that can be dropped in ~/.kde/Autostart to show a
-# bunch of roaches on the root X window.
-# note: you must enable desktop | behavior | general | allow programs in
-# desktop window for the fishtank to show up.
-
-xroach -roaches 23 -rc purple -rgc green -speed 0.05 -squish &
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-
-how to fix your screensaver after ubuntu oneiric ocelot or later wipes
-xscreensaver out:
-
-this page has good info about most of what's needed:
- http://www.webupd8.org/2011/10/things-to-tweak-after-installing-ubuntu.html
-
-this page shows how to get menu working again:
- http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1865593
-
-
-this directory also has a file containing a slightly modified version of the
-fix for the gnome screenlock menu item. it's called screenlock_dbus.py.
+++ /dev/null
-#!/usr/bin/python
-
-import dbus
-import dbus.service
-import dbus.glib
-import gobject
-import os
-import sys
-
-class ScreenDbusObj(dbus.service.Object):
- def __init__(self):
- # stuff the logging into a temporary and hidden directory.
- try:
- os.chdir(os.environ['HOME'] + "/.zz_temp_screenlock_menu")
- print (os.environ['HOME'] + "/.zz_temp_screenlock_menu" + " was already there")
- sys.stdout.flush()
- except:
- print (os.environ['HOME'] + "/.zz_temp_screenlock_menu" + " is not there yet")
- sys.stdout.flush()
- os.mkdir(os.environ['HOME'] + "/.zz_temp_screenlock_menu")
- os.chdir(os.environ['HOME'] + "/.zz_temp_screenlock_menu")
- print (os.environ['HOME'] + "/.zz_temp_screenlock_menu" + " is there now")
- sys.stdout.flush()
- print ("about to create a dbus")
- sys.stdout.flush()
- session_bus = dbus.SessionBus()
- print ("about to setup a bus name")
- sys.stdout.flush()
- bus_name=dbus.service.BusName("org.gnome.ScreenSaver",bus=session_bus)
- print ("about to init dbus service")
- sys.stdout.flush()
- dbus.service.Object.__init__(self,bus_name, '/org/gnome/ScreenSaver')
- print ("after init dbus service")
- sys.stdout.flush()
-
- @dbus.service.method("org.gnome.ScreenSaver")
- def Lock(self):
- print ("saw the command to lock the screen, about to lock")
- sys.stdout.flush()
- os.system( "xscreensaver-command -lock" )
- print ("issued xscreensaver request to lock the screen")
- sys.stdout.flush()
-
-if __name__ == '__main__':
- print ("into main of screeny")
- sys.stdout.flush()
- object=ScreenDbusObj()
- print ("after creating the screen dbus object, about to go into loop")
- sys.stdout.flush()
- gobject.MainLoop().run()
- print ("after loop, exiting from app")
- sys.stdout.flush()
-
+++ /dev/null
- /--------\
- /**********\
- /........****\
- /..........****\
- /.....*.....*****\
- |.........*******|
- |........********|
- |......**********|
- \.....*****.*****/
- \....**********/
- \....********/
- \ ........./
- \--------/
-~
-liquid ball of fur
-dances with a beam of light,
-never catches it.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Om Muni Muni Maha Muni Yea Swaha
-~
-Gun dro nga tang yul nge nga
-Gewa ju jik dza nyon druk
-Nye nyon nyi shu shen gyur shi
-Sem chung nga jik di dak o.
-~
-religious letter games...
-
- DEVIL
- EVIL
- GOOD
- GOD
-~
-Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
-~
-Om Mani Padme Hum
-~
-Om Shanthi Om
-~
-Om A Ra Ba Tsa Na Di
-~
-om a ra ba tsa na di
-om a ra ba tsa na di
-om a ra ba tsa na di
-om a ra ba tsa na di
-om a ra ba tsa na di
-om a ra ba tsa na di
-om a ra ba tsa na di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di
-~
-Om Mani Padme Hum (Hail to the Lotus Jewel)
-~
-The paths are many, the truth is one
-~
-Mickey Mouse has no wife, no horse, no mustache
-~
-where you are is where you were when you are where you will be.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-don't let them immanentize your personal eschaton
-~
-nga tsho gyis rang gi gyo bar sems can song ba'i dgos.
-(we should be self-motivating sentient beings.)
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-The man in whom Tao
-Acts without impediment
-Harms no other being
-By his actions
-Yet he does not know himself
-To be "kind," to be "gentle"
-~
-When an archer is shooting for nothing
-He has all his skill.
-If he shoots for a brass buckle
-He is already nervous.
-If he shoots for a prize of gold
-He goes blind
-Or sees two targets--
-He is out of his mind!
-
-His skill has not changed. But the prize
-Divides him. He cares.
-He thinks more of winning
-Than of shooting--
-And the need to win
-Drains him of power.
-~
-By giving, resources; by ethics, bliss
-~
-One may lead a horse to water, but cannot make him think.
-~
-time does not exist
-~
-neither i nor you nor anything exists truly
-i, you and everything each have our own existence
-the view between the two extremes is the middle way
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Mickey Mouse and Mickey Rooney have something in common.
-~
-Natural language is hard.
- -- (a prominent natural language scholar; do you know who? i don't.)
-~
-not this not this not this, what is it?
-~
-there it is.
-~
-ribong ra chos jan,
-med ba thal,
-sangs rgyas kyi tshad mas ma nges ba'i phyir.
-(the subject "horns of a rabbit" does not exist because it is not an object
-validly cognized by a buddha.)
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-what you don't see is what you get when you don't look. -- fred t. hamster
-~
-this bell's knelling is never quelled,
- while service is rendered,
-tin staccato splattered over cupric strands,
- spraying crazed meaning to distant lands.
-what is it?
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.
- -- Shakyamuni Buddha
-~
-It is hard to think of what one is doing when one is doing it.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-No program is so finished that a few bug fixes won't destroy it.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Words obscure meaning. -- fred t. hamster
-~
-There's a Ribong in my Attic, There's a Ribong in my Chair.
-There's a Ribong in my Dipstick, There's a Ribong in my Hair.
-In fact, there's a Ribong everywhere.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-In the context of a spreadsheet system, the user must ensure that the
-sheet is thoroughly spread onto the bed.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-nechung: unable to open fortunes.dat file. (just kidding)
-~
-are you only using half your brain?
-if you can only think in terms of logical conclusions, rational assumptions,
-and common sense OR
-if you can only think in terms of intuitive jumps, esthetic motivations,
-and the fluid nature of reality,
-then you probably are stuck on one side of your head. try moving into
-both halves.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-time has eight eyes and three elbows...
-and millions of clocks.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-i refuse to ignore what i cannot perceive. -- fred t. hamster
-~
-if you can't change your mind,
-are you sure you've still got one?
-~
-The only people who deserve to be called "Americans" are called "Indians".
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-you are contemplative and analytical by nature
-~
-annal nathrac
-uthvad bethos
-dochiel diende
- -- Merlin in Excalibur
-~
-Charlottesville, Virginia: gravity well for the soul.
-~
-if one is always ambiguous enough, he is never wrong.
-but he never says anything either.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Protect Children, Feed Bunnies, Heal Sickness, Understand Reality
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Improve the environment and the government;
-feed politicians toxic waste.
-~
-alright, so it was a slow night.
-alright, so it was a slow knight.
-all night, what a slow knight.
-there's slightly white snow tonight.
-tight flights light from the height of night.
-a byte too trite.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-sasquatch in my breakfast cereal. -- fred t. hamster
-~
-"what i say is unimportant." -- david w andrews
-"i'll keep that in mind." -- chris koeritz
-~
-"are Israelis Catholic?" -- christine kelly
-~
-support the police,
-beat yourself up.
- -- seen in April 1991 High Times
-~
-support the IRA,
-get bombed.
- -- co-authored by dave and chris
-~
-we grow old as soon as we cease to love and trust.
- -- Madame De Choiseul
-~
-marijuana is a natural mollifier.
-~
-I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the
-monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-few minds wear out;
-more rust out.
- -- Christian N. Bovee
-~
-Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist,
-but the ability to start over.
- -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
-~
-One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it.
- -- French Proverb
-~
-The cobra will bite you whether you call it cobra or Mr. Cobra.
- -- Indian Proverb
-~
-The first casualty when war comes is truth. -- Hiram Johnson, 1917
-~
-Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the
-love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity
-encourages.
- -- Samuel Johnson, from The Idler, 1758
-~
-Luck sometimes visits a fool, but never sits down with him.
- -- German Proverb
-~
-How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were? -- Satchel Page
-~
-Yeah, you got a point there man. Just let
-your hair grow and nobody'll ever find out.
- -- Cheech Marin
-~
-Eloquence is vehement simplicity. -- Richard Cecil
-~
-Two of my correspondents labeled me 'self-righteous', by which
-they seem to have meant that they think they are righter
-than i think i am.
- -- Wendell Berry
-~
-Every thought I have imprisoned in expression I must free by my deeds.
- -- Kahlil Gibran
-~
-the other is a measure of the self. -- fred hamster
-~
-it is not who we are that defines us, but what we do.
-the actions we take are the real indication of where our minds
-and bodies are at, an expression of our being.
-when one does not act, one cannot harm,
-but by not acting when action could help another,
-there may be harm.
-~
-if what you are doing right now isn't broadening your mind
-or elevating your spirit through total awareness of the essence,
-then find that broadness! that elevation!
-if an activity doesn't wake you up and tickle you,
-then tickle yourself. that load which cannot be unburdened
-must be levitated.
-~
-the only people i don't like are those who don't want me to like them...
-and i try to like them when they're not paying attention.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-to george h. w. bush (on the occasion of our last meeting):
- "you're a suit where a person should be."
-~
-The numbah uh bits in a compyooter word should NOT bee ayut, nor
-sixuhteeen, nor thirty tooo, mah frayends. For vayrilee, it should
-bee fifty! Theeuss would gayruntee that the sanctitty of our
-great nayshun would be forevah preeserved! Theyuh would be just
-one bit for each an every good stayett in this heyuh fahnnn nasyshun,
-the YOOnited Stayetts of AhhMayReekah!
-~
-Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
- -- Lord Acton, Letter, 5 April 1887
-~
-No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean,
-for words are slippery and thought is viscous.
- -- Henry B. Adams, "The Education of Henry Adams", 1907
-~
-One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible.
- -- Henry B. Adams, "The Education of Henry Adams", 1907
-~
-It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
- -- Alfred Adler, 1939
-~
-Good art is not what it looks like, but what it does to us.
- -- Roy Adzak, quoted in "Contemporary Artists", 1977
-~
-A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety. -- Aesop
-~
-Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything. -- Aesop
-~
-We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified. -- Aesop
-~
-The paper burns, but the words fly away. -- Ben Joseph Akiba
-~
-Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never play cards with a man named Doc.
-And never lie down with a woman who's got more trouble than you.
- -- Nelson Algren, "What Every Young Man Should Know"
-~
-Most of us spend the first 6 days of each week sowing wild oats,
-then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.
- -- Fred Allen
-~
-Leisure time is that five or six hours when you sleep at night.
- -- George Allen
-~
-I don't want to achieve immortality through my work.
-I want to achieve it through not dying.
- -- Woody Allen
-~
-The lion and the calf shall lie down together
-but the calf won't get much sleep.
- -- Woody Allen
-~
-If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a
-large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.
- -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
-~
-The difference between sex and death is that with death
-you can do it alone and no one is going to make fun of you.
- -- Woody Allen, quoted in "New York Tribune", 1975
-~
-It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people.
-The good ones slept better... while the bad ones seemed
-to enjoy the waking hours much more.
- -- Woody Allen, "Side Effects" 1981
-~
-Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
- -- Muhammad Ali, in "Time", 1978
-~
-Doing easily what others find difficult is talent;
-doing what is impossible for talent is genius.
- -- Henri-Frederic Amiel, "Journal", 1883
-~
-In any country there must be people who have to die. They are the
-sacrifices any nation has to make to achieve law and order.
- -- Idi Amin Dada, 1976
-~
-God has been replaced, as he has all over the West,
-with respectability and air conditioning.
- -- Imamu Amiri Baraka, "Home", 1966
-~
-Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity
-of opportunity to be otherwise.
- -- Maya Angelou, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", 1969
-~
-Death is life's answer to the question 'Why?' -- Anonymous
-~
-God is not dead. He is alive and working on a less ambitious project.
- -- Anonymous, 1975
-~
-In March July, October, May,
-The Ides are on the fifteenth day,
-The Nones the seventh: all other months besides
-Have two days less for Nones and Ides.
- -- Anonymous
-~
-Never argue with a fool--people might not know the difference. -- Anonymous
-~
-Never go to sea with two chronometers; take one or three. -- Anonymous
-~
-The fewer clear facts you have in support of an opinion,
-the stronger your emotional attachment to that opinion.
- -- Anonymous
-~
-Vote early and vote often. -- Anonymous, on US election banners, 1850's
-~
-You're never alone with schizophrenia. -- Anonymous
-~
-Resolved, that the women of this nation in 1876, have greater cause
-for discontent, rebellion and revolution than the men of 1776.
- -- Susan B. Anthony
-~
-Women like silent men. They think they're listening. -- Marcel Archard
-~
-We make war that we may live in peace. -- Aristotle
-~
-What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. -- Aristotle
-~
-Wit is cultured insolence. -- Aristotle
-~
-That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. -- Neil Armstrong
-~
-What passes for optimism is most often the effect of an intellectual error.
- -- Raymond Aron, "The Opium of the Intellectuals", 1957
-~
-We are still speaking the same language,
-but neither of us is hearing the other.
- -- Hafez Assad, on Syrian relations with Egypt, in "Time", 3 April 1989
-~
-If Gary Hart had seen Fatal Attraction two years ago,
-he'd probably be President.
- -- Bruce Babbitt, 1988 Presidential Campaign
-~
-Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. -- Francis Bacon, 1624
-~
-Rebellions of the belly are the worst. -- Francis Bacon
-~
-It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations.
- -- Walter Bagehot, "Biographical Studies", 1863
-~
-Be careful what you set your heart upon--for it will surely be yours.
- -- James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name" 1961
-~
-Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart;
-for his purity, by definition, is unassailable.
- -- James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name" 1961
-~
-The future is like heaven--everyone exalts it,
-but no one wants to go there now.
- -- James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name", 1961
-~
-It is easier to be a lover than a husband for the simple reason
-that it is more difficult to be witty every day
-than to say pretty things from time to time.
- -- Honore de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829
-~
-Marriage must incessantly contend with a monster
-that devours everything: familiarity.
- -- Honore de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829
-~
-The duration of passion is proportionate
-with the original resistance of the woman.
- -- Honore de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829
-~
-It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time.
- -- Tallulah Bankhead
-~
-Television is the first truly democratic culture--the first culture
-available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want.
-The most terrifying thing is what people do want.
- -- Clive Barnes, in "New York Times", 1969
-~
-What is an adult? A child blown up by age.
- -- Simone de Beauvoir, "La Femme rompue", 1967
-~
-Now comes the mystery.
- -- Henry Ward Beecher, last words, 8 March 1887
-~
-Critics are like eunuchs in a harem: they know how it's done,
-they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves.
- -- Brendan Behan
-~
-The most important things to do in this world are to get something
-to eat, something to drink and somebody to love you.
- -- Brendan Behan, in "Weekend", 1968
-~
-Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
- -- Hector Berlioz, "Almanach des lettres francaises"
-~
-So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
- -- Psalms 90:10
-~
-The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. -- Psalms 111:10
-~
-Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
- -- Proverbs 16:18
-~
-The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
-fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- -- Proverbs 1:7
-~
-The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.
- -- Ecclesiastes 9:11
-~
-No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate one and love the other,
-or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and riches.
- -- Matthew 6:24
-~
-And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?
- -- Matthew 6:27
-~
-Greater love hath no man than this,
-that a man lay down his life for his friends.
- -- John 15:13
-~
-Spring beckons! All things to the call respond;
-the trees are leaving and cashiers abscond.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
-~
-Beauty, n: the power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
-~
-Belladonna, n. In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison.
-A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
-~
-Bore, n: a person who talks when you wish him to listen.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
-~
-Conservative, n: a statesman who is enamoured of existing evils, as
-distinguished from a Liberal who wishes to replace them with others.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
-~
-Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are,
-not as they ought to be.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
-~
-Marriage, n: the state or condition of a community
-consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves,
-making in all, two.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
-~
-Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
-~
-Politeness, n: The most acceptable hypocrisy.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
-~
-Yankee, n: In Europe, an American.
-In the Northern States of our Union, a New Englander.
-In the Southern States the word is unknown. (See DAMYANK.)
- -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
-~
-The wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one that gets the grease.
- -- Josh Billings, "The Kicker"
-~
-People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
- -- Otto von Bismarck
-~
-Universal suffrage is the government of a house by its nursery.
- -- Otto von Bismarck
-~
-The first sign of a nervous breakdown is when you start
-thinking your work is terribly important.
- -- Milo Bloom
-~
-An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes
-which can be made, in a narrow field.
- -- Niels Bohr
-~
-The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the
-opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.
- -- Niels Bohr
-~
-If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. -- Derek Bok, 1978
-~
-The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
- -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
-~
-Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed.
-If I fail, no one will say, 'She doesn't have what it takes.'
-They will say, 'Women don't have what it takes.'
- -- Clare Boothe Luce
-~
-Censorship, like charity, should begin at home,
-but unlike charity, it should end there.
- -- Clare Boothe Luce
-~
-No good deed goes unpunished. -- Clare Boothe Luce
-~
-When in doubt, mumble; when in trouble, delegate; when in charge, ponder.
- -- James H. Boren
-~
-Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. -- Victor Borge
-~
-Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand,
-but we must build as if the sand were stone.
- -- Jorge Luis Borges, 1972
-~
-We never know whether we are victors or whether we are defeated.
- -- Jorge Luis Borges, "Borges On Writing", 1974
-~
-It is possible to store the mind with a million facts
-and still be entirely uneducated.
- -- Alec Bourne, "A Doctor's Creed"
-~
-Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue
-to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant
-may prove to be our executioner.
- -- General Omar Bradley
-~
-Grub first, then ethics. -- Bertolt Brecht
-~
-I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it.
- -- Ashleigh Brilliant
-~
-Please don't ask me what the score is, I'm not even sure what the game is.
- -- Ashleigh Brilliant
-~
-To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first,
-and call whatever you hit the target.
- -- Ashleigh Brilliant
-~
-No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.
- -- Jacob Bronowski, in "Encounter", 1971
-~
-Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.
- -- Sam Brown, in "Washington Post", 1977
-~
-Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow.
- -- Matthew Browne, "Lilliput Levee"
-~
-As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically
-reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children.
- -- Anita Bryant, 1977
-~
-Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.
- -- William F. Buckley
-~
-Before you kill something make sure you have something better
-to replace it with; something better than political opportunist
-slamming hate horsesh*t in the public park.
- -- Charles Bukowski, "Notes of a Dirty Old Man", 1969
-~
-We love your adherence to democratic principles.
- -- George HW Bush speaking to Ferdinand Marcos, June 1981
-~
-The final lesson of Viet Nam is that no great nation
-can long afford to be sundered by a memory.
- -- George HW Bush, 1989 Inaugural Address
-~
-The caribou love [the Alaska oil pipeline].
-They run up against it, and they have babies.
- -- George HW Bush, 1988 and again "New York Times", 3 April 1989
-~
-It would be inappropriate for the President of the United States
-to try to fine-tune for the people of Hungary how they ought to eat -
-how the cow ought to eat the cabbage, as we say in the United States.
- -- George HW Bush, quoted in "Philadelphia Inquirer", 13 July 1989
-~
-An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less.
- -- Nicholas Murray Butler
-~
-Friendship is like money, easier made than kept. -- Samuel Butler
-~
-The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.
- -- Samuel Butler, "The Fair Haven", 1873
-~
-Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense
-to know how to lie well.
- -- Samuel Butler, "Notebooks" 1912
-~
-Marriage is distinctly and repeatedly excluded from heaven.
-Is this because it is thought likely to mar the general felicity?
- -- Samuel Butler, "Notebooks" 1912
-~
-One was never married, and that's his hell; another is, and that's his plague.
- -- Robert Burton, 1651
-~
-For truth is always strange; stranger than fiction.
- -- Lord Byron, "Don Juan", 1818
-~
-The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds;
-and the pessimist fears this is true.
- -- James B. Cabell, "The Silver Stallion" 1926
-~
-Men willingly believe what they wish. -- Julius Caesar
-~
-What is life? An illusion, a shadow, a story.
-And the greatest good is little enough:
-for all life is a dream, and dreams themselves are only dreams.
- -- Pedro Calderon de la Barca, "Life is a Dream"
-~
-It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies.
- -- Arthur Calwell, 1968
-~
-An honest politician is one who when he is bought will stay bought.
- -- Simon Cameron
-~
-Every revolutionary ends up either by becoming an oppressor or a heretic.
- -- Albert Camus, "The Rebel", 1951
-~
-When I sell liquor, its called bootlegging; when my patrons serve
-it on a silver tray on Lake Shore Drive, it's called hospitality.
- -- Al Capone
-~
-You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun
-than you can with a kind word alone.
- -- Al Capone
-~
-Anyone who can walk to the welfare office can walk to work.
- -- Al Capp, in "Esquire", 1970
-~
-It is long accepted by the missionaries that morality is inversely
-proportional to the amount of clothing people wore.
- -- Alex Carey
-~
-"Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be,
-and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic!"
- -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
-~
-Because of the greatness of the Shah, Iran is an island of stability
-in the Middle East.
- -- Jimmy Carter, 31 December 1977
-~
-Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie!" till you can find a rock.
- -- Wynn Catlin
-~
-As long as people will accept crap,
-it will be financially profitable to dispense it.
- -- Dick Cavett, in "Playboy", 1971
-~
-Everything beautiful has its moment and then passes away.
- -- Luis Cernuda, "Las Ruinas"
-~
-A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience.
- -- Miguel de Cervantes
-~
-I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women,
-French to men, and German to my horse.
- -- Charles V, King of France
-~
-In some cases non-violence requires more militancy than violence.
- -- Cesar Chavez
-~
-He who asks is a fool for five minutes,
-but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
- -- Chinese proverb
-~
-The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out.
- -- Chinese proverb
-~
-I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly,
-or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.
- -- Chuang Tzu
-~
-I like a man who grins when he fights. -- Winston Churchill
-~
-I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us.
-Pigs treat us as equals.
- -- Winston Churchil
-~
-It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-Man will occasionally stumble over the truth,
-but most times he will pick himself up and carry on.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings;
-the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.
- -- Winston Churchill, Speech, January 1952
-~
-Preparation, knowledge, and discipline can deal with any form of danger.
- -- Tom Clancy, "The Hunt for Red October", 1984
-~
-Who will protect the public when the police violate the law?
- -- Ramsey Clark
-~
-It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God,
-but to create him.
- -- Arthur C. Clarke
-~
-Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.
- -- Arthur C. Clarke
-~
-Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
- -- Arthur C. Clarke, "Profiles of the Future", 1962
-~
-You're either part of the solution or part of the problem.
- -- Eldridge Cleaver, 1968
-~
-The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less.
- -- Eldridge Cleaver, "Soul on Ice", 1968
-~
-America is the only nation in history which miraculously
-has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without
-the usual interval of civilization.
- -- Georges Clemenceau, 1 December 1945
-~
-War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military.
- -- Georges Clemenceau
-~
-When you have nothing to say, say nothing. -- Charles Caleb Colton
-~
-I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
- -- Confucius
-~
-If we don't know life, how can we know death? -- Confucius
-~
-Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
- -- Confucius
-~
-Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance. -- Confucius
-~
-What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others. -- Confucius
-~
-When we see persons of worth, we should think of equaling them;
-when we see persons of a contrary character,
-we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.
- -- Confucius
-~
-Imprisoned in every fat man a thin man is wildly signaling to be let out.
- -- Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945
-~
-Slums may well be breeding grounds of crime,
-but middle class suburbs are incubators of apathy and delirium.
- -- Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945
-~
-Truth is a river that is always splitting up into arms that reunite.
-Islanded between the arms the inhabitants argue for a lifetime
-as to which is the main river.
- -- Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945
-~
-Always be nice to those younger than you, because they are the ones
-who will be writing about you.
- -- Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983
-~
-Youth is a period of missed opportunities.
- -- Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983
-~
-The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet.
- -- Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983
-~
-You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
- -- Joseph Conrad, "Lord Jim", 1900
-~
-The horror! The horror!
- -- Joseph Conrad, "Heart of Darkness", 1902
-~
-I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and
-invigorating climate, but most of all because of her indomitable people.
- -- Calvin Coolidge, Speech, 21 September 1928
-~
-Don't talk unless you can improve the silence. -- Laurence Coughlin
-~
-A man feared that he might find an assassin;
-Another that he might find a victim.
-One was more wise than the other.
- -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
-~
-I stood upon a high place, and saw, below, many devils,
-running, leaping, and carousing in sin.
-One looked up, grinning, and said, "Comrade! Brother!"
- -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
-~
-I walked in a desert.
-And I cried,
-"Ah, God, take me from this place!"
-A voice said, "It is no desert."
-I cried, "Well, but---
-"The sand, the heat, the vacant horizon."
-A voice said, "It is no desert."
- -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
-~
-I was in the darkness;
-I could not see my words
-Nor the wishes of my heart.
-Then suddenly there was a great light---
-"Let me into the darkness again."
- -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
-~
-A man said to the universe, "Sir, I exist." "However," replied the universe,
-"the fact has not created in me a sense of obligation."
- -- Stephan Crane, "War is Kind", 1899
-~
-There is growing evidence that smoking has pharamacological ...
-effects that are of real value to smokers.
- -- Joseph F. Cullman III (Pres. of Phillip Morris)
- Annual Report to Stockholders, 1962
-~
-There are no atheists in the foxholes.
- -- William Thomas Cummings, 1942
-~
-Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days.
-An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to
-make it meaningful: a meaningful friend, or a meaningful day.
- -- the 14th Dalai Lama, interview in "TIME", 11 April 1988
-~
-The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time
-of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.
- -- Dante
-~
-The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents,
-and the second half by our children.
- -- Clarence Darrow
-~
-There is no such thing as justice--in or out of court.
- -- Clarence Darrow, Interview, April 1936
-~
-When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President;
-I'm beginning to believe it.
- -- Clarence Darrow
-~
-The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is,
-in fact, a return to the idealised past.
- -- Robertson Davies, "A Voice from the Attic", 1960
-~
-There is no such thing as a nonracial society
-in a multiracial country.
- -- F. W. de Klerk, President of South Africa,
- quoted in _Time_, 11 September 1989
-~
-There are a million ways to lose a work day,
-but not even a single way to get one back.
- -- Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, _Peopleware_, 1987
-~
-People are always talking about tradition, but they forget we have
-a tradition of a few hundred years of nonsense and stupidity, that
-there is a tradition of idiocy, incompetence and crudity.
- -- Hugo Demartini, in "Contemporary Artists", 1977
-~
-Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly
-and safely insane every night of our lives.
- -- William Dement, in "Newsweek", 1959
-~
-We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them
-to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up.
- -- Phyllis Diller
-~
-I never deny, I never contradict. I sometimes forget.
- -- Benjamin Disraeli
-~
-There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
- -- Benjamin Disraeli
-~
-Youth is a blunder, manhood a struggle, old age a regret.
- -- Benjamin Disraeli, "Coningsby" 1844
-~
-The average Ph.D. thesis is nothing but a transference of bones
-from one graveyard to another.
- -- J. Frank Dobie, "A Texan in England", 1945
-~
-Love built on beauty, soon as beauty dies.
- -- John Donne, "Elegy II, The Anagram"
-~
-Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself,
-but talent instantly recognizes genius.
- -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Valley of Fear", 1914
-~
-One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do
-and always a clever thing to say.
- -- Will Durant, in "Reader's Digest", 1972
-~
-Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
- -- Will Durant, in "National Enquirer", 1980
-~
-A man's got to know his limitations.
- -- Clint Eastwood in "Magnum Force", 1973
-~
-History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely
-once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
- -- Abba Eban, 1970
-~
-Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
- -- Thomas Alva Edison, "Life", 1932
-~
-There is no substitute for hard work.
- -- Thomas Alva Edison, "Life", 1932
-~
-To err is human but to really foul things up requires a computer.
- -- Paul Ehrlich, in "The Farmers Almanac, 1978"
-~
-Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present,
-but an equation is something for eternity.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it
-is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us
-any closer to the secret of the Old One. I, at any rate, am convinced that He
-does not throw dice.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-God may be subtle. But He is not malicious.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war
-fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people
-of the earth will be killed.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-I never think of the future--it comes soon enough.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-The important thing is not to stop questioning.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has
-merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his
-tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand
-this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signls here, they
-receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-Before God we are all equally wise--and equally foolish.
- -- Albert Einstein, "Cosmic Religion"
-~
-The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.
- -- Albert Einstein, "Life", 1950
-~
-Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and
-the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.
- -- Albert Einstein, "Ideas and Opinions", 1954
-~
-A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.
- -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
-~
-I think that people want peace so much that one of these days
-government had better get out of their way and let them have it.
- -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
-~
-In the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy as a prisoner's chains.
- -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
-~
-We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.
- -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
-~
-What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight -
-it's the size of the fight in the dog.
- -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958
-~
-This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.
- -- T. S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men", 1925
-~
-The greatest task before civilization at present is to make machines
-what they ought to be, the slaves, instead of the masters of men.
- -- Havelock Ellis, "Little Essays of Love and Virtue", 1922
-~
-The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum.
- -- Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923
-~
-The sun and the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago...
-had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.
- -- Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923
-~
-What we call "morals" is simply blind obedience to words of command.
- -- Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923
-~
-Always do what you are afraid to do. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters
-compared to what lies within us.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-When it is dark enough you can see the stars.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Journal", 20 December 1822
-~
-A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.
-Before him, I may think aloud.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841
-~
-I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841
-~
-To be great is to be misunderstood.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841
-~
-I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Journal", May 1849
-~
-Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Conduct of Life", 1860
-~
-Hitch your wagon to a star.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Conduct of Life", 1860
-~
-A wise man first determines what is within his control;
-all else is then irrelevant.
- -- Epictetus
-~
-We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
- -- Epictetus
-~
-War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.
- -- Desiderius Erasmus
-~
-A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.
- -- Paul Erdos
-~
-A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way
-that everyone believes he has the biggest piece.
- -- Ludwig Erhard, in "The Observer", 1958
-~
-There's a difference between beauty and charm. A beautiful woman
-is one I notice. A charming woman is one who notices me.
- -- John Erskine
-~
-Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do
-with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
- -- Susan Ertz
-~
-Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
- -- Euripides
-~
-The best of seers is he who guesses well.
- -- Euripides
-~
-The camera cannot lie. But it can be an accessory to untruth.
- -- Harold Evans, "Pictures on a Page", 1978
-~
-Passions are fashions.
- -- Clifton Fadiman
-~
-When you read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before.
-You see more in you than there was before.
- -- Clifton Fadiman, "Any Number Can Play", 1957
-~
-The only accident [at Three Mile Island] is that this thing leaked out.
-You could have avoided this whole thing by not saying anything.
- -- Craig Faust (control-room operator at TMI), 1979,
- quoted from "Loose Talk"
-~
-If people really liked to work, we'd still be plowing the land with sticks
-and transporting goods on our backs.
- -- William Feather
-~
-A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.
- -- James Feibleman, "Understanding Philosophy", 1973
-~
-The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
- -- Fanny Fern, "Willis Parton"
-~
-Computer: a million morons working at the speed of light.
- -- David Ferrier
-~
-The first principle is that you must not fool yourself -
-and you are the easiest person to fool.
- -- Richard Feynman, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"
-~
-Anybody who hates children and dogs can't be all bad. -- W. C. Fields
-~
-I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally. -- W. C. Fields
-~
-It isn't what they say about you, it's what they whisper. -- Errol Flynn
-~
-Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
- -- Henry Ford
-~
-The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the poor,
-to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
- -- Anatole France
-~
-I am responsible only to God and history.
- -- Francisco Franco
-~
-I still believe that people are really good at heart.
-I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation
-consisting of confusion, misery and death.
- -- Anne Frank
-~
-Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other.
- -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac
-~
-In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.
- -- Benjamin Franklin, 1789
-~
-Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
- -- Sigmund Freud
-~
-Clothe an idea in words and it loses its freedom of movement.
- -- Egon Friedell
-~
-The news is the one thing the networks can point to with pride.
-Everything else they do is crap--and they know it.
- -- Fred Friendly, 1980
-~
-The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.
- -- Erich Fromm
-~
-A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather
-and ask for it back when it begins to rain.
- -- Robert Frost
-~
-A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday
-but never remembers her age.
- -- Robert Frost
-~
-A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.
- -- Robert Frost
-~
-A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.
- -- Robert Frost
-~
-The world is full of willing people;
-some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.
- -- Robert Frost
-~
-The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
-But I have promises to keep,
-And miles to go before I sleep,
-And miles to go before I sleep.
- -- Robert Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", 1923
-~
-We compound our suffering by victimising each other.
- -- Athol Fugard, in "The Observer", 1971
-~
-The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun.
- -- R. Buckminster Fuller
-~
-The most important thing about Spaceship Earth -
-an instruction book didn't come with it.
- -- R. Buckminster Fuller, quoted in "Contemporary Architects", 1980
-~
-It's not your blue blood, your pedigree or your college degree.
-It's what you do with your life that counts.
- -- Millard Fuller, in "Time", 16 January 1989
-~
-Getting divorced just because you don't love a man is
-almost as silly as getting married just because you do.
- -- Zsa Zsa Gabor
-~
-If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
- -- John Kenneth Galbraith
-~
-Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.
- -- John Kenneth Galbraith
-~
-Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing
-between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
- -- John Kenneth Galbraith
-~
-The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises
-in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral
-justification for selfishness.
- -- John Kenneth Galbraith
-~
-In economics, the majority is always wrong.
- -- John Kenneth Galbraith, in "Saturday Evening Post", 1968
-~
-One of the greatest pieces of economic wisdom is to know what you do not know.
- -- John Kenneth Galbraith, in "Time", 1961
-~
-I could prove God statistically. -- George Gallup
-~
-He who awaits much can expect little.
- -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
- "El Coronel no Tiene quien le Escriba"
-~
-Si Dios no hubiera descansado el domingo
-habria tenido tiempo de terminar el mundo.
-(If God hadn't rested on Sunday,
-He would have had time to finish the world.)
- -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
- "Los Funerales de Mam Grande", 1974
-~
-No creo en Dios, pero le tengo miedo.
-(I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of Him.)
- -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "El Amor en los Tiempos de Calera", 1985
-~
-The true statesman is the one who is willing to take risks.
- -- Charles de Gaulle, 1967
-~
-A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs. -- German Proverb
-~
-If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars.
- -- J. Paul Getty
-~
-I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant,
-and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.
- -- Kahlil Gibran
-~
-Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.
- -- Andre Gide
-~
-In hell there is no other punishment than to begin over
-and over again the tasks left unfinished in your lifetime.
- -- Andre Gide
-~
-The secret of success is sincerity.
-Once you can fake that you've got it made.
- -- Jean Giraudoux
-~
-Expecting something for nothing is the most popular form of hope.
- -- Arnold Glasow
-~
-All things are only transitory. -- Goethe
-~
-We are not abandoning our convictions, our philosophy or traditions,
-nor do we urge anyone to abandon theirs.
- -- Mikhail Gorbachev, UN address, 7 December 1988
-~
-The truest wild beasts live in the most populous places.
- -- Baltasar Gracian, "The Art of Worldly Wisdom" 1647
-~
-Thirty days hath November,
-April, June, and September,
-February hath twenty-eight alone,
-And all the rest have thirty-one.
- -- Richard Grafton, 1562
-~
-I think when a person has been found guilty of rape
-he should be castrated. That would stop him pretty quick.
- -- Billy Graham, 1974
-~
-The illusion that times that were are better than those that are,
-has probably pervaded all ages.
- -- Horace Greeley, "The American Conflict", 1864-1866
-~
-If you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.
- -- Motto of the Green Berets
-~
-Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.
- -- Graham Greene, 1981
-~
-Figures won't lie, but liars will figure.
- -- Charles H. Grosvenor
-~
-It's round the world I've traveled; it's round the world I've roamed;
-but I've yet to see an outlaw drive a family from its home.
- -- Woody Guthrie, "Pretty Boy Floyd"
-~
-Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
- -- Alex Hamilton, "The Listener", 1978
-~
-The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers.
- -- R. W. Hamming, "Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers", 1973
-~
-War will cease when men refuse to fight.
- -- Fridtjof Hansen
-~
-Licker talks mighty loud w'en it gets loose fum de jug.
- -- Joel C. Harris, "Uncle Remus: Plantation Proverbs"
-~
-Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has
-just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.
- -- Sydney Harris
-~
-In times like these, it is helpful to remember
-that there have always been times like these.
- -- Paul Harvey
-~
-The probability of anything happening is in inverse ratio to its desirability.
- -- John W. Hazard, "Changing Times" 1957
-~
-Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater. -- William Hazlitt
-~
-Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained
-with the greatest violence.
- -- Hebrew Proverb
-~
-Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity,
-and some people have mediocrity thrust upon them.
- -- Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
-~
-Plain women know more about men than beautiful ones do.
-But beautiful women don't need to know about men.
-It's the men who have to know about beautiful women.
- -- Katherine Hepburn
-~
-Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived
-and how he died that distinguish one man from another.
- -- Ernest Hemingway, quoted in "Sunday Times", 1966
-~
-Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased
-at the price of chains and slavery?
- -- Patrick Henry
-~
-All is flux, nothing stays still. -- Heraclitus
-~
-Nothing endures but change. -- Heraclitus
-~
-Some actions have an end but no beginning; some begin but do not end.
-It all depends upon where the observer is standing.
- -- Frank Herbert
-~
-I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that
-brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass
-over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner
-eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
-Only I will remain.
- -- Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965
-~
-Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks. -- Herodotus
-~
-If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of
-fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.
- -- Herodotus
-~
-There's nothing in the middle of the road
-but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.
- -- Jim Hightower, in "Time", 3 April 1989
-~
-To do nothing is also a good remedy. -- Hippocrates
-~
-Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.
- -- Alfred Hitchcock, in "The Observer", 1960
-~
-In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is
-and what a messy thing it is to kill a man.
- -- Alfred Hitchcock, 1966
-~
-The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.
- -- Adolf Hitler
-~
-What luck for the rulers that men do not think.
- -- Adolf Hitler
-~
-Never tolerate the establishment of two continental powers in Europe.
- -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
-~
-Strength lies not in defense but in attack.
- -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
-~
-Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.
- -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
-~
-The great masses of the people... will more easily
-fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.
- -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
-~
-You can discover what your enemy fears most
-by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
- -- Eric Hoffer, in "The Faber Book of Aphorisms", 1964
-~
-The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. -- Abbie Hoffman
-~
-Justice is incidental to law and order. -- J. Edgar Hoover
-~
-Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero!
-(Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow!)
- -- Horace
-~
-Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
-(It is sweet and honorable to die for one's country.)
- -- Horace
-~
-He has half the deed done who has made a beginning. -- Horace
-~
-Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled. -- Horace
-~
-Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
- -- Elbert Hubbard
-~
-Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men. -- Kin Hubbard
-~
-When a fellow says it ain't the money but
-the principle of the thing, it's the money.
- -- Kin Hubbard
-~
-Now and then an innocent man is sent to the legislature.
- -- Kin Hubbard, "Abe Martin's Broadcast", 1930
-~
-Habit is the nursery of errors. -- Victor Hugo
-~
-We believe that to err is human. To blame it on someone else is politics.
- -- Hubert H. Humphrey
-~
-The right to be heard does not automatically
-include the right to be taken seriously.
- -- Hubert H. Humphrey, 1965
-~
-A woman has to be twice as good as a man to go half as far. -- Fannie Hurst
-~
-The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from
-ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference,
-and undernourishment.
- -- Robert Hutchins, "Great Books" 1954
-~
-Maybe this world is another planet's Hell. -- Aldous Huxley
-~
-The most distressing thing that can happen to a prophet
-is to be proved wrong. The next most distressing thing is
-to be proved right.
- -- Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World Revisited", 1956
-~
-Experience is not what happens to you.
-It is what you do with what happens to you.
- -- Aldous Huxley, in "Reader's Digest", 1956
-~
-Technological progress has merely provided us with more
-efficient means for going backwards.
- -- Aldous Huxley, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", 1956
-~
-A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.
- -- Henrik Ibsen, "An Enemy of the People", 1882
-~
-The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.
- -- Henrik Ibsen, "An Enemy of the People", 1882
-~
-There is always something to upset the most careful of human calculations.
- -- Ihara Saikaku
-~
-Few rich men own their own property. The property owns them.
- -- Robert G. Ingersoll
-~
-To think contrary to one's era is heroism.
-But to speak against it is madness.
- -- Eugene Ionesco
-~
-The will to win is worthless if you don't get paid for it. -- Reggie Jackson
-~
-It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.
- -- Clive James, in "The Observer", 1976
-~
-A great many people think they are thinking
-when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
- -- William James
-~
-The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.
- -- William James
-~
-El amor es un camino que de repente aparece y de tanto caminarlo se te pierde.
- -- Victor Jara, "El Amor es un Camino"
-~
-In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to Liberty.
- -- Thomas Jefferson
-~
-I think [a black]... could scarcely be found capable of
-tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid.
- -- Thomas Jefferson, "Notes on Virginia", 1787
-~
-It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless,
-of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.
- -- Jerome K. Jerome
-~
-To seek permission is to seek denial. -- Steve Jobs
-~
-Men are like wine--some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age.
- -- Pope John XXIII, 1978
-~
-I never trust a man unless I've got his pecker in my pocket.
- -- Lyndon B. Johnson
-~
-If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River,
-the headline that afternoon would read: PRESIDENT CAN'T SWIM.
- -- Lyndon B. Johnson
-~
-No member of our generation who wasn't a Communist
-or a dropout in the thirties is worth a damn.
- -- Lyndon B. Johnson, 1960
-~
-Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
- -- Samuel Johnson, 7 April 1775
-~
-The heart has its prisons that intelligence cannot unlock.
- -- Marcel Jouhandeau, "De la grandeur"
-~
-Do you not know, my son, with what little understanding the world is ruled?
- -- Pope Julius III
-~
-An ounce of emotion is equal to a ton of facts. -- John Junor
-~
-In the fight between you and the world, back the world. -- Franz Kafka
-~
-There are two cardinal sins from which all the others spring:
-impatience and laziness.
- -- Franz Kafka
-~
-The more things change, the more they remain the same.
- -- Alphonse Karr, "Les Guepes", January 1849
-~
-You do not destroy an idea by killing people; you replace it with a better one.
- -- Edward Keating
-~
-Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.
- -- John Keats, Correspondence, 1819
-~
-College isn't the place to go for ideas. -- Hellen Keller
-~
-We have met the enemy and he is us. -- Walt Kelly in "POGO"
-~
-If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.
- -- Florynce Kennedy, 1976
-~
-Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.
- -- John F. Kennedy
-~
-Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.
- -- John F. Kennedy
-~
-We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind
-in the history of the world--or to make it the last.
- -- John F. Kennedy
-~
-And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you;
-ask what you can do for your country.
- -- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961
-~
-If a free society cannot help the many who are poor,
-it cannot save the few who are rich.
- -- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961
-~
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible
-will make violent revolution inevitable.
- -- John F. Kennedy, 12 March 1962
-~
-Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
- -- Robert F. Kennedy
-~
-Some men see things as they are and say why?
-I dream things that never were and say 'Why not?'
- -- Robert F. Kennedy, quoted in "Esquire", 1969
-~
-Without feeling there's no reason to live.
- -- Andre Kertesz, photographer, 1894-1985
-~
-In the long run we are all dead.
- -- John Maynard Keynes, "The General Theory", 1936
-~
-In a fight you don't stop to choose your cudgels. -- Nikita Khruschev
-~
-Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build
-bridge even when there are no rivers.
- -- Nikita Khruschev
-~
-Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
- -- Soren Kierkegaard, "Life"
-~
-Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
- -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
-~
-It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me,
-but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
- -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
-~
-Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the
-the philanthropist to over-look the circumstances of
-economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
- -- Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963
-~
-The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort,
-but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
- -- Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963
-~
-He travels the fastest who travels alone.
- -- Rudyard Kipling
-~
-Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.
- -- Rudyard Kipling
-~
-The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
- -- Henry Kissinger
-~
-Television--a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well-done.
- -- Ernie Kovacs
-~
-Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.
- -- Jonathan Kozol
-~
-Credulity is the man's weakness, but the child's strength.
- -- Charles Lamb
-~
-People don't ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather
-have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts.
- -- Robert Keith Leavitt
-~
-It is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it.
- -- Robert E. Lee, December 1862
-~
-To light a candle is to cast a shadow.
- -- Ursula K. Le Guin, "A Wizard of Earthsea", 1975
-~
-When smashing monuments, save the pedestals--they always come in handy.
- -- Stanislaw Lec
-~
-It is true that liberty is precious--so precious that it must be rationed.
- -- Nikolai Lenin
-~
-The world began without man, and it will complete itself without him.
- -- Claude Levi-Strauss, "Tristes Tropiques", 1955
-~
-Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive,
-but what they conceal is vital.
- -- Aaron Levenstein
-~
-Ask a man which way he is going to vote, and he will probably tell you.
-Ask him, however, why, and vagueness is all.
- -- Bernard Levin, in "Daily Mail", 1964
-~
-A real diplomat is one who can cut his neighbor's throat
-without having his neighbor notice it.
- -- Trygve Lie
-~
-He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help. -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-Nearly all men can stand adversity,
-but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-The ballot is stronger than the bullet. -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong
-impulse to see it tried on him personally.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-You can fool all the people some of the time,
-and some of the people all the time,
-but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee,
-and just as hard to sleep after.
- -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
-~
-Where all men think alike, no one thinks very much.
- -- Walter Lippmann
-~
-I have always thought the actions of men the best
-interpreters of their thoughts.
- -- John Locke
-~
-Winning is not everything. It's the only thing.
- -- Vince Lombardi, 1965
-~
-The ignorant man always adores what he cannot understand.
- -- Cesare Lombroso, "The Man of Genius"
-~
-Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
- -- Joe Louis, 1965
-~
-In war there is no substitute for victory.
- -- General Douglas MacArthur, Speech, 19 April 1951
-~
-There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity.
- -- General Douglas MacArthur, 1955
-~
-Caminante, son tus huellas el camino, y nada m s;
-caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.
- -- Antonio Machado, "Proverbios y cantares, VI"
-~
-It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.
- -- Niccolo Machiavelli
-~
-All our knowledge merely helps us to die a more painful death
-than the animals that know nothing.
- -- Maurice Maeterlinck
-~
-The atom bomb is a paper tiger...
-Terrible to look at but not so strong as it seems.
- -- Mao Zedong
-~
-Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
- -- Mao Zedong, "Quotations from Chairman Mao", 1966
-~
-Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
- -- Mao Zedong, "Quotations from Chairman Mao", 1966
-~
-An optimist is a guy that has never had much experience.
- -- Donald R. Perry Marquis, "archy and mehitabel", 1927
-~
-Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.
- -- Karl Marx
-~
-Religion... is the opium of the masses.
- -- Karl Marx, "Critique of the Hegelian Philosophy of Right", 1844
-~
-Unrecognized faults lead to wasted efforts
- -- Joanot Martorell, "Tirant lo Blanc", 1490
-~
-Impropriety is the soul of wit.
- -- Somerset Maugham
-~
-Love is only the dirty trick played on us
-to achieve continuation of the species.
- -- W. Somerset Maugham, "A Writer's Notebook" 1949
-~
-I feel like a fugitive from the law of averages.
- -- William H. Mauldin, "Up Front" 1944
-~
-Having two bathrooms ruined the capacity to co-operate.
- -- Margaret Mead
-~
-The people here [in Nicaragua] are amazingly friendly, when you
-figure we're here to overthrow their government.
- -- Richard Melton, US Ambassador to Nicaragua
-~
-A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence
-and yet keep both ears to the ground.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-The American public knows what it wants,
-and deserves to get it good and hard.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-There's always an easy solution to every human problem -
-neat, plausible, and wrong.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-Time is the great legalizer, even in the field of morals.
- -- H. L. Mencken, "A Book of Prefaces", 1917
-~
-Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life,
-there is actually no truth to be discovered;
-there is only error to be exposed.
- -- H. L. Mencken, "Prejudices, Third Series", 1922
-~
-The older I grow the more I distrust
-the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
- -- H. L. Mencken, "Prejudices, Third Series", 1922
-~
-Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking.
- -- H. L. Mencken, "A Mencken Chrestomathy", 1949
-~
-Conservatives are not necessarily stupid,
-but most stupid people are conservatives.
- -- John Stuart Mill
-~
-He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.
- -- John Stuart Mill
-~
-A good listener is not only popular everywhere,
-but after a while he gets to know something.
- -- Wilson Mizner
-~
-Gambling: The sure way of getting nothing for something.
- -- Wilson Mizner
-~
-I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.
- -- Wilson Mizner
-~
-Some of the greatest love affairs I've known
-have involved one actor, unassisted.
- -- Wilson Mizner
-~
-When you take stuff from one writer it's plagiarism;
-but when you take it from many writers, it's research.
- -- Wilson Mizner
-~
-I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it.
- -- Marilyn Monroe
-~
-Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in,
-and those inside equally desperate to get out.
- -- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
-~
-The value of life lies not in the length of days,
-but in the use we make of them...
-Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not
-on your tale of years, but on your will.
- -- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, 1580
-~
-Obstacles are those frightful things you see
-when you take your eyes off the goal.
- -- Hannah More
-~
-Only the sinner has the right to preach.
- -- Christopher Morley
-~
-There is only one success, to be able to spend your life in your own way.
- -- Christopher Morley
-~
-You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.
- -- John Morley, "Rousseau", 1876
-~
-Any party which takes credit for the rain
-must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the draught.
- -- Dwight Morrow
-~
-If the nation's economists were laid end to end,
-they would point in all directions.
- -- Arthur H. Motley
-~
-As a student I learned from wonderful teachers
-and ever since then I've thought everyone is a teacher.
- -- Bill Moyers, interviews on "Fresh Air", 1991
-~
-Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation.
- -- Edward R. Murrow
-~
-Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.
- -- Edward R. Murrow
-~
-The big majority of Americans, who are comparatively well off,
-have developed an ability to have enclaves of people living in the
-greatest misery without almost noticing them.
- -- Gunnar Myrdal
-~
-Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death
-should not be an even greater one.
- -- Vladimir Nabokov, quoted in "Time", 1981
-~
-The speed of exit of a civil servant is directly proportional
-to the quality of his service.
- -- Ralph Nader, "The Spoiled System"
-~
-Everybody is interesting for an hour, but few people can last more than two.
- -- V. S. Naipul, interview in "Time", 10 July 1989
-~
-If you wish to be a success in the world,
-promise everything, deliver nothing.
- -- Napoleon
-~
-In politics stupidity is not a handicap.
- -- Napoleon
-~
-Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.
- -- Napoleon
-~
-A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.
- -- Napoleon, "Maxims" 1804-1815
-~
-History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.
- -- Napoleon, "Maxims" 1804-1815
-~
-Women are nothing but machines for producing children.
- -- Napolean, quoted in "The Book of Insults", 1978
-~
-Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker.
- -- Ogden Nash
-~
-Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
- -- George Jean Nathan
-~
-Nobody believes the official spokesman ...
-but everybody trusts an unidentified source.
- -- Ron Nesen, 1977
-~
-Lack of will power has caused more failure than
-lack of intelligence or ability.
- -- Flower A. Newhouse
-~
-Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.
- -- Howard W. Newton
-~
-If I have seen far, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
- -- Sir Isaac Newton
-~
-O God, give us serenity to accept what cannot be changed,
-courage to change what should be changed,
-and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
- -- Reinhold Niebuhr, sermon, 1934
-~
-Democracy is finding proximate solutions to insoluble problems.
- -- Reinhold Niebuhr
-~
- They [Nazis] came first for the Communists,
-and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
- Then they came for the Jews,
-and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
- Then they came for the Catholics,
-and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
- Then they came for me,
-and by that time there was no one left to speak up.
- -- Martin Niemueller
-~
-In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-One should die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly.
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-What does not destroy me, makes me strong.
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil", 1885-1886
-~
-A ship is always referred to as "she"
-because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder.
- -- Chester Nimitz, Speech, 13 February 1940
-~
-I have nothing to hide.
- -- Richard Nixon
-~
-I would have made a good pope.
- -- Richard Nixon
-~
-Voters quickly forget what a man says.
- -- Richard Nixon
-~
-Your President is no crook!
- -- Richard Nixon
-~
-Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth -
-to see it like it is, and tell it like it is -
-to find the truth, to speak the truth, and live the truth.
- -- Richard Nixon, accepting the Presidential Nomination, 1968
-~
-When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.
- -- Richard Nixon, in interview with David Frost, 19 May 1977
-~
-Laws were made to be broken.
- -- Christopher North
-~
-Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly upon our own point of view.
- -- Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Return of the Jedi"
-~
-There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.
- -- Kenneth H. Olson, President of DEC,
- Convention of the World Future Society, 1977
-~
-The optimist thinks that this is the best of all possible worlds,
-and the pessimist knows it.
- -- J. Robert Oppenheimer, "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" 1951
-~
-Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.
- -- George Orwell
-~
-Liberal--a power worshipper without power.
- -- George Orwell
-~
-On the whole human beings want to be good,
-but not too good and not quite all the time.
- -- George Orwell, collected essays
-~
-All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
- -- George Orwell, "Animal Farm" 1945
-~
-Big Brother Is Watching You
- -- George Orwell, "1984", 1948
-~
-Who controls the past controls the future.
-Who controls the present controls the past.
- -- George Orwell, "1984", 1948
-~
-At 50 everyone has the face he deserves.
- -- George Orwell, "Journals", 1949
-~
-Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives,
-but on balance life is suffering and only the very young
-or the very foolish imagine otherwise.
- -- George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant", 1950
-~
-It is convenient that there be gods,
-and, as it is convenient, let us believe there are.
- -- Ovid, "Ars Amatoria"
-~
-To be loved, be lovable.
- -- Ovid, "Ars Amatoria"
-~
-The chief product of an automated society
-is a widespread and deepening sense of boredom.
- -- Cyril Parkinson
-~
-It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as
-to fill the time available for its completion.
- -- C. Northcote Parkinson, in "The Economist", 1955
-~
-The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
- -- Ellen Parr
-~
-If all men knew what others say of them,
-there would not be four friends in the world.
- -- Blaise Pascal, 1656
-~
-Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed.
- -- Blaise Pascal, "Pensees", 1670
-~
-Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor
-of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply... For fear will
-rob him of all if he gives too much.
- -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
-~
-God forgives us... Who am I not to forgive?
- -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
-~
-I have one great fear in my heart, that one day
-when they [the whites of South Africa] have turned to loving,
-they will find we [the blacks] are turned to hating.
- -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
-~
-Then what is it worth, this mining industry? And why should it
-be kept alive, if it is only our poverty that keeps it alive? ...
-Is it we that must be kept poor so that others may stay rich?
- -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
-~
-What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another?
- -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
-~
-Who knows for what we live, and struggle, and die? ...
-Wise men write many books, in words too hard to understand.
-But this, the purpose of our lives, the end of all our struggle,
-is beyond all human wisdom.
- -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
-~
-Yet [white] men [of South Africa] were afraid,
-with a fear that was deep, deep in the heart,
-a fear so deep that they hid their kindness, ...
-They were afraid because they were so few.
-And fear could not be cast out, but by love.
- -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
-~
-To give up the task of reforming society is to
-give up one's responsibility as a free man.
- -- Alan Paton, 1967
-~
-Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often
-discover what they lack.
- -- George S. Patton
-~
-Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do
-and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
- -- George S. Patton, "War As I Knew It", 1947
-~
-Assuming that either the left wing or the right wing gained
-control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles.
- -- Pat Paulsen
-~
-Public office is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
- -- Boies Penrose, 1931
-~
-An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow
-why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.
- -- Laurence J. Peter
-~
-Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices.
- -- Laurence Peter
-~
-Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear
-but forgetting where you heard it.
- -- Laurence Peter
-~
-In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.
- -- Laurence Peter, "The Peter Principle" 1969
-~
-Democracy is a process by which the people are free
-to choose the man who will get the blame.
- -- Laurence Peter, "Peter's Quotations", 1977
-~
-Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear
-but forgetting where you heard it.
- -- Laurence Peter, "Peter's Quotations", 1977
-~
-A man who is always ready to believe what is told him will never do well.
- -- Gaius Petronius, "Satyricon"
-~
-Difference of religion breeds more quarrels than difference of politics.
- -- Wendell Phillips, Speech, 7 November 1860
-~
-Sometimes democracy must be bathed in blood.
- -- Augusto Pinochet
-~
-The measure of man is what he does with power.
- -- Pittacus
-~
-If everybody's behavior can be explained by simple stupidity and greed,
-there's no point in assuming a conspiracy.
- -- P. J. Plauger
-~
-I don't need a friend who changes when I change
-and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.
- -- Plutarch
-~
-Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater.
- -- Roman Polanski
-~
-Under capitalism man exploits man; under socialism the reverse is true.
- -- Polish proverb
-~
-Amusement is the happiness of those who cannot think.
- -- Alexander Pope
-~
-If you do not raise your eyes you will think you are the highest point.
- -- Antonio Porchia, "Voces", 1968
-~
-One lives in the hope of becoming a memory.
- -- Antonio Porchia, "Voces", 1968
-~
-They talk most who have the least to say.
- -- Matthew Prior
-~
-A city is a large community where people are lonesome together.
- -- Herbert Prochnow
-~
-A good workman is known by his tools.
- -- Proverb
-~
-Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret,
-especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous.
- -- William Proxmire
-~
-Maxim 914: Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.
- -- Publilius Syrus
-~
-Maxim 1070: I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.
- -- Publilius Syrus
-~
-Practice is the best of all instructors.
- -- Publilius Syrus
-~
-If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
- -- J. Danforth Quayle
-~
-There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense.
-In other words, a good offense wins.
- -- J. Danforth Quayle, on "Star Wars",
- quoted in "Time", 19 September 1988
-~
-Happy campers you have been, happy campers you are,
-and happy campers you will always be.
- -- J. Danforth Quayle, on arrival in American Samoa,
- quoted in "Time", 8 May 1989
-~
-I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and
-the only regret I have was that I didn't study
-Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.
- -- J. Danforth Quayle, quoted in "Time", 8 May 1989
-~
-What a waste it is to lose one's mind or not to have a mind.
-How true it is.
- -- J. Danforth Quayle, addressing the United Negro
- College Fund, quoted in "Time", 26 June 1989
-~
-Mars is essentially in the same orbit [as the Earth]...
-We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water.
-If there is water, there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.
- -- J. Danforth Quayle, interviewed on Cable Network
- News, 11 August 1989
-~
-Religions tend to disappear with man's good fortune.
- -- Raymond Queneau, "A Model History"
-~
-I have been staying in Moscow for only 24 hours,
-but already I feel almost at home.
- -- Hashemi Rafsanjani, in "New York Times",
- 22 June 1989
-~
-A nuclear power plant is infinitely safer than eating,
-because 300 people choke to death on food every year.
- -- Dixy Lee Ray, 1977, quoted from "Loose Talk"
-~
-Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.
- -- Ronald Reagan
-~
-Growing and decaying vegetation in this land are responsible
-for 93 percent of the oxides of nitrogen.
- -- Ronald Reagan
-~
-If you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all.
- -- Ronald Reagan
-~
-Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards,
-if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.
- -- Ronald Reagan
-~
-Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?
- -- Ronald Reagan
-~
-Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite
-at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
- -- Ronald Reagan, "Saturday Evening Post" 1965
-~
-I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964
-and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary.
- -- Ronald Reagan, 20 October 1965
-~
-I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
- -- Ronald Reagan, 1968
-~
-All the wastes in a year from a nuclear power plant
-can be stored under a desk.
- -- Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Burlington Free Press", 15 February 1980
-~
-History shows that when the taxes of a nation approach about 20% of the
-people's income, there begins to be a lack of respect for government....
-When it reaches 25%, there comes an increase in lawlessness.
- -- Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Time", 14 April 1980
-~
-Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released
-by vegetation. So let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough
-emissions standards for man-made sources.
- -- Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Sierra", 10 September 1980
-~
-I have just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever;
-we begin bombing in 5 minutes.
- -- Ronald Reagan, weekly radio address, 11 August 1984
-~
-Facts are stupid things.
- -- Ronald Reagan, 1988 Republican Convention
-~
-The scientists split the atom; now the atom is splitting us.
- -- Quentin Reynolds, in "Quote & Unquote", 1970
-~
-The streets are safe in Philadelphia,
-it's only the people who make them unsafe.
- -- Frank Rizzo
-~
-We need excellence in public education and if the teachers can't do it,
-we'll send in a couple of policemen.
- -- Frank Rizzo, Philadelphia Bulletin, Oct 19, 1973
-~
-One of the weaknesses of our age is our apparent inability
-to distinguish our needs from our greeds.
- -- Don Robinson, quoted in "Reader's Digest", 1963
-~
-If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind,
-give it more thought.
- -- Dennis Roch
-~
-We always love those who admire us,
-but we do not always love those whom we admire.
- -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
-~
-Wit sometimes enables us to act rudely with impunity.
- -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
-~
-Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches
-beyond their own understanding.
- -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
-~
-Old people like to give good advice,
-as solace for no longer being able to provide bad examples.
- -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
-~
-Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done
-as the fear of the consequences.
- -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
-~
-The reason that lovers never weary each other
-is because they are always talking about themselves.
- -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
-~
-Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are
-for finishing it.... You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing
-would fall flat in a week.
- -- Will Rogers
-~
-Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
- -- Will Rogers
-~
-Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.
- -- Will Rogers
-~
-There is nothing as stupid as an educated man
-if you get him off the thing he was educated in.
- -- Will Rogers
-~
-There's no trick to being a humorist when you have
-the whole government working for you.
- -- Will Rogers
-~
-This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session
-as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.
- -- Will Rogers
-~
-We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb
-and clap as they go by.
- -- Will Rogers
-~
-Everything is funny as long as it is happening to someone else.
- -- Will Rogers, "The Illiterate Digest", 1924
-~
-I never met a man I didn't like.
- -- Will Rogers, speech, June 1930
-~
-Half our life is spent trying to find something to do
-with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
- -- Will Rogers, "The Autobiography of Will Rogers", 1949
-~
-The world is an enormous injustice.
- -- Jules Romains
-~
-We've sent a man to the moon, and that's 29,000 miles away. The center
-of the Earth is only 4,000 miles away. You could drive that in a week,
-but for some reason nobody's ever done it.
- -- Andy Rooney
-~
-No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
- -- Eleanor Roosevelt, "This is My Story", 1937
-~
-The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those
-who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.
- -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
-~
-It is common sense to take a method and try it.
-If it fails, admit it frankly and try another.
-But above all, try something.
- -- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Speech, 22 May 1932
-~
-The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
- -- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1st Inaugural Address, 1933
-~
-A technique is a trick that works.
- -- Gian-Carlo Rota
-~
-One half of the children born die before their eighth year.
-This is nature's law; why try to contradict it?
- -- Jean Jacques Rousseau, "Emile, ou de l'education", 1762
-~
-People who know little are usually great talkers,
-while men who know much say little.
- -- Jean Jacques Rousseau, "Emile, ou de l'education", 1762
-~
-Never trust anyone over thirty. -- Jerry Rubin, 1966
-~
-The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always
-so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
- -- Bertrand Russell
-~
-Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -
-more than ruin, more even than death.
- -- Bertrand Russell, "Selected Papers"
-~
-You can outdistance that which is running after you,
-but not what is running inside you.
- -- Rwandan proverb
-~
-A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you.
- -- Francoise Sagan
-~
-Women and elephants never forget an injury.
- -- Saki, "Reginald", 1904
-~
-A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.
- -- Saki, "The Square Egg", 1924
-~
-Neither soldiers nor money can defend a king
-but only friends won by good deeds, merit, and honesty.
- -- Sallust, "De bello Iugurthino"
-~
-Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves,
-spits on its hands and goes to work.
- -- Carl Sandburg, in "New York Times", 1959
-~
-In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes
-when you awake in the morning.
- -- Carl Sandburg, in "New York Post", 1960
-~
-A man's feet should be planted in his country,
-but his eyes should survey the world.
- -- George Santayana
-~
-Skepticism, like chastity, should not be relinquished too readily.
- -- George Santayana
-~
-Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
- -- George Santayana
-~
-When the rich make war it's the poor that die.
- -- Jean-Paul Sartre, "Le Diable et le bon Dieu", 1951
-~
-Tolerance means excusing the mistakes others make.
-Tact means not noticing them.
- -- Arthur Schnitzler
-~
-Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision
-for the limits of the world.
- -- Arthur Schopenhauer, "Studies in Pessimism"
-~
-There's a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker.
- -- Charles M. Schulz
-~
-Comment is free, but facts are sacred.
- -- C. P. Scott, c.1900
-~
-They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist---
- -- General John B. Sedgwick, last words, 1864
-~
-They that govern the most make the least noise.
- -- John Seldon, 1689
-~
-People will swim through sh*t if you put a few bob in it.
- -- Peter Sellers
-~
-It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.
- -- Seneca, "Epistles"
-~
-There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
- -- Seneca, "On Tranquility of the Mind"
-~
-Every reign must submit to a greater reign. -- Seneca, "Thyestes"
-~
-Singing makes all the sad people happy because it is the voice of happiness.
- -- Joseph Shabalala
-~
-A government that robs Peter to pay Paul
-can always depend upon the support of Paul.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-Every person who has mastered a profession is a skeptic concerning it.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior
-to all others because you were born in it.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman, but believing what he read made him mad.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-We've already established what you are, ma'am.
-Now we're just haggling over the price.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.
- -- George Bernard Shaw, "The Rejected Statement"
-~
-He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
- -- George Bernard Shaw, "Man and Superman", 1903
-~
-Lack of money is the root of all evil.
- -- George Bernard Shaw, "Man and Superman", 1903
-~
-Liars ought to have good memories.
- -- Algernon Sidney
-~
-All reformers, however strict their social conscience,
-live in houses just as big as they can pay for.
- -- Logan Pearsall Smith
-~
-I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
- -- Socrates
-~
-I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
- -- Socrates
-~
-The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
- -- Socrates
-~
-If God had meant there to be more than 2 factors of production,
-He would have made it easier for us to draw three-dimensional diagrams.
- -- Robert Solow
-~
-Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art.
- -- Susan Sontag
-~
-Care of the poor is incumbent on society as a whole.
- -- Spinoza, 1677
-~
-If you want a thing well done, do it yourself.
- -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon
-~
-A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.
- -- Joseph Stalin
-~
-The writer is the engineer of the human soul.
- -- Joseph Stalin
-~
-Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party.
- -- Joseph Stalin, Speech, 19 April 1923
-~
-Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union.
- -- Joseph Stalin, 1935
-~
-Must the hunger become anger and the anger fury before anything will be done?
- -- John Steinbeck
-~
-Time is the only critic without ambition.
- -- John Steinbeck, "Writers at Work', 1977
-~
-There are really not many jobs that actually require a penis or a
-vagina, and all other occupations should be open to everyone.
- -- Gloria Steinem
-~
-A hungry man is not a free man.
- -- Adlai Stevenson
-~
-In America, any boy may become president and I suppose
-that's just one of the risks he takes.
- -- Adlai Stevenson
-~
-Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact
-that sometimes he has to eat them.
- -- Adlai Stevenson
-~
-The time to stop a revolution is at the beginning, not the end.
- -- Adlai Stevenson, 9 September 1952
-~
-The cruelest lies are often told in silence.
- -- Robert Louis Stevenson, "Virginibus Puerisque", 1881
-~
-Success always necessitates a degree of ruthlessness.
-Given the choice of friendship or success, I'd probably choose success.
- -- Sting (Gordon Summer), 1980
-~
-If God, as some now say, is dead, He no doubt died of trying
-to find an equitable solution to the Arab-Jewish problem.
- -- I. F. Stone, 1967
-~
-Ninety per cent of everything is crap.
- -- Theodore Sturgeon
-~
-There is nothing in this world constant but inconstancy.
- -- Swift
-~
-Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and
-thinking what no one else has thought.
- -- Albert Szent-Gyorgi
-~
-And you may ask yourself "Am I right? Am I wrong?"
-And you may say to yourself "MY GOD! WHAT HAVE I DONE?"
- -- The Talking Heads
-~
-The nice thing about standards is that there are
-so many of them to choose from.
- -- Andrew S. Tanenbaum
-~
-A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, will tell you.
- -- Bert Taylor, "The So-Called Human Race", 1922
-~
-The hunger for love is much more difficult
-to remove than the hunger for bread.
- -- Mother Teresa, quoted in "Time", 4 December 1989
-~
-El infierno es el lugar donde no se ama.
-(Hell is the place where love is not found.)
- -- Santa Teresa
-~
-If you want anything said, ask a man.
-If you want anything done, ask a woman.
- -- Margaret Thatcher
-~
-You don't tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.
- -- Margaret Thatcher, 1976
-~
-Under a government which imprisons any unjustly,
-the true place for a just man is also a prison.
- -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
-That government is best which governs least.
- -- Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience" 1849
-~
-The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
- -- Henry David Thoreau, "Walden", 1854
-~
-If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
-perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
- -- Henry David Thoreau, "Walden", 1854
-~
-The savage in man is never quite eradicated.
- -- Henry David Thoreau, "Journal", 26 September 1859
-~
-I think that maybe if women and children
-were in charge we would get somewhere.
- -- James Thurber
-~
-It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
- -- James Thurber
-~
-You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
- -- James Thurber, "The Thurber Carnival", 1945
-~
-The Law of Raspberry Jam--The wider any culture is spread,
-the thinner it gets.
- -- Alvin Toffler, "The Culture Consumers", 1964
-~
-The trouble with the rat-race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.
- -- Lily Tomlin
-~
-The function of genius is not to give new answers,
-but to pose new questions--which time and mediocrity can solve.
- -- Hugh Trevor-Roper, "Men and Events"
-~
-The dictatorship of the Communist Party is maintained
-by recourse to every form of violence.
- -- Leon Trotsky, "Terrorism and Communism", 1924
-~
-If you can't convince them, confuse them.
- -- Harry S. Truman
-~
-If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
- -- Harry S. Truman
-~
-It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
- -- Harry S. Truman
-~
-Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.
- -- Harry S. Truman, "Memoirs, Vol. II", 1955
-~
-A President cannot always be popular.
- -- Harry S. Truman, "Memoirs, Vol. II", 1955
-~
-It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job;
-it's a depression when you lose yours.
- -- Harry S. Truman, 1958
-~
-Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.
- -- Harry S. Truman, 1959
-~
-A little more moderation would be good. Of course,
-my life hasn't exactly been one of moderation.
- -- Donald Trump, in "Time", 16 January 1989
-~
-I like thinking big. If you're going to be thinking
-anything, you might as well think big.
- -- Donald Trump, in "Time", 16 January 1989
-~
-The more laws and order are made prominent,
-the more thieves and robbers there will be.
- -- Lao Tsu
-~
-Words divide us, action unites us.
- -- Slogan of the Tupamaros
-~
-If I had any humility I would be perfect.
- -- Ted Turner
-~
-Man is the only animal that blushes--or needs to.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand
-to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished
-at how much he had learned in seven years.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority,
-it is time to reform.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority,
-it's time to pause and reflect.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear.
- -- Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson", 1894
-~
-Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy
-you must have somebody to divide it with.
- -- Mark Twain, "Following the Equator", 1897
-~
-Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.
- -- Mark Twain, Correspondence, 1908
-~
-Good politics are often inextricably intertwined.
- -- Morris Udall, "Too Funny to Be President", 1988
-~
-Lord, give us the wisdom to utter words that are gentle and tender,
-for tomorrow we may have to eat them.
- -- Morris Udall, quoted in "Sierra", May/June 1989
-~
-To fall into a habit is to begin to cease to be.
- -- Miguel de Unamuno, "The Tragic Sense of Life", 1913
-~
-Nada muere, todo baja del rio del tiempo al mar de la eternidad y alli queda.
- -- Miguel de Unamuno, "Ver con los Ojos y Otros Relatos Novelescos"
-~
-No es acaso todo esto un sueno de Dios o de quien sea,
-que se desvanecera en cuanto El despierte,
-y por eso le rezamos y elevamos a El canticos a himnos,
-para adormecerle, para cunar su sueno?
- -- Miguel de Unamuno, "Niebla", 1914
-~
-Nadie tiene mas imaginacion que la realidad.
- -- Miguel de Unamuno, "El Espejo de la Muerte", 1941
-~
-The Vice Presidency is sort of like the last cookie on the plate.
-Everybody insists he won't take it, but somebody always does.
- -- Bill Vaughan
-~
-Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.
-(And perhaps at some later date it will be pleasant to remember these things.)
- -- Virgil
-~
-Time is flying never to return.
- -- Virgil
-~
-It is not enough to succed. Others must fail.
- -- Gore Vidal
-~
-There's a lot to be said for being noveau riche,
-and the Reagans mean to say it all.
- -- Gore Vidal, in "The Observer", 1981
-~
-A witty saying proves nothing. -- Voltaire
-~
-If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. -- Voltaire
-~
-Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft...
-and the only one that can be mass-produced with unskilled labor.
- -- Wernher von Braun
-~
-We are what we pretend to be. -- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
-~
-One's company, two's a crowd and three's a party.
- -- Andy Warhol, in "Exposures", 1979
-~
-The sports page records people's accomplishments;
-The front page nothing but their failures.
- -- Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren
-~
-My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us
-to occupy the land until Jesus returns.
- -- James Watt, in "The Washington Post", 24 May 1981
-~
-If you worry about your customers,
-you won't have to worry about money.
- -- Les Welch, in "Bicycle USA", March/April 1990
-~
-I passionately hate the idea of being with it,
-I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.
- -- Orson Welles, 1966
-~
-I never loved another person the way I loved myself. -- Mae West
-~
-Too much of a good thing is wonderful. -- Mae West
-~
-When choosing between two evils, I always like to take
-the one I've never tried before.
- -- Mae West, in "Klondike Annie" 1936
-~
-Do I contradict myself?
-Very well then I contradict myself,
-(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
- -- Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass", 1855
-~
-There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes.
- -- Dr. Who
-~
-No man is rich enough to buy back his past.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about,
-and that is not being talked about.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
- -- Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Grey", 1891
-~
-Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them;
-sometimes they forgive them.
- -- Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Grey", 1891
-~
-There is no sin except stupidity.
- -- Oscar Wilde, "The Critic as Artist", 1891
-~
-We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
- -- Oscar Wilde, "Lady Windermere's Fan", 1892
-~
-Relations are simply a tedious pack of people,
-who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live,
-nor the smallest instinct about when to die.
- -- Oscar Wilde, "The Importance of Being Earnest", 1895
-~
-Hindsight is always 20:20.
- -- Billy Wilder
-~
-Voters do not decide issues. They decide *who* will decide issues.
- -- George F. Will, in "Newsweek", 1976
-~
-Anyone can hate. It costs to love.
- -- John Williamson
-~
-Only the winners decide what were war crimes.
- -- Gary Wills, in "New York Times", 1975
-~
-Not-really-trying is just as much effort as trying-really-hard.
-The only difference... is that not-really-trying receives no reward.
- -- A. N. Wilson, "Incline Our Hearts", 1989
-~
-If you think nobody cares if you're alive,
-try missing a couple of car payments.
- -- Earl Wilson
-~
-You can't expect to hit the jackpot if you don't
-put a few nickels in the machine.
- -- Flip Wilson, 1971
-~
-Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others.
- -- Jonathan Winters in "The Twilight Zone"
-~
-The limits of my language means the limits of my world.
- -- Ludwig Wittgenstein
-~
-Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses
-possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting
-the figure of man at twice its natural size.
- -- Virginia Woolf, "A Room of One's Own", 1929
-~
-TV is chewing gum for the eyes.
- -- Frank Lloyd Wright
-~
-I believe that in the end the truth will conquer.
- -- John Wycliffe
-~
-Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
- -- William Butler Yeats
-~
-He who is conceived in a cage yearns for the cage.
- -- Yevgeny Yevtushenko, 1968
-~
-It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!
- -- Emiliano Zapata
-~
-Most people wouldn't know music if it came up and bit them on the ass.
- -- Frank Zappa
-~
-One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you
-only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds.
- -- Frank Zappa, 1979
-~
-Progress might be a circle, rather than a straight line.
- -- Eberhard Zeidler, in "Contemporary Architects", 1980
-~
-Once when I was in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, I met a
-mysterious old stranger. He said he was about to die and
-wanted to tell someone about the treasure. I said, "Okay, as
-long as it's not a long story. Some of us have a plane to catch,
-you know." He started telling his story, about the treasure
-and his life and all, and I thought "This story isn't too long".
-But then, he kept going, and I started thinking, "Uh-oh, this
-story is getting long." But then the story was over, and I said
-to myself: "You know, that story wasn't too long after all".
-I forgot what the story was about, but there was a good movie
-on the plane. It was a little long though.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I believe in making the world safe for our children,
-but not for our children's children, because i don't
-believe children should be having sex.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-In weightlifting, I don't think that sudden uncontrolled urination should
-automatically disqualify you.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Blow ye winds, like the trumpet blows, but without that noise.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-When the age of the Vikings came to a close, they must have sensed it.
-Probably, they gathered together one evening, slapped each other on the
-back and said, "Hey, good job".
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I can still recall old Mister Barnslow getting out every morning and nailing
-a fresh load of tadpoles to that old board of his. Then he'd spin it round
-and round, like a wheel of fortune, and no matter where it stopped he'd yell
-out, "Tadpoles! Tadpoles is a winner!" We all thought he was crazy. But
-then, we had some growing up to do.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If I ever opened a trampoline store, I don't think I'd call it Trampo-Land,
-because you might think it was a store for tramps, which is not the
-impression we are trying to convey with our store. On the other hand, we
-would not prohibit tramps from browsing, or testing the trampolines, unless
-a tramp's gyrations seemed to be getting out of control.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep both Dracula
-_and_ Superman away.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Too bad you can't just grab a tree by the very tiptop and bend it clear to
-the ground and then let her fly, because I bet you'd be amazed at all the
-stuff that comes flying out.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
- I remember that fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew
-what was coming.
- "You don't have to tell me," I said. "I am off the team, aren't I?"
- "Well," said the coach, "You never were really _on_ the team. You
-made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet
-is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the
-ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at
-inappropriate times."
- It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought, something is
-brewing inside the head of the coach. He sees something inside of me,
-some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the
-handcuffs go on.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-When I heard that trees grow a new "ring" for each year they live, I thought,
-we humans are kind of like that; we grow a new layer of skin each year; and
-after many years we are thick and unwieldy from all our skin layers.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you're in a boxing match, try not to let the other guy's glove touch your
-lips, because you don't know where that glove has been.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-It's too bad that whole families have been torn apart by something as
-simple as wild dogs.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Marta says the interesting thing about fly fishing is that it's two lives
-connected by a thin strand. Come on, Marta. Grow up.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-The old pool shooter had many a game in his life. But now it was time to
-hang up the cue. When he did, all the other cues came crashing to the floor.
-"Sorry," he said with a smile.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If I ever do a book on the Amazon, I hope I am able to bring a certain
-lightheartedness to the subject, in a way that tells the reader we are going
-to have fun with this thing.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Even though he was an enemy of mine, I had to admit that what he had
-accomplished was a brillant piece of stratagy. First, he punched me, then
-he kicked me, then he punched me again.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-The sound of fresh rain run-off splashing from the roof reminded me of the
-sound of urine splashing into a filthy Texaco latrine.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I think somebody should come up with a way to breed a very
-large shrimp. That way, you could ride him, then, after you
-camped at night, you could eat him. How about it, science?
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I scrambled to the top of the precipice where Nick was waiting. "That was
-fun," I said. "You bet it was", said Nick. "Lets climb higher." "No," I
-said, "I think we should be heading back now." "We have time," Nick
-insisted. I said we didn't, and Nick said we did. We argued back and forth
-like that for about 20 minutes, then finally decided to head back. I didn't
-say it was an interesting story.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Some folks say it was a miracle. Saint Francis suddenly appeared and knocked
-the pitch clean over the fence. But I think it was just a lucky swing.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Too bad there's not such a thing as a _golden_ skunk, because you'd probably
-be _proud_ to be sprayed by one.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And, at the same
-time unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between, plus some things I
-can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing". This is truth, to me.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I bet a fun thing would be to go way back in time to where there was going to
-be an eclipse and tell the cave men, "If I have come to destroy you, may the
-sun be blotted out from the sky". Just then the eclipse would start, and
-they'd probably try to kill you or something, but then you could explain about
-the rotation of the moon and all, and everyone would get a good laugh.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I think in one of my previous lives I was a mighty king, because I like
-people that do what I say.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Today I accidentally stepped on a snail on the sidewalk in front of our
-house. And I thought, I too am like that snail. I build a defensive wall
-around myself, a "shell" if you will. But my shell isn't made out of a hard,
-protective substance. Mine is made out of tinfoil and paper bags.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-A man doesn't automatically get my respect. He has to get down in the dirt
-and beg for it.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you're ever stuck in some thick undergrowth, in your underwear, don't
-stop and start thinking of what other words have "under" in them, because
-that's probably the first sign of jungle madness.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Sometimes the beauty of the world is so overwhelming, I just want to throw
-back my head and gargle. Just gargle and gargle, and I don't care who hears
-me, because I am beautiful.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Fear can sometimes be a useful emotion. For instance, let's say you're an
-astronaut on the moon and you fear that your partner has been turned into
-Dracula. The next time he goes out for the moon pieces, wham!!, you just
-slam the door behind him and blast off. He might call you on the radio and
-say he's not Dracula, but you just say, "Think again, bat man."
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I wish scientists would come up with a way to make a dogs a lot bigger, but
-with a smaller head. That way, they'd still be good as watchdogs, but they
-wouldn't eat so much.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I bet for an Indian, shooting an old fat pioneer woman in the back with an
-arrow, and she fires her shotgun into the ground as she falls over, is like
-the top thing you can do.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I think a good movie would be about a guy who's a brain scientist but he gets
-hit on the head and it damages the part of the brain that makes you want
-to study the brain.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I wouldn't be surprised if someday some fishermen caught a big shark and cut
-it open, and there inside was a whole person. Then they cut the person open,
-and in him is a little baby shark. And in the baby shark there isn't a
-person, because it would be too small. But there's a little doll or
-something, like a Johnny Combat little toy guy--something like that.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-It makes me mad when I go to all the trouble of having Marta cook up about
-a hundred drumsticks, then the guy at Marineland says, "You can't throw
-chicken to the dolphins. They eat fish." Sure they eat fish, if that is all
-you give them. Man, wise up.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If the Vikings were around today, they would probably be amazed at how much
-glow-in-the-dark stuff we have, and how we take so much of it for granted.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-It's not good to let any kid near a container that has a skull and
-crossbones on it, because there might be a skeleton costume inside and the
-kid could put it on and really scare you.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you had a school for professional fireworks people, I don't think you
-could cover fuses in just one class. It's just too rich a subject.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-People think it would be fun to be a bird because you could fly. But they
-forget the negative side, which is the preening.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If I lived back in the Wild West days, instead of carrying a six-gun in my
-holster, I'd carry a soldering iron. That way, if some smart-aleck cowboy
-said something like "Hey, look. He's carrying a soldering iron!" and started
-laughing, and everybody else started laughing, I could just say, "That's
-right, it's a soldering iron. The soldering iron of justice." Then everybody
-would be real quiet and ashamed, because they made fun of the soldering iron
-of justice, and I could probably hit them up for a free drink.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-When I think back on all the blessings I have been given in my life, I can't
-think of a single one, unless you count that rattlesnake that granted me
-all those wishes.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I hope in the future Americans are thought of as a warlike, vicious people,
-because I bet a lot of high schools would pick "Americans" as their mascot.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Sometimes I think the world has gone completely mad. And then I think, "Aw,
-who cares?" And then I think "Hey, what's for supper?"
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you ever discover that what you're seeing is a play within a play, just
-slow down, take a deep breath, and hold on for the ride of your life.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I can see why it would be prohibited to throw most things off the top of
-the Empire State Building, but what's wrong with little bits of cheese?
-They probably break down into their various gases before they even hit.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you're a circus clown, and you have a dog that you use in your act, I
-don't think it's a good idea to to dress the dog up like a clown, because
-people see that and they think, "Forgive me, but that's just too much".
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Here's a good joke to do during an earthquake: straddle a big crack in the
-ground, and if it opens wider, go "Whoa! Whoa!" and flail your arms around,
-like you're going to fall in.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you ever go temporarily insane, don't shoot somebody, like a lot of people
-do. Instead, try to get some weeding done, because you'd really be suprised.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-It makes me mad when people say I turned and ran like a scared rabbit. Maybe
-it was like an angry rabbit, who was running to go fight in another fight,
-away from the first fight.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I think a good way to get into a movie is to show up where they're making the
-movie, then stick a big cactus plant onto your buttocks and start yowling
-and running around. Everyone would think it was funny, and the head movie guy
-would say, "Hey, let's put him in the movie."
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Instead of having "answers" on a math test, they should just call them
-"impressions", and if you got a different "impression", so what, can't we
-all be brothers?
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If God dwells inside us, like some people say, I sure hope He likes
-enchiladas, because that's what He's getting!
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Probably to a shark, about the funniest thing there is a wounded seal,
-trying to swim to shore, because _where_does_he_think_he's_going_?!
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Perhaps, if I am very lucky, the feeble efforts of my lifetime will someday
-be noticed, and maybe, in some small way, they will be acknowledged as the
-greatest works of genius ever created by Man.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine,
-which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself:
-"Mankind." Basically, it's made up of two separate words--"mank" and "ind."
-What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I hope if dogs ever take over the world, and they choose a king, they don't
-just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some good
-ideas.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-It takes a big man to cry, but it takes an even bigger man to laugh at
-that man.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I guess we were all guilty, in a way. We all shot him, we all skinned him,
-and we all got a complimentary bumper sticker that said, "I helped skin
-Bob."
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I bet the main reason the police keep people away from a plane crash is
-they don't want anybody walking in and lying down in the crash stuff, then,
-when somebody comes up, act like they just woke up and go, "What was
-THAT?!"
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Ambition is like a frog sitting on a Venus Flytrap. The flytrap can bite
-and bite, but it won't bother the frog because it only has little tiny
-plant teeth. But some other stuff could happen and it could be like
-ambition.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I'd rather be rich than stupid.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you were a poor Indian with no weapons, and a bunch of conquistadors
-came up to you and asked where the gold was, I don't think it would be a
-good idea to say, "I swallowed it. So sue me."
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of danger,
-screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes, Mr. Brave Man, I
-guess I'm a coward.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I bet one legend that keeps recurring throughout history, in every culture,
-is the story of Popeye.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-When you go in for a job interview, I think a good thing to ask is if they
-ever press charges.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography,
-and the dancers hit each other.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-What is it that makes a complete stranger dive into an icy river to save a
-solid gold baby? Maybe we'll never know.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-We tend to scoff at the beliefs of the ancients. But we can't scoff at
-them personally, to their faces, and this is what annoys me.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Probably the earliest flyswatters were nothing more than some sort of
-striking surface attached to the end of a long stick.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I think someone should have had the decency to tell me the luncheon was
-free. To make someone run out with potato salad in his hand, pretending
-he's throwing up, is not what I call hospitality.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've
-wondered where this started, and I think it goes back to the time I went to
-the circus, and a clown killed my dad.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-As I bit into the nectarine, it had a crisp juiciness about it that was
-very pleasurable-until I realized it wasn't a nectarine at all, but A HUMAN
-HEAD!!!
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Most people don't realize that large pieces of coral, which have been
-painted brown and attached to the skull by common wood screws, can make a
-child look like a deer.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We
-might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Better not take a dog on the space shuttle, because if he sticks his head
-out when you're coming home his face might burn up.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-You know what would make a good story? Something about a clown who makes
-people happy, but inside he's real sad. Also, he has severe diarrhea.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Sometimes when I feel like killing someone, I do a little trick to calm
-myself down. I'll go over to the persons house and ring the doorbell.
-When the person comes to the door, I'm gone, but you know what I've left on
-the porch? A jack-o-lantern with a knife stuck in the side of it's head with
-a note that says "You." After that I usually feel a lot better, and no
-harm done.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you're a horse, and someone gets on you, and falls off, and then gets
-right back on you, I think you should buck him off right away.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you ever teach a yodeling class, probably the hardest thing is to keep
-the students from just trying to yodel right off. You see, we build to
-that.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe
-you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey,
-free dummy.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I'd like to see a nude opera, because when they hit those high notes, I bet
-you can really see it in those genitals.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Anytime I see something screech across a room and latch onto someone's
-neck, and the guy screams and tries to get it off, I have to laugh, because
-what is that thing?
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-He was a cowboy, mister, and he loved the land. He loved it so much he
-made a woman out of dirt and married her. But when he kissed her, she
-disintegrated. Later, at the funeral, when the preacher said, "Dust to
-dust," some people laughed, and the cowboy shot them. At his hanging, he
-told the others, "I'll be waiting for you in heaven--with a gun."
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-The memories of my family outings are still a source of strength to me. I
-remember we'd all pile into the car-I forget what kind it was-and drive and
-drive. I'm not sure where we'd go, but I think there were some trees there.
-The smell of something was strong in the air as we played whatever sport we
-played. I remember a bigger, older guy we called "Dad." We'd eat some stuff,
-or not, and then I think we went home. I guess some things never leave you.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is
-"God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to
-tell him is "probably because of something you did."
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Contrary to what most people say, the most dangerous animal in the world is
-not the lion or the tiger or even the elephant. It's a shark riding on an
-elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-As we were driving, we saw a sign that said "Watch for Rocks." Martha said
-it should read "Watch for Pretty Rocks." I told her she should write in
-her suggestion to the highway department, but she started saying it was a
-joke-- just to get out of writing a simple letter! And I thought I was lazy!
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my
-little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out
-warehouse. "Oh, no," I said, "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried,
-but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started
-to drive over to the the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you saw two guys named Hambone and Flipper, which one would you think
-liked dolphins the most? I'd say Flippy, wouldn't you? You'd be wrong,
-though. It's Hambone.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Laurie got offended because I used the word "puke."
-But to me, that's what her dinner tasted like.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-We used to laugh at Grandpa when he'd head off and go fishing. But we
-wouldn't be laughing that evening when he'd come back with a whore he
-picked up in town.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I wish a robot would get elected president. That way, when he came to
-town, we could all take a shot at him and not feel too bad.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-As the evening sky faded from a salmon color to a sort of flint gray, I
-thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, and how gray he was, and
-how I named him Flint.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you're a young Mafia gangster out on your first date, I bet it's real
-embarrassing if someone tries to kill you.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first
-instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell
-on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-If you go parachuting, and your parachute doesn't open, and your friends
-are all watching you fall, I think a funny gag would be to pretend you were
-swimming.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-When I was a kid, my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school
-we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of
-us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I think people tend to forget that trees are living creatures. They're
-sort of like dogs. Huge, quiet, motionless dogs, with bark instead of fur.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Another major social development of the time was the Temperance
-Movement, led by Carrie Nation, who headed an organization called
-Scary Looking Women with Hatchets. They would swoop down upon saloons
-and smash all the whiskey bottles, then go back to their headquarters,
-fire up reefers as big as Roman candles, and laugh until dawn. This
-resulted in so much social turmoil that in 1918 Congress decided to
-have a total prohibition on alcohol, which was approved early on a
-Saturday morning by a vote of 9-2, with 416 members unable to attend
-because of severe headaches. Thus began the nation's "Noble
-Experiment," which was eventually judged to be a noble failure and
-replaced by the current sensible and coherent alcohol policy of
-showing public-service TV announcements wherein professional sports
-figures urge people not to drink, interspersed with TV commercials
-wherein professional sports figures urge people to drink.
- -- from "Dave Barry Slept Here", 1989
-~
-1. Tao
-
-The Tao that can be known is not Tao.
-The substance of the World is only a name for Tao.
-Tao is all that exists and may exist;
-The World is only a map of what exists and may exist.
-
-One experiences without Self to sense the World;
-One experiences with Self to understand the World.
-The two experiences are the same within Tao;
-They are distinct only within the World.
-Neither experience conveys Tao
-Which is infinitely greater and subtler than the World.
-~
-2. Qualities
-
-When Beauty is ascribed to the World
-Ugliness has been learned;
-When Good is ascribed to the World
-Evil has been learned.
-
-In this way:
-Alive and dead are abstracted from growth;
-Difficult and easy are abstracted from progress;
-Long and short are abstracted from contrast;
-High and low are abstracted from position;
-Song and speech are abstracted from harmony;
-After and before are abstracted from sequence.
-
-For this reason the sage controls without instruction,
-And teaches without words.
-He lets all things rise and fall,
-Nurtures, but does not interfere,
-Gives without demanding,
-And is content.
-~
-3. Control without Action
-
-Not praising the worthy prevents cheating
-Not esteeming the rare prevents theft
-Not flaunting beauty prevents lust
-
-So the sage controls people by:
-Emptying their hearts,
-Filling their bellies,
-Weakening their ambitions,
-And strengthening their bodies.
-
-If people lack knowledge and desire
-The crafty among them can not act;
-If no action is taken
-Then all live in peace.
-~
-4. Properties of Tao
-
-Tao is a depthless vessel;
-Used by the Self, it is not filled by the World;
-It cannot be cut, knotted, dimmed or stilled;
-Its depths are hidden, ubiquitous and eternal;
-I don't know where it came from,
-But it came before Nature.
-~
-5. Nature
-
-Nature is not kind;
-It treats all things impartially.
-The Sage is not kind,
-And treats all people impartially.
-
-Nature is like a bellows
-Empty, yet supplying all needs,
-The more it moves, the more it yields;
-The sage draws upon Tao in the same way
-And so can not be exhausted.
-~
-6. Heart
-
-Like a riverbed, the heart is never filled
-It is an ineffable female
-Whose entrance is the root of the World;
-Tao is ever present within it:
-Draw upon it and it will never fail.
-~
-7. Self
-
-Nature is everlasting
-Because it does not have a Self.
-
-In the same way the sage
-Serves his Self last and finds it served first,
-Regards his body as accidental and finds it endures;
-Because his Self does not require service
-He is content.
-~
-8. Intimacy
-
-The best of man is like water,
-Which benefits all things, and does not contend with them,
-Which flows in places that others disdain,
-Where it holds fast to Tao.
-
-So the sage:
-In dwelling holds fast to the land,
-In feeling holds fast to the heart,
-In dealing holds fast to men,
-In talking holds fast to truth,
-In governing holds fast to order,
-In crafting holds fast to competence,
-In acting holds fast to opportunity;
-So he does not contend, and is without blame.
-~
-9. Hubris
-
-Stretch a bow to its limit and it is soon broken;
-Temper a blade to its sharpest and it is soon blunted;
-Amass the greatest treasure and it is soon stolen;
-Claim credit and honour and you will soon fall;
-Retire once your purpose is achieved--this is the best way.
-~
-10. Love
-
-Embracing Tao, can you become embraced?
-Supple, breathing gently, can you become newborn?
-Clearing your vision, can you become clear?
-Nurturing your beloved, can you become impartial?
-Opening your heart, can you become female?
-Knowing the world, can you embrace Tao?
-
-Bearing and nurturing,
-Creating but not owning,
-Giving without demanding,
-Controlling without authority.
-This is love.
-~
-11. Wealth and Worth
-
-Thirty spokes meet at a nave;
-Because of the hole we may use the wheel.
-Clay is moulded into a vessel;
-Because of the hollow we may use the cup.
-Walls are built around a hearth
-Because of the doors we may use the house.
-Thus wealth comes from what is,
-But worth from what is not.
-~
-12. Distraction
-
-Too much color blinds the eye
-Too much tone deafens the ear
-Too much taste dulls the palate
-Too much play maddens the mind
-Too much desire tears the heart.
-
-The sage provides for the belly but not for the senses;
-He lets go of sensation and accepts substance.
-~
-13. Anxiety
-
-The mythic masters said: "Praise and blame cause anxiety;
-The objects of hope and fear are within your Self."
-
-"Praise and blame cause anxiety"
-For you must hope and fear to receive or to lose them.
-
-"The objects of hope and fear are within your Self"
-For, without Self, neither fortune nor disaster can befall.
-
-Therefore:
-He who regards the World as the Self is able to control the World;
-He who loves the World as the Self is able to nurture the World.
-~
-14. The Continuity of Tao
-
-Looked at but cannot be seen--it is beyond form;
-Listened to but cannot be heard--it is beyond sound;
-Grasped at but cannot be touched--it is beyond reach;
-Depthless things evade definition,
-And blend into a single mystery.
-
-In its rising there is no light,
-In its falling there is no darkness,
-A continuous thread beyond description,
-Lining what can not exist,
-Its form formless,
-Its image nothing,
-Its name mystery,
-Meet it, it has no face,
-Follow it, it has no back.
-
-Understand the past, but attend the present;
-In this way you know the continuity of Tao,
-Which is its essence.
-~
-15. The Mythic Masters
-
-The Mythic Masters of Tao had understanding
-So profound they can not be understood.
-
-Because they cannot be understood
-I can only describe their appearance:
-Cautious, like one crossing thin ice,
-Hesitant, like one who fears danger,
-Modest, like one who is a guest,
-Smooth, like melting ice,
-Genuine, like unshaped wood,
-Empty, like a riverbed,
-Opaque, like muddy water.
-
-He who can lie still while the mud settles,
-And remain still until the water flows
-Does not seek fulfillment
-And may transcend Nature.
-~
-16. Transcending Nature
-
-Empty the Self completely;
-Embrace perfect peace.
-The World will rise and move;
-Watch it return to rest.
-All the flourishing things
-Will return to their source.
-
-This return is peaceful;
-It is the way of Nature,
-An eternal decay and renewal.
-Understanding this brings enlightenment,
-Ignorance of this brings misery.
-
-Who understands Nature's way becomes all-cherishing;
-Being all-cherishing he becomes impartial;
-Being impartial he becomes magnanimous;
-Being magnanimous he becomes part of Nature;
-Being part of Nature he becomes one with Tao;
-Being one with Tao he becomes immortal:
-Though his body will decay, Tao will not.
-~
-17. Rulers
-
-The best rulers are scarcely known by their subjects;
-The next best are loved and praised;
-The next are feared;
-The next despised:
-They have no faith in their subjects,
-So their subjects become unfaithful to them.
-
-When the best kings achieve their purpose
-Their subjects claim the achievement as their own.
-~
-18. Loss of Tao
-
-When Tao is forgotten
-Duty and justice arise;
-Then wisdom and sagacity are born
-Along with hypocrisy.
-
-When family relationships dissolve
-Then respect and devotion arise;
-When a nation falls to chaos
-Then loyalty and patriotism are born.
-~
-19. Simplicity
-
-If we could discard wisdom and sagacity
-Then people would profit a hundredfold;
-If we could discard duty and justice
-Then loving relationships would form;
-If we could discard artifice and profit
-Then corruption and theft would disappear -
-Yet such remedies treat only symptoms
-And so are inadequate.
-
-People need personal remedies:
-Reveal your naked Self,
-Embrace your original nature,
-Bind your self-interest,
-Control your desire.
-~
-20. Loneliness
-
-I know nothing and nothing troubles me.
-I see no difference between yes and no.
-I see no difference between good and evil.
-I do not fear what the people fear in the night.
-
-The people are merry as if at a tremendous party
-Or playing in the park at springtime;
-But I am tranquil and wandering,
-Like a newborn before it learns to smile,
-Lonely, with no true home.
-
-The people have enough and to spare,
-But I have nothing,
-And my heart is foolish,
-Muddled and cloudy.
-
-The people are bright and certain,
-Where I am dim and confused;
-The people are clever and wise,
-Where I am dull and ignorant,
-Aimless as a wave drifting over the sea,
-Attached to nothing.
-
-The people are busy with purpose,
-Where I am impractical and uncouth.
-I am apart from all other people
-Yet I am sustained by Nature, their mother.
-~
-21. Expressions of Tao
-
-Love is expressed by following Tao.
-
-Tao is evasive and intangible
-But expresses all form and substance;
-Tao is dark and subtle
-But expresses Nature;
-Nature is unchanging,
-But expresses sensation.
-
-Since before knowledge
-Tao has expressed these things.
-How do I know?
-By faith in my senses.
-~
-22. Contention and Contentment
-
-Accept and you become whole,
-Bend and you straighten,
-Empty and you fill,
-Decay and you renew,
-Want and you acquire,
-Fulfill and you become confused.
-
-The sage embraces the one
-As the World embraces Tao;
-He does not display himself, so is clearly seen,
-Does not justify himself, so is famed,
-Does not boast, so is credited,
-Does not glory, so excels,
-Does not contend, and so no one contends against him.
-
-The mythic masters said, "Accept and you become whole",
-Once whole, the World is your home.
-~
-23. Talk and Trust
-
-Nature says only a few words:
-High wind does not last long,
-Nor does heavy rain.
-If Nature's words do not last
-Why should those of man?
-
-To follow Tao, become Tao; Tao will embrace you.
-To give love, become love; love will embrace you.
-To lose Tao, become lost; loss will embrace you.
-You must trust in order to be trusted.
-~
-24. Tumors
-
-If you stand on tiptoe you can not stand steady;
-If you stride too long you can not stride well;
-If you display yourself you can not be clearly seen;
-If you justify yourself you can not be respected;
-If you promote yourself you can not be believed;
-If you pride yourself you can not excel.
-These behaviours are dregs and tumors,
-Disgusting things avoided by love.
-~
-25. Four Infinities.
-
-Before the World exists
-There is mystery:
-Silent, depthless,
-Alone, unchanging,
-Ubiquitous and ever moving,
-The mother of the World.
-I can not know its name, so I call it Tao;
-I can not know its limit, so I call it infinite.
-
-Being infinite, it flows away forever
-Flowing away forever, it will return to the Self.
-
-For the Self follows the way of the World
-The World follows the way of Nature
-And Nature follows the way of Tao.
-Tao is its own way.
-
-Tao is infinite,
-Therefore Nature is infinite,
-Therefore the World is infinite,
-Therefore the Self is infinite.
-There are four infinities,
-And the Self is one of them.
-~
-26. Gravity and Calm
-
-Gravity is the root of Lightness,
-Calm, the master of Haste
-
-The commander of a great fleet should not act lightly or hastily.
-Acting lightly, he loses touch with the World,
-Acting hastily, he loses control of the Self.
-
-The sage will travel all day without losing his vehicles.
-Surrounded by desirable things,
-He remains calm and unattached.
-~
-27. Attention
-
-A good traveller leaves no trail to be followed
-A good speaker leaves no questions to be asked
-A good accountant leaves no workings to be checked
-A good container leaves no lock to be opened
-A good fastener leaves no knots to be unravelled
-
-So the sage nurtures all men
-And abandons no one.
-He accepts everything
-And rejects nothing.
-He attends to the smallest details.
-
-So the strong must guide the weak,
-For the weak are raw material to the strong.
-If the guide is not respected
-Or the material is not nurtured
-Confusion will result, no matter how clever one is.
-This is the essence of subtlety.
-~
-28. Being the Female
-
-Knowing the male, being the female,
-Being the course through which flows the World,
-One possesses unfailing Love
-And exists again as a newborn.
-
-Knowing the light, being the dark,
-Being the World,
-One becomes unerring Love
-And returns to Tao.
-
-Knowing honour, being humble,
-Being the valley of the World,
-Love suffices,
-And one becomes as unshaped wood.
-
-When wood is shaped it becomes tools.
-Used by the sage, tools become powerful;
-A good carpenter wastes little.
-~
-29. Blindness
-
-Those who wish to change the World
-According with their desire
-Cannot succeed.
-
-The World is shaped by Tao;
-It cannot be shaped by the Self.
-If one tries to shape it, one damages it;
-If one tries to possess it, one loses it.
-
-So:
-Sometimes things will flourish,
-And sometimes they will not.
-Sometimes life is hard
-And sometimes it is easy.
-Sometimes people are strong
-And sometimes they are weak.
-Sometimes you get where you are going
-And sometimes you fall by the way.
-
-The sage is never extreme, extravagant, or complacent.
-~
-30. Violence
-
-Powerful men are well advised not to use violence,
-For violence has a habit of returning;
-Thorns and weeds grow wherever an army goes,
-And lean years follow a great war.
-
-A general is well advised
-To achieve nothing more than his orders,
-No matter how strong his army;
-To carry out his orders
-But not glory, boast or be proud;
-To do what is dictated by necessity,
-But not by bloodlust;
-For even the fiercest force will weaken with time,
-And then its violence will return, and kill it.
-~
-31. Tools of Violence
-
-Soldiers are tools of violence, feared by all;
-The sage will not employ them.
-His purpose is creation;
-Their purpose is destruction.
-
-Weapons are tools of violence, not of the wise man;
-He uses them when there is no choice
-For he values peace and tact,
-And does not delight in conquest.
-
-For who delights in conquest
-Delights in the slaughter of men;
-Who delights in the slaughter of men
-Cannot control them.
-
-Slaughters should be mourned
-And conquest should be celebrated with a funeral.
-~
-32. Shape
-
-Tao has no true definition.
-Like unshaped wood, it has no use;
-If a ruler understands this
-His whole country flourishes and obeys
-In harmony with his Self,
-Just as sweet rain falls
-Needing no instruction
-To slake the thirst of all.
-
-When Tao is shaped by use,
-The shape gains a name in the World;
-One should not keep too many names
-Lest their shapes stop up the Self;
-Instead let Tao flow through the Self into the World
-As water courses down a riverbed into the sea.
-~
-33. Virtues
-
-He who understands the World is learned;
-He who understands the Self is enlightened.
-He who conquers the World has strength;
-He who conquers the Self has love.
-He who is contented has riches;
-He who is determined has purpose.
-He who maintains his home will long endure
-He who maintains his influence will live long after death.
-~
-34. Tao Favours Nothing
-
-Infinite Tao flows everywhere, creating and destroying,
-Implementing all the World, attending to the tiniest details,
-Claiming nothing in return.
-
-It nurtures all things,
-Though it does not control them;
-It has no intention
-So it seems inconsequential.
-
-It is the substance of all things;
-Though it does not control them;
-It has no exception
-So it seems all-important.
-
-Because it favours no finite thing,
-It is infinite.
-~
-35. Peace
-
-Tao lacks art and flavour;
-It can neither be seen nor heard,
-Yet its application cannot be exhausted.
-
-So, if you offer music and food
-Strangers may stop with you;
-But if you accord with the shape of Tao
-The people of the World will keep you
-In safety, health, community, and peace.
-~
-36. Playing Poker
-
-To reduce someone's influence, first cause it to expand;
-To reduce someone's force, first cause it to increase;
-To overthrow someone, first cause them to be exalted;
-To take something from someone, first give it to them.
-
-This is the subtlety by which the weak overcome the strong,
-For fish should not leave their depths;
-And soldiers should not leave their camouflage.
-~
-37. Quieting the Heart
-
-Tao does not act, yet leaves nothing undone.
-If the Self understands this
-All things of the World will naturally flourish;
-Flourishing, they will be restrained by Nature.
-
-Nature does not possess desire;
-Without desire, the heart becomes quiet,
-And so the whole World may be made tranquil.
-~
-38. Religion
-
-The kind act without self-interest;
-The just act to serve self-interest;
-The religious act to reproduce self-interest.
-
-When Tao is lost, there is love;
-When love is lost, there is kindness;
-When kindness is lost, there is justice;
-And when justice is lost, there is religion.
-
-Well established hierarchies are not easily uprooted;
-Closely held beliefs are not easily released;
-So religions enthrall generation after generation.
-
-Religion is the dissolution of love and trust,
-The beginning of confusion.
-Belief is a colourful hope or fear,
-The origin of folly.
-
-The sage goes by knowledge, not by hope;
-He dwells in the fruit, not the flower;
-He accepts the former, and rejects the latter.
-~
-39. Wholeness
-
-In mythic times things were whole:
-All the sky was clear,
-All the earth was stable,
-All the mountains were strong,
-All the riverbeds were full,
-All of nature was alive,
-All the rulers were supported.
-
-For without clarity the sky tears;
-Without stability the earth cracks;
-Without strength the mountain collapses;
-Without water the riverbed stagnates;
-Without life nature dies back;
-And without support rulers fall.
-
-So the ruler depends upon his subjects,
-The noble depend upon the humble;
-Rulers call themselves orphaned, lonely or disabled,
-To win the people's sympathy,
-For wholeness gains no support.
-
-So there is weakness in power,
-And power in weakness;
-Rather than tinkle like jade,
-One should clatter like stones.
-~
-40. Application of Tao
-
-The motion of Tao is to return;
-The use of Tao is to accept;
-All things are made of Tao,
-And Tao is made of nothing.
-~
-41. Taoism
-
-When the strong learn Tao, they practice it diligently;
-When the average learn Tao, they practice it sometimes;
-When the weak learn Tao, they laugh out loud;
-Those who do not laugh do not learn at all.
-
-Therefore is it said:
-Who understands Tao seems foolish;
-Who progresses in Tao seems to fail;
-Who follows Tao seems to wander.
-
-For the greatest force appears vulnerable;
-The brightest truth appears coloured;
-The richest character appears incomplete;
-The strongest heart appears meek;
-The most beautiful nature appears fickle;
-
-For the square, perfected, has no corner;
-Art, perfected, has no meaning;
-Sex, perfected, has no climax;
-Form, perfected, has no shape.
-
-So Tao can not be sensed or known:
-It transmits sensation and transcends knowledge.
-~
-42. Harmony
-
-Tao bears love;
-Love bears restraint;
-Restraint bears acceptance;
-Acceptance bears the World;
-All things begin with love and end with restraint,
-But it is acceptance that brings harmony.
-
-As others teach, I teach:
-"Those without harmony end with violence";
-This is my teacher.
-~
-43. Overcoming the Impossible
-
-The soft overcomes the hard;
-The formless penetrates the impenetrable;
-Therefore I value taking no action.
-
-Teaching without words,
-Work without action,
-Are understood by no one.
-~
-44. Contentment
-
-Fame or Self: which is dearer?
-Self or wealth: which is more valuable?
-Profit or loss: which is more torturous?
-
-Great love incurs great expense,
-And great wealth incurs great theft,
-But great contentment incurs no loss.
-
-Therefore:
-He who knows when to stop
-Does not continue into danger,
-And may long endure.
-~
-45. Quiet
-
-Great perfection seems imperfect,
-But does not decay;
-Great abundance seems empty,
-But does not fail.
-
-Great truth seems contradictory;
-Great cleverness seems stupid;
-Great eloquence seems awkward.
-
-Action overcomes contentment,
-But stillness overcomes desire;
-Therefore calm and quiet control the World.
-~
-46. Desire
-
-When the World is not in accord with Tao,
-Horses bear soldiers through the countryside;
-When the World is in accord with Tao,
-Horses bear horse-manure through the countryside.
-
-There is no greater curse than desire;
-There is no greater misery than discontent;
-There is no greater ailment than greed;
-He who is content to be content shall always be content.
-~
-47. Knowledge and Experience
-
-Without taking a step outdoors
-You know the whole World.
-Without taking a look out the window
-You see the colour of the sky.
-
-The more you experience,
-The less you know.
-The sage wanders without knowing,
-Looks without seeing,
-Accomplishes without acting.
-~
-48. Knowledge
-
-The follower of knowledge acquires as much as he can every day;
-The follower of Tao loses as much as he can every day.
-
-By attrition he reaches a state of inaction
-Wherein he does nothing, but leaves nothing undone.
-
-To conquer the world, do nothing;
-If you must do something,
-The world remains beyond conquest.
-~
-49. The Worlds of Others
-
-The sage does not distinguish between Self and World;
-Therefore the needs of people in the World are as his own.
-
-He is good to those who are good;
-He is also good to those who are not good;
-For love is goodness.
-He trusts those who are trustworthy;
-He also trusts those who are not trustworthy;
-For love is trust.
-
-He is in harmony with the World;
-Therefore he nurtures the Worlds of others
-As a mother does her children.
-~
-50. Life and Death
-
-Death enters life as man enters woman.
-
-The limits of man:
-Thirty years of growth;
-Thirty years of decay;
-Thirty years inbetween;
-So death and life reproduce themselves.
-
-He who would prolong his life
-Will not meet tigers or rhinoceri in the wilds,
-Nor soldiers in battle
-So the rhinoceros sees no place in him for its horn,
-The tiger no place for its claw,
-The soldier no place for a weapon;
-So death finds no place to enter his life.
-~
-51. Love
-
-Tao bears us,
-Love nurtures us,
-Nature shapes us,
-Circumstance completes us.
-
-We worship Tao and honour love;
-For worship of Tao and honour of love
-Are performed just by being alive.
-
-Tao bears us,
-Love nurtures, develops, cares for,
-Shelters, comforts and makes a home for us.
-
-Making without controlling,
-Giving without demanding,
-Guiding without interfering,
-Helping without profiting,
-This is love.
-~
-52. Restraint
-
-The origins of the World are its mother;
-Know the mother, and you understand the child;
-Know the child, and you embrace the mother,
-Who will not perish when you die.
-
-Reserve your judgments and words
-And you maintain your influence;
-Draw conclusions and speak your mind
-And your cause is lost.
-
-As seeing detail is clarity,
-So maintaining tact is strength;
-Keep your eyes and mind open
-So that you may not regret your actions;
-This is restraint.
-~
-53. Distractions
-
-With but a small understanding
-One may follow Tao like a main road,
-Fearing only to leave it;
-Following a main road is easy,
-But being sidetracked is also easy.
-
-For when palaces are kept up
-Fields are left to weeds
-And granaries empty.
-
-Wearing fine clothes,
-Bearing sharp swords,
-Glutting with food and drink,
-Hoarding wealth and possessions -
-These are the ways of theft
-And deviations from Tao.
-~
-54. Go by Love
-
-Love does not think of love
-For this reason is it strong;
-It does not act,
-Yet leaves nothing undone.
-Desire is intent upon love
-For this reason is it weak;
-It always acts,
-Yet gets nothing done.
-
-Nurture love in the Self, and love will be genuine;
-Nurture love in the family, and love will be abundant;
-Nurture love in the community, and love will multiply;
-Nurture love in the culture, and love will flourish;
-Nurture love in the World, and love will be ubiquitous.
-
-Therefore:
-Judge a person by their love;
-Judge a family by its love;
-Judge a community by its love;
-Judge a culture by its love;
-Judge the World by its love.
-How can I know the love of the World?
-By judging my Self.
-~
-55. Love and Nature
-
-Who is filled with love is like a newborn.
-Wasps will not sting him;
-Tigers will not eat him;
-Hawks will not tear out his eyes.
-
-His bones are soft, yet his sinews are supple,
-So his grip is strong;
-He has no wife, yet his manhood is healthy,
-So his vigour is unspoiled;
-He sings all day yet his voice remains sweet
-So his harmony is perfect.
-
-To approach Nature is to know harmony;
-To achieve Nature is to be enlightened;
-But to surpass Nature invites calamity
-For emotion will burst the lungs
-And exhaustion will age the heart:
-The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long.
-~
-56. Impartiality.
-
-He who knows does not speak;
-He who speaks does not know.
-
-Reserve your judgments and words;
-Dull your wit and simplify your purpose;
-Be humble as earth and a part of Nature.
-
-In this way
-Friendship and enmity,
-Profit and loss,
-Honour and disgrace,
-Will not affect you.
-The impartial Self is of most benefit to the World.
-~
-57. Government
-
-A nation is best governed by innocence;
-A war is best waged by treachery;
-The World is best controlled by inaction;
-How do I know?
-
-Because:
-The more property and taxes there are,
-The more poverty prevails;
-The more guns and knives there are,
-The more chaos prevails;
-The more arts and sciences there are,
-The more deceit prevails;
-The more rules and regulations there are,
-The more theft prevails.
-
-Therefore the sage says:
-I take no action, and the people become civilized;
-I wage no war, and the people become just;
-I transact no business, and the people become wealthy;
-I have no desire, and the people become innocent.
-~
-58. Be Forgiving
-
-When government is lazy and blunt
-The people are kind and honest;
-When government is efficient and severe
-The people are discontented and deceitful.
-
-Misery may yield happiness;
-Happiness may conceal misery.
-Who can say which will be for the best?
-Nothing is straightforward.
-Honesty is ever corrupted;
-Kindness is ever seduced;
-Men have been like this for a long time.
-
-So the sage is firm but not cutting,
-Pointed but not piercing,
-Straight but not inflexible,
-Brilliant but not blinding.
-~
-59. Restraint
-
-Manage a great nation
-As you would cook a delicate fish.
-
-When directing men to a purpose
-The sage is restrained;
-Restraint allows time to prepare and strengthen,
-To build loving relationships;
-With sufficient strength and love all resistance is overcome;
-When all resistance is overcome his purpose is achieved.
-
-Who can achieve his purpose is able to direct men
-And his influence upon them long endures.
-Deeply rooted and firmly established,
-His vision lives on even after death.
-~
-60. Emotions
-
-Because the sage follows Tao his emotions do no hurt;
-It is not that they lose their power;
-But that they do not hurt others;
-Because they do not hurt others,
-He does not hurt others:
-Because his emotions do no hurt,
-His relations with people are loving.
-~
-61. International Relations
-
-A nation acts as a hierarchy, a meeting place, and a female.
-A female seduces a male by being cool,
-Being cool is a means of submission.
-
-If a large country submits to a small country
-It will seduce the small country;
-If a small country submits to a large country
-It will seduce the large country;
-The large will submit in order to control
-And the small will submit in order to prosper.
-
-Therefore:
-It is in the interests of a large country to give shelter,
-And in the interests of a small country to give service;
-If both would achieve their purposes,
-Both must submit.
-~
-62. Sin
-
-Tao is the source of all things,
-The treasure of the saint,
-And the refuge of the sinner.
-
-Fine words win honour
-And fine acts win respect,
-But if a man sins, do not abandon him;
-And if a man wins power, do not bribe him;
-Just be still and present accordance with Tao.
-
-Why do saints treasure Tao?
-Because it is easily found by seeking,
-And absolves every sin.
-It is the most valuable gift.
-~
-63. Confront Difficulty
-
-Practise no-action;
-Attend to do-nothing;
-Taste the flavorless,
-Attend the small,
-Multiply the few,
-Return love for hate.
-
-Deal with difficulty while it is yet easy;
-Deal with the great while it is yet small;
-
-The difficult develops naturally from the easy
-And the great from the small;
-So the sage, by dealing with the small
-Achieves the great.
-
-He who finds it easy to promise finds it hard to deliver;
-He who takes things lightly makes things hard;
-The sage confronts difficulty, and so has none.
-~
-64. Care at Beginning and End
-
-What lies still is easy to grasp;
-What is far off is easy to plan for;
-What is cold is easy to shatter;
-What is small is easy to disperse.
-
-Yet
-A tree broader than a man can embrace is born of a tiny shoot;
-A dam taller than a river can overflow is born of a clod of earth;
-A journey of a thousand miles begins at the spot under one's feet.
-
-Therefore deal with things before they happen;
-Create order before there is confusion.
-
-Yet he who acts, spoils;
-He who grasps, loses.
-People often fail on the verge of success.
-Take care at the end as at the beginning,
-So that you may avoid failure.
-
-The sage desires no desire,
-Values no valuable,
-Knows no knowledge,
-But gives the people what they can not find
-And helps all things accord with Nature
-Without interfering.
-~
-65. Understanding History
-
-The mythic masters of Tao did not want to make people wise,
-But to keep them ignorant;
-For it is difficult to govern people who know too much.
-
-To govern a nation by imparting knowledge to its people
-Destroys the nation.
-To govern a nation by decreasing the knowledge of its people
-Serves the nation.
-
-Understanding these two paths is understanding history;
-Understanding history gives clarity of vision
-By which one may see through deceit.
-~
-66. Lead by Following
-
-How does the river carve out the valley?
-By flowing beneath it.
-Thereby the river is master of the valley.
-
-In order to master people
-One must speak as their servant;
-So when the sage is elevated to power
-People do not feel oppressed.
-
-In order to lead people
-One must follow them;
-So when the sage restrains people
-They do not feel hindered.
-
-Thus the popularity of the sage does not fail,
-He does not seem superior, so no one wishes to usurp him.
-~
-67. Three Treasures
-
-It may seem that my teaching means nothing;
-It describes the infinite, so of course it means nothing;
-If it meant something it would long since have been refuted.
-
-Yet I have three treasures, which I follow and commend to you:
-The first is love.
-By which one finds courage.
-The second is restraint.
-By which one finds strength.
-The third is not contending.
-By which one finds influence.
-
-Those who are fearless, but without love,
-Strong, but without restraint,
-Or influential, yet contentious,
-Are doomed.
-
-Only love conquers all and is defeated by none.
-It is Nature's finest tool and sharpest weapon.
-~
-68. Using Men
-
-A good soldier does not use violence;
-A good fighter does not use anger;
-A good conqueror does not use attack;
-A good ruler does not use authority;
-So not contending is the best way to use men.
-~
-69. Ambush
-
-There is a saying among soldiers:
-It is easier to lose a yard than take an inch.
-
-In this way one may deploy troops without marshalling them,
-Reveal weapons without exposing them,
-Assault the foe without charging them,
-And apply force without aggression.
-
-Conversely there is no disaster like underestimating your enemy;
-For false confidence will lose you your most valued assets.
-When two equally matched forces meet
-The general who conserves life will win.
-~
-70. Individuality
-
-My words are easy to understand
-And my actions are easy to perform
-Yet no man can understand or perform them.
-
-My words have logic; my actions have meaning;
-Yet these cannot be known and I cannot be known.
-
-We are each unique; no man understands another.
-Though the sage wears coarse clothes, his heart is jade.
-~
-71. Sickness
-
-Who knows what he knows is healthy;
-Who ignores what he ignores is sick;
-Who grows sick of sickness recovers;
-The sage is never sick, but always sick of sickness.
-~
-72. Friendship
-
-When people do not fear, they are easily conquered.
-
-Praise their goods and children
-And they will not dislike yours.
-Know your superiority,
-But do not tell it to them;
-Love your home,
-But do not let them know;
-Reject what is yours
-And accept what is theirs.
-~
-73. Fate
-
-Who is brave and bold may die;
-Who is brave and subtle may live.
-Which course best serves one's purpose?
-Fate favours some and destroys others.
-The sage does not know why.
-
-Fate does not contend, yet all things are conquered by it;
-It does not ask, yet all things answer to it;
-It does not call, yet all things come to it;
-It does not plan, yet all things are determined by it.
-
-Fate's hands are vast, its fingers spread wide,
-Yet none slip through its grasp.
-~
-74. Tyranny
-
-People do not fear death, so do not threaten them with death.
-
-If people feared death, and you executed all who did not love you
-There would be no people left but you and the executioner.
-You would then need to kill him.
-You would then need to chop off your own hand.
-~
-75. Extremis
-
-If rulers take too much grain
-People rapidly starve;
-If rulers take too much freedom
-People easily rebel;
-If rulers take too much happiness.
-People gladly die.
-
-By not interfering the sage improves the people's lives.
-~
-76. Flexibility
-
-Man is born soft and tender,
-But dies hard and stiff.
-Plants and animals, in life, are supple and juicy;
-In death, brittle and dry.
-So hardness and stiffness are attributes of death,
-And softness and tenderness attributes of life.
-
-Just as a sapless tree splits and decays
-A strong but inflexible force will meet defeat;
-So the hard and mighty lie beneath our feet
-While the tender and weak toss in the breeze above.
-~
-77. Balance
-
-Is the movement of Nature not unlike drawing a bow?
-What is higher descends and what is lower ascends;
-What is longer shortens and what is shorter lengthens;
-Nature's way decreases those who have more than they need
-So to increase those who need more than they have.
-
-It is not so with Man.
-Man decreases those who need more than they have
-So to increase those who have more than they need.
-
-The sage works regardless of personal reward or recognition;
-To benefit the World is to benefit the Self.
-~
-78. Accept Responsibility
-
-Nothing in the World is as yielding as water;
-Nor can anything better overcome the hardened.
-
-Just as the yielding overcomes the hardened,
-The weak may overcome the strong;
-Yet they do not.
-
-For the sage says:
-"Who accepts responsibility for his people rules the country;
-Who accepts responsibility for the World rules the World"
-Yet his words are not understood.
-~
-79. Reconciliation
-
-When conflict is reconciled, some hatred remains;
-How can this be put right?
-
-The sage accepts less than is due
-And does not blame or punish;
-Love seeks agreement
-Where justice seeks payment.
-
-The mythic masters said: "Nature is impartial;
-Therefore it serves those who serve all."
-~
-80. Utopia
-
-Imagine that there is a small country with few people;
-Who have a hundred times more than they need;
-Who love life and do not wander far;
-Who own ships but do no foreign trade;
-Who own weapons but do not threaten war;
-Who are literate but keep no histories;
-Who cook well, dress beautifully, dwell safely
-And delight in their own culture,
-But live within cock crow of their neighbours.
-
-People in such a place would never leave.
-~
-81. The Sage
-
-Truth is not rhetorical;
-Therefore rhetoric is not true;
-Lovers do not contend;
-Therefore competitors do not love;
-The enlightened keep no knowledge;
-Therefore the learned are not enlightened.
-
-The sage does not aim to increase himself;
-But the more he does for others the more he is satisfied;
-And the more he gives the more he gets.
-
-The best way is to benefit all and harm none;
-So the sage achieves his purpose without contention.
-~
-Minds are like parachutes, they only function when they're open.
- -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar, aka Lord Dewar
-~
- /--------\
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-~
- === ======
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- #################### ##
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-~
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- \ //||\\ /
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- `-- \||/ --'
- \/
-~
-[Reuters 8/16/92] SHANGHAI--A 24-year-old bus passenger, Dong Huibo, died
-in the street, after tangling with one of the city's dreaded woman bus
-conductors. His nightmare began inside the bus when the ticketpuncher
-snarled an insult about the shape of his backside. She swore at him,
-slapped his face and broke his glasses, made a grab for his testicles, then
-stood back and aimed a vicious kick at his private parts. As he scrambled
-out of a window, the driver--also a woman--slammed her foot on the
-accelerator pedal and sent him flying. (From: Di Bi Cao)
-~
------------------------------------------
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-~
- . /\
- . / \
- / /
- . / /
- . / /
- . / /
- _ / /
- \\ / /
- \\/---/
- \\ /
- / \\/
- / /
- \ /
- \/
-~
-Ronald Wilson Reagan can be rearranged into Insane Anglo Warlord
-and George Herbert Walker Bush into Huge Berserk Rebel Warthog, and of
-course H. Ross Perot can be rearranged into Sport Horse and Short Poser.
-~
-HSIN-HSIN-MING (AFFIRMING FAITH IN MIND)
-
-wong@rkna50.riken.go.jp (Wong Weng Fai) posted a version of this,
-and I thought I would send another, longer version. This is from
-(if my memory serves) Roshi Kapleau's "Zen--Dawn in the West",
-so I assume it is his translation.
-~
-The Great Way is not difficult
-For those who do not pick and choose.
-~
-When preferences are cast aside
-The Way stands clear and undisguised.
-~
-But even slight distinctions made
-Set Heaven and Earth far apart.
-~
-If you would clearly see the truth,
-Discard opinions pro and con.
-~
-To founder in like and dislike
-Is nothing but the mind's disease.
-~
-And not to see the Way's deep truth
-Disturbs the Mind's essential peace.
-~
-The Way is perfect like vast space,
-Where there's no lack and no excess.
-~
-Our choice to choose and to reject
-Prevents our seeing this simple truth.
-~
-Both striving for the outer world
-As well as for the inner void
-Condemns us to entangled lives.
-~
-Just calmly see that all is One
-And by themselves false views will go.
-~
-Attempts to stop activity
-Only fill you with activity.
-~
-Remaining in duality
-You'll never know of unity.
-~
-And not to know this unity
-Lets conflict lead you far astray.
-~
-When you assert that things are real,
-You miss their true reality.
-But to assert that things are void
-Also misses reality.
-~
-The more you talk and think on this,
-The further from the truth you'll be.
-~
-Cut off all useless thoughts and words
-And there's nowhere you cannot go.
-Returning to the root itself,
-You'll find the meaning of all things.
-~
-If you pursue appearances,
-You overlook the primal source.
-~
-Awakening is to go beyond
-Both emptiness as well as form.
-~
-All changes in this empty world
-Seem real because of ignorance.
-~
-Do not go searching for the truth,
-Just let those fond opinions go.
-~
-Abide not in duality;
-Refrain from all pursuit of it.
-~
-If there's a trace of right and wrong,
-True Mind is lost, confused, distraught.
-~
-From One-Mind comes duality,
-But cling not even to this one.
-~
-When this One-Mind rests undisturbed,
-Then nothing in the world offends.
-~
-And when nothing can give offense,
-Then all obstructions cease to be.
-~
-If all thought-objects disappear,
-The thinking subject drops away.
-~
-For things are things because of mind,
-As mind is mind because of things.
-~
-These two are merely relative,
-And both at source are emptiness.
-~
-In emptiness these are not two,
-Yet in each are contained all forms.
-~
-Once coarse and fine are seen no more,
-Then how can there be taking sides?
-~
-The Great Way is without limit,
-Beyond the easy and the hard.
-~
-But those who hold to narrow views
-Are fearful and irresolute;
-Their frantic haste just slows them down.
-~
-If you're attached to anything,
-You surely will go far astray.
-~
-Just let go now of clinging mind,
-And all things are just as they are.
-In essence nothing goes or stays.
-~
-See into the true self of things,
-And you're in step with the Great Way,
-Thus walking freely and undisturbed.
-~
-But live in bondage to your thoughts,
-And you will be confused, unclear.
-~
-This heavy burden weighs you down-
-O why keep judging good and bad?
-~
-If you would walk the highest way,
-Do not reject the sense domain.
-~
-For as it is, whole and complete,
-This sense world is enlightenment.
-~
-The wise do not strive after goals,
-But fools themselves in bondage put.
-~
-The One Way knows no differences;
-The foolish cling to this and that.
-To seek Great Mind with thinking mind
-Is certainly a grave mistake.
-~
-From small mind comes rest and unrest,
-But mind awakened transcends both.
-~
-Delusion spawns dualities-
-These dreams are naught but flowers of air-
-Why work so hard at grasping them?
-~
-Both gain and loss, and right and wrong-
-Once and for all get rid of them.
-~
-When you are no longer asleep,
-All dreams will vanish by themselves.
-~
-If mind does not discriminate,
-All things are as they are, as one.
-~
-To go to this mysterious source
-Frees us from all entanglements.
-~
-When all is seen with "equal mind",
-To our self-nature we return.
-~
-This single mind goes right beyond
-All reasons and comparisons.
-~
-Stop movement and there's no movement,
-Stop rest and no-rest comes instead.
-~
-When rest and no-rest cease to be,
-Then even Oneness disappears.
-This ultimate Finality's
-Beyond all laws; can't be described.
-~
-With single mind one with the Way,
-All ego-centered strivings cease.
-~
-Doubts and confusion disappear,
-And so true faith pervades our life.
-~
-There is no thing that clings to us,
-And nothing that is left behind.
-~
-All's self-revealing, void and clear,
-Without exerting power of mind.
-~
-Thought cannot reach this state of truth;
-Here feelings are of no avail.
-~
-In this true world of emptiness,
-Both self and other are no more.
-~
-To enter this true empty world,
-Immediately affirm "Not-Two".
-~
-In this "Not-Two" all is the same,
-With nothing separate or outside.
-~
-The wise in all times and places
-Awaken to this primal truth.
-~
-The Way's beyond all space, all time;
-One instant is ten thousand years.
-~
-Not only here, not only there,
-Truth's right before your very eyes.
-~
-Distinctions such as large and small
-Have relevance for you no more.
-~
-The largest is the smallest too;
-Here limitations have no place.
-~
-What is is not, what is not is;
-If this is not yet clear to you,
-You're still far from the inner truth.
-~
-One thing is all, all things are one.
-Know this and all's whole and complete.
-~
-When faith and mind are not separate,
-And not separate are mind and faith,
-This is beyond all words, all thought.
-~
-For here there is
- no yesterday,
- no tomorrow,
- no today.
-~
-You don't understand because you are a technocrat, an engineer.
-You work with your hands.
-I however am a visionary. I work with my mouth.
- -- Random HBO Movie
-~
-So we'll go to the top of the toppest blue space,
-The Official Katroo Birthday Sounding-Off Place!
-Come on! Open your mouth and sound off at the sky!
-Shout loud at the top of your voice,
- "I AM I!
- ME!
- I am I!
- And I may not know why
- But I know that I like it.
- _Three cheers_! I AM I!"
- -- Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
-~
-no!
-try not.
-do,
-or do not.
-there is no try.
- -- Yoda
-~
-Human conduct is ever unreliable
-until man is anchored in the Divine,
-Everything in future will improve
-if you are making a spiritual effort now.
- -- Swami Sri Yukteswar
-~
-A strange weed this be
-what's restoreth my vitality.
- -- Popeye
-~
-Q: Is an opinion true or false?
-A: Depends on whether it's mine or yours....
- -- egocentrist
-~
-Would anyone ever admit that an opinion was wrong?
-Wouldn't most people change the opinion instead,
-having then a new, well-considered, and more correct opinion?
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Through the dark of future past,
-The magician longs to see.
-One chants out between two worlds,
-"Fire, walk with me!"
-~
-It's really very simple... I found wearing women's clothes... relaxed me.
- -- Dennis Bryson
-~
-the first differentiation between reality as conceived and reality as it IS
-consists of an analogy: conceptions of reality (all ideas entertained by a
-knower) are maps, while reality is the territory being mapped.
-whether or not two individuals can be said to live in the same territory
-is unclear, because their conceptions may be different enough that their maps
-of reality are very different. it is also unclear whether there can be said
-to be two individuals at all--if the self and other are one, then all
-distinctions between selves ultimately disappear in the final analysis.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-This message partially funded by the Apathy Partnership of Earth (APE).
-~
-Styrofoam never dies for as long as you live.
- -- Deputy Andy Brennan, Twin Peaks
-~
-?
-!
- -- Aleister Crowley
-~
-Q:
- What's subtlety?
-A:
- A dog howling at the moon,
- not because he's a dog,
- but because he wants to.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-I want to share something with you, the three
-little sentences that will get you through life:
- #1. Cover for me,
- #2. Ooh, good idea boss!
- #3. It was like that when I got here...
- -- Homer Simpson to Bart
-~
-you wouldn't know the truth if it bit off your nose, stuck a gasoline
-nozzle into the gaping wound, filled you up with high octane, and
-lit a match.
-~
-In a world where children blow up children,
-everyone's a threat.
- -- psycho cop, on Star Trek: The Next Generation
-~
-world systems
-=============
-environments based in chaotic realms inevitably concern themselves less with
-conservation of mass or energy, ignore laws regarding increasing entropy,
-cease to be rational or defined. chaotic ones within orderly realms still
-recall this power and warp the space where they stand.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
- ____ . _ .
- /# /_\_ |\_|/__/|
- | |/o\o\ / / \/ \ \
- | \\_/_/ /__|O||O|__ \
- / |_ | "I do solemnly swear by the sacred |/_ \_/\_/ _\ |
-| ||\_ ~| bedpan to fix the patient, and | | (____) | ||
-| ||| \/ ease his wretched suffering, even \/\___/\__/ //
-| |||_ until all hope is lost." (_/ ||
- \// | | ||
- || | | ||\
- ||_ \ \ //_/
- \_| o| \______//
- /\___/ __ || __||
- / ||||__ (____(____)
- (___)_)
-~
-When they came for the Fourth Amendment I didn't say anything
- because I had nothing to hide.
-When they came for the Second Amendment I didn't say anything
- because I didn't own a gun.
-When they came for the Fifth and Sixth Amendments I didn't say anything
- because I had committed no crimes.
-When they came for the First Amendment I couldn't say anything.
-
-(taken from the Urine Nation News, spring/summer 1993, number 12, page 1)
-~
-The bother of doing
-something may be great,
-but the bother of not doing it
-while continuing to think about it
-is even greater.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Then we sat on the sand for some time and observed,
-how the oceans that covered the world were perturbed,
-by the tides from the orbiting moon overhead,
-"How relaxing the sound of the waves is," you said.
-I began to expound upon tidal effects,
-when you asked me to stop, looking somewhat perplexed,
-so I did not explain why the sunset turns red,
-and we watched the occurrence in silence instead.
- -- By Data
-~
- Ode to Spot
-Felis catus, Your visual, olfactory,
-is your taxonomic nomenclature, and auditory senses,
-an endothermic quadruped, contribute to your hunting skills,
-carnivorous by nature? and natural defenses.
-
-I find myself intrigued A tail is quite essential
-by your subvocal oscillations, for your acrobatic talents,
-a singular development you would not be so agile,
-of cat communications, if you lacked its counterbalance,
-that obviates your basic and when not being utilized,
-hedonistic predilection, to aid in locomotion,
-for a rhythmic stroking of your fur it often serves to illustrate,
-to demonstrate affection. the state of your emotion.
-
- Oh Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display,
- connote a fairly well developed cognitive array,
- and though you are not sentient, Spot,
- and do not comprehend, I nonetheless consider you
- a true and valued friend.
-
- -- By Data
-~
-There is no secret to excel in playing the shakuhachi.
-Blow not intensely, but from your heart.
-Although technique is secondary, it helps to express your true self.
-If we are natural, we make fine sound.
-If we have an open mind, our sound will be mellow.
-If we have right attitudes toward life,
-our music will be acceptable to everyone.
-Take care of your sound as you would care for yourself.
- -- Koga
-~
-You can't save money by spending it. Beware claims to the contrary.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.
-This is true because the mind is the governing aspect of human life.
-If the river flows clearly and cleanly through the proper channel,
-all will be well along its banks.
-
-The Integral Way depends on decreasing, not increasing:
- To correct your mind, rely on not-doing.
-Decrease thinking and clinging to complications;
- keep your mind detached and whole.
-Eliminate mental muddiness and obscurity;
- keep your mind crystal clear.
-Avoid daydreaming and allow your pure original insight to emerge.
-Quiet your emotions and abide in serenity.
-Don't go crazy with the worship of idols, images, and ideas;
- this is like putting a new head on top of the head you already have.
-
-Remember: if you can cease all restless activity,
- your integral nature will appear.
-
- -- Hua Hu Ching -- 45
-~
-Dualistic thinking is a sickness.
-Religion is a distortion.
-Materialism is cruel.
-Blind spirituality is unreal.
-
-Chanting is no more holy than listening to the
- murmur of a stream, counting prayer beads no more
- sacred than simply breathing, religious robes no
- more spiritual than work clothes.
-
-If you wish to attain oneness with the Tao, don't get
- caught up in spiritual superficialities.
-Instead, live a quiet and simple life, free of ideas and
- concepts.
-Find contentment in the practice of undiscriminating
- virtue, the only true power.
-Giving to others selflessly and anonymously, radiating
- light throughout the world and illuminating your
- own darkness, your virtue becomes a sanctuary for
- yourself and all beings.
-
-This is what is meant by embodying the Tao.
-
- -- Hua Hu Ching -- 47
-~
- ________________ _______________
- / \ / / \ \
- / / \ \ \ | - - \
- | | | / - \ |
- / / \ \
- | ___\ \| | / / \____________ \ \
- | / | | \ |
- | | __ | | \ \
-/ | \ | | \ |
-| | \ | | ==== | |
-| | __ | | (o-) _ | |
-| __\ (_o) | / \ | |
-| | | Heh Heh Heh / ) ) | |
- \ || \ / Huh Huh Huh / ) / | |
- | |__ \ / \ |___ - | |
- | | (*___\ / \ *' | |
- | | _ | / \ |____ | |
- | | //_______| ####\ | |
- | / |_|_|_|___/\ ------ |_/
- \| \ - | | |
- | _----_______/ \_____ |
- | / \ |
- |_____/ \__________|
-
- "Beavis and Butthead are catching up in the poles."
- "Yeah, our poles are rising."
-~
-The chief cause of problems is solutions. -- Eric Severeid
-~
-[CND, 12/15/93] A women trafficking gang, consisting of 69 members, was
-rounded up by the Inner Mongolia police, the Inner Mongolian Daily said.
-The gang, operating in several nearby provinces, enticed a total of 200
-unemployed women to make the journey to Inner Mongolia with the promise
-of good jobs and shelter. The women, ranging from 15 to 41, then were sold
-as wives or servants to local peasants who had difficulties in finding
-a spouse.
- -- Daluo Jia
-~
- A genuine ASCII stereogram!
-Here's an ASCII single image random dot stereogram for your enjoyment. To
-get the 3d effect, you need to diverge (unfocus) your eyes such that two
-adjacent letters in the same row come together. To help you focus, try to
-make the two capital O's at the top look like three. Once you've done that,
-the rest of the image should jump out of the screen at you!
- O O
-n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n
-f f f f f f f f f f f f f f
-e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
-a a a a a a a a a a a a a a
-a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a
-r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
-r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
-~
-Try moving your head back from the screen and moving it about a bit
-once you have focused on the image to increase the stereo effect even
-more.
-
- O O
-. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . .
-. . . . . . .
-| | | | | | |
-| | | | | | |
-| | | | | | |
-| | | | | | |
-| | | | | | |
-| | | | | | |
- . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
-. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
-~
- The following a 3-d Maze (3x4) consisting of the following objects:
-circle, square, asterisk, hour-glass, triangle, and a square with two lines
-in it. The rules are as follows: You can 'warp' from one part of the maze to
-another by matching similar objects. Each 'warp' counts as one move. You
-can also travel along the lines, if there is a line. This also counts as one
-move. (I got the idea of this from a GAMES magazine I read a LONG time ago)
-Try to go from "START" to "END" in the least amount of moves. I would give
-out a prize to somebody, if I could think of one(that doesn't cost anything,
-of course!). (Take this as a first maze...I didn't plan it out, and it's not
-very difficult.) I would suggest that people that have worked with
-stereograms EXTENSIVELY try this, as it is hard to move your eyes around and
-still keep focused on the 3-D image. E-mail me the number of moves it took
-you and the path you followed (e.g. 6 Sqauare -warp- Asterisk Circle...etc.),
-I'll post the list of people that reply to it within the next week and got
-the lowest number of moves. Good luck!!
- X X
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-~
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- .. MMNNNNNOOOOPMO!!IIPPO!!O! .....
- ... MMMMMNNNNOO:!!:!!IPPPPOO! ....
- .. MMMMMNNOOMMNNIIIPPPOO!! ......
- ...... MMMONNMMNNNIIIOO!..........
- ....... MN MOMMMNNNIIIIIO! OO ..........
- ......... MNO! IiiiiiiiiiiiI OOOO ...........
- ...... NNN.MNO! . O!!!!!!!!!O . OONO NO! ........
- .... MNNNNNO! ...OOOOOOOOOOO . MMNNON!........
- ...... MNNNNO! .. PPPPPPPPP .. MMNON!........
- ...... OO! ................. ON! .......
- ................................
-~
- ------ _____
- / \ ___\ ___/ ___
- --/- ___ / \/ / / / \
- / / \__ //_ \
- / \ / ___ |
- | ___ \/+--/ /
- \__ \ \ /
- \__ | /
- \ /____ / / | /
- _____/ ___ \/ /\
- \__ / / | |
- / \____/ \ / //
- // / / // / /\ /-_-/\//-__-
- / / // / \__// / / / //
- // / / // / // / // /
- /// // / / / // / //
- // // // / // / /
- / / / / / / / /
- /// / / / // // / // //
- /// / / / / / /
-/// / // / / // / / / /
- // /// / /// / /
- / / // /// /
-~
- _________
- /|\ /|\
- / | \ / | \
- /__|__/ \__|__\
-|\ | | | | /|
-| \ |----|--| / |
-| /\-\---|---/\ |
-|/_____|\|_____\|
- \ | \ / | /
- \ | / \ | /
- \|/ \|/
- --------
-
-~
- ____
- /.../\
- /.../##\
- /.../####\
- /.../######\
- /.../###/\###\
- /.../###/ \###\
- /.../###/\ \###\
- /.../###/ \ \###\
- /.../###/ \ \###\
- /.../###/ \ \###\
- /.../###/ \ \###\
- /.../###/ \ \###\
- /.../###/ \ \###\
- /.../###/______________\ \###\
- /........................\ \###\
- /..........................\ \###\
------------------------------ \###/
-\ \#/
- \_________________________________/
-
-~
-___. .. . _ .. . ___. .__ . . _ . . __ __ _ __ _ . .___
- | | ||\||- ||\| | | ||_)|\| | ||\| | ||_)| ||_) | || | |
- ` `-`` ``- `` ` ``` ` `-`` \` ` `-`` ` ``` `-`` \`-`| `-``-` `
-~
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- ... :``..':
- : ````.' :''::'
- ..:.. : .'' :
-``. `: .' :
- : : : :
- : : : :
- : : : :
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- ..:```.:'`. ::'`.
- ..' `:.: ::
- .: .:``:::
- .: ..'' :::
- : .'' ::
- : ::
- :
- :
- .
-~
- ;;;;: ==;; :==== :+++=;; ::;=i===+: :=;;=+: ,,,,:==+;
- =tt;;: i+; ++++ :ii=: :::i++= ==;;+: :::=;+; ,
-:; iIt=: ;t+; ii=;::;+;=+; +;=; ;i+i, ==;=+; :,;;;i : ,
-:: :tIi: +i+ =+::=;;,;;;+; +;=; :=i==+;,:,;=;;+= ::;=;++ : ;
- ,i; iIt: t+= :+=,,,,::: ;,+;=;;: ;:,,;==;+=;+= ::;;=i; : ;ii
- RYi +Yt: ++i :i;,::==;; ;:i;=;;: ======+=i=++ :;=tYY: : :tt
- VXY= =Yi; :t=+ it==+It;; ;:+:=;:: :,;;=:=+==+ :;tYVY :: =Iii
- tVYt ;Yt, i+= +t+;=iI,; ;:;:;;:= :i :=;+ :;i+tt : :Iti
- iYY: :Yi, :i+: :t+;++i:; ;,;,;;;= :t +=+ ;i+ii :: =Y+
- =YY= ;Vi I++ :++=;==;;; +,=,,,,+ ;i;::;it, :i+t=;;: +I+
- IX+ =V; +i+=;;==;::,:::,,t,+,,,,;;iiii+iIiX=:=+ii;:;: iI+
- iXi =VItYIi=+======;;::;;ii;:,,,,,;iittiYV+XXttiit+, Yt
- IVYXYYIYi+;;;;;;;;;;;;;+it+:::::::=====+IttIItiitMBttti
- +tVVVttti+;::;;======+YBBVVVVXRVti+++==+IXIiYi+iRWWi+i=
- +=ttYVIi= ....,,,,+iIRWWWWWWWMBBRYI+....... +YMBYX==++
- ==+t: .;;===::,,:,,;=iIIItIIt=:,,:::===iii=;.,iXY+i;i
- t;+.IIY+++iii++;===:==++++I,:;;:,:=iiVXIBVRt+;,.IXY;t
- ii+, =itIItY==+tt+=+++;=ti;=;+M+i=;;=;=i+=it+tVti+==;.itI= +=ii
- i:===iIttIii+,:,, ,,:+++;t=t;V++;=;=;:,, ,,:;+IYii+==;.+Y+Ii===:i
- ti iii=i;;,, ;i: =i ,;.i=t=I=;Ri=, ,; ,it: ,:.,==;;;i+=YYttt,
- iit :Y++IIIIi+;;,,,,,,:;:i+;I=i;=II=;:;;;;;;;;;+++tIt+ii;iII; iYi=
- t= iV+tYYYVYVt===;;;===ii+=ti+=+=iii+==+;=+=IYVXRitYYItYXtVt= :+=
- Yi XX+iYYYVYR+i+++===;tIti=i+ttit;;=+====+;=IRVRRXtIIYM+YYI+ ++=I
- tt==Y+iYYYVYRI+++++=+IIti+++tt+=iYI+;;==+=+ttMMMRBXiiYi=+YYIt=;;
- t+iY:;iYYYYXRYi+++++Yt+iIt=+iItVXYYtIXBXYYVRWWWBXIi++=+=X+ ;It
- ti;I iYYYIYYVVRI++++i+ti++=:,;;++IX+YWWWMBWWWXYYi+++=;t:;IItY
- tt:,+;YYYYYYYYX+++====:::;=:;;;::++iYRWWBYt+tt+==++==:=;:=+
- tYYYYIYYt++++=;=YYI+;,,BYBBYIi++iii+=+I+++++;=I
- +YYYYYYt+++==iYYII;ittitVBBXBI+++==+i++=+=;=:i
- +YYYIYt+++iBt=:,...:;;=++itXXI++==i++==;;ii:
- IYYYI=;+=iitI;,;.,=iitIiiI;++=+++===;=:I;
- YYYt==tittIi;+:::=+tItIBIt+=+i++==;+=;+
- iYYIIIttt+=;=::::::=++ti+++=i==;+i=:=
- tIYYIIIVi++;;:::=+;+IYt+=;;IVY+:,;
- ;,ttIYIY++ii;=;==Y+iVYt===YIi;;Ii
- ;=:,:=iI====;;;;:=;;+ii=+i+iIttIi
- :==+++,;=;::::::::=;=+t++==it+iti
-
- Tutankhamen
-~
- __
- /\ \
- / \ \
- / /\ \ \
- / / /\ \ \
- / /_/ \ \ \
- / \ \ / \ \
- / /\ \ \/ /\ \ \
- / / /\ \/ / /\ \ \
- / / / \ / / \ \ \
- / / / __ \/_/ \ \ \
- / / / /\ \ Pat \ \ \
- / / / / \ \ Taylor / \ \
- / / / / /\ \ \ / /\ \ \
- / / / / / /\ \ \ / / /\ \_\
- / / / / /_/ \ \_\ / / / \/_/
- / / / / \ \ / / / / / / __ __
- / / / / /\ \ \/ / / / / / /\_\ /\ \
- / / / / / /\ \/ / / / / / / / / \ \ \
- / / /_/ / / \ / / / / / / / /____\_\ \
-/ / /__\/ / / / / / / / / / /__________\
-\/_______/ / / / / / / \/_____________/
- / / / / / /
- / / /_/ / /
- / / /__\/ /
- \/_______/
-~
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-~
-happiness is a state of mind
-more than anything else,
-but so is everything else.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.
- -- W. C. Fields
-~
-Famous last words:
- 1) "Don't worry, I can handle it."
- 2) "You and what army?"
- 3) "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't be a cop."
-~
-For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.
- -- Ashleigh Brilliant
-~
-Pittsburgh Driver's Test
-No. 7:
- The car directly in front of you has a flashing right tail light but
- a steady left tail light. This means:
-
-(a) one of the tail lights is broken; you should blow your horn to call
- the problem to the driver's attention.
-(b) the driver is signaling a right turn.
-(c) the driver is signaling a left turn.
-(d) the driver is from out of town.
-
-
-(The correct answer is (d). Tail lights are used in some foreign
- countries to signal turns.)
-~
-Famous last words:
-
- 1. Don't unplug it, it will just take a moment to fix.
- 2. Let's take the shortcut, he can't see us from there.
- 3. What happens if you touch these two wires tog--
- 4. We won't need reservations.
- 5. It's always sunny there this time of the year.
- 6. Don't worry, it's not loaded.
- 7. They'd never (be stupid enough to) make him a manager.
-~
-Certainly there are things in life that money can't buy,
-but it's very funny--Did you ever try buying them without money?
- -- Ogden Nash
-~
-Lactomangulation, n.:
- Manhandling the "open here" spout on a milk carton so badly
- that one has to resort to using the "illegal" side.
- -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
-~
-If the code and the comments disagree, then both are probably wrong.
- -- Norm Schryer
-~
-Experience is what causes a person to make new mistakes instead of old ones.
-~
-Every creature has within him the wild, uncontrollable urge to punt.
-~
-The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
-human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of
-ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that
-we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction,
-have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of
-dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and
-of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the
-revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a
-new dark age.
- -- H. P. Lovecraft
-~
- "Krusty non-toxic Cologne
- 'The smell of the big top'
- Warning: Use in a well ventilated area.
- May stain furniture.
- Prolonged use may cause chemical burns."
- -- The Simpsons
-~
-a girlfriend is a bottle of wine,
-a wife is a wine bottle.
-~
-The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common.
-Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts
-to fit their views... which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to
-be one of the facts that needs altering.
- -- Doctor Who, "Face of Evil"
-~
-In the beginning was The Plan
-And then came The Assumptions
-And the Assumptions were without form
-And The Plan was completely without substance
-And the darkness was upon the face of the workers.
-And they spoke amongst themselves, saying
- "It is a crock of sh*t, and it stinketh."
-And the workers went unto their Supervisors and sayeth,
- "It is a pail of dung and none may abide the odor thereof."
-And the Supervisors went unto their Managers and sayeth unto them,
- "It is a container of excrement and it is very stong
-Such that none may abide by it."
-And the Managers went unto the Directors and sayeth,
- "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength."
-And the Directors spoke amongst themselves, saying one to another,
- "It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong."
-And the Directors went unto the Vice Presidents and sayeth unto them,
- "It promotes growth and is very powerful."
-And the Vice Presidents went unto the President and sayeth unto Him,
- "This new Plan will actively promote the growth and efficiency
- Of this Company, and these Areas in particular."
-And the President looked upon The Plan,
-And saw that it was good, and The Plan became Policy.
-This is how sh*t happens.
-~
-be unafraid to think fully on a small matter. -- fred t. hamster
-~
-The late Dudjom Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma sect of the Tibetan Buddhist
-tradition, wrote one book on the evils of tobacco. He detailed a number of
-problems, both physical and spiritual, which would derive from the use of
-tobacco. Interestingly, he claims the origin of the plant to be a demoness
-who vowed to take rebirth as a plant to afflict humankind.
- -- Neal J. King
-~
-be unafraid to walk across the water. -- fred t. hamster
-~
- _
- _ / \ o
- / \ | | o o o
- | | | | _ o o o o
- | \_| | / \ o o o
- \__ | | | o o
- | | | | ______ ~~~~ _____
- | |__/ | / ___--\\ ~~~ __/_____\__
- | ___/ / \--\\ \\ \ ___ <__ x x __\
- | | / /\\ \\ )) \ ( " )
- | | -------(---->>(@)--(@)-------\----------< >-----------
- | | // | | //__________ / \ ____) (___ \\
- | | // __|_| ( --------- ) //// ______ /////\ \\
- // | ( \ ______ / <<<< <>-----<<<<< / \\
- // ( ) / / \` \__ \\
- //-------------------------------------------------------------\\
-
-Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels
-start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and
-then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas... with the
-music at top volume and at least a pint of ether.
- -- H. S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"
-~
-dude, i have your tickets
-for the grateful briquettes
-on saturday the 20th.
-they are 30 apiece
-so get out your wallets
-i need the rental lease
-or be hit with mallets
-for my friend has no peace
-and i have no ballots.
-without which you get no tickets
-for my friend has no spigots
-disgorging money in hiccups
-in the land of honey and pickups.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Some people imagine that only the person who physically carries out the
-killing is creating a negative karmic effect, and that the person who just
-gave the orders is not--or, if he is, then only a little. But you
-should know that the same karmic result comes to everyone involved,
-including even anyone who just felt pleased about it--and therefore how
-much more so the person who actually ordered that the killing be carried
-out. Each person gets the whole karmic result of killing one animal. It
-is not as if one act of killing could be divided up among many people.
-
- From the Nying-ma _kunzang lama'i shelung_ (The Words of My Perfect Teacher)
- written by Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887), (Padmakara translation group,
- trans., New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994, 104.)
-~
-did you hear about the professor that got some human lips grafted onto his
-anus? then when his students were kissing butt, they could get some response.
-and he can also now wear a hat on his ass and sit on his head, and no one
-knows the difference...
-~
-Alpha:
-Software undergoes alpha testing as a first step in getting user
-feedback. Alpha is Latin for "doesn't work."
-~
-Beta:
-Software undergoes beta testing shortly before it's released. Beta is
-Latin for "still doesn't work."
-~
-Computer:
-Instrument of torture. The first computer was invented by Roger
-"Duffy" Billingsly, a British scientist. In a plot to overthrow Adolf
-Hitler, Duffy disguised himself as a German ally and offered his
-invention as a gift to the surly dictator. The plot worked. On April
-8, 1945, Adolf became so enraged at the "Incompatible File Format"
-error message that he shot himself. The war ended soon after Hitler's
-death, and Duffy began working for IBM.
-~
-CPU:
-Central propulsion unit. The CPU is the computer's engine. It
-consists of a hard drive, an interface card and a tiny spinning wheel
-that's powered by a running rodent--a gerbil if the machine is a 286,
-a ferret if it's a 386 and a ferret on speed if it's a 486.
-~
-Default Directory:
-Black hole. Default directory is where all files that you need
-disappear to.
-~
-Error message:
-Terse, baffling remark used by programmers to place blame on users for
-the program's shortcomings.
-~
-File:
-A document that has been saved with an unidentifiable name. It helps
-to think of a file as something stored in a file cabinet--except when
-you try to remove the file, the cabinet gives you an electric shock
-and tells you the file format is unknown.
-~
-Hardware:
-Collective term for any computer-related object that can be kicked or
-battered.
-~
-Help:
-The feature that assists in generating more questions. When the help
-feature is used correctly, users are able to navigate through a series
-of Help screens and end up where they started from without learning
-anything.
-~
-Input/Output:
-Information is input from the keyboard as intelligible data and output
-to the printer as unrecognizable junk.
-~
-Interim Release:
-A programmer's feeble attempt at repentance.
-~
-Memory:
-Of computer components, the most generous in terms of variety, and the
-skimpiest in terms of quantity.
-~
-Printer:
-A joke in poor taste. A printer consists of three main parts: the
-case, the jammed paper tray and the blinking red light.
-~
-Programmers:
-Computer avengers. Once members of that group of high school nerds
-who wore tape on their glasses, played Dungeons and Dragons, and
-memorized Star Trek episodes; now millionaires who create
-"user-friendly" software to get revenge on whoever gave them noogies.
-~
-Reference Manual:
-Object that raises the monitor to eye level. Also used to compensate
-for that short table leg.
-~
-Scheduled Release Date:
-A carefully calculated date determined by estimating the actual
-shipping date and subtracting six months from it.
-~
-User-Friendly:
-Of or pertaining to any feature, device or concept that makes perfect
-sense to a programmer.
-~
-Users:
-Collective term for those who stare vacantly at a monitor. Users are
-divided into three types: novice, intermediate and expert.
- - Novice Users--People who are afraid that simply pressing a key
- might break their computer.
- - Intermediate Users--People who don't know how to fix their computer
- after they've just pressed a key that broke it.
- - Expert Users--People who break other people's computers.
-~
- X X X X
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-JKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH
-JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH
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-~
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-~
- _
- _|_|_
- ^/ . ..\^
- ___[=========]___
- ___-==++""" . /. . . \ . """++==-___
- __-+"" __\ .. . . | .. . | . . . /__ ""+-__
- /\__+-"" `-----=====\_ <O> _/=====-----' ""-+__/\
- _/_/ ""="" \_\_
- /_/ \_\
- // | \\
-/") \ | / ("\
-\O\ \*/ /O/
- \_) ---**O**--- (_/
- /*\
- / | \
- |
-~
-WHY GOD NEVER RECEIVED TENURE AT ANY UNIVERSITY
-
-1. He had only one major publication.
-2. It had no references.
-3. It wasn't published in a refereed journal.
-4. Some even doubt he wrote it himself.
-5. It may be true that he created the world,
- but what has he done since then?
-6. His cooperative efforts have been quite limited.
-7. The scientific community has had a hard time
- replicating his results.
-8. He never applied to the Ethics Board
- for permission to use human subjects.
-9. When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it up
- by drowning the subjects.
-10. When subjects didn't behave as predicted,
- he deleted them from the sample.
-11. He rarely came to class, just told students
- to read the Book.
-12. Some say he had his son teach the class.
-13. He expelled his first two students for learning.
-14. Although there were only ten requirements,
- most students failed his tests.
-15. His office hours were infrequent and usually
- held on a mountaintop.
-~
-When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully
-because we know the faces of our future generations are looking up
-at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them.
- -- Oren Lyons, Onondaga Nation
-~
-When the shoe fits,
-the foot is forgotten...
- -- Chuang Tzu
-~
-Talent, will, and genius are natural phenomena, like volcanoes,
-lakes, mountains, winds, stars, clouds.
- -- George Sand -- 1874
-~
-Creeping Featurism is the desire to add every technologically possible
-feature to a product whether or not the market needs it or will pay
-for it.
- -- Leu Platt, CEO Hewlett Packard
-~
-everybody's equal, but nobody's the same. -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.
- -- A. C. Benson
-~
-The successful mother sets her children free
-and becomes more free herself in the process.
- -- Robert J. Havinghurst
-~
-No amount of energy will take the place of thought.
-A strenuous life with its eyes shut is a kind of wild insanity.
- -- Henry Van Dyke
-~
-It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong.
- -- Longfellow
-~
-It's strange the way the imagination, having exhausted one field,
-turns for rest and reinvigoration to another.
- -- Ellen Glasgow
-~
-Men travel faster now, but I do not know if they go to better things.
- -- Willa Cather
-~
-People who do not understand themselves have a craving for understanding.
- -- Dr. Wilhem Stekel
-~
-Love is the greatest refreshment of life.
- -- Pablo Picasso
-~
-An idea isn't responsible for the people who believe it.
- -- Don Marquis
-~
-I want to find someone on the earth so intelligent
-that he welcomes opinions which he condemns.
- -- John Jay Chapman
-~
-You can exert no influence if you are not susceptible to influence.
- -- Carl G. Jung
-~
-The greater the difficulty
-the more glory in surmounting it.
- -- Epicurus
-~
-Society is always engaged in a vast conspiracy to preserve itself--at the
-expense of the new demands of each new generation.
- -- John Haynes Holmes
-~
-The only thing that is really difficult is to prove what one believes.
- -- Paul Cezanne
-~
-There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for
-all one's life--reciprocity.
- -- Confucious
-~
-Each time we make a decision, it is determined by the good or evil forces,
-respectively, which are dominant.
- -- Erich Fromm
-~
-We taste and feel and see the truth.
-We do not reason ourselves into it.
- -- W. B. Yeats
-~
-You inside and the wind outside, tangled on the window blind, tell me why you
-treated me so unkind. Down where the sun don't shine I'm lonely and I call
-your name, no place to go ain't that a shame....
- -- Jerry Garcia
-~
-The point of living, and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough
-to believe the best is yet to come.
- -- Peter Ustinov
-~
-"Observing formations of pigs flying south for the winter is several orders
- of magnitude more likely than having two competing C[++] compilers deal
- with more than eight lines of source code the same way."
- -- Steve Rimmer -- windows columnist
-~
-If asses were rainbows, we'd all have a pot of gold.
- -- Walrus
-~
-the bird sings
-i laugh inside
-i have mined
-the branches.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Good judgment is a result of experience.
-Experience is a result of poor judgment.
- -- Anonymous
-~
-in programming, insanity is not a handicap.
- -- the walrus
-~
- you
- have
- the
- ideal
- job
-~
-you don't have to get mad every time you have the right to. -- fred t. hamster
-~
-It's actually quite straightforward, but first you must be familiar
-with the 9 Palaces and 24 Directions.
- -- Feng Shui
-~
-Every fairly intelligent person realizes that
-the price of respectability is a muffled soul
-bent on the trivial and mediocre.
- -- Walter Lippman
-~
-People will admit to anything on the Internet. -- fred t. hamster
-~
-If all the beasts were gone, men would die
-from great loneliness of spirit,
-for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man.
-All things are connected.
-Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth.
- -- Chief Seathl (Seattle) of Suwamish tribe,
- State of Washington, 1855
-~
-keep doing good, but don't be a do-gooder. -- fred t. hamster
-~
-All systems of thought confine their thinkers within the accepted boundaries.
-To free the mind from this conceptual jail, step back from and outside of the
-system; detachment enables both sides of the system (that which is within
-and that which is not within) to be perceived and dealt with as an object
-of knowledge.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-That which exists requires no reaffirmation by the mind; it simply is.
-It is that which does not exist that needs constant renewing contact by
-the mind; else it would fade from its only sphere of influence, the internal
-stage upon which it dances and captures the imagination.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Everyone's entitled to their own opinions, no matter how stupid.
- -- Frank Zappa (paraphrase unfortunately... know the exact quote?)
-~
-i love to program.
-i live to program.
-i am the beaver who reincarnated as a carpenter.
-i am the squirrel who came back as jimmy carter.
-if there's anything more fun than programming (where i actually use my brain
-mainly and not my body), then i don't want to know what it is.
-algorithms are my bread.
-objects are my butter.
-state machines are my toaster.
-library hierarchies are my table.
-my house is composed of invisible data and my nation rides along cables.
-i really need a girlfriend.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-every religion constitutes a view of reality and a view of the world.
-each one might suit a particular person differently.
-for any religion to claim that it is the one true religion is ridiculous
-because it asserts that its one way of viewing reality is the only correct
-one. surely this is a bad case of religious egotism or selfishness.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-talking about dharma is like making a home movie. when you watch it later,
-you see it, you hear it, and yet it isn't really there and the vital
-experience of being there is missing. but when you are there... you know
-it and feel it in a way your brain can't accurately record for later
-playback.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Deja Fu: The feeling that somehow, somewhere, you've been kicked in the
-head like this before.
-~
-A day without sunshine is like night.
-~
-There is a CD out entitled "The Worst of Jefferson Airplane". If you buy
-this, take it home, play it, and enjoy it, should you take it back and
-demand a refund?
-~
-College is a fountain of knowledge... and the students are there to drink.
-~
-A polar bear is a rectangular bear after a coordinate transform.
-~
-Some people say that I must be a horrible person, but that's not true.
-I have the heart of a young boy--in a jar on my desk.
- -- Stephen King, 3/8/90
-~
-He who dies with the most toys, is, nonetheless, still dead.
-~
-Photons have mass? I didn't know they were catholic!
-~
-If you had everything, where would you keep it?
-~
-I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone
-has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.
- -- Supposedly an English Professor, Ohio University
-~
-What was sliced bread the greatest thing since?
-~
-When aiming for the common denominator, be prepared
-for the occasional division by zero.
-~
-When you're swimmin' in the creek
-And an eel bites your cheek
-That's a moray!
- -- Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
-~
-Q: How many surrealists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
-A: Two. One to hold the giraffe and the other to fill the bathtub with
-brightly colored machine tools.
-~
-"... one of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that, lacking
-zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of their C programs."
- -- Robert Firth
-~
-Grabel's Law: 2 is not equal to 3--not even for very large values of 2.
-~
-Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" until you can find a rock.
-~
-There are two major products to come out of Berkeley: LSD and BSD.
-We don't believe this to be a coincidence.
-~
-If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet,
-what happen if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-One night I walked home very late and fell asleep in somebody's satellite
-dish. My dreams were showing up on TV's all over the world.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-My dental hygienist is cute. Every time I visit, I eat a whole package of
-Oreo cookies while I'm in the waiting room. Sometimes she has to cancel
-the rest of the afternoon's appointments.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I've
-forgotten this before.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-Smoking cures weight problems... eventually.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I have an inferiority complex. But it's not a very good one.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I was in the supermarket the other day, and I met a lady in the aisle where
-they keep the generic brands. Her name was 'woman'.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I had a friend who was a clown. When he died, all his friends went to the
-funeral in one car.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I'd like to sing you a song now about my old girlfriend. It's
-called, 'They'll Find Her When the Leaves Blow Away 'Cause I'm
-Not Raking 'Til Spring.'
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, 'Did you sleep good?'
-I said, 'No, I made a few mistakes.'
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-The other day, I was walking my dog around my building... on the ledge.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-Some people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I spilled spot remover on my dog. He's gone now.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-Referring to a glass of water: I mixed this myself. Two parts H, one
-part O. I don't trust anybody!
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I went to the cinema, and the prices were: Adults $5.00, children $2.50.
-So I said, 'Give me two boys and a girl.'
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I went to a restaurant that serves 'breakfast at any time.' So I ordered
-French Toast during the Renaissance.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-There's a pizza place near where I live that sells only slices. In the back
-you can see a guy tossing a triangle in the air.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I went to a general store. They wouldn't let me buy anything specifically.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy
-was locking the front door. I said, 'Hey, the sign says you're open 24
-hours.' He said, 'Yes, but not in a row.'
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-There was a power outage at a department store yesterday. Twenty people
-were trapped on the escalators.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I bought my brother some gift-wrap for Christmas. I took it to the Gift Wrap
-Department and told them to wrap it, but in a different print so he would
-know when to stop unwrapping.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I was born by Cesarean section... But not so you'd notice. It's just that
-when I leave a house, I go out through the window.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-When I was little, my grandfather used to make me stand in a closet for five
-minutes without moving. He said it was elevator practice.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I didn't get a toy train like the other kids. I got a toy subway instead.
-You couldn't see anything, but every now and then you'd hear this rumbling
-noise go by.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-Last week the candle factory burned down. Everyone just stood around and
-sang 'Happy Birthday'.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-A wino asked me for change... I gave him my shirt.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I bought this thing for my car. You put it on your car, it sends out this
-little noise, so when you drive through the woods, deer won't run in front
-of your car. I installed it backwards by accident... Driving down the
-street with a herd of deer chasing me.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-The ice cream truck in my neighborhood plays 'Helter Skelter'.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-The sky already fell. Now what?
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-My girlfriend and I went on a picnic. I don't know how she did it, but she
-got poison ivy on the brain. When it itched, the only way she could scratch
-it was to think about sandpaper.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-Trees that grow in smoggy cities are needed to make carbon paper.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-What's another word for Thesaurus?
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had any firearms
-with me. I said, 'Well, what do you need?'
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-Why doesn't the fattest man in the world become a hockey goalie?
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-You know how it is when you decide to lie and say the check is in the mail,
-and then you remember it really is?
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I've been doing a lot of abstract painting lately, extremely abstract. No
-brush, no paint, no canvas, I just think about it.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-My watch is three hours fast, and I can't fix it. So I'm going to move to
-New York.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-When I die, I'm leaving my body to science fiction.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-One time I went to a museum where all the work on display had been done by
-children. They had all the paintings up on refrigerators.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-When I was a little kid we had a sand box. It was a quicksand box. I was
-an only child... Eventually.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-One day I got on the bus, and when I stepped in, I saw the most gorgeous
-blond Chinese girl. I sat beside her. I said, 'Hi', And she said, 'Hi',
-and then I said, 'Nice day, isn't it?' And she said, 'I saw my analyst
-today and he says I have a problem. So I asked, 'What's the problem?'
-She replied, 'I can't tell you. I don't even know you.' I said, 'Well,
-sometimes it's good to tell your problems to a perfect stranger on a bus.'
-So she said, 'Well, my analyst said I'm a nymphomaniac and I only like
-Jewish cowboys... By the way, my name is Denise.' I said, 'Hello, Denise.
-My name is Bucky Goldstein.'
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-Today I was arrested for scalping low numbers at the deli. I sold a #3 for
-28 bucks.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID that he just
-whipped out a quarter?
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-I'm writing an unauthorized autobiography.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-What happens if you put a slinky on an escalator?
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-If you tell a joke in the forest, but nobody laughs, was it a joke?
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer?
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-In Vegas, I got into a long argument with the man at the roulette wheel over
-what I considered to be an odd number.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-Is "tired old cliche" one?
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-My aunt gave me a walkie-talkie for my birthday. She says if I'm good,
-she'll give me the other one next year.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-At an October re-trial in Leeds, England, jurors took about an
-hour to acquit police officer Andrew Whitfield, 30, of stealing a
-calculator worth about $4. The cost of the trial, plus the original
-mistrial, plus keeping Whitfield on paid suspension for 14 months
-as required by law, was about $158,000.
- -- News of the Weird -- Compiled by Chuck Shepard
-~
-Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world,
-I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that but not
-with those flies and death and stuff.
- -- Mariah Carey
-~
-Question:
- If you could live forever, would you and why?
-Answer:
- I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because
- if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we
- cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever.
- -- Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss Universe contest
-~
-Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions
-in the brain as marijuana... The researchers also discovered other
-similarities between the two, but can't remember what they are.
- -- Matt Lauer on NBC's Today show, August 22
-~
-I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law.
- -- David Dinkins, New York City Mayor, answering accusations that he
- failed to pay his taxes.
-~
-Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your
-life.
- -- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson
- for a federal anti-smoking campaign
-~
-I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body.
- -- Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward
-~
-Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates
-in the country.
- -- Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, D.C.
-~
-Beginning in February 1976 your assistance benefits will be discontinued...
-Reason:
- it has been reported to our office that you expired on January 1, 1976.
- -- Letter from the Illinois Department of Public Aid
-~
-The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history... This century's
-history... We all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century.
- -- Dan Quayle, then Indiana senator and Republican vice-presidential
- candidate during a news conference in which he was asked his opinion
- of the Holocaust.
-~
-I've always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly
-underpolluted.
- -- Lawrence Summers, chief economist of the World Bank, explaining why
- we should export toxic wastes to Third World countries
-~
-After finding no qualified candidates for the position of principal,
-the school board is extremely pleased to announce the appointment of
-David Steele to the post.
- -- Philip Streifer, Superintendent of Schools, Barrington, Rhode Island
-~
-The doctors X-rayed my head and found nothing.
- -- Dizzy Dean explaining how he felt after being hit on the head
- by a ball in the 1934 World Series
-~
- there are some who believe that intelligence can only be won at the cost of
-other's intelligence; that is, there is no way to be intelligent without being
-more intelligent than someone else. i hypothesize that talking to this kind
-of person is a very draining experience because all that they are interested
-in is proving how much smarter they are than you are.
- i believe that people who want to increase intelligence everywhere are easy
-to talk to; they want you to know what they know and vice-versa, not to prove
-that they are the most intelligent person in the room.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-You are 97% water; the other 3% keeps you from drowning.
- -- P. E. Morris
-~
-It got to the end of our show, so I was just wandering around. I had
-this maternity dress on and a white face and I was doing unattractive
-things, spitting on people, things like that.
- -- Iggy Pop, sept. 22, 1968, several minutes before he signed his first
- record contract.
-~
-The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive
-valiantly; who know the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and speed
-themselves in a worthy cause; who at the best, know the triumph of high
-achievement; and who, at the worst, if they fail, fail while daring
-greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid
-souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
- -- Theodore Roosevelt
-~
-I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian
-because I hate plants.
- -- A. Whitney Brown
-~
-My young brother asked me what happens after we die. I told him we get
-buried under a bunch of dirt and worms eat our bodies. I guess I should
-have told him the truth--that most of us go to Hell and burn eternally,
-but I didn't want to upset him.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 10
-~
-When I go to heaven, I want to see my grandpa again. But he better have
-lost the nose hair and the old-man smell.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 5
-~
-I once heard the voice of God. It said "Vrrrrmmmm." Unless it was just
-a lawn mower.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 11
-~
-I don't know about you, but I enjoy watching paint dry. I imagine that
-the wet paint is a big freshwater lake that is the only source of water
-for some tiny cities by the lake. As the lake gets drier, the population
-gets more desperate, and sometimes there are water riots. Once there was
-a big fire and everyone died.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 13
-~
-I like to go down to the dog pound and pretend that I've found my dog.
-Then I tell them to kill it anyway because I already gave away all of
-his stuff. Dog people sure don't have a sense of humor.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 14
-~
-I believe you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I
-don't have any clean laundry because, come on, who wants to wash clothes
-on the last day of their life?
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
-~
-It sure would be nice if we got a day off for the president's birthday,
-like they do for the queen. Of course, then we would have a lot of people
-voting for a candidate born on July 3 or December 26, just for the long
-weekends.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 8
-~
-As you make your way through this hectic world of ours, set aside a few
-minutes each day. At the end of the year, you'll have a couple of days
-saved up.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 7
-~
-Democracy is a beautiful thing, except for that part about letting just
-any old yokel vote.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 10
-~
-Home is where the house is.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 6
-~
-Often, when I am reading a good book, I stop and thank my teacher. That
-is, I used to, until she got an unlisted number.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
-~
-It would be terrible if the Red Cross Bloodmobile got into an accident.
-No, wait. That would be good because if anyone needed it, the blood would be
-right there.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 5
-~
-Give me the strength to change the things I can, the grace to accept the
-things I cannot, and a great big bag of money.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 13
-~
-I bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 13
-~
-For centuries, people thought the moon was made of green cheese. Then
-the astronauts found that the moon is really a big hard rock. That's what
-happens to cheese when you leave it out.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 6
-~
-Think of the biggest number you can. Now add five. Then, imagine if you
-had that many Twinkies. Wow, that's five more than the biggest number
-you could come up with!
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 6
-~
-The only stupid question is the one that is never asked, except maybe
-"Don't you think it is about time you audited my return?" or "Isn't it morally
-wrong to give me a warning when, in fact, I was speeding?"
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
-~
-Once, I wept for I had no shoes. Then I came upon a man who had no feet.
-So I took his shoes. I mean, it's not like he really needed them, right?
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
-~
-I often wonder how come John Tesh isn't as popular a singer as some
-people think he should be. Then, I remember it's because he sucks.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
-~
-If we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world
-peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the
-looting started.
- -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
-~
-Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
-~
-Lobotomies for republicans? Why be redundant?
-~
-The last time we mixed politics and religion,
-people got burned at the stake.
-~
-Eschew Obfuscation.
-~
-Minimum wage for politicians.
-~
-inova,
-i dancing nude green
-proton, i
-(a haiku-style anagram for "inova engineering and production")
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
-~
-A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
-~
-Eagles may soar, but weasels aren't sucked into jet engines.
-~
-Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
-~
-A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
-~
-He who hesitates is probably right.
-~
-Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with.
-~
-The colder the X-ray table, the more of your body is required on it.
-~
-To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles.
-~
-Two wrongs are only the beginning.
-~
-You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.
-~
-The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
-~
-Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life.
-~
-The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
-~
-A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
-~
-Change is inevitable... except from vending machines.
-~
-Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow.
-~
-Half the people you know are above average.
-~
-99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
-~
-42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
-~
-If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
-~
-Oh, yeah, what are you gonna do? Release the dogs? Or
-the bees? Or the dogs with bees in their mouth and when
-they bark, they shoot bees at you?
- -- Homer Simpson
-~
-Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not
-whether you win or lose... it's how drunk you get.
- -- Homer Simpson
-~
-Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably.
-The lesson is, never try.
- -- Homer Simpson
-~
-It's not easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but
-somehow I managed to fit in eight hours of TV a day.
- -- Homer Simpson
-~
-Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What
- about bacon?
-Lisa: No.
-Homer: Ham?
-Lisa: No!
-Homer: Pork chops?
-Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal!
-Homer: Heh heh heh... ooh... yeah.... right, Lisa. A wonderful...
- magical animal.
-~
-Marge: Do you want your son to be Chief Justice of the
- Supreme Court, or a sleazy male stripper?
-Homer: Can't he be both, like the late Earl Warren?
-Marge: Earl Warren was never a stripper!
-Homer: Oh, now who's being naive?
-~
-Homer: But every time I learn something new, it pushes out
- something old! Remember that time I took a home
- wine-making course and forgot how to drive?
-Marge: That's because you were drunk!
-Homer: And how!
-~
-Oh, Lisa, you and your stories: Bart's a vampire, beer
-kills brain cells. Now let's go back to that...
-building...thingie... where our beds and TV... is.
- -- Homer Simpson
-~
-Operator! Give me the number for 911!
- -- Homer Simpson
-~
-Lenny: Hey, Homer? What do I tell the boss?
-Homer: Tell him I'm going to the back seat of my car with
- the woman I love, and I won't be back for ten minutes!
-~
-Big brother representative: Now, Mr. Simpson, may I ask why
- you're here?
-Homer's brain: Don't say revenge. Don't say revenge.
-Homer: Ummm... revenge?
-Homer's brain: Okay, that's it. I'm outta here.
-(step step step step step...slam)
-~
-Homer: Okay, brain. You don't like me, and I don't like
- you, but let's get through this thing and then I can
- continue killing you with beer.
-Homer's Brain: It's a deal!
-~
-Homer: But Marge! I was a political prisoner!
-Marge: How were you a political prisoner?
-Homer: I kicked a giant mouse in the butt! Do I have to
- draw you a picture?
-~
-Homer: Bart, a woman is like a beer. They look good, they
- smell good, and you'd step over your own mother just
- to get one! (chugs beer)
-~
-Old man: Take this doll, but beware; it carries a terrible curse.
-Homer: Ooo, that's bad.
-Old man: But it comes with a free serving of frozen yogurt!
-Homer: That's good!
-Old man: The frozen yogurt is also cursed.
-Homer: That's bad.
-Old man: But it comes with your choice of toppings!
-Homer: That's good!
-Old man: The toppings contain potassium benzoate...
-Homer: ...?
-Old man: That's bad.
-Homer: Can I go now?
-~
-Getting out of jury duty is easy. The trick is to say
-you're prejudiced against all races.
- -- Homer Simpson
-~
-Homer's brain: Use reverse psychology.
-Homer: Oh, that sounds too complicated.
-Homer's brain: Okay, don't use reverse psychology.
-Homer: Okay, I will!
-~
-Homer: When I first heard that Marge was joining the police academy, I thought
- it would be fun and zany, like that movie--Spaceballs. But instead it was
- dark and disturbing. Like that movie--Police Academy.
-~
-Marge: Homer, did you call the audience "Chicken"?
-Homer: No! I swear on this bible!
-Marge: That's not a bible. That's a book of carpet samples.
-Homer: Mmmm... fuzzy.
-~
-Lisa: Dad, we did something very bad!
-Homer: Did you wreck the car?
-Bart: No.
-Homer: Did you raise the dead?
-Lisa: Yes.
-Homer: But the car's okay?
-Bart & Lisa: Uh-huh.
-Homer: All right then.
-~
-Mmmmm... reprocessed pig fat... -- Homer Simpson
-~
-(praying): Dear Lord, the gods have been good to me. As
-an offering, I present these milk and cookies. If you
-wish me to eat them instead, please give me no sign
-whatsoever... thy will be done (munch munch munch).
- -- Homer Simpson
-~
-Homer: (On George HW Bush) I didn't vote for him!
-Marge: You didn't vote for anybody.
-Homer: I voted for Prell to go back to the old glass bottle.
- Then I became deeply cynical.
-~
-What's the point of going out? We're just going to
-wind up back here anyway.
- -- Homer Simpson
-~
-I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer.
- -- Homer Simpson
-~
-All right, brain, I don't like you and you don't like me--so let's
-just do this and I'll get back to killing you with beer.
- -- Homer Simpson
-~
-You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline;
-it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear
-weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
- -- Frank Zappa
-~
-Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to
-keep your mouth shut.
- -- Ernest Hemmingway
-~
-Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has
-taken out of me.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-He was a wise man who invented beer.
- -- Plato
-~
-Time is never wasted when you're wasted all the time.
- -- Catherine Zandonella
-~
-A woman drove me to drink and I didn't even have the decency to thank her.
- -- W. C. Fields
-~
-"Sir, if I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee."
- -- Lady Nancy Astor speaking to Winston Churchill
-"Madam, if I were your husband, I would drink it."
- -- Churchill's reply
-~
-If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs.
- -- David Daye
-~
-Work is the curse of the drinking class.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
- -- Henny Youngman
-~
-Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
- -- Benjamin Franklin
-~
-If you ever reach total enlightenment while drinking beer, I bet it
-makes beer shoot out your nose.
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is
-beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but
-the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.
- -- Dave Barry
-~
-The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.
- -- Humphrey Bogart
-~
-Why is American beer served cold? So you can tell it from urine.
- -- David Moulton
-~
-People who drink light "beer" don't like the taste of beer; they just
-like to pee a lot.
- -- Capital Brewery, Middleton, WI
-~
-Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world.
- -- Kaiser Wilhelm
-~
-Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and
-oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital
-ingredient in beer.
- -- Dave Barry
-~
-I drink to make other people interesting.
- -- George Jean Nathan
-~
-They who drink beer will think beer.
- -- Washington Irving
-~
-An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with
-his fools.
- -- For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemmingway
-~
-You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
- -- Dean Martin
-~
-I will not carve gods.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not spank others.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not aim for the head.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not barf unless I'm sick.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not expose the ignorance of the faculty.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I saw nothing unusual in the teacher's lounge.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not conduct my own fire drills.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-Funny noises are not funny.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not snap bras.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not fake seizures.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-This punishment is not boring and pointless.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-My name is not Dr. Death.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not defame New Orleans.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not prescribe medication.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not bury the new kid.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not teach others to fly.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not bring sheep to class.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-A burp is not an answer.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-Teacher is not a leper.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-Coffee is not for kids.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not eat things for money.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not yell "She's Dead" at roll call.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-The principal's toupee is not a Frisbee.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not call the principal "spud head".
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-Goldfish don't bounce.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-Mud is not one of the 4 food groups.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-No one is interested in my underpants.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not sell miracle cures.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will return the seeing-eye dog.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I do not have diplomatic immunity.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not charge admission to the bathroom.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-The cafeteria deep fryer is not a toy.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-All work and no play makes Bart a dull boy.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not say "Springfield" just to get applause.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I am not authorized to fire substitute teachers.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-My homework was not stolen by a one-armed man.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not go near the kindergarten turtle.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I am not deliciously saucy.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-Organ transplants are best left to professionals.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-The Pledge of Allegiance does not end with "Hail Satan".
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not celebrate meaningless milestones.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-There are plenty of businesses like show business.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-Five days is not too long to wait for a gun.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not waste chalk.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not skateboard in the halls.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-Underwear should be worn on the inside.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will never win an emmy.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-I will not torment the emotionally frail.
- -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
-~
-Bitter, unsuccessful middle aged loser wallowing in an unending sea of inert,
-drooping loneliness looking for 24 year old needy leech-like hanger-on to
-abuse with dull stories, tired sex and Herb Alpert albums.
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-Me--trying to sleep on the bus station bench, pleading with you to give me a
-cigarette; you--choking on my odor, tripping over your purse trying to get
-away; at the last moment, our eyes meeting. Yours were blue.
-Can I have a dollar?
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-Imp and angel. Disembodied head in jar, 24, seeks pixie goddess to fiddle with
-while Rome burns. You bring marshmallows. No. I make joke. You like laugh?
-I like comebacks and confessions. Send photo of someone else.
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-I am spitting kitty. Ftt Fttttttt. I am angry bear. Grrrrr. I am large
-watermelon seed stuck in your nose. Zermmmmmmmmmm. I am small biting spider
-in your underwear. Yub yub yub. No mimes.
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-Three toed mango peeler searching for wicked lesbian infielder. Like screaming
-and marking territory with urine? Let's make banana enchiladas together in my
-bathtub. You bring the salsa.
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-Mongoloid spastic underwear model with extra limb (you guess where?) in search
-of bottlenosed dolphin and extra prickly cactus juice. Soup is good food.
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-I like eating mayonnaise and peanut butter sandwiches in the rain, watching
-Barney Miller reruns, peeing on birds in the park and licking strangers on the
-subway; you eat beets raw, have climbed Kilimanjaro, and sweat freely and
-often. Must wear size five shoes.
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-Timber! Falling downward is the lumber of my love. You grind your axe of
-passion into my endangered headlands. Don't make me into a bureau. I want
-to be lots and lots of toothpicks.
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-Small lumpy squid monkey seeks healthy woman with no identifying scars, any
-age. Must have all limbs. Recommend appreciation of high-pitched, screeching
-noises. Must like being bored and lonely. Must not touch the squids, EVER.
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-There is a little place in the jumbled sock drawer of my heart where you
-match up all the pairs, throw out the ones with holes in them, and buy me
-some of those neat dressy ones with the weird black and red geometrical
-designs on them.
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-Mmmm Pez! Rabid Wonder Woman fan looking for someone in satin tights,
-fighting for our rights and the old red, white 'n blue. You look like
-Linda Carter? Big plus. Know all words to theme song? Marry me.
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-Sanctimonious mordacious raconteur seeking same for hijinks and hiballs.
-SJM 27 wants to look someone in the eye so don't be tall. Or, if you can't
-help it, enjoy laying down. Wanna swim upstream?
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-Remember that summer you spent with your parents in Hawaii and how mad you
-were that they made you go? And how you were hopelessly bored until you saw
-the most gorgeous man you'd ever encountered strolling down the beach looking
-at you, skillfully removing your skimpy bikini with his piercing eyes? And
-how you spent the last month imagining him taking you in every possible way,
-masturbating feverishly day and night, wishing he would reappear, but he never
-did because you were 15 and he would have gone to jail? That was me, and
-you just turned 18.
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-Angry, simple-minded, balding, partially blind ex-circus flipper boy with a
-passion for covering lovers in sour cream and gravy seeks exotic, heavily
-tattooed piercing fanatic, preferably hairy, either sex, for whippings,
-bizarre sex and fashion consulting. No freaks.
- -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
- by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
-~
-A freshman at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho
-Falls Science Fair, April 26. He was attempting to show how conditioned
-we have become to the alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear
-of everything in our environment. In his project he urged people to sign
-a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical
-"dihydrogen monoxide." And for plenty of good reasons, since
-
- 1. it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting;
- 2. it is a major component in acid rain;
- 3. it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state;
- 4. accidental inhalation can kill you;
- 5. it contributes to erosion;
- 6. it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes;
- 7. it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients.
-
-He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical. Forty-three said
-yes, six were undecided, and only one knew that the chemical was water. The
-title of his prize winning project was, "How Gullible Are We?".
-The conclusion is obvious.
-~
-If you ever see me getting beaten by the police, put down the video camera
-and come help me.
- -- Bobcat Goldthwait
-~
-I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because
-it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive,
-but I have photographs of her.
- -- Ellen DeGeneres
-~
-I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other
-one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they
-are always locking three.
- -- Elayne Boosler
-~
-Ever wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?
- -- John Mendoza
-~
-Relationships are hard. It's like a full-time job, and we should treat it like
-one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you
-two weeks' notice. There should be severance pay and before they leave you,
-they should have to find you a temp.
- -- Bob Ettinger
-~
-I don't know what's wrong with my television set. I was getting C-Span and
-the Home Shopping Network on the same station. I actually bought a
-congressman.
- -- Bruce Baum
-~
-I had a linguistics professor who said that it's man's ability to use language
-that makes him the dominant species on the planet. That may may be. But I
-think there's one other thing that separates us from animals. We aren't
-afraid of vacuum cleaners.
- -- Jeff Stilson
-~
-Did you ever walk in a room and forget why you walked in? I think that's how
-dogs spend their lives.
- -- Sue Murphy
-~
-Maybe there is no actual place called hell. Maybe hell is just having to
-listen to our grandparents breathe through their noses when they're eating
-sandwiches.
- -- Jim Carrey
-~
-The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering
-from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they
-are okay, then it's you.
- -- Rita Mae Brown
-~
-Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image
-there. I think if you've got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe
-laundry isn't your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body
-before you do the wash.
- -- Jerry Seinfeld
-~
-USA Today has come out with a new survey: Apparently three out of four people
-make up 75 percent of the population.
- -- David Letterman
-~
-A lady came up to me on the street and pointed at my suede jacket. 'You know
-a cow was murdered for that jacket?' she sneered. I replied in a psychotic
-tone, 'I didn't know there were any witnesses. Now I'll have to kill you too.'
- -- Jake Johansen
-~
-I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific.
- -- Lily Tomlin
-~
-The Swiss have an interesting army. Five hundred years without a war. Pretty
-impressive. Also pretty lucky for them. Ever see that little Swiss Army knife
-they have to fight with? Not much of a weapon there. Corkscrews. Bottle
-openers. "Come on, buddy, let's go. You get past me, the guy in back of me,
-he's got a spoon. Back off. I've got the toe clippers right here."
- -- Jerry Seinfeld
-~
-Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I'm halfway through my
-fishburger and I realize, Oh my God... I could be eating a slow learner.
- -- Lynda Montgomery
-~
-Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography.
- -- Paul Rodriguez
-~
-Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom
-and democracy--but that could change.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/22/89
-~
-One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that
-one word is 'to be prepared'.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 12/6/89
-~
-May our nation continue to be the beakon of hope to the world.
- -- The Quayles' 1989 Christmas card
-~
-Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-We don't want to go back to tomorrow, we want to go forward.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the
-future.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-The future will be better tomorrow.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-We're going to have the best-educated American people in the world.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a
-tremendous impact on history.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle to Sam Donaldson, 8/17/89
-~
-We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm
-commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-I am not part of the problem. I am a Republican.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-When I have been asked during these last weeks who caused the riots and
-the killing in L.A., my answer has been direct and simple: Who is to blame
-for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings?
-The killers are to blame.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/20/92 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)
-~
-Murphy Brown is doing better than I am. At least she knows she still has a job
-next year.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 8/18/92
-~
-We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/22/90
-~
-For NASA, space is still a high priority.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/5/90
-~
-Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/18/90
-~
-The American people would not want to know of any misquotes that Dan Quayle
-may or may not make.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-We're all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the
-mistakes we may or may not have made.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities
-in our air and water that are doing it.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-[It's] time for the human race to enter the solar system.
- -- Vice President Dan Quayle
-~
-Public speaking is very easy.
- -- Dan Quayle to reporters in 10/88
-~
-We have to believe in free will. We've got no choice.
- -- Isaac B. Singer
-~
-The president has kept all of the promises he intended to keep.
- -- Clinton aide George Stephanopolous speaking on "Larry King Live"
-~
-The police are not here to create disorder.
-They're here to preserve disorder.
- -- Former Chicago mayor Daley
- during the infamous 1968 convention
-~
-Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from overseas.
- -- Former Australian cabinet minister Keppel Enderbery
-~
-It is wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.
- -- Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle
-~
-The internet is a great way to get on the net.
- -- Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole
-~
-It is bad luck to be superstitious.
- -- Andrew Mathis
-~
-It's like an Alcatraz around my neck.
- -- Boston mayor Menino on the shortage of city parking spaces
-~
-They're multipurpose. Not only do they put the clips on, but they take
-them off.
- -- Pratt & Whitney spokesperson explaining why the company charged the
- Air Force nearly $1,000 for an ordinary pair of pliers
-~
-We're going to turn this team around 360 degrees.
- -- Jason Kidd, upon his drafting to the Dallas Mavericks
-~
-I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers.
-We are the president.
- -- Hillary Clinton commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents
-~
-When more and more people are thrown out of work, unemployment results.
- -- Former U.S. President Calvin Coolidge
-~
-China is a big country, inhabited by many chinese.
- -- Former French President Charles de Gaulle
-~
-That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and
-i'm just the one to do it.
- -- A congressional candidate in Texas
-~
-Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.
- -- Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
-~
-Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.
- -- General William Westmoreland, during the war in Viet Nam
-~
-If you let that sort of thing go on, your bread and butter will be cut
-right out from under your feet.
- -- Former British foreign minister Ernest Bevin
-~
-Almonds and peaches are members of the Rosaceae family (roses) and are
-both in the subfamily Amygdaloideae, which also includes plums, cherries
-and apricots.
-~
-The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe.
-~
-Charlie Brown's father was a barber.
-~
-Nutmeg is toxic and can cause fatal overdoses just from eating too much.
-~
-Of the six men who made up the Three Stooges, three of them were real
-brothers (Moe, Curly and Shemp).
-~
-In Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie," mime Marcel Marceau is the only person who
-has a speaking role.
-~
-Pulp Fiction cost $8 million to make--$5 million going to actor's salaries.
-~
-A full seven percent of the entire Irish barley crop goes to the
-production of Guinness beer.
-~
-Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los
-Angeles de Porciúncula" or "The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of Angels,
-of Porziuncola", although its official name is simply "El Pueblo de
-la Reina de Los Angeles".
-~
-A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
-~
-An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
-~
-Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
-~
-Deborah Winger did the voice of E.T.
-~
-In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed
-on an analog watch is 10:10.
-~
-Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.
-~
-Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
-~
-The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint--no two lions have the same
-pattern of whiskers.
-~
-Bob Dylan's given name is Robert Allen Zimmerman.
-~
-Research by the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth in
-2003 demonstrated that goldfish have a memory-span of at least three
-months and can distinguish between different shapes, colours and sounds.
-~
-The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
-~
-It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog
-throws up it's stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of it's
-mouth. Then the frog uses it's forearms to dig out all of the stomach's
-contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.
-~
-Bingo is the name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box.
-~
-ABBA got their name by taking the first letter from each of their first
-names (Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, Anni-frid.)
-~
-The Beatles song "Dear Prudence" was written about Mia Farrow's sister,
-Prudence, when she wouldn't come out and play with Mia and the Beatles
-at a religious retreat in India.
-~
-The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
-~
-The name for Oz in the "Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator,
-Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N and O-Z, hence "Oz."
-~
-Horses and rabbits cannot normally vomit, but have been observed in
-extreme cases appearing to vomit. For example, horses with severe colic
-can produce fermented stomach contents, and rabbits have been observed
-expelling stomach contents due to over-eating or health issues.
-~
-Virgina Woolf liked to write standing up.
-Mark Twain often wrote while lying down.
-~
-Testimonial from Col. George Harvey, Mark Twain's publisher:
- I think that perhaps the funniest thing about Mark Twain now is not
-his writing, but his bed. He lies in bed a good deal; he says he has
-formed the habit. His bed is the largest one I ever saw, and on it is
-the weirdest collection of objects you ever saw, enough to furnish a
-Harlem flat--books, writing materials, clothes, any and everything that
-could foregather in his vicinity.
- He looks quite happy rising out of the mass, and over all prowls a
-huge black cat of a very unhappy disposition. She snaps and snarls and
-claws and bites, and Mark Twain takes his turn with the rest; when she
-gets tired of tearing up manuscript she scratches him and he bears it
-with a patience wonderful to behold.
- -- interview subtitled "Mark Twain's Bed," Washington Post,
- March 26, 1905, p. F12
-~
-Testimonial from Katy Leary, Mark Twain's servant:
- Mr. Clemens borrowed a kitten one time, called Bambino, from Clara, who
-had him in the sanitarium, and had trained him to wash his own face in the
-bowl every morning--which shows that he was a very smart little cat. He
-used to have this kitten up in his room at the Fifth Avenue house and he
-taught it to put out a light, too. He had a tiny little lamp to light his
-cigars with at the head of the bed, and after he got all fixed and didn't
-want the light any more, he taught that cat to put his paw on the light
-and put it out. Bambino would jump on the bed, look at Mr. Clemens to see
-if he was through with the light, and when Mr. Clemens would bow twice to
-him, he'd jump over on to that table quick, and put his little paw right
-on the lamp! Mr. Clemens was always showing him off; he did that for a lot
-of people that come there to call.
- One night he got kind of gay, when he heard some cats calling from the
-back fence, so he found a window open and he stole out. We looked high
-and low but couldn't find him. Mr. Clemens felt so bad that he advertised
-in all the papers for him. He offered a reward for anybody that would
-bring the cat back. My goodness! the people that came bringing cats to
-that house! A perfect stream! They all wanted to see Mr. Clemens, of
-course.
- Two or three nights after, Katherine heard a cat meowing across the
-street in General Sickles' back yard, and there was Bambino--large as
-life! So she brought him right home. Mr. Clemens was delighted and then
-he advertised that his cat was found! But the people kept coming just
-the same with all kinds of cats for him--anything to get a glimpse of
-Mr. Clemens!
- -- A Lifetime with Mark Twain, by Mary Lawton
-~
-If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to
-yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because
-for the creator there is no poverty and no poor, indifferent place.
- -- Rainer Maria Rilke
-~
-Compassion is the chief and perhaps the only law of human existence.
- -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky
-~
-If we concede that human life can be governed by reason, the possibility of
-life is destroyed.
- -- Leo Tolstoy
-~
-What an abyss of uncertainty, whenever the mind feels overtaken by itself;
-when it, the seeker, is at the same time the dark region through which it
-must go seeking, and where all its equipment will avail nothing. Seek? More
-than that: create. It is face to face with something which does not yet exist,
-to which it alone can give reality and substance, which it alone can bring into
-the light of day.
- -- Marcel Proust
-~
-As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-I believe that everything depends on attention. I only see you if I pay
-attention. I only exist, in my own eyes, if I pay attention to myself.
- -- Nadia Boulanger
-~
-The sex was so good that even the neighbors had a cigarette.
-~
-If you smoke after sex, you're doing it too fast.
-~
-I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
-~
-If ignorance is bliss, you must be orgasmic.
-~
-Good girls get fat, bad girls get eaten.
-~
-The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.
-~
-A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory.
-~
-I need someone really bad... are you really bad?
-~
-If, a two letter word for futility.
-~
-Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
-~
-To all you virgins, thanks for nothing.
-~
-The more you complain, the longer God lets you live.
-~
-My kid had sex with your honor student.
-~
-Don't hit me. My lawyer's in jail.
-~
-If something goes without saying, LET IT!
-~
-If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.
-~
-IRS: We've got what it takes to take what you've got.
-~
-Hard work has a future payoff, laziness pays off now.
-~
-Life's a buffet... so eat me!
-~
-Montana--At least our cows are sane!
-~
-Jesus died for my sins and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
-~
-Mean people rule!
-~
-Guns don't kill people, postal workers do.
-~
-Born again pagan.
-~
-God must love stupid people, he made so many.
-~
-I said "no" to drugs, but they just wouldn't listen.
-~
-The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
-~
-There's too much youth, how about a fountain of smart.
-~
-Forget about World Peace... Visualize Using Your Turn Signal!
-~
-Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear.
-~
-I know what you're thinking, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
-~
-Don't drink and drive, you might hit a bump and spill your drink.
-~
-Elvis is dead, and I'm not feeling too good myself.
-~
-Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.
-~
-Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.
-~
-Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes.
-~
-Always be nice to your children because they are
-the ones who will choose your rest home.
- -- Phyllis Diller
-~
-I like you, but I wouldn't want to see you working with subatomic particles.
-~
-Sex on television can't hurt you unless you fall off.
-~
-I'm not offended by all the dumb blond jokes because I know I'm not
-dumb... and I also know that I'm not blond.
- -- Dolly Parton
-~
-You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a
-smart woman with a dumb guy.
- -- Erica Jong
-~
-I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home
-which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog which growls
-every morning, a parrot which swears all afternoon and a cat that
-comes home late at night.
- -- Marie Corelli
-~
-I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house.
- -- Zsa Zsa Gabor
-~
-I want to have children, but my friends scare me. One of my friends told
-me she was in labor for 36 hours. I don't even want to do anything that
-feels GOOD for 36 hours.
- -- Rita Rudner
-~
-I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on.
- -- Roseanne
-~
-I think--therefore I'm single.
- -- Lizz Winstead
-~
-Behind every successful man is a surprised woman.
- -- Maryon Pearson
-~
-Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as
-assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly
-promoted as a male schlemiel.
- -- Bella Abzug
-~
-I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on
-how to combine marriage and a career.
- -- Gloria Steinem
-~
-Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they
-should live next door and just visit now and then.
- -- Katharine Hepburn
-~
-God is my favorite fictional character.
- -- Homer Simpson
-~
-Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.
- -- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
-~
-I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
- -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
-~
-I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the
-best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't
-last out the year.
- -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
-~
-But what... is it good for?
- -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968,
- commenting on the microchip
-~
-This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a
-means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.
- -- Western Union internal memo, 1876
-~
-The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for
-a message sent to nobody in particular?
- -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment
- in the radio in the 1920s
-~
-The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than
-a 'C,' the idea must be feasible.
- -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's
- paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service
- (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
-~
-Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?
- -- H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927
-~
-I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary
-Cooper.
- -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone
- With The Wind"
-~
-A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say
-America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.
- -- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies
-~
-We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.
- -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962
-~
-If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The
-literature was full of examples that said you can't do this.
- -- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M
- "Post-It" Notepads
-~
-So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built
-with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll
-give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for
-you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they
-said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'
- -- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P
- interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer
-~
-Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and
-the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He
-seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools.
- -- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary
- rocket work
-~
-You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your
-muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life. You just have to
-accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight
-training.
- -- Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unsolvable" problem by
- inventing Nautilus
-~
-Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're
-crazy.
- -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill
- for oil in 1859
-~
-Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.
- -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929
-~
-Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
- -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy,
- Ecole Superieure de Guerre
-~
-Everything that can be invented has been invented.
- -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899, arguing
- that the office should be closed
-~
-Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.
- -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872
-~
-The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion
-of the wise and humane surgeon.
- -- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary
- to Queen Victoria 1873
-~
-640K ought to be enough for anybody.
- -- Attributed to Bill Gates, 1981, but he asserts that he did not say this.
-~
-Three things are certain:
-Death, taxes, and lost data.
-Guess which has occurred.
-~
-Everything is gone;
-Your life's work has been destroyed.
-Squeeze trigger (yes/no)?
-~
-Windows NT crashed.
-I am the Blue Screen of Death.
-No one hears your screams.
-~
-Seeing my great fault
-Through darkening blue windows
-I begin again
-~
-The code was willing,
-It considered your request,
-But the chips were weak.
-~
-Printer not ready.
-Could be a fatal error.
-Have a pen handy?
-~
-A file that big?
-It might be very useful.
-But now it is gone.
-~
-Errors have occurred.
-We won't tell you where or why.
-Lazy programmers.
-~
-Server's poor response
-Not quick enough for browser.
-Timed out, plum blossom.
-~
-Chaos reigns within.
-Reflect, repent, and reboot.
-Order shall return.
-~
-Login incorrect.
-Only perfect spellers may
-enter this system.
-~
-This site has been moved.
-We'd tell you where, but then we'd
-have to delete you.
-~
-Wind catches lily
-scatt'ring petals to the wind:
-segmentation fault
-~
-ABORTED effort:
-Close all that you have.
-You ask way too much.
-~
-First snow, then silence.
-This thousand dollar screen dies
-so beautifully.
-~
-With searching comes loss
-and the presence of absence:
-"My Novel" not found.
-~
-The Tao that is seen
-Is not the true Tao, until
-You bring fresh toner.
-~
-The Web site you seek
-cannot be located but
-endless others exist
-~
-Stay the patient course
-Of little worth is your ire
-The network is down
-~
-A crash reduces
-your expensive computer
-to a simple stone.
-~
-There is a chasm
-of carbon and silicon
-the software can't bridge
-~
-Yesterday it worked
-Today it is not working
-Windows is like that
-~
-To have no errors
-Would be life without meaning
-No struggle, no joy
-~
-You step in the stream,
-but the water has moved on.
-This page is not here.
-~
-No keyboard present
-Hit F1 to continue
-Zen engineering?
-~
-Hal, open the file
-Hal, open the damn file, Hal
-open the, please Hal
-~
-Out of memory.
-We wish to hold the whole sky,
-But we never will.
-~
-Having been erased,
-The document you're seeking
-Must now be retyped.
-~
-The ten thousand things
-How long do any persist?
-Netscape, too, has gone.
-~
-Rather than a beep
-Or a rude error message,
-These words: "File not found."
-~
-Serious error.
-All shortcuts have disappeared.
-Screen. Mind. Both are blank.
-~
-Indecision may or may not be my problem.
- -- Jimmy Buffet
-~
-If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you.
-This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-If you want to know what God thinks about money, just look at the people He
-gives it to.
- -- Old Irish Saying
-~
-I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage.
-They've experienced pain and bought jewelry.
- -- Rita Rudner
-~
-I would love to speak a foreign language but I can't.
-So I grew hair under my arms instead.
- -- Sue Kolinsky
-~
-The second day of a diet is always easier than the first.
-By the second day you're off it.
- -- Jackie Gleason
-~
-Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's
-life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if
-there is a man on base.
- -- Dave Barry
-~
-Somebody hits me, I'm going to hit him back. Even if it does look like he
-hasn't eaten in a while.
- -- Charles Barkley, after blatantly elbowing an Angolan basketball
- opponent in the Olympics.
-~
-I think that's how Chicago got started. A bunch of people in New York said,
-'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough.
-Let's go west.'
- -- Richard Jeni
-~
-The show business newspaper Daily Variety reported in December that John
-Kricfalusi, creator of TV's "The Ren & Stimpy Show," was threatening legal
-action against the producers of the Comedy Central show "South Park" for
-ripping off a cartoon character. According to Kricfalusi, his character
-"Nutty the Friendly Dump," an animated piece of excrement, must have been
-the basis for "South Park"'s "Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo," a holiday-
-dressed, singing, dancing piece of excrement.
-~
-If a man is standing in the middle of the forest speaking and there is
-no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?
-~
-If a deaf person swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?
-~
-If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is
-it considered a hostage situation?
-~
-Is there another word for synonym?
-~
-Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice?"
-~
-When sign makers go on strike, is anything written on their signs?
-~
-Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all?"
-~
-Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
-~
-What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?
-~
-If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?
-~
-Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
-~
-Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone
-will clean them?
-~
-If a stealth bomber crashes in a forest, will it make a sound?
-~
-If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
-~
-Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
-~
-Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?
-~
-If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to
-remain silent?
-~
-Why do they put Braille on the drive-through bank machines?
-~
-How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign?
-~
-Why do they sterilize the needles for lethal injections?
-~
-Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
-~
-Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?
-~
-Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about puppies.
- -- Gene Hill
-~
-In dog years, I'm dead.
- -- Unknown
-~
-Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in
-case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in
-your ear.
- -- Dave Barry
-~
-(of dogs)
-I wonder what goes through his mind when he sees us peeing in his water bowl.
- -- Penny Ward Moser
-~
-Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend,
-and inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
- -- Aldous Huxley
-~
-A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times
-before lying down.
- -- Robert Benchley
-~
-Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? I think that is
-how dogs spend their lives.
- -- Sue Murphy
-~
-Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomniac who stays up all night
-wondering if there really is a Dog?
- -- Unknown
-~
-I think animal testing is a terrible idea; they get all nervous and give
-the wrong answers.
- -- Unknown
-~
-I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts
-to bite people themselves.
- -- August Strindberg
-~
-Ever consider what they [our pets] must think of us? I mean, here we come
-back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul--chicken, pork, half
-a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!
- -- Anne Tyler
-~
-My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to 99 cents a can.
-That's almost $7.00 in dog money.
- -- Joe Weinstein
-~
-If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known
-will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.
- -- James Thurber
-~
-You enter into a certain amount of madness when you marry a person with pets.
- -- Nora Ephron
-~
-Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are
-wonderful.
- -- Ann Landers
-~
-Women and cats will do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get
-used to the idea.
- -- Robert A. Heinlein
-~
-In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have
-a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.
- -- Dereke Bruce, Taipei, Taiwan
-~
-When a man's best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem.
- -- Edward Abbey
-~
-Cat's Motto: No matter what you've done wrong, always try to
-make it look like the dog did it.
- -- Unknown
-~
-Money will buy you a pretty good dog, but it won't buy
-the wag of his tail... No one appreciates the very
-special genius of your conversation as the dog does.
- -- Christopher Morley
-~
-A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
- -- Josh Billings
-~
-Man is a dog's idea of what God should be.
- -- Holbrook Jackson
-~
-The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.
- -- Andrew A. Rooney
-~
-He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life,
-his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat
-of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
- -- Unknown
-~
-Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog
-would go in.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.
- -- Unknown
-~
-Things that upset a terrier may pass virtually unnoticed by a Great Dane.
- -- Smiley Blanton
-~
-I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt,
-and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.
- -- John Steinbeck
-~
-There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.
- -- Ben Williams
-~
-One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men.
-No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.
- -- Elbert Hubbard
-~
-(AP) Tokyo: Tokyo commuter Katsuo Katugoru caused havoc on a crowded tube
-train when his inflatable underpants unexpectedly went off. The rubber
-underwear was made by Katsuo himself, and designed to inflate to 30 times
-their original size in the event of a tidal wave.
-"I am terrified of water, and death by drowning is my greatest fear" said
-Katsuo, 48. "Unfortunately I set them off accidently while looking for a
-boiled sweet on a rush hour train. They were crushing everybody in the
-carriage until a passenger stabbed them with a pencil."
-~
-Kindness cannot be taught by harshness--
-not by any amount of harshness.
- -- Raymond M. Smullyan / The Tao is Silent
-~
-Reno versus Gates:
-Full employment for lawyers
-Until end of time
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Inflate your tires by all means, but then hide your bicycle pump where it
-cannot tempt you.
- -- attributed to a spokesman for the Nakhon Ratchasima hospital
-~
-Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it
-holds the universe together....
- -- Carl Zwanzig
-~
-There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the
-Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced
-by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which
-states that this has already happened.
- -- Douglas Adams
-~
-Only two things are infinite, the universe and
-human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-Astronomers say the universe is finite, which is a comforting thought for
-those people who can't remember where they leave things.
- -- Unknown
-~
-In answer to the question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that
-our Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time.
- -- Edward P. Tryon
-~
-It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception,
-is composed of others.
- -- John Andrew Holmes
-~
-Technology is a way of organizing the universe so
-that man doesn't have to experience it.
- -- Max Frisch
-~
-The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.
- -- Kilgore Trout (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)
-~
-I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough
-to find your way around Chinatown.
- -- Woody Allen
-~
-In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people
-very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
- -- Douglas Adams
-~
-The crux... is that the vast majority of the
-mass of the universe seems to be missing.
- -- William J. Broad
-~
-Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build
-bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce
-bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
- -- Rich Cook
-~
-There is a coherent plan in the universe,
-though I don't know what it's a plan for.
- -- Fred Hoyle
-~
-We are an impossibility in an impossible universe. -- Ray Bradbury
-~
-My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed.
- -- Christopher Morley
-~
-I'm worried that the universe will soon need replacing.
-It's not holding a charge.
- -- Edward Chilton
-~
-The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe
-is that it has never tried to contact us.
- -- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)
-~
-As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using
-individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and
-employees will receive their cards in two weeks.
- -- pointy haired boss contest. (This was the winning quote from
- Fred Dales at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington)
-~
-What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter.
- -- pointy haired boss contest. (Lykes Lines Shipping)
-~
-E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used
-only for company business.
- -- pointy haired boss contest. (Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)
-~
-This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important
-interfere with it.
- -- pointy haired boss contest
- (Advertising/Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)
-~
-Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule. No one will believe
-you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now,
-go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them.
- -- pointy haired boss contest
- (R&D supervisor, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing / 3M Corp.)
-~
-My Boss spent the entire weekend retyping a 25-page proposal that only needed
-corrections. She claims the disk I gave her was damaged and she couldn't edit
-it. The disk I gave her was write-protected.
- -- pointy haired boss contest. (CIO of Dell Computers)
-~
-Quote from the Boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what 'I' say."
- -- pointy haired boss contest. (Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)
-~
-"How About Friday?" My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for
-Monday. When I told my Boss, he said she died so that I would have to miss
-work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her
-burial to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me."
- -- pointy haired boss contest. (Shipping executive, FTD Florists)
-~
-"We know that communication is a problem, but the company is
-not going to discuss it with the employees."
- -- pointy haired boss contest
- (Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)
-~
-We recently received a memo from senior management saying: "This is to inform
-you that a memo will be issued today regarding the subject mentioned above."
- -- pointy haired boss contest. (Microsoft, Legal Affairs Division)
-~
-One day my Boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project
-I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said "If
-I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!"
- -- pointy haired boss contest
- (New business manager, Hallmark Greeting Cards)
-~
-Speaking the Same Language: As director of communications I was asked to
-prepare a memo reviewing our company's training programs and materials. In
-the body of the memo one of the sentences mentioned the "pedagogical approach"
-used by one of the training manuals. The day after I routed the memo to the
-executive committee, I was called into the HR director's office and told that
-the executive vice president wanted me out of the building by lunch. When I
-asked why, I was told that she wouldn't stand for "perverts" (pedophilia)?
-working in her company. Finally he showed me her copy of the memo, with her
-demand that I be fired--and the word "pedagogical" circled in red. The HR
-manager was fairly reasonable, and once he looked the word up in his
-dictionary, and made a copy of the definition to send back to her, he told me
-not to worry. He would take care of it. Two days later a memo to the entire
-staff came out--directing us that no words which could not be found in the
-local Sunday newspaper could be used in company memos. A month later, I
-resigned. In accordance with company policy, I created my resignation memo
-by pasting words together from the Sunday paper.
- -- pointy haired boss contest. (Taco Bell Corporation)
-~
-This gem is the closing paragraph of a nationally-circulated memo from a large
-communications company: "(Company name) is endeavorily determined to promote
-constant attention on current procedures of transacting business focusing
-emphasis on innovative ways to better, if not supersede, the expectations of
-quality!"
- -- pointy haired boss contest. (Lucent Technologies)
-~
-Marriage isn't a word, it's a sentence.
- -- unknown, seen on back of Charlottesville, VA cab
-~
-Have you ever noticed... Anybody going slower than you is an idiot,
-and anyone going faster than you is a f*cking maniac?
- -- George Carlin
-~
-You have to stay in shape. My grandmother, she started walking five
-miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 today and we don't know where
-the hell she is.
- -- Ellen DeGeneres
-~
-I'm not into working out. My philosophy: No pain, no pain.
- -- Carol Leifer
-~
-I have a great diet. You're allowed to eat anything you want, but you
-must eat it with naked fat people.
- -- Ed Bluestone
-~
-I went into a McDonald's yesterday and said, "I'd like some fries."
-The girl at the counter said, "Would you like some fries with that?"
- -- Jay Leno
-~
-The reason most people play golf is to wear clothes they would not be
-caught dead in otherwise.
- -- Roger Simon
-~
-I'm desperately trying to figure out why kamikaze pilots wore helmets.
- -- Dave Edison
-~
-If it weren't for electricity we'd all be watching television by candlelight.
- -- George Gobel
-~
-Don't spend two dollars to dry clean a shirt. Donate it to the
-Salvation Army instead. They'll clean it and put it on a hanger.
-Next morning buy it back for seventy-five cents.
- -- Billiam Coronel
-~
-Suppose you were an idiot... And suppose you were a member of
-Congress... But I repeat myself.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student. At least
-they can find Kuwait.
- -- A. Whitney Brown
-~
-My mom said she learned how to swim. Someone took her out in the lake
-and threw her off the boat. That's how she learned how to swim. I
-said, "Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim."
- -- Paula Poundstone
-~
-I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up
-something else.
- -- Lily Tomlin
-~
-What do people mean when they say the computer went down on me?
- -- Marilyn Pittman
-~
-Why is it that when we talk to God we're said to be praying, but when
-God talks to us we're schizophrenic?
- -- Lily Tomlin
-~
-When you look at Prince Charles, don't you think that someone in the
-Royal family knew someone in the Royal family?
- -- Robin Williams
-~
-Where lipstick is concerned, the important thing is not color, but to
-accept God's final word on where your lips end.
- -- Jerry Seinfeld
-~
-[Modern economists are] "used to measuring the 'standard of living' by
-the amount of annual consumption, assuming all the time that a man who
-consumes more is 'better off' than a man who consumes less. A Buddhist
-economist would consider this approach excessively irrational: since
-consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to
-obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption...
-The less toil there is, the more time and strength is left for artistic
-creativity. Modern economics, on the other hand, considers consumption
-to be the sole end and purpose of all economic activity."
- -- E. F. Schumacher (1911-1977), from "Small Is Beautiful:
- A Study of Economics As If People Mattered", 1973.
-~
-As a net is made up of a series of ties, so everything in this world
-is connected by a series of ties. If anyone thinks that the mesh of
-a net is an independent, isolated thing, he is mistaken. It is called
-a net because it is made up of a series of interconnected meshes, and
-each mesh has its place and responsibility in relation to other meshes.
- -- Shakyamuni Buddha
-~
-When debugging, suspect the more complicated code,
-but keep an eye on the simple code lest it get too cocky.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
- -- Douglas Adams
-~
-As I let go of my feelings of guilt, I am in touch
-with my inner sociopath.
-~
-I have the power to channel my imagination into ever-soaring
-levels of suspicion and paranoia.
-~
-I assume full responsibility for my actions, except the ones
-that are someone else's fault.
-~
-I no longer need to punish, deceive, or compromise myself,
-unless I want to stay employed.
-~
-In some cultures what I do would be considered normal.
-~
-I honor my personality flaws for without them
-I would have no personality at all.
-~
-Joan of Arc heard voices, too.
-~
-I am grateful that I am not as judgmental as all those
-censorious, self-righteous people around me.
-~
-I need not suffer in silence while I can still
-moan, whimper, and complain.
-~
-As I learn the innermost secrets of people around me, they
-reward me in many ways to keep me quiet.
-~
-When someone hurts me, I know that forgiveness is cheaper
-than a lawsuit, but not nearly as gratifying.
-~
-The first step is to say nice things about myself.
-The second is to do nice things for myself, the third,
-to find someone to buy me nice things.
-~
-As I learn to trust the universe,
-I no longer need to carry a gun.
-~
-I am at one with my duality.
-~
-Blessed are the flexible,
-for they can tie themselves into knots.
-~
-Only a lack of imagination saves me from
-immobilizing myself with imaginary fears.
-~
-I will strive to live each day as
-if it were my 50th birthday.
-~
-I honor and express all facets of my being,
-regardless of state and local laws.
-~
-Today I will gladly share my experience and advice, for there
-are no sweeter words than "I told you so."
-~
-False hope is better than no hope at all.
-~
-A good scapegoat is almost as good as a solution.
-~
-Just for today, I will not sit in my living room all day in my
-underwear in the Hollywood Cafe. Instead, I will move my
-computer into the bedroom.
-~
-Who can I blame for my problems?
-Just give me a minute.
-I'll find someone.
-~
-Why should I waste my time reliving the past when
-I can spend it worrying about the future?
-~
-The complete lack of evidence is the surest
-sign that the conspiracy is working.
-~
-I am learning that criticism is not nearly as
-effective as sabotage.
-~
-Becoming aware of my character defects leads me
-naturally to the next step of blaming my parents.
-~
-To have a successful relationship I must learn to
-make it look like I'm giving as much as I'm getting.
-~
-I am willing to make the mistakes if someone else
-is willing to learn from them.
-~
-Before I criticize a man, I walk a mile in
-his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's
-a mile away and barefoot.
-~
-Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
-~
-Canadian = unarmed American with health care.
-~
-Mohandas K. Gandhi's list of "Seven Blunders Of The World That Lead
-To Violence":
- Wealth without work
- Science without humanity
- Pleasure without conscience
- Worship without sacrifice
- Knowledge without character
- Politics without principle
- Commerce without morality
-~
-`Tis the longest Purse Conquers the longest Sword.
- -- Daniel Defoe
-~
-A Man that will lie still, should never hope to rise;
-he that will lie in a Ditch and pray, may depend upon it he
-shall lie in the Ditch and die.
- -- Daniel Defoe
-~
-He that has Truth on his Side, is a fool, as well
-as a Coward, if he is afraid to own it because of
-the Currency or Multitude of other Men's Opinions.
- -- Daniel Defoe
-~
-Writers' earnings are the reward of industry and the prize of learning.
- -- Daniel Defoe
-~
-Absolute necessity forces many a poor distressed
-person to do things which his very soul abhors.
- -- Daniel Defoe
-~
-The rising greatness of the British nation
-is not owing to war and conquests,
-to enlarging its dominion by the sword,
-or subjecting the people of other countries to our power;
-but it is owing to trade.
-An estate is a pond, trade is a spring,
-conquest is a Thing attended with Difficulty, Hazard,
-Expense, and a Possibility of Miscarriage.
- -- Daniel Defoe
-~
-24 hours in a day. 24 beers in a case. coincidence?
- -- Stephen Wright
-~
-When Human Folk at Table Eat,
-A Kitten must not mew for meat,
-Or Jump to grab it from the Dish
-(Unless it happens to be fish).
- -- Oliver Herford
-~
-When I am at peace with myself, and in good spirits--for
-instance, on a journey, in a carriage, or after a good meal,
-or while taking a walk, or at night when I can't sleep--then
-thoughts flow into me most easily and at their best. Where
-they come from and how -- that I cannot say; nor can I do
-anything about it.
- -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
-~
-It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has
-become easy to me. I assure you no one has given so much
-care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely
-a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently
-and diligently studied.
- -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
-~
-If one has talent it pushes for utterance and torments
-one; it will out. And then one is out without questioning.
-And, look you, there is nothing in this thing of learning
-out of books. Here, here and here [the ear, the head, the
-heart] is your school. If everything is right there, then
-take your pen and down with it; afterwards ask the opinion
-of a man who knows his business.
- -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
-~
-It is no just function of government to prohibit what is not wrong.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better
-than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not
-your counsel or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you.
-May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you
-were our countrymen.
- -- Samuel Adams
-~
-You may call, you may call,
-But the little black cats won't hear you,
-The little black cats are maddened,
-By the green light of the moon.
- -- Elizabeth Coatsworth
-~
-on exception handling...
- the point is to create dependable systems. some languages are better than
-others for this. some languages provide no support for verification, although
-the semantics of most programming constructs are well established. exceptions
-predate much of the work done in formal verification of the last 30 years.
-many people have tried (with varying degrees of success) to fit exceptions into
-the grand scheme and make them verifiable. flaviu cristian has shown how
-exception handlers can be fitted with preconditions for their activation and
-postconditions for their completion.
- however, an attempt to postfit a system with hooks for verifiability will
-fail if the system is very large. and programming in this manner is simply a
-living hell. the programmer is not generally equipped to set up all of his
-handlers for this type of reasoning, even if he has a clear idea for when the
-handlers are to be invoked.
- what is needed is a general language structure that is capable of embodying
-the reasons and the services of the exception-like items in the system.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-why aren't programs published in better boxes?
-thicker cardboard, smaller profiles, thin like coffee table books,
-packaged with only essentials and fitting together well...
-you'd be proud to have a software library if the damn boxes weren't
-so flimsy and didn't take up so much room.
-~
-Here's a thought... The government should only be allowed to test urine for
-drugs if they collect the pee in their own mouths.
-~
-the drug war is a war on liberty that cannot possibly be won without the
-utter removal of all rights or at least the indefinite suspension thereof.
-urine testing is the best emblem of this horrible war; it makes the police
-look like a bunch of perverted urine sniffers. it is not cost effective
-for testing large numbers of people and it is insanely easy to fake if one
-wants to anyway. we need to stop the drug war and start the war on ignorance.
-this ignorance is an ignorance of the REAL scientifically determined results
-of using the drugs in question. studies show that marijuana, for example,
-DOES have therapeutic results and that it is almost completely HARMLESS.
-smoke inhalation is not harmless, but there are other ways to get stoned than
-by inhaling burning vapors. the root ignorance that MUST be warred upon is
-an ignorance of the fact that people should leave each other alone and not
-be such shrieking paranoid shrews about what their neighbors are doing.
-put down your goddamned binoculars, you nosy cretin, and get to the business
-of living your own life.
-~
-drug prices are caused to soar by the organized crime elements
-that are behind the drug war (and behind the republican party).
-organized crime at the same time causes the war to look just as
-ridiculous as the carrie nation hatchet smashing of beer kegs so
-that people will buy more drugs and think that governmental
-authority is a crock. who benefitted from the intense CAMP
-activity in california? the mafia, because prices on marijuana
-soared. who got screwed by CAMP? the people, who made their
-honest living off of growing marijuana, which at the time was
-our nation's largest commodity. it's time to toss the republican
-crooks out of office on their asses. american patriots smoke pot:
-george washington, thomas jefferson, benjamin franklin, and thou,
-if you like. unamerican creeps are against marijuana and against
-the right of the america people to control their own destiny.
-i think it really is that simple.
-~
-ode to a petty tyrant...
- what you don't seem to realize is that productivity is mood dependent.
-you seem to think that i need to be degraded repeatedly as some form of
-character builder, but what if someone came to this school as your student
-who had already been degraded enough in his life? what if every time you
-were cutting on them in some sly tricky sarcastic form you were in fact
-rubbing a sore spot and only inflaming their opinions as to your anus-nature?
- did you realize that one of your students comes back to the office
-and just swears and swears at the computer he's working at? this wasn't
-because the machine was bad, or his program was bad, or he was bad,
-but because he was mad at _you_.
- the solution, i think, is to respect people a whole lot more. we're
-not here for professors to deride us. this isn't some f*cking fraternity
-with you chumps as the chief hazing marshalls. we're here to learn and if
-our learning is colored with hues of condemnation and abuse, it diminishes
-you, it diminishes us, and it diminishes the whole search for truth and
-knowledge.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-i don't believe the druidic and grecian universities had this
-same kind of "cut him up, slice and dice!" attitude that prevails
-at our fine american universities in this day and age. that
-attitude is surely a holdover from roman times, when the
-patriarchal society demanded discipline and obedience from all
-of its members, especially those with license to think. this
-approach is impractical these days (because it doesn't work
-very well), except at the higher levels in education, where
-it is still fervently practiced. root it out, toss it away;
-we don't need authoritarian learning, we need to follow the truth
-back to all its origins and forward to the myriad potential fruits.
-your rule book stopped being effective a long time ago.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-on artistic and technical integrity...
-in the beginning, i had a totally egotistical attitude that the rest of the
-world was screwed and i was right. this is actually somewhat correct, because
-one must have his own voice and thoughts, except for the fact that i was not
-_that_ correct and the world was not _that_ wrong. but at least what i chose
-to say and what i chose to be were right for me. over the past few years i
-have sought to learn the phd game, but i have been doing it by suppressing
-my own voice and allowing others to tell me what i should say. this is
-fundamentally f*cked, because now i have become dependent on them as my voice
-instead of relying on the tao to guide the research and for my own voice to
-speak what needs to be said. is it any wonder that i have devolved to this
-state of being unable to say anything on my own? after years of thinking for
-myself, i have allowed myself to become placed in a situation where i was
-dependent on someone else as my source of "the scoop". numerous problems
-result when others' biases are not what i want to express, yet they have
-potency to affect my presentation. the fact that when the bogus guru doesn't
-understand something, he usually tells you that you are the one who does not
-understand, is no help. he has no subtlety and yet seeks the original
-thoughts, leading him to warp other people's original thoughts into his own
-mental framework, often losing the original spark and leading the ideas astray
-into his own personal interests. i need to cut loose and start thinking on my
-own again. if the ideas in my research here have any merit at all, they have
-to be proven using my own metrics, not others' metrics. and this no longer
-seems possible in this stringently bulletheaded "hard science" department
-which instead only enforces conventional viewpoints and does not reach out
-into the unknown where the really interesting concepts live....
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-niceness here is the ineffable.
-the only difference between you and the wolf is that you want to be nice,
-and fail. the wolf only wants to appear nice while remaining vile inside,
-and he succeeds. your demeanor to others is sometimes nice and sometimes
-not nice because of your failures in actually being the way you want to
-be. and the reason that you fail to be the way you want to be is that you
-lack the spiritual strength to keep it up. you can't synchronize your
-noble desires with your weak mind/body, and it is mainly because you reject
-spirituality itself that you fail in achieving spiritual strength.
-one cannot succeed in something one does not believe in except through
-dumb beginner's luck. and yet to fully believe in something is to be
-trapped in it, without the capacity to disbelieve and free oneself.
-you need a fluid belief that accepts what is true within the constraints
-of its validity. can this flow be strong enough to become who and what
-you want to be?
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-eek on the candidate from louis cypher... i notice with some lack of
-surprise that "ollie north" can be rearranged into the nice phrase
-"o, rot in hell". i think this needs to be made more public. perhaps
-we should publish an epigram regarding this particular correspondence
-between reality and republicanism.
-~
- 1. Commit to your business.
- 2. Share your profits with all your associates.
- 3. Motivate your partners.
- 4. Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
- 5. Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
- 6. Celebrate your success.
- 7. Listen to everyone in your company.
- 8. Exceed your customers' expectations.
- 9. Control your expenses better than your competition.
-10. Swim upstream.
- -- "Sam's Rules For Building A Business", from "Made In
- America: My Story", by Sam Walton.
-~
-Find some humor in your failures. Don't take yourself so seriously.
-Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up. Have fun. Show
-enthusiasm--always. When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a
-silly song. Then make everybody else sing with you. Don't do a hula
-on Wall Street. It's been done. Think up your own stunt. All of
-this is more important, and more fun, than you think, and it really
-fools the competition. "Why should we take those cornballs at Wal-Mart
-seriously?"
- -- Sam Walton
-~
-If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the
-impersonators would be dead.
- -- Johnny Carson
-~
-In elementary school, in case of fire you have to line
-up quietly in a single file line from smallest to
-tallest. What is the logic? Do tall people burn slower?
- -- Warren Hutcherson
-~
-Every time a baseball player grabs his crotch, it makes
-him spit. That's why you should never date a baseball player.
- -- Marsha Warfield
-~
-Some women hold up dresses that are so ugly and they
-always say the same thing: 'This looks much better on.'
-On what? On fire?
- -- Marsha Warfield
-~
-The cat went here
- and there,
-The moon spun round
- like a top,
-And the nearest kin
- of the moon,
-The creeping cat, looked
- up.
- -- W. B. Yeats
-~
-The cat always leaves a mark on his friend.
- -- Spanish proverb
-~
- A herd of buffalo can move only as fast as the slowest buffalo.
-when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back
-that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a
-whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps
-improving by the regular culling of the weakest members.
- In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as
-the slowest brain cells. Intake of alcohol, we all know, kills brain
-cells, but naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells
-first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker
-brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.
- That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers.
-~
-1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech
- which you are used to seeing in print.
-2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
-3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
-4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
-5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon
- word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
-6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything
- outright barbarous.
- -- George Orwell, "Politics And The English Language."
-~
-Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?
- -- Felix von Leitner (leitner@inf.fu-berlin.de)
-~
-linux: the choice of a GNU generation.
- -- ksh@cis.ufl.edu put this on t-shirts in 1993
-~
-There are two types of Linux developers--those who can
-spell, and those who can't. There is a constant pitched
-battle between the two.
-~
-> Other than the fact Linux has a cool name, could someone explain
-> why I should use Linux over BSD?
-
-No. That's it. The cool name, that is. We worked very hard on
-creating a name that would appeal to the majority of people, and
-it certainly paid off: thousands of people are using linux just
-to be able to say "OS/2? Hah. I've got Linux. What a cool name".
-386BSD made the mistake of putting a lot of numbers and weird
-abbreviations into the name, and is scaring away a lot of people
-just because it sounds too technical.
- -- Linus Torvalds' follow-up to a question about Linux
-~
-When you say "I wrote a program that crashed Windows", people
-just stare at you blankly and say, "Hey, I got those with the
-system, *for free*".
- -- Linus Torvalds
-~
-We come to bury DOS, not to praise it.
- -- Paul Vojta, regarding Linux
-~
-How should I know if it works? That's what beta testers
-are for. I only coded it.
- -- Attributed to Linus Torvalds
-~
-I develop for Linux for a living, I used to develop for DOS.
-Going from DOS to Linux is like trading a glider for an F117.
- -- Lawrence Foard
-~
-I'd crawl over an acre of 'Visual This++' and 'Integrated
-Development That' to get to gcc, Emacs, and gdb. Thank you.
- -- Vance Petree, Virginia Power
-~
-If you want to travel around the world and be invited to
-speak at a lot of different places, just write a Unix
-operating system.
- -- Linus Torvalds
-~
-All language designers are arrogant. Goes with the territory...
- -- Larry Wall
-~
-Unix, MS-DOS, and Windows NT (also known as
-the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly).
- -- Matt Welsh
-~
-I would rather spend 10 hours reading someone else's source
-code than 10 minutes listening to Muzak waiting for technical
-support which isn't.
- -- Dr. Greg Wettstein, Roger Maris Cancer Center
-~
-Your job is being a professor and researcher: That's one
-hell of a good excuse for some of the brain-damages of minix.
- -- Linus Torvalds to Andrew Tanenbaum
-~
-We use Linux for all our mission-critical applications.
-Having the source code means that we are not held hostage
-by anyone's support department.
- -- Russell Nelson, President of Crynwr Software
-~
-We are Pentium of Borg. Division is futile. You will be approximated.
-~
-The chat program is in public domain. This is not the GNU
-public license. If it breaks then you get to keep both pieces.
- -- Copyright notice for the chat program
-~
-DOS: n., A small annoying boot virus that causes random
- spontaneous system crashes, usually just before saving
- a massive project. Easily cured by UNIX. See also
- MS-DOS, IBM-DOS, DR-DOS.
- -- David Vicker
-~
-MSDOS didn't get as bad as it is overnight--it took over
-ten years of careful development.
- -- dmeggins@aix1.uottawa.ca
-~
-On the Internet, no one knows you're using Windows NT.
- -- Ramiro Estrugo
-~
-People disagree with me. I just ignore them.
- -- Linus Torvalds, regarding the use of C++ for the Linux kernel
-~
-Linux: The OS people choose without $200,000,000 of persuasion.
- -- Mike Coleman
-~
-The memory management on the PowerPC can be used to frighten small children.
- -- Linus Torvalds
-~
-Eh, that's it, I guess. No 300 million dollar unveiling event for this
-kernel, I'm afraid, but you're still supposed to think of this as the
-"happening of the century" (at least until the next kernel comes along).
-Oh, and this is another kernel in that great and venerable "BugFree(tm)"
-series of kernels. So be not afraid of bugs, but go out in the streets
-and deliver this message of joy to the masses.
- -- Linus Torvalds, in the announcement for Linux kernel version 1.3.27
-~
-> Linux is not user-friendly.
-
-It _is_ user-friendly. It is not ignorant-friendly
-and idiot-friendly.
-~
-I tried to get some documentation out of Digital on this, but
-as far as I can tell even _they_ don't have it ;-)
- -- Linus Torvalds
-~
-Excusing bad programming is a shooting offence,
-no matter _what_ the circumstances.
- -- Linus Torvalds
-~
-Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin
-really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me
-they have never seen a angry penguin charging at them in
-excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what
-they say if they had.
- -- Linus Torvalds, announcing Linux v2.0
-~
-Ooohh... "FreeBSD is faster over loopback, when compared to Linux
-over the wire". Film at 11.
- -- Linus Torvalds
-~
-C is quirky, flawed, and an enormous success.
- -- Dennis M. Ritchie
-~
-If Bill Gates is the Devil then Linus Torvalds must be the Messiah.
-~
-Let's put it this way:
-1. A 32-bit counter will expire in little over a year.
-2. A 64-bit counter will expire in little over 2^32 years,
- or roughly the time the sun (not the Sun) is expected to expire.
-3. The odds of your computer hardware surviving the
- aforementioned event without reboot are very slim.
-Any questions?
-~
-The only way tcsh "rocks" is when the rocks are attached
-to its feet in the deepest part of a very deep lake.
- -- Linus Torvalds
-~
-In accord to UNIX philosophy, PERL gives you enough rope
-to hang yourself.
- -- Larry Wall, Randal Schwartz: Programming Perl
- (aka the Camel Book).
-~
-Anyone can build a fast processor.
-The trick is to build a fast system.
- -- Seymour Cray
-~
-Hoping the problem magically goes away by ignoring
-it is the "Microsoft approach to programming" and
-should never be allowed.
- -- Linus Torvalds
-~
-One OS to rule them all,
-One OS to find them.
-One OS to call them all,
-And in salvation bind them.
-In the bright land of Linux,
-Where the hackers play.
- -- J. Scott Thayer, with apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien
-~
-I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil.
-I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the
-devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter.
- -- From N. Petreley's column, "Down to the Wire",
- Sept. 1996 issue of Inforworld.
-~
-After all, how do you give Microsoft the benefit of the
-doubt when you know that if you throw it into a room with
-truth, you'd risk a matter/anti-matter explosion.
- -- From N. Petreley's column, "Down to the Wire",
- Sept. 1996 issue of Inforworld)
-~
-The local betaware broker was sitting in the bar, keeping an eye
-for potential customers. It was easy to spot him, once you knew
-the signs. A slightly paranoid look, but still eager to meet
-new people. Not unlike a drug dealer or prostitute. This guy,
-however, was carrying a laptop.
- I sat in the chair beside him. "Any new stuff for
-Linux configuration?", I said, looking at the opposite wall
-of bottles.
- The broker looked at me, startled, then quickly away. Then
-back at me. "What are you, a cop?" The traditional greeting of
-the underworld. It made me feel right at home.
- "Nope, I just want to install Deb..."
- "Shutup. I don't want to go to jail."
- I turned around, looked around, then turned back, and put my
-knife against his ribs. "Sing or die: where's software for
-managing a group of Debian boxes easily?"
- His face was pale, and he whispered through his teeth.
-"cfgtool. At Lasu's site. http://www.iki.fi/liw/programs/".
- I stood up, and walked quickly to the kitchen, and on
-out. As I was closing the kitchen door behind me, I heard the
-all too familiar sound of MessySoft Police Cars braking in the
-street. It would be a hectic night, but I was still one step
-ahead.
- -- Lars Wirzenius, advertising his cfgtool program
-~
-Microsoft seems to have gotten a lot of mileage out of the
-C2 rating for NT with no network connection. I wonder if a B3
-rating for Linux with no power cord might be of value.
- -- riordan@math.umn.edu
-~
-In the United States there is more space where nobody is
-than where anybody is. This is what makes America what it is.
- -- Gertrude Stein, explaining early 20th century America
-~
-Ah, yes, divorce, from the Latin word meaning
-"to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet".
- -- Robin Williams
-~
-Women complain about premenstrual syndrome, but I think of
-it as the only time of the month that I can be myself.
- -- Roseanne
-~
-Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.
- -- Billy Crystal
-~
-I just broke up with someone and the last thing she said
-to me was, "You'll never find anyone like me again!"
-I'm thinking, "I should hope not! If I don't want you,
-why would I want someone like you?"
- -- Larry Miller
-~
-If you want to say it with flowers, a single rose says: "I'm cheap!"
- -- Delta Burke
-~
-According to a new survey, women say they feel more comfortable
-undressing in front of men than they do undressing in front of other
-women. They say that women are too judgemental, where, of course,
-men are just grateful.
- -- Jay Leno
-~
-I am not the boss of my house. I don't know when I lost it.
-I don't know if I ever had it. But I have seen the boss's job
-and I do not want it.
- -- Bill Cosby
-~
-In the last couple of weeks I have seen the ads for the Wonder Bra.
-Is that really a problem in this country? Men not paying enough
-attention to women's breasts?
- -- Jay Leno
-~
-My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care
-and vehicle maintenance.
- -- Tim Allen
-~
-We have women in the military, but they don't put us in the front lines.
-They don't know if we can fight, if we can kill. I think we can.
-All the general has to do is walk over to the women and say, "You see
-the enemy over there? They say you look fat in those uniforms."
- -- Elayne Boosler
-~
-There's a new medical crisis. Doctors are reporting that many men
-are having allergic reactions to latex condoms. They say they cause
-severe swelling. So what's the problem?
- -- Jay Leno
-~
-There's very little sexual advice in men's magazines,
-because men don't think there's a lot they don't know.
-Women do. Women want to learn. Men think, "I know what
-I'm doing, just show me somebody naked."
- -- Jerry Seinfield
-~
-Men are liars. We'll lie about lying if we have to.
-I'm an algebra liar. I figure two good lies make a positive.
- -- Tim Allen
-~
-Men do not like to admit to even momentary imperfection.
-My husband forgot the code to turn off the alarm. When
-the police came, he wouldn't admit he'd forgotten the
-code... he turned himself in.
- -- Rita Rudner
-~
-If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.
- -- George Carlin
-~
-Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman
-I don't like and give her a house.
- -- Lewis Grizzard
-~
-One of the chief duties of the mathematician in acting
-as an advisor to scientists is to discourage them from
-expecting too much from mathematics.
- -- Norbert Wiener
-~
-I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges.
-~
-It is easy to guess why the rabble dislike cats.
-A cat is beautiful; it suggests ideas of luxury,
-cleanliness, voluptuous pleasures.
- -- Charles Baudelaire
-~
- An artist must regulate his life.
-
- Here is a time-table of my daily acts. I rise at 7.18; am inspired from
-10.23 to 11.47. I lunch at 12.11 and leave the table at 12.14. A healthy
-ride on horse-back round my domain follows from 1.19 pm to 2.53 pm. Another
-bout of inspiration from 3.12 to 4.7 pm. From 5 to 6.47 pm various
-occupations (fencing, reflection, immobility, visits, contemplation,
-dexterity, natation, etc.)
-
- Dinner is served at 7.16 and finished at 7.20 pm. From 8.9 to 9.59 pm
-symphonic readings (out loud). I go to bed regularly at 10.37 pm. Once a
-week (on Tuesdays) I awake with a start at 3.14 am.
-
- My only nourishment consists of food that is white: eggs, sugar, shredded
-bones, the fat of dead animals, veal, salt, coco-nuts, chicken cooked in
-white water, moldy fruit, rice, turnips, sausages in camphor, pastry, cheese
-(white varieties), cotton salad, and certain kinds of fish (without their
-skin). I boil my wine and drink it cold mixed with the juice of the
-Fuschia. I have a good appetite but never talk when eating for fear of
-strangling myself.
-
- I breathe carefully (a little at a time) and dance very rarely. When
-walking I hold my ribs and look steadily behind me.
-
- My expression is very serious; when I laugh it is unintentional, and I
-always apologize very politely.
-
- I sleep with only one eye closed, very profoundly. My bed is round with a
-hole in it for my head to go through. Every hour a servant takes my
-temperature and gives me another.
- -- Erik Satie's description of "A Day in the Life of a Musician"
-~
-Confront a child, a puppy and a kitten with sudden danger;
-the child will turn instinctively for assistance, the puppy
-will grovel in abject submission to the impending visitation,
-the kitten will brace its tiny body for a frantic resistance.
- -- H.H. Munro (Saki)
-~
- It is fair to say that, in general, no problems have been exhausted;
-instead, men have been exhausted by the problems. Fresh talent approaching
-the analysis of a problem without prejudice will always see new
-possibilities -- some aspect not considered by those who believe that a
-subject is fully understood. Our knowledge is so fragmentary that
-unexpected findings appear in even the most fully explored topics...
- In summary, there are no small problems. Problems that appear small
-are large problems that are not understood. Instead of tiny details
-unworthy of the intellectual, we have men whose tiny intellects cannot rise
-to penetrate the infinitesimal. Nature is a harmonious mechanism where all
-parts, including those appearing to play a secondary role, cooperate in a
-functional whole. In contemplating this mechanism, shallow men arbitrarily
-divide its parts into essential and secondary, whereas the insightful
-thinker is content with classifying them as understood and poorly
-understood, ignoring for the moment their size and immediately useful
-properties. No one can predict their importance in the future."
- -- Santiago Ramon y Cajal, "Advice for a Young Investigator," 1897
-~
-He who would do good to another must do it in Minute
-Particulars: General Good is the plea of the scoundrel,
-hypocrite and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot
-exist but in minutely organized particulars.
- -- William Blake
-~
-The Atoms of Democritus
-And Newton's Particles of Light
-Are sands upon the Red Sea shore
-Where Israel's tents do shine so bright.
- -- William Blake
-~
-To see a world in a grain of sand
-And a heaven in a wild flower, and:
-And did those feet in ancient time
-Walk upon England's mountains green? ...
-And was Jerusalem builded here
-Among these dark Satanic mills?
- -- William Blake
-~
-The harlot's cry from street to street,
-Shall weave Old England's winding sheet.
- -- William Blake
-~
-Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
-In the forests of the night,
-What immortal hand or eye
-Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
-..................
-Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
- -- William Blake
-~
-The cat, an aristocrat in type and origin, whom we
-have slandered, merits at least our esteem.
- -- Alexandre Dumas
-~
-society's crumbling, but at least we're getting it televised.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-I think maybe it's my purpose in life.
- -- The "Guiness Book of World Records" TV show's winner for the category
- of longest combined finger nails for ten fingers.
-~
- If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will
-leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for
-the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always
-uncertain. The English have developed their government in this direction, it
-is called 'muddling through,' and although a rather silly, stupid sounding
-thing, it is the most scientific way of progressing. To decide upon the
-answer is not scientific. In order to make progress, one must leave the door
-to the unknown ajar.
- We are only at the beginning of the development of the human race; of
-the development of the human mind, of intelligent life; we have years and
-years in the future. It is our responsibility not to give an answer today as
-to what it is all about, to drive everybody down in that direction and say:
-'This is the solution to it all.' Because we will be chained to the limit
-of our present imagination, we will only be able to do those things that we
-think are the things to do. Whereas, if we leave some room for discussion,
-and proceed in a way analogous to the sciences, then this difficulty will
-not arise. I believe, therefore, that although it is not the case today,
-there may some day come a time, or I should hope, that the power of
-government should be limited. That governments ought not to be empowered to
-decide the validity of scientific theories. That is a ridiculous thing for
-them to try to do. That they are not to decide the various descriptions of
-history or of economic theory or of philosophy.
- Only in this way can the real possibilities of the future human race be
-ultimately developed.
- -- Richard Feynman, from "The Beat Of A Different Drum: The Life And
- Science of Richard Feynman," by Jagdish Mehra. Published by Oxford
- University Press 1996.
-~
-hey, when you come to think of it, isn't it
-only the assholes in life who have zero tolerance
-about things? and now they're trying to promote
-that as a virtue. i just don't buy it.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-The spirit of the age cannot be compassed by the processes of human
-reason. It is an inclination, an emotional tendency that works upon weaker
-minds, through the unconscious, with an overwhelming force of suggestion
-that carries them along with it. To think otherwise than our contemporaries
-think is somehow illegitimate and disturbing; it is even indecent, morbid
-or blasphemous, and therefore socially dangerous for the individual. He is
-stupidly swimming against the social current. Just as formerly the
-assumption was unquestionable that everything that exists takes its rise
-from the creative will of a God who is spirit, so the nineteenth century
-discovered the equally unquestionable truth that everything arises from
-material causes. Today the psyche does not build itself a body, but on the
-contrary, matter, by chemical action, produces the psyche. This reversal of
-outlook would be ludicrous if it were not one of the outstanding features of
-the spirit of the age. It is the popular way of thinking, and therefore it
-is decent, reasonable, scientific and normal. Mind must be thought to be an
-epiphenomenon of matter. The same conclusion is reached even if we say not
-"mind" but "psyche," and in place of matter speak of brain, hormones,
-instincts or drives. To grant the substantiality of the soul or psyche is
-repugnant to the spirit of the age, for to do so would be heresy.
- -- Carl Jung, from his 1933 book, "Modern Man In Search Of A Soul"
-~
-There are many ways to explain an event, and some are better than
-others. Even if neuroscientists someday decode the entire wiring
-diagram of the brain, human behavior makes the most sense when it
-is explained in terms of beliefs and desires, not in terms of volts
-and grams. Physics provides no insights into the machinations of a
-crafty lawyer, and even fails to enlighten us about many simpler
-acts of living things. As Richard Dawkins observed, 'If you throw
-a dead bird into the air it will describe a graceful parabola,
-exactly as physics books say it should, then come to rest on the
-ground and stay there. It behaves as a solid body of a particular
-mass and wind resistance ought to behave. But if you throw a live
-bird in the air it will not describe a parabola and come to rest on
-the ground. It will fly away, and may not touch land this side of
-the county boundary.' We understand birds in terms of their innards.
-To know why they move and grow, we cut them open and put bits under
-a microscope. We need yet another kind of explanation for artifacts
-like a chair and a crowbar: a statement of the function the object is
-intended to perform. It would be silly to understand why chairs have
-a stable horizontal surface by cutting them open and putting bits of
-them under a microscope. The explanation is that someone designed
-the chair to hold up a human behind.
- -- Steven Pinker, from his book, "How The Mind Works,"
- Norton, 1997.
-~
- What wonder, then, that the world goes from bad to worse, and that
-its evils increase more and more, as boredom increases, and boredom is the
-root of all evil. The history of this can be traced from the very beginning
-of the world. The gods were bored, and so they created man. Adam was bored
-because he was alone, and so Eve was created. Thus boredom entered the
-world, and increased in proportion to the increase of population. Adam was
-bored alone; then Adam and Eve were bored together, then Adam and Eve and
-Cain and Abel were bored en famille; then the population of the world
-increased, and the peoples were bored en masse. To divert themselves they
-conceived the idea of constructing a tower high enough to reach the heavens.
-This idea is itself as boring as the tower was high, and constitutes a
-terrible proof of how boredom gained the upper hand.
- -- Soren Kierkegaard, from "Either/Or"
-~
- Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of War, where every man
-is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live
-without other security, than what their own strength, and their own
-invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there is no place
-for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no
-Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be
-imported by Sea; no commodious building; no Instruments of moving, and
-removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the
-Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is
-worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of
-man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
- -- Thomas Hobbes
-~
-A house without a cat, and a well-fed, well-petted, and properly revered
-cat, may be a perfect house perhaps, but how can it prove its title?
- -- Mark Twain
-~
- The group cannot function if it has to maintain a large amount of
-individual preconceptions and personal experiences. The design group must,
-as a whole, have the ability and the opportunity to leave things behind,
-that is, select what to remember.
- If designers are to come up with novel ideas, they may have to forget
-what was 'named and framed' as a problem or solution earlier in the process.
-A group of designers needs to work its way through ideas, visions, and
-operative images without being held up by heavy demands for documentation of
-the process. In a creative design process one thing leads to another,
-analogies and metaphors influence the design thinking in new ways, and a
-certain amount of chaos is always present...
- The characteristics of oral cultures can be applied to group design...
-Group members need to repeat themselves, to be redundant and nonlinear in
-their arguments, to forget, to make references and analogies in a situated
-and intuitive ways.
- -- Tone Bratteteig & Erik Stolterman, "Design in Groups--And All That
- Jazz," in: M. Kyng & L. Mathiassen, "Computers and Design in Context,"
- MIT Press 1997.
-~
- Where science has progressed by searching for commonalities and
-patterns, the arts have celebrated diversity and have resisted attempts to
-encapsulate their activities in rules and formulae. They are the ultimate
-manifestations of the unpredictabilities and asymmetries of Nature. After
-all, what more chaotically unpredictable outcomes are there than some of
-those that issue from the human mind? So intractable has been the problem
-of finding pattern in creative activity, that few would even seek it. If
-one looks not at science and art, but at scientists and artists, one finds a
-reflection of this divide. Two populations that overlap only a little,
-convergent thinkers and divergent thinkers, specialists and generalists--
-these labels reflect the differences of which we speak...
- While science has enlarged its past horizons beyond order and symmetry
-to embrace diversity and unpredictability, the humanities have yet to
-appreciate the full force of commonality and pattern as a unifying factor in
-the interpretation of human creativity. Just as science has begun to
-appreciate the ways in which its view of Nature must reconcile the ways in
-which Nature is both simple and complex, so the arts and humanities must
-appreciate the lessons to be drawn from the regularities of Nature. It is
-not enough to collect examples of diversity: the coexistence of diversity
-with universal behavior is what requires exploration and reconciliation.
- -- John D. Barrow, from "The Artful Universe," Clarendon Press:
- Oxford, 1995.
-~
- I first became interested in Darwin in college when I read about
-Darwin's experience with John Gould. When Darwin returned to England after
-he visited the Galapagos, he distributed his finch specimens to professional
-zoologists to be properly identified. One of the most distinguished experts
-was John Gould. What was the most revealing was not what happened to Darwin,
-but what had not happened to Gould.
- Darwin's notes show Gould taking him through all the birds he had
-named. Gould kept flip-flopping back and forth about the number of
-different species of finches: The information was there, but he didn't quite
-know what to make of it. He assumed that since God made one set of birds
-when he created the world, the specimens from different locations would be
-identical. It didn't occur to him to look for differences by location. Gould
-thought that the birds were so different that they might be distinct species.
- What was remarkable to me about the encounter is the completely
-different impact it had on the two men. Gould thought the way he had been
-taught to think, like an expert taxonomist, and didn't see, in the finches,
-the textbook example of evolution unfolding right before him. Darwin didn't
-even know they were finches. So the guy who had the intelligence, knowledge,
-and the expertise didn't see the differences, and the guy with far less
-knowledge and expertise came up with an idea that shaped the way we think
-about the world.
- Darwin came up with the idea because he was a productive thinker. He
-generated a multiplicity of perspectives and theories. Gould would compare
-new ideas and theories with his existing patterns of experience. He thought
-reproductively. If the ideas didn't fit with what he had been taught, he
-rejected them as worthless. On the other hand, Darwin was willing to
-disregard what past thinkers thought and was willing to entertain different
-perspectives and different theories to see where they would lead.
- Most of us are educated to think like John Gould. We were all born
-to be spontaneous, creative thinkers. Yet a great deal of our education may
-be regarded as the inculcation of mind-sets. We were taught how to handle
-problems and new phenomena with fixed mental attitudes (based on what past
-thinkers thought) that predetermine our responses to problems or situations.
-In short, we were taught 'what' to think instead of 'how' to think. We
-entered school as a question mark and graduated a period.
- -- Michael Michalko, in "Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative
- Genius," Ten Speed Press, 1998.
-~
- The wisdom of the late industrial era was always to start with what
-the customer needed and backtrack to which products and services those needs
-called for. That fit when the customer already understood the need and the
-product, and innovation meant a different shaped bottle for liquid detergent.
-In BLUR, technical change is happening so fast, your product must educate the
-customer (beepers for kids on dates?) and the customer must educate you. You
-can't afford the time delay to put something new in front of the customer.
- Instead, start with what technology will make possible, co-develop it as
-fast as you can with the customer, and be flexible and adaptive enough to
-adjust it according to customer needs as you go. As in software, the first
-release is your take on things. The customer enters the feedback loop and
-starts to influence things with release 2.0 and beyond.
- -- Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer, "Blur: The Speed Of Change In The
- Connected Economy," Addison-Wesley 1998.
-~
- The traditional hidden curriculum of school demands that people of a
-certain age assemble in groups of about thirty under the authority of a
-professional teacher for from five hundred to a thousand times a year. It
-does not matter if the teacher is authoritarian so long as it is the
-teacher's authority that counts; it does not matter if all meetings occur
-in the same place so long as they are somehow understood as attendance. The
-hidden curriculum of school requires--whether by law or by fact--that a
-citizen accumulate a minimum quantum of school years in order to obtain his
-civil rights...
- The translation of the need for learning into the demand for schooling
-and the conversion of the quality of growing up into the price tag of a
-professional treatment changes the meaning of 'knowledge' from a term that
-designates intimacy, intercourse, and life experience into one that
-designates professionally packaged products, marketable entitlements, and
-abstract values.
- -- Ivan Illich, from "After Deschooling, What?"
-~
-I consider children to be very expensive and complicated pets.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
- History tells us that the most successful cures for poverty come from
-within. Foreign aid can help, but like windfall wealth, can also hurt. It
-can discourage effort and plant a crippling sense of incapacity. As the
-African saying has it, 'The hand that receives is always under the one that
-gives.' No, what counts is work, thrift, honesty, patience, and tenacity...
- To be sure, we are living in a dessert age. We want things to be
-sweet; too many of us work to live and live to be happy. Nothing wrong with
-that; it just does not promote high productivity. You want high productivity?
-Then you should live to work and get happiness as a by-product.
- Not easy. They who live to work are a small and fortunate elite. But
-it is an elite open to newcomers, self-selected, the kind of people who
-accentuate the positive. In this world, the optimists have it, not because
-they are always right, but because they are positive. Even when wrong, they
-are positive, and that is the way of achievement, correction, improvement,
-and success. Educated, eyes-open optimism pays; pessimism can only offer
-the empty consolation of being right.
- The one lesson that emerges is the need to keep trying. No miracles.
-No perfection. No millennium. No apocalypse. We must cultivate a
-skeptical faith, avoid dogma, listen and watch well, try to clarify and
-define ends, the better to choose means.
- -- David Landis, from "The Wealth And Poverty Of Nations: Why Some Are
- So Rich And Some So Poor," W. W. Norton & Co., 1998.
-~
- During my travels around the country, visiting inner-city neighborhoods
-and talking to young people I've met there, I have been struck again and
-again by the stark differences between their childhoods and my own. When I
-was growing up in the Bronx, I wasn't rich -- at least not in a material
-sense, but I had the matchless blessing of being reared by two devoted
-parents--backed up by a platoon of doting aunts and uncles--who gave me
-the love, discipline and motivation I needed to succeed.
- Too many of today's kids are not getting the same kind of nurturing
-environment that I -- and most Americans -- once took for granted. As many
-as 15 million youngsters are 'at risk' in today's America. They are in
-danger of being lost for good unless the more fortunate among us step
-forward and lend a hand... It is this glorious cycle of giving, receiving
-and giving back that we want to pass along to the next generation of
-Americans. We want them to believe in America, and we want them to know
-that America believes in them.
- -- Colin Powell's autobiography, "My American Journey" (Ballantine, 1996)
-~
- In the past fifteen years one big American company after another has
-done this [i.e., downsized itself]--among them IBM, Sears, and GM. Each
-first announced that laying off 10,000 or 20,000 or even 50,000 people would
-lead to an immediate turnaround. A year later there had, of course, been no
-turnaround, and the company laid off another 10,000 or 20,000 or 50,000--
-again without results. In many if not most cases, downsizing has turned out
-to be something that surgeons have warned against: 'amputation before
-diagnosis.' The result is always a casualty.
- But there have been a few organizations--some large companies (GE,
-for instance) and a few hospitals (Beth Israel in Boston, for instance)--
-that quietly, and without fanfare, did turn themselves around, by rethinking
-themselves. They did not start out by downsizing. If fact, they knew that
-to start by reducing expenditures is not the way to get control of costs.
-The starting point is to identify the activities that are productive, that
-should be strengthened, promoted, and expanded. Every agency, every policy,
-every program, every activity should be confronted with these questions:
-'What is your mission?' 'Is it still the right mission?' 'Is it still
-worth doing?' 'If we were not already doing this, would we go into it now?'
-This questioning has been done often enough in all kinds of organizations--
-businesses, hospitals, churches, an even local governments--that we know
-it works.
- The overall answer is almost never 'This is fine as it stands; let's
-keep on.' But in some--indeed, a good many--areas, the answer to the
-last question is 'Yes, we should go into this again, but with some changes.
-We have learned a few things.'
- -- Peter F. Drucker, from "Managing in a Time of Great Change,"
- Truman-Talley Books/Dutton, 1995.
-~
- Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
-General recognition of this fact is shown in the proverbial phrase 'It is
-the busiest man who has time to spare.' Thus, an elderly lady of leisure
-can spend the entire day in writing and dispatching a postcard to her niece
-at Bognor Reis. An hour will be spent in finding the postcard, half an
-hour in a search for spectacles, half an hour in a search for the address,
-an hour and a quarter in composition, and twenty minutes in deciding
-whether or not to take an umbrella when going to the mailbox in the next
-street. The total effort that would occupy a busy man [or woman] for three
-minutes all told may in this fashion leave another person [man or woman]
-prostate after a day of doubt, anxiety, and toil.
- Granted that work (and especially paperwork) is thus elastic in its
-demands on time, it is manifest that there need be little or no
-relationship between the work to be done and the size of the staff to which
-it may be assigned. A lack of real activity does not, of necessity, result
-in leisure. A lack of occupation is not necessarily revealed by a manifest
-idleness. The thing to be done swells in importance and complexity in a
-direct ration with the time to be spent. This fact is widely recognized,
-but less attention has been paid to its wider implications, more especially
-in the field of publication administration. Politicians and taxpayers have
-assume (with occasional phases of doubt) that a rising total in the number
-of civil servants must reflect a growing volume of work to be done.
-Cynics, in questioning this belief, have imagined that the multiplication
-of officials must have left some of them idle or all of them able to work
-for shorter hours. But this is a matter in which faith and doubt seem
-equally misplaced. The fact is that the number of officials and the
-quantity of the work are not related to each other at all. The rise in the
-toil of those employed is governed by Parkinson's Law and would be much the
-same whether the volume of the work were to increase, diminish, or even
-disappear. The importance of Parkinson's Law lies in the fact that it is a
-law of growth based upon an analysis of the factors by which that growth is
-controlled.
- The validity of this recently discovered law must rest mainly on
-statistical proofs, which will follow. Of more interest to the general
-reader is the explanation of the factors underlying the general tendency to
-which this law gives definition. Omitting technicalities (which are
-numerous) we may distinguish at the outset two motive forces. They can be
-represented for the present purpose by two almost axiomatic statements,
-thus: (1) 'An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals' and (2)
-'Officials make work for each other.'
- -- C. Northcote Parkinson, from "Parkinson's Law & Other Studies
- in Administration," (1957; Buccaneer Books ed., 1996).
-~
-The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
- -- Leonardo Da Vinci
-~
- Though it may be discomforting to admit, throughout history children
-have always played violent games. Early in this century, young boys played
-'war' with lines of tin soldiers, knocking them down one by one, or in one
-fell swoop, in a simulated battle. The next generation played cowboys and
-Indians or cops and robbers, where the youngsters themselves fell down and
-played dead. When parents stopped buying soldier figures and fake guns,
-children created their own weapons and continued to play out good guy/bad
-guy plots. Children are attracted to violence and critical studies of
-older media forms, including the fairy tale, suggest it is not always in
-children's best interests to remove from their cultural experience all
-material that parents deem is too provocative or violent.
- This is not a simple issue.
- Clearly much of the concern about violence in video games and other
-media is misplaced--the main sources of violent behavior lies elsewhere.
-These include parental violence toward children and violence between
-nations which portray the use of force in the real world by important
-institutions--parents and government--as an acceptable way to solve
-problems or vent anger.
- Nevertheless, the impact of video games, television, film or other
-media violence (such as the gory details of murders in the print media)
-probably has a negative impact on violent behavior in society, as does the
-proliferation of weapons.
- The impact of media violence on an individual child's behavior is
-probably very specific to the child and his or her social context. There
-is no evidence, for example, that the use of "Beat-'em-up" video games
-leads to violent behavior of well-adjusted youth coming from loving
-families. The impact is also probably specific to age. Just as it makes
-sense to restrict a 10-year-old's access to movies with extreme violent
-content, so it makes sense to restrict age-inappropriate video games. Age
-ratings on video game packages do appear to be helpful and appropriate.
- Most violent games today are cartoon-like. This will change as games
-become more realistic and, 3D, and eventually realistic of virtual reality,
-ensuring that this issue will not disappear.
- It is inappropriate for children of any age to spend significant
-parts of life using violent video games, or any video games for that
-matter. Conversely, for most children it makes little sense to deny access
-to age-appropriate games simply for fear that these will lead to antisocial
-behavior. Successful parenting is a question of balance.
- -- Don Tapscott, "Growing Up Digital"
-~
- Literacy-based education, as all other literacy experiences, assumes
-that people are the same. It presumes that each human being can and must
-be literate. Just as the goal of industry was to turn out standardized
-products, education assumes the same task through the mold of literacy.
-Diplomas and certificates testify how like the mold the product is. To
-those who have problems with writing or reading, the labels legasthenic and
-dyslexic are applied. Dyscalculus is the name given to the inability to
-cope with numbers. The question of why we should expect uniform cognitive
-structures covering the literate use of language or numbers, but not the
-use of sounds, colors, shapes, and volume, is never raised. Tremendous
-effort is made to help individuals who simply cannot execute the
-sequentiality of writing or the meaning of successive numbers. Nothing
-similar is done to address cognitive characteristics of persons inclined to
-means different from literacy...
- Education needs to reconsider its expectation of a universal common
-denominator, based on the industrial model of standardization. Rather than
-taming and sanitizing the minds of students, education has not only to
-acknowledge differences in aptitudes and interests but also to stimulate
-them. Every known form of energy is the expression of difference and not
-the result of leveling.
- -- Mihai Nadin, "The Civilization of Illiteracy," (1997)
-~
- Anthropologists have identified a number of characteristics that seem
-common to most non-technological societies past and present. These
-societies tend to value practical rather than abstract knowledge, their
-'primitive' rituals are part of the regular day-to-day realities of life,
-the groups tend not to support specialists other than the shaman, every
-member of the group can to some extent do every task, and all share the
-responsibility for all others. Principally, the 'primitive' takes a holist
-view of life that examines all social decisions for their effect on the
-community and the environment.
- These social values may fit well in the webbed communities of the
-mid-twenty-first century because they are more appropriate to small,
-relatively simple social structures that up to now had seemed to be
-disappearing... For such communities, the most valuable skills would be
-generalist rather than specialist. They would prize the ability to
-connect, to think imaginatively, to understand how data are related, to see
-patterns in machine-generated innovation, and to assess its social effect
-before releasing it on society...
- Today, billions of human talents could be on the verge of
-self-expression if we are willing to take new views and see where they
-might lead us.
- -- James Burke & Robert Ornstein, "The Axemaker's Gift: A Double-Edged
- History of Human Culture," (Grosset/Putnam 1995).
-~
-(History is) indeed little more than the register of
-the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.
- -- Edward Gibbon
-~
-All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.
- -- Edward Gibbon
-~
-The beauty of the second amendment is that it will
-not be needed until they try to take it.
- -- Thomas Jefferson
-~
-No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
- -- Thomas Jefferson
-~
-Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are
-the people's liberty's teeth.
- -- George Washington
-~
-Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks
-and Romans, and must be that of every free state.
- -- Thomas Jefferson
-~
-Government is not reason, it is not eloquence. It is force.
-Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearsome master.
- -- George Washington
-~
-I have found a certain type calls himself a liberal... Now I always
-thought I was a liberal. I came up terribly surprised one time when I
-found out that I was a right-wing, conservative extremist...
- -- John Wayne
-~
-Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come
-from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history
-of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of
-governmental power, not the increase of it.
- -- Woodrow Wilson
-~
-I believe there are more instances of abridgment of freedom of the
-people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by
-violent and sudden usurpations...
- -- James Madison
-~
-You vote for me and I'll give you family values... I promise you the
-most ethical administration in the history of our country.
- -- William Jefferson Clinton
-~
-Many give lip service, but few delegate authority in important
-matters. And that means all they delegate is dog-work. A real
-leader does as much dog-work for his people as he can: he can do
-it, or see a way to do without it, ten times as fast. And he
-delegates as many important matters as he can because that creates
-a climate in which people grow.
- -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
-~
-True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the
-enrichment of the leaders. In combat, officers eat last. Most
-people in big companies today are administered, not led. They are
-treated as personnel, not people.
- -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
-~
-How do you spot a leader? They come in all ages, shapes, sizes,
-and conditions. Some are poor administrators, some are not overly
-bright. One clue: since most people per se are mediocre, the true
-leader can be recognized because, somehow or other, his people
-consistently turn in superior performances.
- -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
-~
-Before you commit yourself to a new effort, it's worth asking
-yourself a couple of questions: "Are we really trying to do
-something worthwhile here? Or are we just building another
-monument to some diseased ego?"
- -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
-~
-Beware the boss who walks on water and never makes a mistake.
-Save yourself a lot of grief and seek employment elsewhere.
- -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
-~
- Every genius is a revolutionary who produces a good deal of commotion
-in the world. After he has abolished the old rules he writes his own, the
-new ones, which no one even half understands; and after he has stupefied
-and bewildered everybody, he leaves the world neither understood nor
-regretted. Not always does the next generation comprehend and appreciate
-him properly. Sometimes it may even take a whole century.
- -- Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)
-~
-To assume a cat's asleep
-Is a great mistake.
-He can close his eyes and keep
-Both his ears awake.
- -- Aileen Fisher
-~
- A most nerve-wracking confirmation of this came some time ago during
-an interview with the producer and the writer of the TV mini-series 'Peter
-the Great.' Defending the historical inaccuracies in the drama--which
-included a fabricated meeting between Peter and Sir Isaac Newton--the
-producer said that no one would watch a dry, historically faithful
-biography. The writer added that it is better for audiences to learn
-something that is untrue, if it is entertaining, than not to learn anything
-at all. And just to put some icing on the cake, the actor who played Peter,
-Maximilian Schell, remarked that he does not believe in historical truth and
-therefore sees no reason to pursue it.
- I do not mean to say that the trivialization of American public
-discourse is all accomplished on television. Rather, television is the
-paradigm for all our attempts at public communication. It conditions our
-minds to apprehend the world through fragmented pictures and forces other
-media to orient themselves in that direction...
- As a medium for conducting public business, language has receded in
-importance; it has been moved to the periphery of culture and has been
-replaced at the center by the entertaining visual image... When a culture
-becomes overloaded with pictures; when logic and rhetoric lose their
-binding authority; when historical truth becomes irrelevant; when the
-spoken or written word is distrusted or makes demands on our attention that
-we are incapable of giving; when our politics, history, education,
-religion, public information, and commerce are expressed largely in visual
-imagery rather than words, then a culture is in serious jeopardy.
- -- Neil Postman, from "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public
- Discourse in the Age of Show Business," (Viking Press 1986).
-~
- It is a perplexing and unpleasant truth that when men already have
-'something worth fighting for,' they do not feel like fighting. People who
-live full, worthwhile lives are not usually ready to die for their own
-interests nor for their country nor for a holy cause. Craving, not having,
-is the mother of a reckless giving of oneself.
- 'Things which are not' are indeed mightier than 'things that are.' In
-all ages men have fought most desperately for beautiful cities yet to be
-built and gardens yet to be planted...
- It is strange, indeed, that those who hug the present and hang on to
-it with all their might should be the least capable of defending it. And
-that, on the other hand, those who spurn the present and dust their hands of
-it should have all its gifts and treasures showered on them unasked.
- Dreams, vision and wild hopes are mighty weapons and realistic tools.
-The practical-mindedness of a true leader consists in recognizing the
-practical value of these tools. Yet this recognition usually stems from a
-contempt of the present which can be traced to a natural ineptitude in
-practical affairs. The successful businessman is often a failure as a
-communal leader because his mind is attuned to the 'things that are' and his
-heart set on that which can be accomplished in 'our time.' Failure in the
-management of practical affairs seems to be a qualification for success in
-the management of public affairs. And it is perhaps fortunate that some
-proud natures when suffering defeat in the practical world do not feel
-crushed but are suddenly fired with the apparently absurd conviction that
-they are eminently competent to direct the fortunes of the community and the
-nation.
- -- Eric Hoffer, "The True Believer", 1951
-~
-Bought me a cat, the cat pleased me,
-I fed my cat under yonder tree,
-Cat goes fiddle-i-fee, fiddle-i-fee.
- -- Traditional Folk Song
-~
- Love is one aspect of what I have called the productive orientation:
-the active and creative relatedness of man to his fellow man, to himself and
-to nature. In the realm of thought, this productive orientation is
-expressed in the proper grasp of the world by reason. In the realm of
-action, the productive orientation is expressed in productive work, the
-prototype of which is art and craftsmanship. In the realm of feeling, the
-productive orientation is expressed in love, which is the experience of
-union with another person, with all men, and with nature, under the
-condition of retaining one's sense of integrity and independence. In the
-experience of love the paradox happens that two people become one, and
-remain two at the same time. Love in this sense is never restricted to one
-person. If I can love only one person, and nobody else, if my love for one
-person makes me more alienated and distant from my fellow man, I may be
-attached to this person in any number of ways, yet I do not love. If I can
-say, 'I love you,' I say, 'I love you in you also myself.' Self-love, in
-this sense, is the opposite of selfishness. The latter is actually a greedy
-concern with oneself which springs from and compensates for the lack of
-genuine love for oneself. Love, paradoxically, makes me more independent
-because it makes me stronger and happier--yet it makes me one with the
-loved person to the extent that individuality seems to be extinguished for
-the moment. In loving I experience 'I am you,' you-the loved person,
-you-the stranger, you-everything alive. In the experience of love lies the
-only answer to being human, lies sanity.
- -- Erich Fromm, from "The Sane Society", 1955
-~
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-# IMPLIED, REGARDING THE WORK, INCLUDING WARRANTIES WITH
-# RESPECT TO ITS MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY
-# PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
-#
-# Author contact: Peter Alexander Merel
-# Internet: pete@cssc-syd.tansu.oz.au
-# UUCP: {uunet,mcvax}!munnari!cssc-syd!pete
-# Snail: 1/18-20 Orion Road, Lane Cove NSW 2066 Australia
-# Phone: +61 2 911 3130
-#
-# Copyright: Copyright (C) 1992 Peter Alexander Merel
-# Permission to copy all or part of this work is granted,
-# provided that the copies are not made or distributed
-# for resale (except nominal copying fee may be charged),
-# and provided that the NO WARRANTY, author-contact, and
-# copyright notice are retained verbatim & are displayed
-# conspicuously. If anyone needs other permissions that
-# aren't covered by the above, please contact the author.
-#
-# Version: 1.0
-#
-# Tao Te Ching.
-# Peter Merel's Interpolation based upon the translations of:
-# Lin Yutang, Ch'u Ta-Kao, Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English,
-# Richard Wilhelm, and Aleister Crowley.
-~
- Seeing is of course indispensable to learning, particularly in
-science, which is of the eye. Visual aids therefore have a place in the
-laboratory. And most students, not being future scientists, will learn
-more from good films of important experiments than from their own fumbling
-attempts. But sometimes they must fumble too, and have a teacher who
-fumbles on occasion, and thinks all the time he is in class. One learns
-not by a photographic copying of things shown, but by an internal drama
-imitative of the action witnessed. When the instructor gropes for a word,
-corrects himself, interjects a comment or an analogy not directly called
-for, he gives a spectacle of man thinking which no slick film or televised
-show will provide.
- -- Jacques Barzun, from "Science: The Glorious Entertainment", 1964
-~
- Far from behaving (or should one say behavioring?) with the regular
-intelligibility of a clock, the bent of the living and of man in particular
-is to MISbehave, in all senses of the word--from developing allergies,
-which make poison out of delicacies, to committing crimes which, as in
-saints and statesman, can later seem the highest wisdom. It is even proved
-by research that man must have his ration of dreaming, that is, of
-irregular and inaccurate thinking. These facts of experience require that
-any science of the regularities of behavior be always qualified and
-admonished by another discipline, a learned lore of misbehavior.
- -- Jacques Barzun, from "Science: The Glorious Entertainment", 1964
-~
-Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather
-a new wearer of clothes.
- -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
-What men call social virtue, good fellowship, is commonly but the virtue
-of pigs in a litter, which lie close together to keep each other warm.
- -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
-The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
-What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.
- -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
-Some circumstantial evidence is very strong,
-as when you find a trout in the milk.
- -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
- I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front
-only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had
-to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did
-not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to
-practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep
-and suck out all of the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike
-as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave
-close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and,
-if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of
-it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it
-by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.
- -- Henry David Thoreau, from "Walden; or Life in the Woods"
-~
- The Mind has a different relish, as well as the Palate; and you will
-as fruitlessly endeavour to delight all Men with Riches or Glory, (which yet
-some Men place their Happiness in,) as you would to satisfie all Men's
-Hunger with Cheese or Lobsters; which though very agreeable and delicious
-fare to some, are to others extremely nauseous and offensive: And many
-People would with Reason prefer the griping of an hungry Belly, to those
-Dishes, which are a Feast to others. Hence it was, I think, that the
-Philosophers of old did in vain enquire, whether Summum bonum (the chief
-good) consisted in Riches, or bodily Delights, or Virtue, or Contemplation:
-And they might have as reasonably disputed, whether the best Relish were to
-be found in Apples, Plumbs, or Nuts; and have divided themselves into Sects
-upon it. For as pleasant Tastes depend not on the things themselves, but
-their agreeableness to this or that particulate Palate, wherein there is
-great variety: So the greatest Happiness consists, in the having those
-things which produce the greatest Pleasure, and the absence of those which
-cause any disturbance, any pain, which to different Men are very different
-things. If therefore Men in this Life only have hope; if in this Life they
-can only enjoy, 'tis not strange, nor unreasonable, they should seek their
-Happiness by avoiding all things that disease them here, and by preferring
-all that delight them; wherein it will be no wonder to find variety and
-difference. For if there be no Prospect beyond the Grave, the inference is
-certainly right, Let us eat and drink, let us enjoy what we delight in, for
-to morrow we shall die. This, I think, may serve to shew us the Reason,
-why, though all Men's desires tend to Happiness, yet they are not moved by
-the same Object. Men may chuse different things, and yet all chuse right,
-supposing them only like a Company of poor Insects, whereof some are Bees,
-delighted with Flowers, and their sweetness; others, Bettles, delighted with
-other kinds of Viands; which having enjoyed for a Season, they should cease
-to be, and exist no more for ever.
- -- John Locke, from "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding."
-~
-Businesses will not buy Linux because there is no one to sue.
- -- LinuxToday
-~
- Even if something new does not require a disruption of the old, there
-is no space. People, time and resources are fully stretched--in many
-cases there is actually a cutting-back in resources.
- The paradox is that as we advance into the future the need for change
-gets greater and greater (to cope with changes in population, pollution,
-etc., and to make full use of our new technologies) but the possibility of
-change gets less and less because everything is already committed.
- A wise general does not commit all his troops but keeps a strategic
-reserve which can be used as the need and opportunity arise. Society does
-not do this, because we believe that we have all the bases covered and that
-progress will come about through evolution, the clash of opinions and the
-occasional lone innovator.
- In addition to allocating funds to research, most successful
-corporations also allocate funds to new business divisions or venture
-groups. Like the strategic reserves of a general, these groups are outside
-the day-to-day combat and are looking for new opportunities.
- Democracy could not easily tolerate this principle of strategic
-reserve, for the unallocated resources would be the target of every
-department or issue that felt it was under-funded. Emergency funds do
-exist, but not space and resources for change.
- The same thing applies on the thinking level. A person who knows all
-the answers, has an opinion on everything, has a certainty backed up by
-rational argument, has very little possibility of further progress. Such a
-person is unlikely to walk away from a discussion with anything more than a
-reaffirmation of how right he or she has been all along.
- -- Edward deBono, from "I Am Right, You Are Wrong" (Penguin Books, 1990)
-~
- The pleasantest time of day here is at sunset. Then accompanied by
-some fifteen girls and little children I walk through the village to the end
-of Siufaga, where we stand on an iron bound point and watch the waves splash
-us in the face, while the sun goes down, over the sea and at the same time
-behind the cocoanut covered hills. Most of the adult population is going
-into the sea to bathe, clad in lavalavas with buckets for water borne along
-on shoulder poles. All the heads of families are seated in the fatele
-(village guesthouse) making kava. At one point a group of women are filling
-a small canoe with a solution of native starch (arrowroot). And perhaps,
-just as we reach the store, the curfew-angelus will stop us, a wooden bell
-will clang mellowly through the village. The children must all scurry to
-cover, if we're near the store, it's the store steps, and sit tight until
-the bell sounds again. Prayer is over. Sometimes we are all back safely in
-room when the bell sounds, and then the Lord's Prayer must be said in
-English, while flowers are all taken out of their hair and the siva song
-stopped in the middle. But once the bell sounds again, solemnity, never of
-a very reliable depth, is sloughed off, the flowers replaced in the girls'
-hair, the siva song replaces the hymn, and they begin to dance, by no means
-in a puritan fashion. Their supper comes about eight and sometimes I have a
-breathing spell, but usually the supper hours don't jibe well enough for
-that. They dance for me a great deal, they love it and it is an excellent
-index to temperament, as the dance is so individualistic, and the audience
-think it is its business to keep up incessant comment.
- -- Margaret Mead, from "Coming of Age in Samoa"
-~
-There aren't any embarassing questions--only embarassing answers.
- -- Carl Rowan
-~
- Recently one of us was leading a group of thirty Western
-businesspeople through Japan to learn about Japanese management techniques.
-We took the bullet train from Hiroshima to Osaka, and since the train
-stopped for only twenty seconds in Hiroshima, it would have been impossible
-to get all the executives and their luggage on the train at the same time.
-So we hired a trucking company and crew to transfer the luggage separately.
-The crew removed all luggage from each individual's room in Hiroshima and
-placed it in his pre-checked room in another chain's hotel in Osaka. Can
-you imagine doing that in the United States and ever seeing your luggage
-again?
- One of the executives, thinking his shoes were too worn, had discarded
-them in the wastepaper basket in his Hiroshima hotel room. Imagine his shock
-when he entered his room in Osaka and saw his old shoes carefully laid in
-the wastepaper basket there. Was the Japanese trucking company politely
-saying that these shoes still had life and should yet be thrown away, or was
-the company accommodating a crazy foreigner who liked to keep his shoes in
-the wastepaper basket? Either way, the company was organized for highly
-intelligent service at every level.
- -- Stan David and Jim Botkins, from "The Monster Under the Bed: How
- Business is Mastering the Opportunity of Knowledge for Profit",
- (Simon & Schuster, 1994).
-~
- The term 'information' appears to cover too much that seems
-distinctive: knowledge, data, information in a narrow sense that some treat
-as synonymous with data, news, intelligence, and numerous other colloquial
-and specialized denotations and connotations. However, the distinctions
-implied by oppositions such as observations/theories, data/knowledge, raw
-intelligence/finished intelligence, accounting details/management are
-secondary, not fundamental, in characterizing information resources. They
-reflect only relative judgments. For instance, one person's knowledge is
-often another's raw data. What a vice president for marketing, production,
-or finance thinks he knows is just data to the chief executive officer's
-staff. What a scientist thinks he knows about the merits of a flu vaccine
-or the safety of a nuclear reactor is just data for presidential policy and
-politics. Data or knowledge are just types of information content--of
-greater or lesser value, of greater or lesser cost.
- -- Anthony Oettinger, from "The Information Resources Policy Handbook"
-~
- Given the fact that there seems to be a fundamental willingness to
-accept the machine as almost human, the issue of what type of relationship
-is possible seems to center around what friendship-cues might be
-artificially generated. Appearance and voice quality could certainly be
-tailored so that the machine would look and sound attractive and friendly.
-The software could be written to suggest an interesting and unique
-personality, and the conversational style might appear as humorous and
-good-natured. The machine would not only impress us with its intelligence
-and knowledge of the world, but would also convey the impression that it
-was warm and understanding. Its ability to integrate our interests and
-attitudes into its own framework and its willingness to be influenced by
-our point of view would also enhance our respect for the machine. The fact
-that it appeared to take our opinions seriously might be regarded as a
-compliment, and it is clear that if we are prepared to accept compliments
-from a computer then we are implicitly accepting it as a social agent.
- Friendships are not made in a day, and the computer would be more
-acceptable as a friend if it simulated the gradual changes that occur when
-one person is getting to know another. At an appropriate time it might
-also express the endearment that stimulates attachment and intimacy. The
-whole process would be accomplished with subtlety to avoid giving an
-impression of overfamiliarity or ingratiation, which would be likely to
-produce irritation or animosity. After experiencing a wealth of powerful,
-well-timed indicators, the user would be likely to accept the computer as
-far more than a machine and might well come to regard it as a friend.
- -- Neil Frude, from "The Intimate Machine: Close Encounters with
- Computers and Robots," 1983.
-~
- By this time the stars were moving out of the Hollywood Hotel and
-beginning to live in their own private houses with servants, most of whom
-were their peers in everything but sex appeal--which pinpoints the reason for
-the film capital's mass misbehavior. To place in the limelight a great
-number of people who ordinarily would be chambermaids and chauffeurs, give
-them unlimited power and instant wealth, is bound to produce a lively and
-diverting result.
- -- Anita Loos
-~
- The four years passed at college were, for his purposes, wasted.
-Harvard College was a good school, but at bottom what the boy
-disliked most was any school at all. He did not want to be one in a
-hundred--one percent of an education. He regarded himself as the
-only person for whom his education had value, and he wanted the whole
-of it. He got barely half of an average.
- Long afterwards, when the devious path of life led him back to
-teach in his turn what no student naturally cared or needed to know
-[medieval history], he diverted some dreary hours of faculty meetings
-by looking up his record in the class-lists, and found himself graded
-precisely in the middle. In the one branch he most needed --
-mathematics--barring the few first scholars, failure was so nearly
-universal that no attempt at grading could have had value, and
-whether he stood fortieth or ninetieth must have been an accident or
-the personal favor of the professor. Here his education failed
-lamentably. At best he could never have been a mathematician; at
-worst he would never have cared to be one; but he needed to read
-mathematics, like any other universal language, and he never reached
-the alphabet.
- -- Henry Adams, from "The Education of Henry Adams"
-~
- The pedagogical method of observation has for its base the liberty of
-the child; and liberty is activity.
- Discipline must come through liberty. Here is a great principle which
-is difficult for followers of common-school methods to understand. How
-shall one obtain discipline in a class of free children? Certainly in our
-system, we have a concept of discipline very different from that commonly
-accepted. If discipline is founded upon liberty, consider an individual
-disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute
-and as immovable as a paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not
-disciplined.
- We call an individual disciplined when he is master of himself, and
-can, therefore, regulate his own conduct when it shall be necessary to
-follow some rule of life. Such a concept of active discipline is not easy
-either to comprehend or to apply. But certainly it contains a great
-educational principle, very different from the old-time absolute and
-undiscussed coercion to immobility.
- -- Maria Montessori, inventor of the "Montessori Method"
-~
- A company could conceivably have within it a monastery-style unit
-that writes software... a research team organized like an improvisational
-jazz combo... a compartmentalized spy-network, with need-to-know rules,
-operating within the law, to scout for merger or acquisition
-possibilities... and a sales force organized as a highly motivated 'tribe'
-complete with its own war songs and emotional membership rituals.
- ...(T)he units of a flex-firm may draw information, people, and money
-from one another and from outside organizations as needed. They may be next
-door to one another or continents apart. Their functions may partly
-overlap, like information in a hyper-media data base; for other purposes,
-the functions may be logically, geographically, or financially divided.
-Some may use many central services provided by headquarters; others may
-choose to use only a few.
- In turn this requires freer, faster flows of information. This will
-mean crisscrossing, up, down, and sideways conduits--neural pathways that
-bust through the boxes in the table of organization so that people can trade
-the ideas, data, formulae, hints, insights, facts, strategies, whispers,
-gesture, and smiles that turn out to be essential to efficiency.
- -- Alvin Toffler, from "Powershift"
-~
-Here in the newspaper business, we have definitely caught Internet Fever.
-In the old days, we used to -- get this! -- actually CHARGE MONEY for our
-newspapers. Ha! What an old-fashioned, low-tech, non-digital concept!
-Nowadays all of the modern newspapers spend millions of dollars operating
-Web sites where we give away the entire newspaper for free. Sometimes we
-run advertisements in the regular newspaper urging our paying customers to
-go to our Web sites instead. 'Stop giving us money!' is the shrewd marketing
-thrust of these ads. Why do we do this? Because all the other newspapers
-are doing it! This is called 'market penetration.'
- -- Dave Barry
-~
- A highly competitive person has a hard row to hoe. There is no
-satisfaction in winning a competition unless it is a stiff and fair one.
-Stiff is easy to define; it is stiff if one's own realistic assessment of
-one's abilities make the odds long--the longer the odds, the greater
-satisfaction on winning. Fair is harder to define, for if one wins a
-contest against long odds, there must be a reason. The odds weren't really
-long; they only appeared to be so. Isn't it unfair to appear to be an
-underdog when one really isn't? Let's start with some obvious distinctions:
-A professional gambler needs to win in order to earn his living. Fairness
-is not his concern. He tries to be unfair in various ways: Keeping cards up
-his sleeve is one way that the rest of us universally deplore; the morality
-of concealing his skill to attract dupes is hardly less questionable.
-Fairness means at least an honest deal (no hidden cards) and no intentional
-concealment of one's abilities.
- -- Herbert A. Simon, from "Models of My Life" (Basic Books, 1991)
-~
- The United States is trying to promote democracy around the
-world and holds itself up as a model. However, it is obvious that
-our democracy has been reduced to charisma and money.
- Surely intelligent and conscientious citizens can make wise and
-informed decisions? I for one cannot... I do not know anyone who
-spends more hours than I do in search of information and wisdom, yet
-it avails me little. Many people with power spend much of their time
-flying around the world, being wined and dined, but that means they
-have little time to do their homework.
- Is the idea of democracy based on an informed electorate just a dream?
-
- -- Ronald Hilton, founder of WAIS (World Association of
- International Studies).
-~
- When there is communication without need for communication,
-merely so that someone may earn the social and intellectual prestige
-of becoming a priest of communication, the quality and communicative
-value of the message drop like a plummet... In the arts, the desire
-to find new things to say and new ways of saying them is the source
-of all life and interest. Yet every day we meet with examples of
-painting where, for instance, the artist has bound himself from the
-new canons of the abstract, and has displayed no intention to use these
-canons to display an interesting and novel form of beauty, to pursue
-the uphill fight against the prevailing tendency toward the commonplace
-and the banal...
- I speak here with feeling which is more intense as far as concerns
-the scientific artist than the conventional artist, because it is in
-science that I have first chosen to say something. What sometimes
-enrages me and always disappoints and grieves me is the preference of
-great schools of learning for the derivative as opposed to the original,
-for the conventional and thin which can be duplicated in many copies
-rather than the new and powerful, and for arid correctness and
-limitation of scope and method rather than for universal newness and
-beauty, wherever it may be seen.
- -- Norbert Wiener, from "The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics
- and Society" (1950)
-~
- Please do not suppose that the only function of puzzles is to entertain.
-Puzzles are a way of teaching mathematics. Indeed, they are the best way to
-teach it. Fred Hoyle, the famous British astronomer who taught mathematics
-at Cambridge University for twenty years states in strong terms his belief
-that mathematics should never be 'taught' at all. Students must learn for
-themselves. How? By solving puzzles. The functions of the teacher should
-be, first, to select in a wise way the material on which the puzzles are
-based, second, to make sure the puzzles are well suited in difficulty to the
-sophistication of the student, third, to answer questions, and finally, if
-the teacher is capable of it, to give an occasional word of inspiration.
- -- Martin Gardner
-~
-A cat's idea of what is comfortable and what is not
-is incomprehensible to a human.
- -- Colette
-~
-In the sciences, hypothesis always precedes law, which is to say, there is
-always a lot of tall guessing before a new fact is established. The
-guessers are often quite as important as the fact-finders; in truth, it
-would not be difficult to argue that they are more important. New facts are
-seldom plucked from the clear sky; they have to be approached and smelled
-out by a process of trial and error, in which bold and shrewd guessing is an
-integral part. The Greeks were adept at such guessing, and the scientists
-of the world have been following the leads they opened for more than two
-thousand years.
- -- H. L. Mencken, "A Mencken Chrestomathy," 1982
-~
-I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons.
- -- Will Rogers
-~
-If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face,
-you should go home and examine your conscience.
- -- Woodrow Wilson
-~
-I am called a dog because I fawn on those who give me anything,
-I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals.
- -- Diogenes
-~
-Those sighs of a dog! They go to the heart so much more
-deeply than the sighs of our own kind because they are utterly
-unintended, regardless of effect, emerging from one who, heaving
-them, knows not that they have escaped him!
- -- John Galsworthy
-~
-(Of dogs) I marvel that such small ribs as these can
-cage such vast desire to please.
- -- Ogden Nash
-~
-'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark
-Bay deep-mouth'd welcome as we draw near home;
-'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark
-Our coming, and look brighter when we come.
- -- Lord Byron
-~
-Near this spot are deposited the remains of one who possessed
-Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without
-Ferocity, and all the Virtues of Man without his Vices. This praise,
-which would be unmeaning Flattery, if inscribed over human ashes, is
-but a just Tribute to the Memory of BOATSWAIN, a Dog.
- -- Inscription on the monument raised for Lord Byron's dog, Boatswain
-~
-Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.
- -- Alexander Pope
-~
-A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.
- -- Ogden Nash
-~
-Living with a dog is easy--like living with an idealist.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool
-of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you,
-but he will make a fool of himself too.
- -- Samuel Butler (d. 1902), Note-Book
-~
-The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to his level
-of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged the dog down to his.
- -- James Thurber
-~
-I agree with Agassiz that dogs possess something very like a conscience.
- -- Charles Darwin
-~
-For the strength of the pack is the wolf,
-and the strength of the wolf is the pack.
- -- Rudyard Kipling
-~
-All of the animals except humans know that the
-principal business of life is to enjoy it.
- -- Samuel Butler
-~
-Cowardly dogs bark loudest. -- John Webster
-~
-Dogs like to obey. It gives them security. -- James Herriot
-~
-A dog's best friend is his illiteracy. -- Ogden Nash
-~
-Take a dog for a companion and a stick in your hand. -- English Proverb
-~
-A lean dog shames its master. -- Japanese Proverb
-~
-The dog was created specially for children.
-He is a god of frolic.
- -- Henry Ward Beecher, Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
-~
-Dogs have not the power of comparing. A dog will take a small piece
-of meat as readily as a large, when both are before him.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
-All knowledge, the totality of all questions and all answers,
-is contained in the dog.
- -- Franz Kafka
-~
-The dog has an enviable mind; it remembers the nice things in life
-and quickly blots out the nasty.
- -- Barbara Woodhouse
-~
-If dogs could talk, perhaps we would find it as hard to get along
-with them as we do with people.
- -- Karel Capek
-~
-Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.
- -- Colette
-~
-You become responsible forever for what you have tamed.
- -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
-~
-A dog has the soul of a philosopher. -- Plato
-~
-The more I see of men, the more I like dogs. -- Madame Anne Maria de Stael
-~
-The reason a dog has so many friends is that
-he wags his tail instead of his tongue.
- -- Anonymous
-~
-We see how he is at once in a world of smells of which
-we know nothing, which so occupy and absorb his attention
-as to make him practically blind to everything about him
-and deaf to all sounds, even his master's voice impatiently
-calling him.
- -- W. H. Hudson
-~
-A man may smile and bid you hail
-Yet wish you to the devil;
-But when a good dog wags his tail,
-You know he's on the level.
- -- Submitted to www.dog.com by TJ Brown
-~
-Old dogs, like old shoes, are comfortable.
-They might be a bit out of shape and a little
-worn around the edges, but they fit well.
- -- Bonnie Wilcox
-~
-In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to
-train him to be semi-human. The point of it is to open
-oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog.
- -- Edward Hoagland
-~
-I'd be happy to have my biography be the stories of my dogs.
-To me, to live without dogs would mean accepting a form of blindness.
- -- Thomas McGuane
-~
-Every dog should have a man of his own. There is nothing like a
-well-behaved person around the house to spread the blanket for him,
-or bring him his supper when he comes home man-tired at night.
- -- Corey Ford
-~
-Not Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and Astor
-together could have raised money enough
-to buy a quarter share in my little dog...
- -- Ernest Thompson Seton
-~
-I'd rather have an inch of dog than miles of pedigree. -- Dana Burnet
-~
-...in a healthy dog-owner relationship, praise is virtually
-an automatic reaction, an attitude toward the dog, a way of
-living with the dog. The most common mistake is to consider
-praise as simply a reward.
- -- The Monks of New Skete
-~
-Dogs need to sniff the ground; it's how they keep abreast of
-current events. The ground is a giant dog newspaper, containing
-all kinds of late-breaking dog news items, which, if they are
-especially urgent, are often continued in the next yard.
- -- Dave Barry
-~
-A dog is not "almost human" and I know of no greater insult to the
-canine race than to describe it as such. The dog can do many things
-which man cannot do, never could do, and never will do.
- -- John Holmes
-~
-imagine yourself lying in the tall purple grass with the sharp blades
-rubbing up against your flesh like rusty razors while the dark red
-moon drops drips of blood into the oozing green lake down the hill.
-tattered fish things leap and whirl in the lake while the tired orange
-sun flickers on the verge of going out. the clacking and biting
-insects that infest the grass crawl in and out of your body as you lie
-there trying to relax while large unseen animals rummage in the forest
-causing trees to crash down as they pass. dust blows in thick
-whirlwinds making the sooty air impossible to breathe as you hack
-chunks of meat up from within, but symbiotic parasites rush to repair
-the damage while tickling your insides ferociously.
-ah... tranquility.
- -- sparklecuss
-~
-It all comes from here, the stench and the peril. -- Frodo
-~
-I do not like... the omission of a bill of rights providing
-clearly and without the aid of sophisms for freedom of religion,
-freedom of the press, protection against standing armies,
-restriction against monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force
-of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury in all matters of
-fact triable by the laws of the land and not by the law of
-nations.
- -- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787
-~
-A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against
-every government on earth, general or particular; and what no
-just government should refuse, or rest on inferences.
- -- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. Papers, 12:440
-~
-It astonishes me to find... [that so many] of our countrymen...
-should be contented to live under a system which leaves to their
-governors the power of taking from them the trial by jury in
-civil cases, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom
-of commerce, the habeas corpus laws, and of yoking them with a
-standing army. This is a degeneracy in the principles of
-liberty... which I [would not have expected for at least] four
-centuries.
- -- Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1788
-~
-A bill of rights [will] guard liberty against the legislative as
-well as the executive branches of the government.
- -- Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789
-~
-The declaration of rights is, like all other human blessings,
-alloyed with some inconveniences and not accomplishing fully its
-object. But the good in this instance vastly outweighs the evil.
- -- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789
-~
-By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate
-freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce
-against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions
-of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters
-against doing evil which no honest government should decline.
- -- Thomas Jefferson to Alexander Donald, 1788
-~
-(cat haiku)
-You must scratch me there!
-Yes, above my tail! Behold,
-Elevator butt.
-~
-(cat haiku)
-prickly herbal scent
-flips me inside out and back;
-catnip is my kind
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-(cat haiku)
-I need a new toy.
-Tail of black dog keeps good time.
-Pounce! good dog! good dog!
-~
-The best exercise for a cat is another cat.
- -- Jo and Paul Loeb
-~
-(cat haiku)
-In deep sleep hear sound
-Cat vomit hairball somewhere.
-Will find in morning.
-~
-[Of the Romans...]
-Is not a certain dullness their most visible characteristic?
-What is the history of their speculative mind? -- a blank.
-What their literature? -- a copy. They have left not a single
-discovery in any abstract science; not a single perfect or
-well-formed work of high imagination. The Greeks, the perfection
-of narrow and accomplished genius, bequeathed to mankind the ideal
-forms of self-idolizing art -- the Romans imitated and admired;
-the Greeks explained the laws of nature -- the Romans wondered and
-despised; the Greeks invented a system of numerals second only to
-that now in use -- the Romans counted to the end of their days
-with the clumsy apparatus which we still call by their name; the
-Greeks made a capital and scientific calendar -- the Romans began
-their month when the Pontifex Maximus happened to spy out the new
-moon. Throughout Latin literature, this is the perpetual puzzle
--- Why are we free and they slaves? we praetors and they barbers?
-Why do the stupid people always win, and the clever people always
-lose?
- -- Walter Baghehot
-~
-(cat haiku)
-The rule for today.
-Touch my tail, I shred your hand.
-New rule tomorrow.
-~
-'Well, then,' the Cheshire Cat went on, 'you see a dog growls
-when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now, I
-growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry.
-Therefore I'm mad.'
- -- Cheshire Cat (from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,
- by Lewis Carroll)
-~
-(cat haiku)
-stalk the birds with care--
-twitch my tail and they may scare;
-human gets a share.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-(cat haiku)
-i am not a rug,
-my flatness is intended,
-i have rubber bones.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-(cat haiku)
-fat human waddles
-close to my sensitive tail
-may be time to shriek.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-(cat haiku)
-fish in pond bigger
-than me; goldfish in bowl just
-the right size--kerchomp.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Yet gentle will the griffin be,
-Most decorous and fat,
-And walk up to the Milky Way
-And lap it like a cat.
- -- Vachel Lindsay
-~
-(cat haiku)
-Blur of motion, then--
-Silence, me, a paper bag
-What is so funny?
-~
-(cat haiku)
-The mighty hunter
-Returns with gifts of plump birds
-Your foot just squashed one.
-~
- Every good teacher has his own special art; with some, it is a genius
-for a clarity that sometimes is more lucid than the complexities of the
-subject justify. Sometimes it is a talent for apothegm or leading
-suggestion, a word that evokes a vista or an idea that opens a world. I
-cannot now quite remember what Professor Beard's special technique was. He
-was clear, he was suggestive, he was witty. But none of these things could
-quite account for the hold he had on the smug and the rebels alike, on both
-the pre-lawyers and pre-poets. I suspect it was a certain combination of
-poetry, philosophy, and honesty in the man himself, a sense he communicated
-that politics mattered far beyond the realm commonly called political, and
-an insight he conveyed into the life that forms of government furthered or
-betrayed. One morning he came into class as usual, stood against the wall,
-and half-closing his eyes, said:
- "Gentlemen, today we are to discuss the budget system in State
-government. I am sure that must seem to you a dull subject. But if you will
-tell me, gentlemen, how much per capita a nation spends on its Army, on its
-Navy, on education, on public works, I shall be able to tell you, I think,
-as much about that nation as if you gave me the works of its poets and
-philosophers."
- We listened with revised and revived attention to an exposition, full
-of figures and detail, of the State budget system. Charles A. Beard showed
-us what politics had to do with the life beyond it and which it made
-possible. And he taught us, too, the difference between the forms of
-government and the living substance of its operations... Nobody who has ever
-listened to Beard can disdain the study of politics in favor of the study of
-"higher things". He has been too well taught, as tragic world events have
-since shown, how government may nourish or destroy "higher things".
- -- Irwin Edman, speaking of the historian Charles A. Beard
-~
-There is no substitute for a lifetime.
- -- Ezra Pound
-~
- The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life
-are usually simple. A good example of a simple technology with profound
-historical consequences is hay. Nobody knows who invented hay, the idea of
-cutting grass in the autumn and storing it in large enough quantities to
-keep horses and cows alive through the winter. All we know is that the
-technology of hay was unknown to the Roman Empire but was known to every
-village of medieval Europe. Like many other crucially important
-technologies, hay emerged anonymously during the so-called Dark Ages.
-According to the Hay Theory of History, the invention of hay was the
-decisive event which moved the center of gravity of urban civilization from
-the Mediterranean basin to Northern and Western Europe. The Roman Empire did
-not need hay because in a Mediterranean climate the grass grows well enough
-in winter for animals to graze. North of the Alps, great cities dependent on
-horses and oxen for motive power could not exist without hay. So it was hay
-that allowed populations to grow and civilization to flourish among the
-forests of Northern Europe. Hay moved the greatness of Rome to Paris and
-London, and later to Berlin and Moscow and New York.
- -- Freeman Dyson, from his 1985 Gifford Lectures
-~
-(cat haiku)
-Small brave carnivores
-Kill pine cones and mosquitoes,
-Fear vacuum cleaner
-~
-(cat haiku)
-Wanna go outside.
-Oh, no! Help! I got outside!
-Let me back inside!
-~
-If you're a geek at a circus
-and the only tool you have is a sledgehammer,
-then you'll use it everywhere.
-We're Microsoft and
-Windows is our sledgehammer.
- -- FTH
-~
-An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile--
-hoping it will eat him last.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-Being poor is a frame of mind. Being broke is only a temporary situation.
- -- Mike Todd
-~
-When a friend speaks to me, whatever he says is interesting.
- -- Jean Renoir
-~
-Up to his shoulders
-In grasses coarse as silk,
-The white cat with the yellow eyes
-Sits with his paws together,
-Tall as a quart of milk.
- -- James Kirkup
-~
-Life is a gamble, at terrible odds--if it was a bet you wouldn't take it.
- -- Tom Stoppard
-~
-What is the most innocent place in any country?
-Is it not the insane asylum?
-These people drift through life truly innocent,
-unable to see into themselves at all.
- -- Arthur Miller
-~
-We live by our genius for hope;
-we survive by our talent for dispensing with it.
- -- V. S. Pritchett
-~
-People change and forget to tell each other.
- -- Lillian Hellman
-~
-Professional work of any sort tends to narrow the mind, to limit the point
-of view, and to put a hallmark on a man of a most unmistakable kind. On the
-one hand are the intense, ardent natures, absorbed in their studies and
-quickly losing interest in everything but their profession, while other
-faculties and interest 'fust' unused. On the other hand are the bovine
-brethren, who think of nothing but the treadmill and the corn. From very
-different causes, the one from concentration, the other from apathy, both
-are apt to neglect those outside studies that widen the sympathies and help
-a man to get the best there is out of life... the medical man, perhaps more
-than any other man, needs that higher education of which Plato speaks,
-'that education in virtue from youth upwards, which enables a man to pursue
-the ideal perfection.' It is not for all, nor can all attain it, but there
-is comfort and help in the pursuit, even though the end is never reached.
- -- William Osler
-~
-We cherish our friends not for their ability to amuse us,
-but for ours to amuse them.
- -- Evelyn Waugh
-~
- Scientific research is solving puzzles. The pleasure to
-be got from it is the pleasure of the crossword or jig-saw addict.
-First the blank diagram, or the scatter of meaningless pieces; then
-an occasional tentative clue or the few pieces of the same colour
-that seem to fit together; next a period of frustration, going over
-and over the list of clues, or trying piece after piece in the most
-unlikely conjunctions; then--ah the sweet joy of the word that
-completes a doubtful acrostic, or the section that springs to life
-as a tree, or a house or a pot of flowers; finally, the completion
-of the pattern, with clue after clue solved in rapid succession, or
-the last few pieces tumbling into place. By accepting the challenge,
-the tension, the concentration, the frustration, we heighten the
-pleasure of the moment or revelation. The more difficult the puzzle,
-the greater the tension--and so much greater the delights of solution.
- -- John Ziman
-~
-The most certain way to succeed is to always try one more time.
- -- Thomas Edison
-~
-(cat haiku)
-hmmm... box is stinky.
-where are those boots that he has?
-they smell close enough.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-This one is from my dogs to my cats:
-
-I will sniff your butt
-I like your litter box gifts
-I call them ho-hos
- -- GP Hardley
-~
-You can drop humans anywhere and they'll thrive.
-Only the rat does as well.
- -- Jeannette Desor
-~
-(cat haiku)
-even kitty pure
-in heart may become a wolf
-when the catnip blooms
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-housecat haiku of realization:
-
- birds flicker past me,
-safely in their cage of glass.
- wait! who's in the cage?
-
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-At this point I reveal myself in my true colours, as a stick-in-the-mud.
-I hold a number of beliefs that have been repudiated by the liveliest
-intellects of our time. I believe that order is better than chaos,
-creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence,
-forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think that knowledge is
-preferable to ignorance, and I am sure that human sympathy is more
-valuable than ideology. I believe that in spite of the recent triumphs
-of science, men haven't changed much in the last two thousand years; and
-in consequence we must still try to learn from history. History is
-ourselves. I also hold one or two beliefs that are more difficult to put
-shortly. For example, I believe in courtesy, the ritual by which we
-avoid hurting other people's feelings by satisfying our own egos. And I
-think we should remember that we are part of a great whole, which for
-convenience we call nature. All living things are our brothers and
-sisters. Above all, I believe in the God-given genius of certain
-individuals, and I value a society that makes their existence possible.
- -- Kenneth Clark, from "Civilization"
-~
-If you want to feel proud of yourself, you need to do things of which
-to feel proud. Feelings follow actions.
- -- Oseola McCarty
-~
-To learn and from time to time to apply what
-one has learned--isn't that pleasure?
- -- Confucious, 500 B.C.
-~
-top 6 rejected ingredients in ben & jerry's "phish food" flavor:
-
-6. capers and whitefish
-5. caramel-covered seaweed nuggets
-4. bloodworms
-3. magic mushroom ripple
-2. oyster crackers
-
-and the number one rejected ingredient...
-
-1. barnacle crunch
-
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-top 6 reasons to own a house rabbit:
-
-6. learning to splice electrical wires
-5. free compost everywhere in the house
-4. having your ankles bitten and scratched during rutting season
-3. finding out what night feces are and that special feeling they give
- when between your toes
-2. having guests ask "what is that incredible stench?"
-
-and the number one reason to own a house rabbit...
-
-1. if all else fails, there's always hasenpfeffer.
-
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-My childhood was a period of waiting for the moment when I could send
-everyone and everything connected with it to hell.
- -- Igor Stravinsky
-~
-Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to
-time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-We will take almost any kind of criticism except the observation that
-we have no sense of humor. A man will admit to being a coward, a liar, a
-thief, an adulterer, a poor mechanic, or a bad swimmer, but tell him that
-he has a dreadful sense of humor and you might as well have slandered his
-mother. Even if he is civilized enough to pretend to make light of your
-statement, he will still secretly believe that he has, not only a good
-sense of humor, but one superior to most. This is all the more surprising
-when you consider that not one person in a million can give you any kind of
-intelligent answer as to what humor is or why he or she laughs.
- -- Steve Allen
-~
-To write weekly, to write daily, to write shortly, to write
-for busy people catching trains in the morning or for tired
-people coming home in the evening, is a heartbreaking task
-for men who know good writing from bad.
- -- Virginia Woolf
-~
-ugh. all thoughts scrambled. now eating them on toast. -- fred t. hamster
-~
-I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.
- -- Peter De Vries
-~
-Housework can kill you if done right.
- -- Erma Bombeck
-~
-All human evil comes from a single cause--
-man's inability to sit still in a room.
- -- Blaise Pascal
-~
-An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a
-cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
- School curricula reinforce the impression that logical subjects like math
-and science require starting with basics and progressively adding more
-sophisticated conclusions and applications. But the very nature of logical
-laws make it equally feasible to work backward from conclusions, or
-observations, to hypotheses. Deduction and induction are entirely
-complementary.
- In reality, scientists and mathematicians do not do their crafts in the
-linear, progressive way their subjects are usually taught. Practitioners
-commonly start with a flash of insight (the stereotypical light bulb lighting),
-a hunch, a dream, a guess, an elaborate hypothesis or postulate, and then work
-backward, forward, and around it to try to make it fit with established
-knowledge. Physicists or engineers commonly try using complex mathematical
-gadgets to solve the problems that interest them without knowing or caring how
-the math was logically derived. Experimenters tinker in laboratories and make
-surprising discoveries that theoreticians then labor to try to explain
-logically. Alternatively, theorists like Einstein come up with wild new
-theories like relativity that experiments may have to struggle for decades to
-find a way to test and prove. Scientific knowledge does not grow incrementally
-down a predictable track. Rather it grows volcanolike, sometimes oozing in
-patient rivulets, sometimes erupting in fiery ferment, and occasionally
-exploding, blowing away the rock of established truth.
- Pedantic, linear teaching rarely conveys the true drama and mystery of the
-human quest for knowledge. School plods where human imagination naturally
-leaps.
- -- Lewis J. Perelman, from "School's Out"
-~
-the people who are the most in need of help are often the
-same ones who cannot receive it. for example, those who
-believe all human minds are isolated and who have built their
-lives on that principle can only rarely come to appreciate the
-connections between us. their loneliness and self-imposed
-isolation seems to be the normal state of affairs to these
-people; little do they realize that if they relaxed their
-armored ego barrier, then the thoughts and emotions of others
-would start to be perceptible. they desperately cling to the
-belief system that IS their problem in such a way that they
-cannot see the solution, nor can they even believe that the
-solution exists. should these people consciously strive to
-relax that barrier, it would dissolve quickly. many just
-cannot do that and never will. many can however, and can
-relax in the invisible web of human mentation that underlies
-all of our consciousnesses like a huge, comfortable and active
-safety net.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part
-of every organism to live beyond its income.
- -- Samuel Butler
-~
- Attempts to mimic the mind of man are as yet in their infancy.
-The road, however, is open, and it conjures up thoughts which are
-exciting but also in some ways frightening. What if man eventually
-were to produce a mechanical creature, with or without organic
-parts, equal or superior to himself in all respects, including
-intelligence and creativity? Would it replace man, as the superior
-organisms of the earth have replaced or subordinated the less well-
-adapted in the long history of evolution?
- It is a queasy thought: that we represent, for the first time
-in the history of life on the earth, a species capable of bringing
-about its own possible replacement. Of course, we have it in our
-power to prevent such a regrettable denouement by refusing to build
-machines that are too intelligent. But it is tempting to build them
-nevertheless. What achievement could be grander than the creation
-of an object that surpasses the creator? How could we consummate
-the victory of intelligence over nature more gloriously than by
-passing on our heritage, in triumph, to a greater intelligence--of
-our own making?
- -- Isaac Asimov, in "Asimov's Guide to Science"
-~
-Home is the place where,
-when you have to go there,
-they have to take you in.
- -- Robert Frost
-~
-The closer that journalism has approached the standing of an
-authentic profession, oddly enough, the less attractive its
-individual practitioners appear to have become in the public
-mind. This irony is traceable in large measure to the
-distinguished work of the press in its persistent recording
-of the futility and manifold injustices of the Vietnam War and
-its disclosures in the Watergate scandal. Those protracted
-traumas scarred the national psyche, which in turn found
-solace by blaming the press for battening on the troubles it
-apparently delighted in reporting. Reporters came to be seen
-as arrogant in the conduct of their duties, habitually
-adversarial in posture, often insensitive, and unapologetic
-about substituting their own right to demand the truth for the
-public's right not to be stalked ruthlessly like so much grist
-for the milling of tomorrow's headlines. This impression has
-been deepened by the coarseness of television news, which is
-essentially a headline service trading on its emotional graphic
-appeal and dealing so superficially with events and so rarely
-with the complex issues behind them that its effect is to
-divert rather than to inform; TV remains primarily an
-entertainment medium that has not challenged the role of
-newspapers as the prime recorders of the community's serious
-business. But because we see television correspondents
-questioning the President or putting it to the police chief,
-they become personalities in their own right, far more imposing
-than a faceless byline over a printed story.
- -- Richard Kluger, from "The Paper: The Life and Death of the New
- York Herald Tribune"
-~
-The fat cat on the mat may seem to dream
-Of nice mice that suffice for him, or cream.
- -- J. R. R. Tolkien
-~
-Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very
-unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the
-best lawyer in the world can't get you off.
- -- Bill Veeck
-~
- A man will never become a philosopher by worrying forever
-about the writings of other men, without ever raising his own
-eyes to nature's works in the attempt to recognize there the
-truths already known and to investigate some of the infinite
-number that remain to be discovered.
- -- Galileo Galilei
-~
-A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.
- -- George Elliot
-~
-One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight
-of the shore for a very long time.
- -- Andre Gide
-~
-Today in America--the child of European imperialism--a new revolution
-is rising. It is the revolution of our time. It is the only revolution
-that involves radical, moral, and practical opposition to the spirit of
-nationalism. It is the only revolution that, to that opposition, joins
-culture, economic and technological power, and a total affirmation of
-liberty for all in the place of archaic prohibitions. It therefore
-offers the only escape for mankind today; the acceptance of technological
-civilization as a means and not as an end, and--since we cannot be saved
-either by the destruction of civilization or by its continuation--the
-development of the ability to reshape that civilization without
-annihilating it.
- -- Jean-Francois Revel
-~
-There is a great man who makes every man feel small.
-But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great.
- -- G. K. Chesterton
-~
-What usually happens in the educational process is that the faculties
-are dulled, overloaded, stuffed and paralyzed so that by the time most
-people are mature they have lost their innate capabilities.
- -- R. Buckminster Fuller
-~
-Our memories are card indexes--consulted, and then put back in
-disorder, by authorities whom we do not control.
- -- Cyril Connolly
-~
-More computing sins are committed in the name of efficiency
-(without necessarily achieving it) than for any other single
-reason--including blind stupidity.
- -- W. A. Wulf
-~
-We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of
-the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.
- -- Donald Knuth
-~
-The best is the enemy of the good.
- -- Voltaire
-~
-The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.
- -- Paul Ehrlich
-~
-A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking big money.
- -- Senator Everett M. Dirksen
-~
- During the last three decades, neuroscientists throughout the world
-have probed the nervous system in fascinating detail and have learned a
-great deal about the laws of mental life and about how these laws emerge
-from the brain. The pace of progress has been exhilarating, but--at the
-same time--the findings make many people uncomfortable. It seems somehow
-disconcerting to be told that your life, all your hopes, triumphs and
-aspirations simply arise from the activity of neurons in your brain. But
-far from being humiliating, this idea is ennobling, I think.
- Science--cosmology, evolution and especially the brain sciences--is
-telling us that we have no privileged position in the universe and that our
-sense of having a private nonmaterial soul "watching the world" is really an
-illusion (as has long been emphasized by Eastern mystical traditions like
-Hinduism and Zen Buddhism). Once you realize that far from being a
-spectator, you are in fact part of the eternal ebb and flow of events in the
-cosmos, this realization is very liberating. Ultimately this idea also
-allows you to cultivate a certain humility--the essence of all authentic
-religious experience.
- -- V. S. Ramachandran, in "Phantoms in the Brain"
-~
-A celebrity is one who is known to many persons
-he is glad he doesn't know.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-Money is a singular thing. It ranks with love as man's greatest
-source of joy, and with death as his greatest source of anxiety.
- -- John Kenneth Galbraith
-~
-By his very success in inventing labor-saving devices, modern man
-has manufactured an abyss of boredom that only the privileged classes
-in earlier civilizations have ever fathomed.
- -- Lewis Mumford
-~
-Scientists, who nearly always speak extemporaneously in public
-presentations, note that humanists almost always read papers
-at professional meetings, and rarely show slides--except for
-art historians, who always use two screens simultaneously--even
-for the most visual subjects. Why, 'we' ask, do 'they' not
-realize that written and spoken English are different languages,
-and that very few people can read well in public--a particular
-irony since humanists supposedly hold language as their primary
-tool of professional competence. But 'they,' on the other hand,
-rightly ridicule 'our' tendencies to darken a lecture room even
-before we reach the podium and to rely almost entirely upon a
-string of pictures thereafter. A stale joke proclaims that if
-Galileo had first presented the revolutionary results of Siderius
-Nuncius as a modern scientific talk, his opening line could only
-have been: 'first slide please.'
- -- R. R. Shearer and S. J. Gould, in "Science," 5 Nov 99
-~
-Prowling his own quiet backyard or asleep by the fire,
-he is still only a whisker away from the wilds.
- -- Jean Burden
-~
- Futurology is a fashion. The approach of the end of the current
-millennium has stimulated it. But it looks like a fashion in decline. It
-seems to have peaked when public interest in the future was enlivened by
-debate between scientific perfectibilians and apocalyptic visionaries. The
-optimists predicted a world made easy by progress, lives prolonged by
-medical wizardry, wealth made universal by the alchemy of economic growth,
-society rectified by the egalitarianism of technologically prolonged
-leisure. The pessimists foresaw nuclear immolation or population explosion
-or a purgative world revolution -- a cosmic struggle reminiscent of the
-millennium of Christian prophetic tradition -- which would either save or
-enslave mankind.
- No one gets excited by such visions today. Scientific progress has
-been, at best, disappointing -- encumbering us with apparently insoluble
-social and moral problems, or else, at worst, alarming -- threatening us
-with the mastery of artificially intelligent machines or genetically
-engineered human mutants. Economic growth has become the bogey of the
-ecologically anxious. Meanwhile, world revolution and the nuclear holocaust
-have been postponed, and apocalyptic prophecy has resorted to forebodings --
-variously unconvincing or uncompelling -- about ecological cataclysms.
-Proliferation of nuclear weapons and the discovery that even peaceful
-nuclear installations can poison great parts of the world has, in some ways,
-made disaster impend more darkly; but lingering extinction and little local
-nuclear holocausts seem to lack, in public esteem the glamour of a sudden
-and comprehensive armageddon. The future has become depressing rather than
-dramatic, and futurology has lost allure.
- -- Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, in "Millennium: a History of the Last
- Thousand Years", 1995.
-~
-We all love to instruct, though we can teach only what is not worth knowing.
- -- Jane Austen, in "Pride and Prejudice"
-~
-(cat haiku)
-liquid ball of fur
-dances with a beam of light,
-never catches it.
-~
-Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.
- -- James M. Barrie
-~
-Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is
-supposed to be doing at that moment.
- -- Robert Benchley
-~
-(cat haiku)
-He flies without wings,
-Fast as a shadow can go.
-Black slash on white snow.
-~
-(cat haiku)
-Once quick with rat life,
-Now just carnage: tail, head, fur.
-Two-scoop burial.
-~
-(cat haiku)
-Willy stalks field mice,
-Wild Bill to small buffalo.
-Kills them just for show.
-~
-(cat haiku)
-Cats are like haiku:
-Subtle, delicate, perfect
-Communicators.
-~
-Once fat with meat.
-Now just feet.
-Rat food and bat food
-Supplement cat food.
-~
-The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
- -- Voltaire
-~
-I would rather be governed by the first two thousand people in the
-Boston telephone directory than by the first two thousand people on the
-faculty of Harvard University.
- -- William F. Buckley
-~
- Civility will always have its critics. In 1997, when New York's
-chief judge proposed rules requiring lawyers on opposing sides to be civil
-to each other, the prominent divorce lawyer Raoul Felder wrote a caustic
-response in the New York Times. "If lawyers truly care about the causes
-they represent, they should, on occasion, get hot under the collar, raise
-their voices, become pugnacious," he wrote. Conflict, argued Felder, is
-what the legal profession is about. Civility, he concluded, "may not always
-be the right reaction in an adversarial courtroom."
- This argument reminds me of the commentary by Ed Rollins that it
-was his job to diminish the reputation of his client's opponent. Nastiness,
-in other words, is not merely the option but the responsibility of the
-political profession. The legal profession too: "I have never heard a
-client complain that his or her lawyer was rude," Felder tells us. In both
-cases, law and politics, rudeness is evidently justified on the ground that
-rudeness is what the client is paying for.
- As any student of civility would, I find this a fascinating notion:
-that there are professions for which incivility is a requirement. I suppose
-I disbelieve it; or, rather, if there are such professions, I am skeptical
-of their morality, because they fail to convey a message that we are, all of
-us, not lone drivers but fellow passengers. It may be that law and politics
-seem so dismally rude because their principal ethic is merely one of
-victory, an ethic materially enriching and emotionally satisfying, but
-morally unimportant. If lawyers are paid to be rude and political
-consultants to be nasty, and if their incivility is linked to the fact that
-they are also paid to win, we should scarcely be surprised that professional
-athletes find it comfortable to brawl with fans, spit on umpires, take bites
-out of ears, and, in one unfortunate case nicknamed "Assassin," specialize
-in injuring fellow football players. After all, the athletes want to win too.
- Some etiquette. Some democracy.
- -- Stephen L. Carter, in "Civility", 1998
-~
-A cat is a lion in a jungle of small bushes.
- -- Indian Proverb
-~
-A cat pours his body on the floor like water. It is restful just to see him.
- -- William Lyon Phelps
-~
-Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you have only one idea.
- -- "Alain" [Emile Chartier]
-~
- Newspapers have changed their character during my lifetime. They used
-to be the principal carriers of the world's news, but television holds that
-position now. Television, however, has serious limitations; it is a visual
-medium, and it is dominated by the principle that nothing is news unless you
-can take a picture of it. It is here that the newspapers still hold their
-own; so much of what goes on in the political world cannot be effectively
-photographed; statesmen, in their expensive but uninteresting clothes, make
-very poor TV and their prolonged deliberations are dull when we see them on
-the box. Politics must be interpreted, and newspapers have become their
-untiring interpreters... Intelligence, not perhaps on its highest level
-but far beyond the sheer emotionalism of TV, has found its refuge in the
-newspapers.
- -- Robertson Davies, from "The Merry Heart: Reflections on Reading,
- Writing, & The World of Books".
-~
-To improve communications, work not on the utterer but on the recipient.
- -- Peter Drucker
-~
- Despite the incorporated homicide or suicide called war, despite the
-crimes of individuals, the natural conflicts of domestic parties and
-national ambitions, I believe, after fifty years of studying history,
-that man is physically, mentally, and morally better, on the average,
-than at any time in the past; that our poverty, so disgraceful amid our
-unprecedented wealth, is not so shameless as the slavery that supported
-an enfranchised minority in Periclean Athens or Augustan Rome; that our
-marital chaos and moral laxity are no worse than in the England of
-Charles II or the France of Louis XV; that more good books are being
-published than ever before and more widely read; and that art will soon
-rise to a new level of self-discipline and social significance.
- I mourn the ugly slums of our cities and the distress of those who
-cannot find work for their hands to do; but I see realized around me,
-in an unparalleled proportion of our people, such a spread of home
-ownership, family income, physical comforts, educational opportunities,
-political freedom, and scientific powers as would amaze and gladden our
-Founding Fathers if they could return to see what their progeny and
-their institutions have done... This time, this moment, is as good as
-any that ever was, and is incomparably more wonderful.
- -- Will Durant
-~
-I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
-Imagination is more important than knowledge.
-Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-You do not lead by hitting people over the head.
-That's assault, not leadership.
- -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
-~
-When elephants fight, only the grass gets hurt. -- Swahili Saying
-~
-Men who know the same things are not long the best company for each other.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-The gingham dog and the calico cat
-Side by side on the table sat;
-'Twas half-past eight and (what do you think!)
-Nor one nor t'other had slept a wink!
- -- Eugene Field
-~
-bob1: I was going to just sublime into the roll
- and see what I could get....
-fred: slime, you mean? you're not going to evaporate, right?
-bob1: Whatever, formally declare I shall be in control
- and see if anyone listens...
-fred: that's the doctrine of the supine?
-bob1: By sublime I meant so slowly that you don't notice.
-fred: the lime doctor sublimes merging into the supine
- mesmerized accomplished cow-orking accomplices slimefully.
-bob1: mmm I see. Anyway I must rejoin the family and stuff.
- Perhaps I shall be back later. I must get into work early
- tomorrow if I want all this to work.
-fred: by the time i spline my spleen in the stream
- i will have strummed the strumpet's stoking stork.
-bob1: Holy f*ck batman.
-~
-There is nothing to be learned from history anymore.
-We're in science fiction now.
- -- Allen Ginsberg
-~
- One of the interesting features of communication is that, broadly
-speaking, to be perceived, information must reside in more than one context.
-We know what something is by contrast with what it is not. Silence makes
-musical notes perceivable; conversation is understood as a contrast of
-contexts, speaker and hearer; words, breaks and breaths. In turn, in order
-to be meaningful, these contexts of information must be relinked through
-some sort of judgment of equivalence or comparability. This occurs at all
-levels of scale, and we all do it routinely as part of everyday life.
- None of this is new in theories of information and communication: we
-have long had models of signals and targets, background, noise and filters,
-signals, and quality controls. We are moving this insight here to the level
-of social interaction. People often cannot see what they take for granted
-until they encounter someone who does not take it for granted.
- -- Geoffrey C. Bowker & Susan Leigh Star, from "Sorting Things Out:
- Classification and Its Consequences," (MIT Press).
-~
-If there is technological advance without social advance, there is,
-almost automatically, an increase in human misery.
- -- Michael Harrington
-~
-Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.
- -- Hegel
-~
-When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
- -- Eric Hoffer
-~
-Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
- -- Aldous Huxley
-~
-He was a very valiant man who first adventured on eating of oysters.
- -- King James I
-~
-A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional, and are
-the portals of discovery.
- -- James Joyce
-~
-But this 'long run' is a misleading guide to current affairs.
-In the long run we are all dead.
- -- John Maynard Keynes
-~
-Education is a crutch with which the foolish attack the wise to prove
-that they are not idiots.
- -- Karl Kraus
-~
-Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human
-intelligence long enough to get money from it.
- -- Stephen Leacock
-~
-I don't like money actually, but it quiets my nerves.
- -- Joe Louis
-~
-(cat haiku)
-Black heart on white fur
-Green eyes ... last sight for poor rat,
-Plaything of a God.
-~
-(cat haiku)
-Black face, cold blue eyes
-fish pond, golden fish surprise.
-Wet paws ... not water!
-~
-spelling offers more
-room for controversy than
-the world's religions
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-cappuccino is
-caffeination in its most
-excellent format
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-buddha, dharma and
-sangha are the three jewels
-a buddhist cleaves to
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-millennium, yes!
-charging into the twenty-first
-century, for sure
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-fred barks, lily hides
-two dogs of the same breeding
-why so different?
-~
-haikus force structure
-on an otherwise very
-chaotic word world
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-kevin, kory, kyle;
-three celtic names held by three
-amazing nephews
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
- The most fruitful and natural exercise of the mind, in my opinion, is
-conversation. I find the use of it more sweet than of any other action of
-life; and for that reason it is that, if I were now compelled to choose, I
-should sooner, I think, consent to lose my sight, than my hearing and
-speech... The study of books is a languishing and feeble motion that heats
-not, whereas conversation teaches and exercises at once. If I converse with
-an understanding man, and a rough disputant, he presses hard upon me and
-pricks me on both sides; his imaginations raise up mine to more than
-ordinary pitch; jealousy, glory, and contention, stimulate and raise me up
-to something above my self...
- -- Michel Montaigne
-~
-(cat haiku)
-only the choicest
-of meats, kibbles and catnip
-will i deign to sniff.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-(cat haiku)
-fine fur flies from me
-filling all of your clean rooms
-i am super fluff!
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-(cat haiku)
-watery sky leads
-to quizzical expression:
-"fix outdoors for me!"
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-(cat haiku)
-inclement weather
-bores more cats even than own
-internal ennui.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-(cat haiku)
-Open the door, Man!
-I wish to go out ... what's this?
-Wet fur? I think not.
-~
-(cat haiku)
-Monsoon for felines.
-They ground when wet. No static.
-Rainy faced disgrace.
-~
-Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.
- -- H. D. Thoreau
-~
-Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-We are not sure that words can always save lives, but we know that
-silence can certainly kill.
- -- James Orbinski of "Doctors Without Borders", winners of the 1999 Nobel
- Peace Prize
-~
-The masses, by definition, neither should nor can direct their own
-personal existence, and still less rule society in general.
- -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
-~
-It is precisely because man's vital time is limited, precisely because
-he is mortal, that he needs to triumph over distance and delay. For an
-immortal being, the motor-car would have no meaning.
- -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
-~
-We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of
-creation, but he does not know what to create. Lord of all things,
-he is not lord of himself... Hence the strange combination of a
-sense of power and a sense of insecurity.
- -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
-~
-The mass-man is he whose life lacks any purpose, and simply goes drifting
-along. Consequently, though his possibilities and his powers be enormous,
-he constructs nothing. And it is this type of man who decides in our time...
- -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
-~
-In the schools, which were such a source of pride to the last century, it
-has been impossible to do more than instruct the masses in the technique
-of modern life; it has been found impossible to educate them.
- -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
-~
- Like cars over the years, computers are getting easier to use, and in
-some respects the changes are analogous to the placement of gauges by idiot
-lights. And, like drivers who favor gauges, some computer users belittle the
-trend toward easy-to-use systems. These users appear to thrive on
-complexity. They are often experts who enjoy getting the most out of their
-computers; they view computing as an end rather than a means.
- Unlike cars, easy-to-use computers aren't called idiot-proof, they're
-called user-friendly. As a marketing achievement, this terminology ranks
-with 'Palmetto bugs,' which is a term used in Florida-at the instigation of
-some genius in the real estate industry, I'm told-for large, flying
-cockroaches."
- -- John Shore, from "The Sachertorte Algorithm: And Other Antidotes
- to Computer Anxiety".
-~
- Ads manipulate us into being dissatisfied... We are encouraged to feel
-anxious or sorry for ourselves. Advertising teaches us to live on the level
-of the pleasure principle. This leads to impulse-control problems and to
-feelings of entitlement. "I am the center of the universe and I want what I
-want now." This thinking creates citizens who are vulnerable to quick fixes.
-It leads to citizens filled with self-pity, which is the flip side of
-entitlement.
- Advertising teaches that people shouldn't have to suffer, that pain
-is unnatural and can be cured. They say that effort is bad and convenience
-is good and that products solve complex human problems. Over and over people
-hear that their needs for love, security and variety can be met with
-products. They may reject the message of any particular ad, but over time
-many buy the big message -- buying products is important.
- -- Mary Pipher, in "The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding Our Families"
-~
-I have no use for bodyguards, but I have a very special use for two
-highly trained certified public accountants.
- -- Elvis Presley
-~
-Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.
- -- Evelyn Waugh
-~
-Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.
- -- Jean-Paul Sartre
-~
-Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful
-objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill
-gives us modern art.
- -- Tom Stoppard
-~
-What is this talk of "release?" We do not make software "releases."
-Our software "escapes" leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality
-assurance people in its wake.
- -- MoncriefJM@gvl.esys.com, as seen on the on the PerlTK mailing list
-~
-It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience. But a
-corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience.
- -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
-(cat haiku)
-Headfull of acid,
-Cat on the carpet, melting...
-Here pussy. Here God!
-~
-(cat haiku)
-vomit kitty, now!
-you don't eat all my buds, cat.
-i'll smoke you instead.
-~
-The future is made of the same stuff as the present. -- Simone Weil
-~
-he's such a tight ass that when he breaks wind all the dogs howl.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-See the kitten on the wall,
-Sporting with the leaves that fall,
-Withered leaves, one, two and three
-Falling from the elder tree,
-Through the calm and frosty air
-Of the morning bright and fair.
- -- William Wordsworth
-~
-But the Kitten, how she starts,
-Crouches, stretches, paws and darts!
- -- William Wordsworth
-~
- All those who succeed in America -- no matter what their circle of
-origin or their sphere of action -- are likely to become involved in the
-world of the celebrity... This world has not been built from below, as a
-slow and steady linking of local societies and metropolitan 400s. It has
-been created from above... With the incorporation of the economy, the
-ascendancy of the military establishment, and the centralization of the
-enlarged state, there have arisen the national elite, who, in occupying the
-command posts of the big hierarchies, have taken the spotlight of publicity
-and become subjects of the intensive build-up. At the same time, with the
-elaboration of the national means of mass communication, the professional
-celebrities of the entertainment world have come fully and continuously into
-the national view. As personalities of national glamour, they are at the
-focal point of all the means of entertainment and publicity. Both the
-metropolitan 400 and the institutional elite must now compete with and
-borrow prestige from these professionals in the world of the celebrity.
- But what are the celebrities? The celebrities are The Names that
-need no further identification. Those who know them so far exceed those of
-whom they know as to require no exact computation. Wherever the celebrities
-go, they are recognized, and moreover, recognized with some excitement and
-awe. Whatever they do has publicity value. More or less continuously, over a
-period of time, they are the material for the media of communication and
-entertainment. And, when that time ends -- as it must -- and the celebrity
-still lives -- as he may -- from time to time it may be asked, "Remember
-him?" That is what celebrity means.
- -- C. Wright Mills, from "The Power Elite," 1956
-~
-I'm not really very good at what I do, but I'm very
-popular, because I return my pages.
- -- Unidentified computer support technician
-~
-Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to
-recognize a mistake when you make it again.
- -- Franklin P. Jones
-~
-Nobody roots for Goliath. -- Wilt Chamberlain
-~
-(cat haiku)
-Gentle pussy, bit
-By a bat. Rabid, frothing...
-Animal control!
-~
-I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up
-and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold
-these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
-created equal."
- -- Martin Luther King Jr.
-~
- We generally think of music as a product of art rather than commerce
-or technology. It depends, in fact, on all three. Together, these great
-dynamic systems match individual creativity and individual desire. They
-thus generate change, variety and an endless array of critics--all
-determined that music, like the rest of society, should conform to
-"one best way".
- That would be a terrible deal. By tolerating music that pleases
-others but not ourselves, we preserve a system that has delivered a
-historical wonder... We can listen to perfectly performed music to suit
-any mood or taste at any time, music that moves us in ways particular to our
-individual senses and our individual souls.
- -- Virginia Postrel
-~
-There are three rules for writing the novel.
-Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
- -- W. Somerset Maugham
-~
-His lack of education is more than compensated for by his
-keenly developed moral bankruptcy.
- -- Woody Allen
-~
-How is it possible to find meaning in a finite world,
-given my waist and shirt size?
- -- Woody Allen
-~
-I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting
-the urge to conquer Poland.
- -- Woody Allen (Manhattan Murder Mystery)
-~
-two databases
-become unified as one
-much damage ensues
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-urgh, mutual friends have we few
-of whom hooktown still has purview.
-lest we examine too far
-i wonder regarding your car--
-could it survive a furious country drive?
-for to hamster freehold must you arrive.
-many entertainments have we here...
-movies, a rabbit and beer.
-perhaps what you were chasing,
-twain's fuzz is constantly abasing.
-to extend no further this diatribe,
-why don't you drop over, or "arribe"?
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would
-have painted on the Sistine floor.
- -- Neil Simon
-~
-It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble,
-it's what we know that ain't so.
- -- Will Rogers
-~
-I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure
-is trying to please everyone.
- -- Bill Cosby
-~
- Today, when man seems to have reached the beginning of a new,
-richer, happier human era, his existence and that of the generations to
-follow is more threatened than ever. How is this possible?
- Man had won his freedom from clerical and secular authorities, he
-stood alone with his reason and his conscience as his only judges, but he
-was afraid of the newly won freedom; he had achieved 'freedom from' --
-without yet having achieved 'freedom to' -- to be himself, to be productive,
-to be fully awake. Thus he tried to escape from freedom. His very
-achievement, the mastery over nature, opened up the avenue for his escape.
- In building the new industrial machine, men became so absorbed in
-the new task that it became the paramount goal of his life. His energies,
-which once were devoted to the search for God and salvation, were now
-directed toward the domination of nature and ever-increasing material
-comfort. He ceased to use production as a means for a better life, but
-hypostatized it instead to an end in itself, an end to which life was
-subordinated. In the process of an ever-increasing size of social
-agglomerations, man himself became a part of the machine, rather than its
-master. He experienced himself as a commodity, as an investment; his aim
-became to be a success, that is, to sell himself as profitably as possible
-on the market. His value as a person lies in his salability, not in his
-human qualities of love, reason or in his artistic capacities. Happiness
-becomes identical with consumption of newer and better commodities, the
-drinking in of music, screen plays, fun, sex, liquor and cigarettes. Not
-having a sense of self except the one which conformity with the majority can
-give, he is insecure, anxious, depending on approval. He is alienated from
-himself, worships the product of his own hands, the leaders of his own
-making, as if they were above him, rather than made by him. He is in a
-sense back where he was before the great human evolution began in the second
-millennium B.C.
- -- Erich Fromm, "The Sane Society"
-~
-If I could I would always work in silence and obscurity,
-and let my efforts be known by their results.
- -- Emily Bronte
-~
-The fox knows many things -- the hedgehog knows one big thing.
- -- Archilochus
-~
-I've learned not to put things in my mouth that are bad for me.
- -- Monica Lewinsky on CNN's Larry King Live discussing her
- miraculous Jenny Craig weight-loss.
-~
-Both the assembling and the distribution of knowledge in the world
-at present are extremely ineffective, and thinkers of the forward-
-looking type whose ideas we are now considering, are beginning to
-realize that the most hopeful line for the development of our racial
-intelligence lies rather in the direction of creating a new world
-organ for the collection, indexing, summarizing and release of
-knowledge, than in any further tinkering with the highly conservative
-and resistant university system, local, national, and traditional in
-texture, which already exists.
- -- H. G. Wells (1937)
-~
-a haiku for object bus overload...
-
-those data bursts have
-overturned my info cart--
-stranded on the net.
-
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex,
-and more violent. It takes a touch of genius--and a lot
-of courage--to move in the opposite direction.
- -- E. F. Schumacher
-~
-It is amazing how much one can learn from somebody
-who is not generally thought of as successful.
- -- Michael Korda
-~
-Half the world is composed of people who have
-something to say and can't, and the other have
-nothing to say and keep on saying it.
- -- Robert Frost
-~
-Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature...
-Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing.
- -- Helen Keller
-~
-His tongue is by turns a sponge, a brush, a comb.
-He cleans himself, he smoothes himself,
-he knows what is proper.
- -- Hippolyte Taine
-~
-To turn $100 into $110 is work.
-To turn $100 million into $110 million is inevitable.
- -- Edgar Bronfman
-~
-A problem well stated is a problem half solved.
- -- Charles F. Kettering
-~
-The spirit of the West, the modern spirit, is a Greek discovery
-and the place of the Greeks is in the modern world.
- -- Edith Hamilton (1867-1963)
-~
-fish flavored flappers
-squirm happily under tongue,
-cloak orgasmic clit.
-~
-There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying
-to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil.
- -- Alfred North Whitehead
-~
-Somewhere on this globe, every ten seconds, there is a woman
-giving birth to a child. She must be found and stopped.
- -- Sam Levenson
-~
-The cat has complete emotional honesty --
-an attribute not often found in humans.
- -- Ernest Hemingway
-~
-no morning coffee...
-gray matter is not present,
-dial tone in my head.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-choad /chohd/ /n./
- Synonym for 'penis' used in alt.tasteless and popularized by the denizens
-thereof. They say: "We think maybe it's from Middle English but we're all
-too damned lazy to check the OED." [I'm not. It isn't. --ESR]
- This term is alleged to have been inherited through 1960s underground
-comics, and to have been recently sighted in the Beavis and Butthead
-cartoons. Speakers of the Hindi, Bengali and Gujarati languages have
-confirmed that `choad' is in fact an Indian vernacular word equivalent
-to `f*ck'; it is therefore likely to have entered English slang via the
-British Raj.
-~
-The race may not be to the swift nor the victory
-to the strong, but that's how you bet.
- -- Damon Runyon
-~
-Basic research is when I'm doing what I don't know I'm doing.
- -- Wernher von Braun
-~
- For decades, people have warned that pervasive databanks and
-surveillance technology are leading inevitably to the death of privacy and
-democracy. But these days, many people who hear the word 'privacy' think
-about those kooks living off in the woods with their shotguns: these folks
-get their mail at post office boxes registered under assumed names, grow
-their own food, use cash to buy what they can't grow for themselves, and
-constantly worry about being attacked by the federal government-or by space
-aliens. If you are not one of these people, you may well ask, "Why should I
-worry about my privacy? I have nothing to hide."
- The problem with this word 'privacy' is that it falls short of
-conveying the really big picture. Privacy isn't just about hiding things.
-It's about self-possession, autonomy, and integrity. As we move into the
-computerized world of the twenty-first century, privacy will be one of our
-most important civil rights. But this right of privacy isn't the right of
-people to close their doors and pull down their window shades -- perhaps
-because they want to engage in some sort of illicit or illegal activity.
-It's the right of people to control what details about their lives stay
-inside their own houses and what leaks to the outside...
- Today, more than ever before, we are witnessing the daily erosion of
-personal privacy and freedom. We're victims of a war on privacy that's being
-waged by government eavesdroppers, business marketers, and nosy neighbors...
-We know our privacy is under attack. The problem is that we don't know how
-to fight back.
- -- Simson Garfinkel, in "Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in
- the 21st Century"
-~
-A gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, married
-immediately after his wife died: Johnson said, it was the
-triumph of hope over experience.
- -- James Boswell's "Life of Johnson"
-~
-One evening while dozing in my armchair, I was roused
-by the sound of the harpsichord. My cat had started
-his musical stroll... I had a sheet of paper to hand,
-and transcribed his composition.
- -- Domenico Scarlatti
-~
-Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it
-everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying
-the wrong remedies.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to
-any club that will accept me as a member.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-Let's find out what everyone is doing,
-and then stop everyone from doing it.
- -- A. P. Herbert
-~
-I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any
-new situation by reorganizing, and a wonderful method
-it can be for creating the illusion of progress while
-producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
- -- Petronius Arbiter, quoted in Robert Townsend's
- "Up the Organization"
-~
-With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in
-the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to
-finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care
-for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and
-his orphan -- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and
-a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
- As we approach a new century and a changing international economic
-climate, we think that scientific and technological education should be our
-highest priority, and yet these fields, at least the way they are practiced
-today, only tangentially affect the heart and soul, where morality and
-values are rooted, while music goes right to the heart.
- Studying music, one learns about talent, thought, work, expression,
-beauty, technique, collaboration, aesthetic judgment, inspiration, taste,
-and a host of other elements that shape life in all its aspects. As we
-learn to control our fingers, lips, and breath in making music, subliminally
-music is shaping us, making us people of sensitivity and judgment.
- -- Thomas Moore, in "The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life"
-~
-How frighteningly few are the persons whose death would
-spoil our appetite and make the world seem empty.
- -- Eric Hoffer
-~
-A bad attitude is the worst thing that can happen to
-a group of people. It's infectious.
- -- Roger Allan Raby
-~
-All that is gold does not glitter; not all who wander are lost.
- -- J. R. R. Tolkien
-~
-What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.
- -- Dean William R. Inge (ed: what a psycho...)
-~
-True genius doesn't fulfill expectations, it shatters them.
- -- Arlene Croce
-~
-Let me listen to me and not to them.
- -- Gertrude Stein
-~
-If like truth, the lie had but one face, we would be on better terms.
-For we would accept as certain the opposite of what the liar would say.
-But the reverse of truth has a hundred thousand faces and an infinite field.
- -- Montaigne
-~
-The truth is multi-faceted; no one person can see all of it and no single
-viewpoint can capture all of it. This is why any attempt to record the
-nature of reality in one majestic work of science or religion or philosophy
-is doomed to fail; that grand catalog is a necessarily-flawed perspective
-upon the shimmering mind-blower that is the full totality of truth.
-Still, we must try to get our minds around it during our whole lives.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-I am a great believer, if you have a meeting, in knowing
-where you want to come out before you start the meeting.
-Excuse me if that doesn't sound very democratic.
- -- Nelson Rockefeller
-~
- Lawyers have, as Jonathan Swift observed, "a peculiar cant and
-jargon of their own, that no other mortal can understand". They take care
-to ensure that all legal business, including the drafting of legislation, is
-conducted in this language "so that it will take thirty years to decide
-whether the field left me by my ancestors for six generations belongs to me
-or to a stranger three hundred miles off". This language, condemned by
-Jeremy Bentham as "literary garbage", "lawyers' cant", and "flash language",
-serves various purposes, none of them in the public interest. It unites
-lawyers, distinguishing them from laymen. It makes the law mysterious and
-incomprehensible to those laymen, thus ensuring a steady supply of work for
-lawyers who are needed to interpret the language they have invented. The
-language of the law fosters the illusion that legal problems are remediable
-only by the application of the medicine of the specialist. Only a lawyer,
-can resolve the complexities of the problem: "Better see a lawyer; don't
-trust Whatsisname" (as the memorable Law Society advertisement warned
-consumers). Legal language also enshrouds the law, hiding it from the
-public it exists to serve. The idiom of the lawyer leads to public ignorance
-of the content of the law (which paradoxically refuses to recognize that
-ignorance of the law should be a defence), to uninformed criticism and to
-unmerited praise. It provokes the indifference of too many laymen towards
-the law and the contempt of so many litigants for a legal system they do not
-understand.
- -- David Pannick, barrister and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
-~
-It usually takes me more than three weeks
-to prepare a good impromptu speech.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Hollywood films, in general, either want to tell us a truth we
-already know or a falsehood we want to believe in.
- -- William Goldman
-~
-The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.
- -- Norman Mailer
-~
- Men of Athens, fellow citizens, this is not a trial of Socrates, but
-of ideas, and of Athens. You are not prosecuting me for any unlawful or
-impious act against our city or its altars. No evidence of any such sort
-has been brought against me. You are not prosecuting me for anything I did,
-but for what I have said and taught. You are threatening me with death
-because you do not like my views and my teaching. This is a prosecution of
-ideas and that is something new in our city's history. In this sense,
-Athens is in the dock, not Socrates. Each of you, as my judges, is a
-defendant.
- Let me be frank. I do not believe in your so-called freedom of
-speech, but you do. I believe the opinions of ordinary men are only beliefs
-without substance, pale shadows of reality, not to be taken seriously, and
-only likely to lead a city astray. I think it absurd to encourage the free
-utterance of unfounded or irrational opinions, or to base civic policy on a
-count of heads, like cabbages. Hence I do not believe in democracy. But
-you do. This is your test, not mine. How can you boast of your free speech
-if you suppress mine?
- The test of truly free speech is not whether what is said or taught
-conforms to any rule or ruler, few or many. Even under the worst dictator,
-it is not forbidden to agree with him. It is the freedom to disagree that
-is freedom of speech. This has been the Athenian rule until now, the pride
-of our city, the glory on which your orators dwell. Will you turn your back
-on it now? Ideas are not as fragile as men. They cannot be made to drink
-hemlock. My ideas--and my example--will survive me. But the good name of
-Athens will wear a stain forever, if you violate its traditions by
-convicting me. The shame will be yours, not mine.
- -- I. F. Stone, suggesting a defense for Socrates
-~
-I do not seek. I find.
- -- Pablo Picasso
-~
-The one thing that is certain is that anyone who uses the phrase
-"outside the box" is as deeply inside the box as a person can be.
- -- Michael Lewis
-~
-I can't understand why a person will take a year to write a novel
-when he can easily buy one for a few dollars.
- -- Fred Allen
-~
- Many of my friends are under the impression that I write these humorous
-nothings in idle moments, when the wearied brain is unable to perform the
-serious labors of the economist. My own experience is exactly the other way.
-The writing of solid, instructive stuff, fortified by facts and figures, is
-easy enough. There is no trouble in writing a scientific treatise on the
-folklore of Central China, or a statistical inquiry into the declining
-population of Prince Edward Island. But to write something out of one's own
-mind, worth reading for its own sake, is an arduous contrivance only to be
-achieved in fortunate moments, few and far between. Personally, I would sooner
-have written Alice in Wonderland than the whole Encyclopedia Britannica.
- -- Stephen Leacock
-~
-It's easier to find a travel companion than to get rid of one.
- -- Art Buchwald
-~
-God must love the rich or he wouldn't have divided
-so much among so few of them.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-I have been more concerned with the obscure than with the famous.
-They are more often themselves. They have had no need to create a
-figure to protect themselves from the world or to impress it. Their
-idiosyncrasies have had more chance to develop in the limited circle
-of their activity, and since they have never been in the public eye
-it has never occurred to them that they have anything to conceal.
-They display their oddities because it has never struck them that
-they are odd. And after all it is with the common run of men that
-we writers have to deal; kings, dictators, commercial magnates are
-from our point of view very unsatisfactory. To write about them is
-a venture that has often tempted writers, but the failure that has
-attended their efforts shows that such beings are too exceptional to
-form a proper ground for a work of art. They cannot be made real.
-The ordinary is the writer's richer field. Its unexpectedness, its
-singularity, its infinite variety afford unending material. The
-great man is too often all of a piece; it is the little man that is
-a bundle of contradictory elements. He is inexhaustible. You never
-come to the end of the surprises he has in store for you. For my
-part I would much sooner spend a month on a desert island with a
-veterinary surgeon than with a prime minister.
- -- W. Somerset Maugham, from "The Summing Up"
-~
-Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts
-when you have forgotten your aim.
- -- George Santayana
-~
-The importance of people as creators and carriers of knowledge is forcing
-organizations to realize that knowledge lies less in its databases than in
-its people. It's been said, for example, that if NASA wanted to go to the
-moon again, it would have to start from scratch, having lost not the data,
-but the human expertise that took it there last time. Similarly, Tom
-Davenport and Larry Prusake argue that when Ford wanted to build on the
-success of the Taurus, the company found that the essence of that success
-had been lost with the loss of the people that created it. Their knowledge
-was not stored in information technologies. It left when they left.
- -- John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, in "The Social Life of Information"
-~
-Either we live by accident and die by accident,
-or we live by plan and die by plan.
- -- Thornton Wilder
-~
-Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.
- -- William Butler Yeats
-~
-...the act of producing a letter, even one which is never mailed,
-necessitates a form of creative concentration which can improve our
-lives. Copies of our own letters are useful for our records and
-memories. If their recipients think them worth saving, they can have
-value and effect far beyond that of the spoken word. In friendship,
-the letter is not only a message but a gift, a physical symbol of
-esteem and affection. In business or politics, the letter can not
-only express the concerns of the moment but remain as a document of
-such concerns, available for prolonged scrutiny by more than one
-reader. Moreover, while speakers and listeners in a debate are
-vulnerable to emotion and subject to fallacy, the well-written letter
-remains calm and crisp and is subject to nothing except superior reason.
-It can convince the open-minded, goad the weak-hearted, give our
-opponents an exact index of the level and intensity of our commitment,
-and be quoted by those who agree with us. But perhaps most importantly,
-our letters are the proof and body of our concern for life in its detail
-and our conviction that this concern should be shared with others.
- -- Robert Grudin, from "Time and the Art of Living"
-~
-Mass transportation is doomed to failure in North America because a
-person's car is the only place where he can be alone and think.
- -- Marshall McLuhan
-~
-You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch
-on to the affirmative, and don't mess with Mister In-Between.
- -- Johnny Mercer
-~
- Once, as promised, bots start interacting with one another,
-understanding bot behavior may become impossible. Anyone who has
-had to call a help line with a problem about the way an operating
-system from one vendor and program from another are working together--
-or failing to work--knows how hard it is to get anyone to take
-responsibility for software interactions. Support staff rapidly
-renounce all knowledge of (and usually interest in) problems that
-arise from interactions because there are just too many possibilities.
-So it's easy to imagine sophisticated programmers, let alone ordinary
-users, being unable to unravel how even a small group of bots reached
-a particular state autonomously. The challenge will be unfathomable
-if, as one research group has it, we can "anticipate a scenario in
-which billions of intelligent agents will roam the virtual world,
-handling all levels of simple to complex negotiations and transactions.
- If human agents are confused with digital ones, if human action is
-taken as mere information processing, and if the social complexities of
-negotiation, delegation, and representation are reduced to "when x, do y,"
-bots will end up with autonomy without accountability. Their owners, by
-contrast, may have accountability without control.
- -- John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, in "The Social Life of Information"
-~
-Life does not consist mainly--or even largely--of facts and
-happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that
-is forever blowing through one's head.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side?
-And ain't that a big enough majority in any town?
- -- Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn
-~
- Every other country scorns American materialism while striving in
-every big and little way to match it. Envy obviously has something to do
-with it, but there is a true basis for this debate, and it is whether
-America is in its ascendance or its decline.
- I myself think I recognize here several of the symptoms that Edward
-Gibbons maintained were signs of the decline of Rome, and which arose not
-from external enemies but from inside the country itself. A mounting love
-of show and luxury. A widening gap between the very rich and the very poor.
-An obsession with sex. Freakishness in the arts masquerading as
-originality, and enthusiasm pretending to creativeness...
- There is, too, the general desire to live off the state, whether it
-is a junkie on welfare or an airline subsidized by the government: in a
-word, the notion that Washington -- Big Daddy -- will provide. And, most
-disturbing of all, a developing moral numbness to vulgarity, violence, and
-the assault on the simplest human decencies.
- Yet the original institutions of this country still have great
-vitality: the Republic can be kept, but only if we care to keep it. Much of
-the turmoil in America springs from the energy of people who are trying to
-apply those institutions to forgotten minorities who have awakened after a
-long sleep.
- As I see it, in this country -- a land of the most persistent
-idealism and the blandest cynicism -- the race is on between its decadence
-and its vitality. There are the woes, which we share with the world, that
-you can see from your window: overpopulation; the pollution of the
-atmosphere, the cities and the rivers; the destruction of nature. I find it
-impossible to believe that a nation that produced such dogged and ingenious
-humans as Jefferson and Eli Whitney, John Deere and Ford, Kettering and
-Oppenheimer and Edison and Franklin, is going to sit back and let the worst
-happen. There is now a possibility, at least, that nuclear energy can help
-us to cure incurable diseases, to preserve our food indefinitely, and
-through breeder reactors, which renew more power in the act of spending it,
-can actually clean the cities and, let us pray, the oceans. And that would
-take us over a historical watershed that none of us has ever conceived.
- -- Alistair Cooke
-~
-There are some enterprises in which a careful
-disorderliness is the true method.
- -- Herman Melville
-~
-The dollar bills the customer gets from the tellers in four banks
-are the same. What is different are the tellers.
- -- Stanley Marcus
-~
- I grew up in the last days of the British Empire. My childhood fell
-in that era when the words 'imperialism' and 'the West' had not yet acquired
-the connotations they have today -- they had not yet become, that is, mere
-synonyms for 'racism,' 'oppression,' and 'exploitation'.
- Or, at any rate, they had not yet become so among the intellectual,
-professional, and governing classes of Egypt. In Cairo it was entirely
-ordinary, among those classes, to grow up speaking English or French or
-both, and quite ordinary to attend an English or French school. It was taken
-for granted among the people who raised us that there was unquestionably
-much to admire in and learn from the civilization of Europe and the great
-strides that Europe had made in human advancement. No matter that the
-European powers were politically oppressive and indeed blatantly unjust; nor
-did it seem to matter that the very generation which raised us were
-themselves locked in struggle with the British for Egypt's political
-independence. There seemed to be no contradiction for them between pursuing
-independence from the European powers and deeply admiring European
-institutions, particularly democracy, and Europe's tremendous scientific
-breakthroughs.
- -- Leila Ahmed, from "A Border Passage: From Cairo to America--
- A Woman's Journey"
-~
-the only possible mental bases for racism must ultimately be ignorance
-or stupidity or both. it's only a little-minded weak person that has to
-feel superior to another person just because of their skin color or
-nationality. but i try not to in turn feel superior to racists; i find
-only sadness for them instead. by imagining them trapped inside such an
-awful and constraining mental prison, my compassion is evoked for these
-confused folks.
-~
-Things are in the saddle, and ride mankind.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat
-in a tree. "Which road do I take?" she asked. His response was
-a question: "Where do you want to go?" "I don't know," Alice
-answered. "Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
- -- Lewis Carroll
-~
-It's not true that life is one damn thing after another--
-it's one damn thing over and over.
- -- Edna St. Vincent Millay
-~
-Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood. If your stomach
-disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts. Keep
-the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move. Go
-very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society. The
-social life ain't restful. Avoid running at all times. Don't
-look back. Something may be gaining on you.
- -- Leroy "Satchel" Paige, from his autobiography,
- "How To Stay Young."
-~
-Facts are all accidents. They all might have been different.
-They all may become different. They all may collapse together.
- -- George Santayana
-~
-A word is dead
-When it is said,
-Some say.
-
-I say it just
-Begins to live that day.
- -- Emily Dickinson
-~
-Thinking about it the other day, I realized that some of my unhappiest moments
-have been in organizations. Somehow it seems to be quite respectable to do
-things in organizations that you would never do in private life. I have had
-people insult me to my face in front of colleagues. I have had my feelings
-rammed down my throat on the pretext that it would do me good and have been
-required to do things which I didn't agree with because the organization wished
-it... In my worst moments I have thought that organizations were places
-designed to be run by sadists and staffed by masochists....
- -- Charles Handy
-~
-The best organizations to be in, it seems, are the busiest ones as long
-as they are busy for someone else. The worst are those that are obsessed
-with their own innards... The healthiest are those which exist for others,
-not for themselves. Show me a business or a school or a church that is
-preoccupied with its customers or clients, determined to do its best for them
-and not just to survive for the sake of surviving, and I'll bet you that they
-don't have time for too many committees, for forms, for politicking or for
-nitpicking about mistakes. Those are the organizations which are fun to be
-in, which give you room to be yourself, to express yourself, to grow.
- -- Charles Handy
-~
-The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
- -- William James
-~
-Life is the process of finding out, too late, everything
-that should have been obvious at the time.
- -- John D. MacDonald
-~
-If work was a good thing the rich would have it all
-and not let you do it.
- -- Elmore Leonard
-~
-Any law that takes hold of a man's daily life cannot prevail
-in a community, unless the vast majority of the community are
-actively in favor of it. The laws that are the most operative
-are the laws which protect life.
- -- Henry Ward Beecher
-~
-The graveyard is full of indispensable men.
- -- Charles de Gaulle
-~
-I read about an Eskimo hunter who asked the local missionary
-priest, "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?"
-"No," said the priest, "not if you did not know."
-"Then why," asked the Eskimo earnestly, "did you tell me?"
- -- Annie Dillard
-~
- The day came when Grandmother couldn't keep all her stuff in the two
-tiny rooms to which she was finally reduced. So she packed everything
-she didn't need into enormous shopping bags and took off for the bank
-in the center of the city where she kept her account, by then down to
-a few pennies. Her husband had started the bank and had been its
-chairman until he died, and she was still treated with the consideration
-due his widow. But when she appeared with her shopping bags and asked
-to have the contents put on her account, the manager balked. "We can't
-put things on an account," he said, "only money."
- "That's mean and ungrateful of you," said Grandmother, "you only do
-this to me because I am a stupid old woman."
- And she promptly closed her account and drew out the balance. Then
-she went down the street to the nearest branch of the same bank, reopened
-her account there, and never said a word about her shopping bags.
- "Grandmother," we'd say, "if you thought the bank was unfriendly why
-did you reopen your account at another branch?"
- "It's a good bank," she said; "after all, my late husband founded it."
- "Then why not demand that the manager at the new branch take your
-stuff?"
- "I never banked there before. He didn't owe me anything."
- -- Peter Drucker, "Adventures of a Bystander"
-~
-Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.
- -- unknown
-~
-Writing about music is like dancing about architecture--
-it's a really stupid thing to want to do.
- -- Elvis Costello, in an interview by Timothy White entitled
- "A Man out of Time Beats the Clock." Musician magazine
- No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52.
-~
-The pressures for upscale consumption, and the work schedules
-that go along with it, created millions of exhausted, stressed-
-out people who started wondering if the cycle of work and spend
-was really worth it. And some concluded that it wasn't. So
-they started downshifting, reducing their hours of work and, in
-the process, earning and spending less money. Downshifters are
-opting out of excessive consumerism, choosing to have more
-leisure and balance in their schedules, a slower pace of life,
-more time with their kids, more meaningful work, and daily lives
-that line up squarely with their deepest values. These are not
-just fast-track yuppies leaving $200,000 jobs in Manhattan to
-settle in Montana, although there are plenty of those.
-Downshifters can be found at all income levels, from the
-comfortable suburbanites whose homes are paid for, to those who
-are counting every penny, resigned to the fact that they'll never
-own a home. Their jobs were leaving them drained, depressed, or
-wondering what life is all about. Now they may not have as much
-money, but they are spending every day answering that all-
-important question.
- -- Juliet B. Schor
-~
-The right to be let alone--the most comprehensive of rights and
-the right most valued by civilized men.
- -- Louis D. Brandeis
-~
-The need to reach better mutual understanding through dialogue
-is strong in all sectors of society, but in none more than the
-business community. The growth of technology, the increase in
-the number of knowledge workers, and the blurring of boundaries
-of all kinds are transforming relationships at all levels of
-business. The traditional top-down style of leadership in a
-fortress-type company semi-isolated from others is increasingly
-out of vogue. It is being replaced by what I have come to
-think of as "relational leadership," where the defining task of
-leaders is developing webs of relationships with others rather
-than handing down visions, strategies, and plans as if they
-were commandments from the mountaintop.
- -- Daniel Yankelovich, "The Magic of Dialogue"
-~
-Life is one long process of getting tired.
- -- Samuel Butler
-~
-Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can
-recalled and perhaps remedied.
- -- Pearl S. Buck
-~
- Fortunately, many teachers intuitively know that the best way to
-achieve their goals is to enlist students' interest on their side.
-They do this by being sensitive to students' goals and desires, and
-they are thus able to articulate the pedagogical goals as meaningful
-challenges. They empower students to take control of their learning;
-they provide clear feedback to the students' efforts without
-threatening their egos and without making them self-conscious. They
-help students concentrate and get immersed in the symbolic world of
-the subject matter. As a result, good teachers still turn out
-children who enjoy learning, and who will continue to face the world
-with curiosity and interest.
- It is to be hoped that with time the realization that children
-are not miniature computing machines will take root in educational
-circles, and more attention will be paid to motivational issues.
-Unless this comes to pass, the current problems we are having with
-education are not likely to go away.
- -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, from "Creativity: Flow and Psychology
- of Discovery and Invention"
-~
-The more human beings proceed by plan the more effectively they may
-be hit by accident.
- -- Friedrich Duerrenmatt
-~
-We never see what's under our feet;
-we're too busy trying to see
-what's in the stars.
- -- Quintus Ennius
-~
-Paradoxes have played a dramatic role in intellectual history,
-often foreshadowing revolutionary developments in science,
-mathematics, and logic. Whenever, in any discipline, we discover
-a problem that cannot be solved within the conceptual framework
-that supposedly should apply, we experience shock. The shock may
-compel us to discard the old framework and adopt a new one. It
-is to this process of intellectual molting that we owe the birth
-of many of the major ideas in mathematics and science. Zeno's
-paradox of Achilles and the tortoise gave birth to the idea of
-convergent infinite series. 'Antinomies' (internal contradictions
-in mathematical logic) eventually blossomed into Godel's theorem.
-The paradoxical result of the Michelson-Morley experiment on the
-speed of light set the stage for the theory of relativity. The
-discovery of wave-particle duality of light forced a reexamination
-of deterministic causality, the very foundation of scientific
-philosophy, and led to quantum mechanics.
- -- Anatol Rapoport
-~
-Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the
-greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.
- -- Charles Caleb Colton
-~
-More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads.
-One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness.
-The other, to total extinction.
-Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
- -- Woody Allen
-~
-Some books are undeservedly forgotten;
-none are undeservedly remembered.
- -- W. H. Auden
-~
-Every age is fed on illusions, lest men should renounce
-life early and the human race come to an end.
- -- Joseph Conrad
-~
- Why is autobiography the most popular form of nonfiction
-for modern readers? Why are so many people moved to write their
-life stories today? And what is it about the genre that makes
-it appeal to readers not just in the Western world, but also in
-non-Western cultures, like those of Japan and India or the many
-cultures of Africa?...
- What makes the reading of autobiography so appealing is the
-chance it offers to see how this man or that woman whose public
-self interests us has negotiated the problem of self-awareness
-and has broken the internalized code a culture supplies about
-how life should be experienced. Most of us, unless faced with
-emotional illness, don't give our inner life scripts a fraction
-of the attention we give to the plots of movies or TV specials
-about some person of prominence. Yet the need to examine our
-inherited scripts is just beneath the surface of consciousness,
-so that while we think we are reading a gripping story, what
-really grips us is the inner reflection on our own lives the
-autobiographer sets in motion.
- -- Jill Ker Conway
-~
-Philosophy is a game with objectives and no rules.
-Mathematics is a game with rules and no objectives.
- -- Unknown
-~
-The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working
-the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop
-until you get into the office.
- -- Robert Frost
-~
-We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any
-in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the
-difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don't know
-anything and can't read.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-If you start to think about your physical or moral condition,
-you usually find that you are sick.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-A modest man is usually admired--if people ever hear of him.
- -- Edgar Watson Howe
-~
- Modern housekeeping, despite its bad press, is among the most
-thoroughly pleasant, significant, and least alienated forms of work
-that many of us will encounter even if we are blessed with work
-outside the home that we like. Once, it was so physically onerous
-and arduous that it not infrequently contributed to a woman's total
-physical breakdown. Today, laundry, cleaning, and other household
-chores are by and large physically light or moderate work that doctors
-often recommend to people for their health, as evidence shows that
-housework is good for weight control and healthy hearts.
- Seen from the outside, housework can look like a Sisyphean task
-that gives you no sense of reward or completion. Yet housekeeping
-actually offers more opportunities for savoring achievement than
-almost any other work I can think of. Each of its regular routines
-brings satisfaction when it is completed. These routines echo the
-rhythm of life, and the housekeeping rhythm is the rhythm of the body.
-You get satisfaction not only from the sense of order, cleanliness,
-freshness, peace and plenty restored, but from the knowledge that you
-yourself and those you care about are going to enjoy these benefits.
- -- Cheryl Mendelson
-~
-I'll tell you what it's like to be No. 1. I compare it to climbing
-Mount Everest. It's very difficult. Lives are lost along the way.
-You struggle and struggle and finally you get up there. And guess
-what there is once you get up there? Snow and ice.
- -- David Merrick
-~
-Never ask a person what to do, always tell him or her.
-If it's the wrong thing to do, or if there is a better way,
-they'll come back and tell you. But if you don't tell them
-what to do, they won't do anything but make a study.
- -- Eugenia Schwartzwald
-~
- War, it seems to me, after a lifetime of reading about the subject,
-mingling with men of war, visiting the sites of war and observing its
-effects, may well be ceasing to commend itself to human beings as a
-desirable or productive, let alone rational, means of reconciling their
-discontents. This is not mere idealism. Mankind does have the capacity,
-over time, to correlate the costs and benefits of large and universal
-undertakings.
- Throughout much of the time for which we have a record of human
-behaviour, mankind can clearly be seen to have judged that war's benefits
-outweighed its costs, or appeared to do so when a putative balance was
-struck. Now the computation works in the opposite direction. Costs
-clearly exceed benefits. Some of these costs are material. The
-superinflationary expense of weapon procurement distorts the budgets even
-of the richest states, while poor states deny themselves the chance of
-economic emancipation when they seek to make themselves militarily
-formidable.
- The human costs of actually going to war are even higher. Rich
-states, as between themselves, recognize that they are not to be borne.
-Poor states which fall into war with rich states are overwhelmed and
-humiliated. Poor states which fight each other, or are drawn into civil
-war, destroy their own well being, and even the structures which make
-recovery from the experience of war possible. War truly has become a
-scourge, as was disease throughout most of human history. The scourge
-of disease has, almost within living memory, been very largely defeated
-and, though it is true that disease had no friends as war has had friends,
-war now demands a friendship which can only be paid in false coin.
- A world political economy which makes no room for war demands, it
-must be recognized, a new culture of human relations. As most cultures of
-which we have knowledge were transfused by the warrior spirit, such a
-cultural transformation demands a break with the past for which there are
-no precedents. There is no precedent, however, for the menace with which
-future war now confronts the world.
- -- John Keegan, "A History of Warfare"
-~
-Creditors are a superstitious sect,
-great observers of set days and times.
- -- Benjamin Franklin, "Poor Richard's Almanack"
-~
- Despite the abundant evidence that compassion is a basic
-human trait, the view has long prevailed that human beings are
-either heartless or brutal toward most of their fellows. Every
-compendium of familiar quotations has an abundance of statements
-like "The greatest enemy to man is man" (Robert Burton) but
-almost none like "Precious is man to man" (Thomas Carlyle).
-Altruism research attests that kindness is as integral to human
-nature as cruelty, yet in the news and in the historical record
-cruel acts vastly outnumber kind ones.
- Why are we keenly aware of the despicable in us but largely
-insensible of the admirable? Not, I suggest, because the
-despicable is common and the admirable rare but the very reverse.
-Prosocial behavior of all sorts, including altruism, is so normal
-and expected that we scarcely notice it but are struck by its
-absence or opposite. We see nothing unusual in a passerby's
-helping a fallen elderly person to his feet but are surprised and
-disturbed if the passerby ignores him. We expect people to be
-kind and helpful to a stranger in distress; we are startled and
-troubled when they look away and hurry past. Cruelty is
-attention-getting, kindness unremarkable, and so we agree with
-Seneca that "man delights to ruin man" and with William James that
-"of all the beasts of prey... [man is] the only one that preys
-systematically on its own species".
- -- Morton Hunt, "The Compassionate Beast"
-~
-Life is all memory, except for the one present moment
-that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going.
- -- Tennessee Williams
-~
- There are serious reasons members of my generation are feeling a high
-level of anxiety and unhappiness these days, but it is interesting to look
-at how we "know" this: the polls. I used to like polls because I like vox
-pop, and polls seemed a good way to get a broad sampling. But now I think
-the vox has popped--the voice has cracked from too many command performances.
-Polls are contributing to a strange new volatility in public opinion...
- The dramatic rises and drops are fueled in part by mass media and their
-famous steady drumbeat of what's not working, from an increase in reported
-child abuse to a fall in savings. When this tendency is not prompted by
-ideology it is legitimate: good news isn't news. But the volatility is also
-driven by the polls themselves. People think they have to have an answer
-when they are questioned by pollsters, and they think the answer has to be
-"intelligent" and "not naive". This has the effect of hardening opinions
-that haven't even been formed yet. Poll questions do not invite subtlety or
-response. This dispels ambiguity, when a lot of thoughts and opinions are
-ambiguous.
- And we are polled too often. We are constantly having our temperature
-taken, like a hypochondriac who is looking for the reassurance no man can
-have, i.e., that he will not die... Nations that use polls as daily
-temperature readings inevitably give inauthentic readings, and wind up not
-reassured but demoralized.
- -- Peggy Noonan
-~
-The chief object of education is
-not to learn things but to unlearn things.
- -- G. K. Chesterton
-~
-When a subject becomes totally obsolete we make it a required course.
- -- Peter Drucker
-~
-He will kill mice and he will be kind to babies...
-but when the moon gets up and the night comes, he is
-the Cat that Walks by Himself.
- -- Rudyard Kipling
-~
-Everyone is a prisoner of his own prejudices.
-No one can eliminate prejudices--just recognize them.
- -- Edward R. Murrow
-~
-I am the least difficult of men.
-All I want is boundless love.
- -- Frank O'Hara
-~
-If you can't say anything good about someone, sit right here by me.
- -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth
-~
-Let's face it, life is mainly wasted time.
- -- John Berryman
-~
-Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!
- -- Mother Jones
-~
-Time spent with cats is never wasted.
- -- Colette
-~
- Most of us find ourselves at one time or another in a toy shop,
-looking for a gift for a child. Those of us who have not been in such
-stores since our youth can easily be bewildered, especially if we were
-born before the 1960s. Our favorite toys or games--fire engines,
-Tinkertoys, or baby dolls--have disappeared or are hidden in row after
-row of heroic fighters, fashion dolls, and exotic stuffed animals. The
-more practical of us enter the store with a list of items desired by
-the child--this season's action figure, the newest Barbie, or the
-latest video game. Veteran toy shoppers may enjoy the inevitable
-transformations as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles give way to Mighty
-Morphin Power Rangers and Locket Surprise Barbie to Tropic Splash
-Barbie. But equally we may be appalled to think about the dozens of
-Ninja Turtles that an older boy just had to have a year earlier but
-that were then shunned by a younger brother who just had to have Power
-Rangers. Why don't kids pass down their toys as we remember giving our
-building blocks and dollhouses to our younger brothers and sisters? It
-is easy to wonder whether each year's must-have toys are really for
-children's play or whether their ever-changing forms represent other
-forces at work.
- There have been disturbing changes in the making of playthings in
-the last few decades. Since the late 1960s many old toy companies,
-venerated for manufacturing toys passed from one generation to the
-next, have disappeared...
- A tradition of manufacturing boys' construction and science sets
-promised parents that their children would be preparing to join the
-adult world of engineering, industry, and science... The old kitchen
-play sets, dollhouses, and baby dolls that were to teach girls the arts
-of housekeeping and childcare are also less in evidence today. Toys
-that seem to prepare children for adult life have become harder to
-find.
- The ever-expanding toy industry reflects a general American
-commitment to unrestrained markets and to constant change, a commitment
-at least a century old. Americans have long admired the new and have
-enriched those who produce it. For decades American parents have
-enjoyed sharing the world of consumption with their offspring. At
-first they did so knowing that they ultimately mediated between toys
-and their children. When the floodgates were opened and torrents of
-toys were presented directly to kids, parents found themselves merely
-providers of funds to buy toys.
- -- Gary Cross, "Kids' Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American
- Childhood."
-~
-Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must
-do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets.
- -- Henry Ford
-~
-If you assign people duties without granting
-them any rights, you must pay them well.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-It is far easier to write ten passable effective sonnets,
-good enough to take in the not too inquiring critic,
-than one effective advertisement that will take in a few
-thousand of the uncritical buying public.
- -- Aldous Huxley
-~
-tail end of the day
-work escapes my fat fingers
-like greasy wieners
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent.
-Its sale is proof of utility and utility is success.
- -- Thomas Alva Edison
-~
-Our lives are suspended like our planet in gimbals of duality,
-half sunlight and half shadow. If we plead with nature, it is
-in vain; she is wonderfully indifferent to our fate, and it is
-her custom to try everything and to be ruthless with incompetence.
-Ninety-nine percent of all the species that have lived on Earth
-have died away, and no stars will wink out in tribute if we in
-our folly soon join them.
- -- Timothy Ferris
-~
-It is characteristic of the present time always to be conscious
-of the medium. It is almost bound to end in madness, like a man
-who whenever he looked at the sun and the stars was conscious of
-the world going round.
- -- Kierkegaard
-~
-The vanity of man revolts from the serene indifference of the cat.
- -- Agnes Repplier
-~
-There are two means of refuge from the
-miseries of life: music and cats.
- -- Albert Schweitzer
-~
-Open source should be about giving away things voluntarily.
-When you force someone to give you something, it's no longer
-giving, it's stealing. Persons of leisurely moral growth
-often confuse giving with taking.
- -- Larry Wall
-~
-Stripped of ethical rationalizations and philosophical
-pretensions, a crime is anything that a group in power
-chooses to prohibit.
- -- Freda Adler
-~
-People are more violently opposed to fur than
-leather because it's safer to harass rich women
-than motorcycle gangs.
- -- Anonymous
-~
-A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't
-change the subject.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-Do not criticize your government when out of the
-country. Never cease to do so when at home.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-Some civil servants are neither servants nor civil.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-Golf is a game whose sole aim is to hit a very small
-ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons
-singularly ill designed for that purpose.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-If it is a blessing, it is certainly very well disguised.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-Some people's idea of free speech is that they are free
-to say anything they like, but if anyone says anything
-back, that is an outrage.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is
-prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another
-matter.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-If you destroy a free market you create a black market.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy
-all respect for the law.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at
-without result.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-It is a socialist ideal that making profits is a vice.
-I consider the real vice is making losses.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some.
- -- Benjamin Franklin
-~
-The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
- -- Gerard Manley Hopkins
-~
-The sounder your argument, the more satisfaction you get out of it.
- -- Edward W. Howe
-~
- Expertise, it may be argued, sacrifices the insight of common sense
-to intensity of experience. It breeds an inability to accept new views from
-the very depth of its preoccupation with its won conclusions. It too often
-fails to see round its subject. It sees its results out of perspective by
-making them the centre of relevance to which all other results must be
-related. Too often, also, it lacks humility; and this breeds in its
-possessors a failure in proportion which makes them fail to see the obvious
-which is before their very noses. It has, also, a certain caste-spirit about
-it, so that experts tend to neglect all evidence which does not come from
-those who belong to their own ranks.
- Above all, perhaps, and this most urgently when human problems are
-concerned, the expert fails to see that every judgment he makes not purely
-factual in nature brings with it a scheme of values which has no special
-validity about it. He tends to confuse the importance of his facts with the
-importance of what he proposes to do about them.
- -- Harold J. Laski, "The Limitations of the Expert"
-~
-If women are to do the same work as men,
-we must teach them the same things.
- -- Plato
-~
-Dogs may fawn on all and some
-As they come;
-You, a friend of loftier mind,
-Answer friends alone in kind;
-Just your foot upon my hand
-Softly bids it understand.
- -- Algernon Charles Swinburne
-~
-The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-The machine does not isolate man from the great problems
-of nature but plunges him more deeply into them.
- -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
-~
-Today in USA Today, experts were quoted as saying that the breakup of
-Microsoft would result in shoddy products and missed deadlines...
-
-And Microsoft is worrying about being able to do business as usual.
-~
-The justice department has released its recommendations on
-names for the two parts of Microsoft, post split:
-
-MICROS~1 and MICROS~2
-~
-I think we should partition Microsoft into an OS company
-(called "C:") and an apps company ("D:"). Then we should
-blow away both partitions....
- -- Doug Steinfeld
-~
-Microsoft has argued in court that the US government's plan
-to break up the company is "defective in numerous respects,
-making the document vague and ambiguous."
-
-In which respect it's much like Microsoft's documentation.
-~
-Immediately after the announcement by Judge Penfield of splitting
-the company in two, Microsoft sued Micro.Com Specialists, LLC, and
-Software Research, Inc. (owners of www.soft.com) for infringement
-of copyrights and cyber-squatting.
-~
-your brain will enlarge as necessary. just don't get angry or
-confused or scared or sad, if possible... you'll be amazed at
-what that blob of cells is capable of.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-If you like laws and sausage, you should
-never watch either being made.
- -- Otto von Bismarck
-~
-The most happy marriage I can picture or imagine to myself
-would be the union of a deaf man to a blind woman.
- -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
-~
-A doctor can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only
-advise his clients to plant vines.
- -- Frank Lloyd Wright
-~
-He taught me housekeeping; when I divorce I keep the house.
- -- Zsa Zsa Gabor, speaking of her ex-husband
-~
-There is really no such thing as bad weather,
-only different kinds of good weather.
- -- John Ruskin
-~
-She's not a babe. She's a sophisticated real-time computer system.
- -- Spokesman for Ananova, a virtual news anchor
-~
-The man who laughs has not yet been told the terrible news.
- -- Berthold Brecht
-~
-I am easily satisfied with the very best.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-Uncertainty and expectations are the joys of life.
-Security is an insipid thing, and the overtaking and
-possessing of a wish, discovers the folly of the chase.
- -- William Congreve
-~
- Sleep is simply not dispensable, regardless of the attempts in
-today's society to treat it as if it were simply unproductive 'downtime'.
-The desire to get more sleep is not a sign of laziness, nor does it
-represent a lack of ambition. The need for sleep is real...
- When we try to sleep less than the 8-hour minimum, things start to
-deteriorate. First of all, the effects of less than 8 hours of sleep a
-night seem to accumulate as a sleep debt. If you lose 2 hours today and 2
-hours tomorrow, on the third day your efficiency is as low as if you had
-lost 4 hours in one night. This is the way our sleep debt builds up.
-Eventually, if the sleep debt becomes large enough, we become slow, clumsy,
-stupid, and, possibly, dead. This is not an exaggeration. Remember, the
-national death rate by accidents jumps 6 percent as a result of simply
-losing 1 hour of sleep as we shift to daylight savings time in the spring...
- Perhaps someday society will act to do something about sleepiness.
-It may even come to pass that someday the person who drives or goes to work
-while sleepy will be viewed as being as reprehensible, dangerous, or even
-criminally negligent as the person who drives or goes to work while drunk.
-If so, perhaps the rest of us can all sleep a little bit more soundly.
- -- Stanley Coren
-~
-You haven't lived until you've lived with a cat.
- -- Doris Day
-~
-When you appeal to force, there's one thing you must never do--lose.
- -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
-~
-It is because the body is a machine that education is possible.
-Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an
-artificial organization upon the natural organization of the body.
- -- Thomas H. Huxley
-~
- If someone asks you, "Where do you live?" you are likely to answer
-with the name of a neighborhood, or a nearby geographic landmark. But if you
-give the question a sharper focus and ask yourself "And do I really live
-there?" then the answer becomes more vexing. Most of us can't claim to
-really live in the neighborhoods where we sleep. Few of us have the time to
-take part in the life of the community, and in many cases there is no
-community life to take part in. To varying degrees many of us can say of
-our neighborhoods what Gertrude Stein said of Oakland: "There is no _there_
-there."
- Bodenstandigkeit is German philosopher Martin Heidegger's term for
-the sense of being rooted in a place. It is this connection to a place that
-grounds us in Being, Heidegger claimed, and even if you don't buy into the
-existential mumbo-jumbo, it's not hard to understand the underlying insight:
-People who have no rootedness to a place are tumbleweeds, blown about on the
-currents of the zeitgeist. You have to be somebody, from somewhere, to know
-who you are.
- -- Jeremy Iggers
-~
-You don't understand anything until you learn it more than one way.
- -- Marvin Minsky
-~
-When you confer spiritual authority on another person, you
-must realize that you are allowing them to pick your pocket
-and sell you your own watch.
- -- Alan Watts
-~
-What then is the education to be? Perhaps we could hardly find a
-better answer than that which the experience of the past has already
-discovered--which consists, I believe, in gymnastic for the body and
-music for the mind.
- -- Plato
-~
-The word 'genius' isn't applicable in football.
-A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.
- -- Joe Theisman, NFL quarterback
-~
-Sometimes the only way you can feel good about yourself is by making
-someone else look bad. And I'm tired of making other people feel good
-about themselves.
- -- Homer Simpson
-~
-I was determined to know beans.
- -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
-Today, the notion of a star-spangled melting pot seems quaint,
-of another age. Increasingly, America is a fractured landscape,
-its people partitioned into dozens of cultural enclaves, its
-ideals reflected through differing prisms of experience. And
-this fracturing is likely to continue as the self-concept of
-America shifts from a majority white-minority black nation to
-a pluralistic society of many ethnic and racial groups. At the
-close of what's been called the American Century, during which
-the nation emerged as the dominant world power in commerce and
-politics, old myths are dying hard and new ones are just being
-forged. In this clustered world, the national identity is
-changing, and most of us don't even know it. Forget the melting
-pot. America today would be better characterized as a salad bar.
- -- Michael J. Weiss
-~
-Personally, I'm always ready to learn,
-although I do not always like being taught.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-The Constitution only gives people the right to
-pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
- -- Ben Franklin
-~
-Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when
-you fall down an open manhole and die.
- -- Mel Brooks
-~
-As a general rule, the most successful man in
-life is the man who has the best information.
- -- Benjamin Disraeli
-~
-It is one of the blessings of old friends that
-you can afford to be stupid with them.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-A child of five would understand this.
-Send someone to fetch a child of five.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns
-on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-I've had a perfectly wonderful evening.
-But this wasn't it.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-Those are my principles, and if you don't like
-them... well, I have others.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-When I picked up your book I was so convulsed with laughter
-that I had to set it down, but one day I intend to read it.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-Some people claim that marriage interferes with romance.
-There's no doubt about it. Anytime you have a romance,
-your wife is bound to interfere.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-God has made the cat to give man the
-pleasure of caressing the tiger.
- -- Victor Hugo
-~
-We are not without accomplishment. We have
-managed to distribute poverty equally.
- -- Nguyen Co Thatch, Vietnamese Foreign
-~
-Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be
-always cast. In the pool where you least expect
-it, will be a fish.
- -- Ovid
-~
-If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is
-because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music
-which he hears, however measured or far away.
- -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
-The difficulty is to try and teach the multitude that something can
-be true and untrue at the same time.
- -- Arthur Schopenhauer
-~
-God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-People often applaud an imitation and then sneer at the real thing.
- -- Aesop
-~
-A thought which does not result
-in an action is nothing much,
-and an action which does not proceed
-from a thought is nothing at all.
- -- Georges Bernanos
-~
-given that:
-
-Security holes are only software bugs when
-one of the software's requirements is security.
-
-we wonder:
-
-do outlook, internet explorer and, indeed, windows
-itself have 'bugs'? because that would indicate
-that microsoft has a requirement of security...
-it seems more likely that any security problems are just
-a by-product of the microsoft swiss cheese development
-methodology(tm)... if it doesn't stink and have a lot
-of holes, then it's not from microsoft.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-The biggest fool in the world is he who merely does his work
-supremely well, without attending to appearance.
- -- Michael Korda
-~
-Now and then there is a person born who is so unlucky that he runs
-into accidents which started out to happen to somebody else.
- -- Don Marquis
-~
-Daydreaming does not enjoy tremendous prestige in our culture,
-which tends to regard it as unproductive thought. Writers
-perhaps appreciate its importance better than most, since a
-fair amount of what they call work consists of little more
-than daydreaming edited. Yet anyone who reads for pleasure
-should prize it too, for what is reading a good book but a
-daydream at second hand? Unlike any other form of thought,
-daydreaming is its own reward. For regardless of the result
-(if any), the very process of daydreaming is pleasurable.
-And, I would guess, is probably a psychological necessity.
-For isn't it in our daydreams that we acquire some sense of
-what we are about? Where we try on futures and practice our
-voices before committing ourselves to words or deeds?
-Daydreaming is where we go to cultivate the self, or, more
-likely, selves, out of the view and earshot of other people.
-Without its daydreams, the self is apt to shrink down to the
-size and shape of the estimation of others.
- -- Michael Pollan
-~
-Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe,
-a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride,
-and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently
-regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are
-entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and
-vagaries of the crowd.
- -- Dame Edith Sitwell
-~
-There are times when I think that the ideal library is
-composed solely of reference books. They are like
-understanding friends--always ready to change the subject
-when you have had enough of this or that.
- -- J. Donald Adams
-~
-Mothers, fathers, aren't supposed to change, any more than
-they are supposed to leave, or die. They must not do that.
- -- Martin Amis
-~
-The greatest obstacle to discovery is not
-ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge.
- -- Daniel J. Boorstin
-~
-Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing.
-Nobody listens--and then everybody disagrees.
- -- Boris Marshalov
-~
-All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song.
- -- Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong
-~
-Creative minds have always been known
-to survive any kind of bad training.
- -- Anna Freud
-~
-Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.
- -- Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower
-~
-I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry.
-That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste.
- -- David Bissonette
-~
-I married the first man I ever kissed.
-When I tell my children that they just about throw up.
- -- Barbara Bush
-~
-The trouble with some women is they get all excited
-about nothing--and then they marry him.
- -- Cher
-~
-Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people
-who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm.
-But the harm does not interest them.
- -- T. S. Eliot
-~
-When you're finished changing, you're finished.
- -- Benjamin Franklin
-~
-It is time we start searching for the fountain of age, time that
-we stop denying our growing older and look at the actuality of our
-own experience, and that of other women and men who have gone
-beyond denial to a new place in their sixties, seventies, eighties.
-It is time to look at age on its own terms, and put names on its
-values and strengths as they are actually experienced, breaking
-through the definition of age solely as deterioration or decline
-from youth. Only then will we see that the problem is not age
-itself, to be denied or warded off as long as possible, that the
-problem is not those increasing numbers of people living beyond
-sixty-five, to be segregated from the useful, valuable, pleasurable
-activities of society so that the rest of us can keep our illusion
-of staying forever young. Nor is the basic political problem the
-burden on society of those forced into deterioration, second
-childhood, even senility. The problem is not how we can stay young
-forever, personally--or avoid facing society's problems politically
-by shifting them onto age. The problem is, first of all, how to
-break through the cocoon of our illusory youth and risk a new stage
-in life, where there are not prescribed role models to follow, no
-guidepost, no rigid rules or visible rewards, to step out into the
-true existential unknown of these new years of life now open to us,
-and to find our own terms for living it.
- -- Betty Friedan
-~
-When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third
-of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and
-two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-Blessed are they who have nothing to say
-and who cannot be persuaded to say it.
- -- James Russell Lowell
-~
- Personal computers are less able to sense human presence
-than are modern toilets or outdoor floodlights that have simple
-motion sensors. Your inexpensive auto-focus camera has more
-intelligence about what is in front of it than any terminal or
-computer system.
- When you lift your hands from your computer keyboard, it
-does not know whether the pause is reflective, a nature break,
-or an interruption for lunch. It cannot tell the difference
-between talking to you alone or in front of six other people.
-It does not know if you are in your night-or party clothes or
-no clothes at all. For all it knows, you could have your back
-to it while it was showing you something important, or you
-could be out of earshot altogether while it was speaking to you.
- We think today solely from the perspective of what would
-make it easier for a person to use a computer. It may be time
-to ask what will make it easier for computers to deal with
-humans. For example, how can you possibly hold a conversation
-with people if you don't even know they are there? You can't
-see them, and you don't know how many there are. Are they
-smiling? Are they even paying attention? We talk longingly
-about human-computer interactions and conversational systems,
-and yet we are fully prepared to leave one participant in this
-dialogue totally in the dark. It is time to make computers see
-and hear.
- -- Nicholas Negroponte
-~
-The energy produced by the breaking down of the
-atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who
-expects a source of power from the transformation
-of these atoms is talking moonshine.
- -- Ernest Rutherford
-~
-Finance is the art of passing currency from
-hand to hand until it finally disappears.
- -- Robert W. Sarnoff
-~
- The scientific community speaks about its work in a cool
-and disinterested manner. To present an exciting profile
-would be unprofessional. Any excess of emotion would suggest
-a lack of neutrality and therefore a tendency to read what
-they want in the facts rather than reporting what they see.
-Scientific objectivity must therefore appear to be boring.
- Scientists are well aware that their work is neither
-boring nor objective. If it were, very few discoveries would
-be made.
- Social science, being falsely empirical, is triply
-obsessed by the obligation to present itself as the objective
-interpretation of observed reality. Since the more or less
-hard edges of scientific inquiry are not involved, social
-scientists are free to be more categorical about truth,
-reality and what they call facts. They therefore seek to be
-more boring than scientists.
- -- John Ralston Saul
-~
-Despair is perfectly compatible with a good dinner, I promise you.
- -- William M. Thackeray
-~
-A genius is someone who can do anything except make a living.
- -- Joey Adams
-~
-If you like a man's laugh before you know anything of him,
-you may say with confidence that he is a good man.
- -- Fyodor Dostoevski
-~
-Fortune befriends the bold.
- -- John Dryden
-~
-Success in almost any field depends more on energy
-and drive than it does on intelligence. This explains
-why we have so many stupid leaders.
- -- Sloan Wilson
-~
-Socialism is Bolshevism with a shave.
- -- Detroit Journal
-~
-I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
- -- Noel Coward
-~
-Give a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day.
-Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
-~
-It is a myth, not a mandate, a fable not a logic,
-and symbol rather than a reason by which men are moved.
- -- Irwin Edman
-~
-Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you're on a dead horse, the best
-strategy is to dismount. Of course, there are other strategies. You
-can change riders. You can get a committee to study the dead horse.
-You can benchmark how other companies ride dead horses. You can
-declare that it's cheaper to feed a dead horse. You can harness
-several dead horses together. But after you've tried all these things,
-you're still going to have to dismount.
- -- Gary Hamel
-~
-You think it's a conspiracy by the networks to put bad shows on TV.
-But the shows are bad because that's what people want. It's not like
-Windows users don't have any power; I think they are happy with
-Windows, and that's an incredibly depressing thought.
- -- Steve Jobs
-~
-Coaches have to watch for what they don't want to see
-and listen to what they don't want to hear.
- -- John Madden
-~
-Never forget the power of silence, that massively disconcerting
-pause which goes on and on and may at last induce an opponent to
-babble and backtrack nervously.
- -- Lance Morrow
-~
-Florence Nightingale, on her kitten's reaction to an older cat:
-
-"The little one stands her ground, and when the old enemy comes near
-enough kisses his nose and makes the peace. That is the lesson of
-life: to kiss one's enemy's nose always standing one's ground."
-~
- In the game known as Broken Telephone (or Chinese Whispers) a child
-whispers a phrase into the ear of a second child, who whispers it into
-the ear of a third child, and so one. Distortions accumulate, and when
-the last child announces the phrase, it is comically different from the
-original. The game works because each child does not merely degrade the
-phrase, which would culminate in a mumble, but reanalyzes it, making a
-best guess about the words the preceding child had in mind.
- All languages change through the centuries. We do not speak like
-Shakespeare (1564-1616), who did not speak like Chaucer (1343-1400), who
-did not speak like the author of Beowulf (around 750-800). As the
-changes take place, people feel the ground eroding under their feet and
-in every era have predicted the imminent demise of the language. Yet
-the twelve hundred years of changes since Beowulf have not left us
-grunting like Tarzan, and that is because language change is a game of
-Broken Telephone.
- A generation of speakers uses their lexicon and grammar to produce
-sentences. The younger generation listens to the sentences and tries to
-infer the lexicon and grammar, the remarkable feat we call language
-acquisition. The transmission of a lexicon and grammar in language
-acquisition is fairly high in fidelity -- you probably can communicate
-well with your parents and your children -- but it is never perfect.
-Words rise and fall in popularity, as the needs of daily life change, and
-also as the hip try to sound different from the dweebs and graybeards.
-Speakers swallow or warp some sounds to save effort, and enunciate or
-shift others to make themselves understood. Immigrants or conquerors
-with regional or foreign accents may swamp the locals and change the pool
-of speech available to children.
- Children, for their part, do not mimic sentences like parrots but try
-to make sense of them in terms of underlying words and rules. They may
-hear a mumbled consonant as no consonant at all, or a drawn-out or
-mispronounced vowel as a different vowel. They may fail to discern the
-rationale for a rule and simply memorize its outputs as a list. Or they
-may latch on to some habitual way of ordering words and hypothesize a new
-rule to make sense of it. The language of their generation will have
-changed, though it need not have deteriorated. Then the process is
-repeated with their children. Each change may be small, but as changes
-accumulate over centuries they reshape the language just as erosion and
-sedimentation imperceptibly sculpt the earth.
- -- Steven Pinker
-~
-Ideas won't keep: something must be done about them.
- -- Alfred North Whitehead
-~
-Simple solutions seldom are. It takes a very unusual
-mind to undertake analysis of the obvious.
- -- Alfred North Whitehead
-~
-Ninety-Ninety Rule n.
- "The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the
-development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the
-other 90% of the development time." Attributed to Tom Cargill of
-Bell Labs, and popularized by Jon Bentley's September 1985
-"Bumper-Sticker Computer Science" column in "Communications of
-the ACM".
- It was there called the "Rule of Credibility", a name which
-seems not to have stuck. Other maxims in the same vein include
-the law attributed to the early British computer scientist Douglas
-Hartree: "The time from now until the completion of the project
-tends to become constant."
-~
-Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
- -- Edward Abbey
-~
-No matter how bad things get
-you got to go on living,
-even if it kills you.
- -- Sholom Aleichem
-~
-A man's palate can, in time, become accustomed to anything.
- -- Napoleon Bonaparte
-~
-Because they did not see merit where they should have seen it,
-people, to express their regret, will go and leave a lot of
-money to the very people who will be the first to throw stones
-at the next person who has anything to say and finds a difficulty
-in getting a hearing.
- -- Samuel Butler
-~
-I praise loudly, I blame softly.
- -- Catherine II of Russia
-~
-Deny yourself! You must deny yourself!
-That is the song that never ends.
- -- Goethe
-~
-There are few more doleful sounds than the
-laughter of a man without humour.
- -- Michael Holroyd
-~
-Children are the first to lose their innocence,
-artists the second: idiots never.
- -- Augustus John
-~
-What is the good of being an island,
-if you are not a volcanic island?
- -- Wyndham Lewis
-~
-Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you
-have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.
- -- Emily Post
-~
- Most human beings have to spend their lives in utter vulnerability.
-All are murderable and torturable, and survive only through the restraint
-shown by more powerful neighbors. All are born unequal, in terms of
-capacity or strength. All are born to the inherent frailty of the human
-condition, naked and helpless, vulnerable all through life to the will of
-others, limited by ignorance, limited by physical weakness, limited by
-fear, limited by the phobias that fear engenders.
- For nearly three thousand years now, the political and social genius
-of what we can permissibly call 'Western man' has struggled with these
-brute facts of our unsatisfactory existence. Ever since the Hebrews
-discovered personal moral responsibility and the Greeks discovered the
-autonomy of the citizen, the effort has been made--with setbacks and
-defeats, with dark ages and interregnums and any number of irrelevant
-adventures on the side-to create a social order in which weak, fallible,
-obstinate, silly, magnificent man can maintain his dignity and exercise his
-free and responsible choice.
- -- Adlai Stevenson
-~
-Let us work without theorizing. It's the only way to
-make life endurable.
- -- Voltaire
-~
-At many human faults a cat
-Will never take offense:
-Two things though they cannot stand:
-The wretched Door, the horrid Fence.
- -- Brian Aldiss
-~
-I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-[Chess is] as elaborate a waste of human intelligence
-as you can find outside an advertising agency.
- -- Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) U.S. crime-fiction writer
-~
-Chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are
-doing something very clever when they are only wasting their time.
- -- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1960) Irish playwright, critic
-~
-Every moment in life is precious; that's why I play chess.
- -- Joseph Siroker, coffee house chess player and guru
-~
-I don't want any yes-men around me. I want everybody
-to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs.
- -- Samuel Goldwyn
-~
-A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can
-prove that you don't need it.
- -- Bob Hope
-~
-Giving money and power to government is like
-giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
- -- P. J. O'Rourke
-~
-The very moral person usually has quite good manners because good
-manners are usually some sort of basic consideration.
- -- Louis Auchincloss
-~
-It takes little talent to see clearly what lies under one's nose,
-a good deal of it to know in which direction to point that organ.
- -- W. H. Auden
-~
-On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], "Pray, Mr.
-Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers
-come out?" I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of
-ideas that could provoke such a question.
- -- Charles Babbage
-~
-Knowledge and human power are synonymous.
- -- Francis Bacon
-~
-The man who can drive himself further once the
-effort gets painful is the man who will win.
- -- Roger Bannister
-~
-You grow up on the day you have your first real laugh at yourself.
- -- Ethel Barrymore
-~
-I think one of the reasons I'm popular again is
-because I'm wearing a tie. You have to be different.
- -- Tony Bennett
-~
-When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
- -- Yogi Berra
-~
-With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half,
-and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.
- -- Otto Von Bismarck
-~
-Humor is by far the most significant activity of the human brain.
- -- Edward De Bono
-~
-I have discovered that we may be in some degree whatever character
-we choose. Besides, practice forms a man to anything.
- -- James Boswell
-~
-There are no small parts, only small actors.
- -- Marlon Brando
-~
-Charm is a way of getting the answer 'yes'
-without having asked any clear question.
- -- Albert Camus
-~
-Instead of looking at life as a narrowing funnel, we can see it
-ever widening to choose the things we want to do, to take the
-wisdom we've learned and create something.
- -- Liz Carpenter
-~
-Life at university, with its intellectual and inconclusive discussions
-at a postgraduate level is on the whole a bad training for the real world.
-Only men of very strong character surmount this handicap.
- -- Paul Chambers
-~
- The First Daily Sin is imitation. How can the network evening
-news programs be so similar? We're in a commercial, highly competitive
-struggle for viewers, and yet our solution for standing out in the
-marketplace is--do just what the competition is doing. CBS research shows
-that half the viewers of any given evening news broadcast--on CBS, NBC, or
-ABC--only watch that particular program one night a week. The implication
-is obvious: To these viewers, it doesn't make much of a difference which
-one they watch--or whether they watch at all.
- The Second Daily Sin is predictability. How often are you surprised
-by something you see on the news?
- The Third Daily Sin is artificiality. If you stop and really
-listen to how a typical television reporter tells a story, you'll hear how
-artificial it sounds. Even words--'pontiff' comes quickly to mind--that you
-never hear in real life. Nobody talks that way--except for us.
- The Fourth Daily Sin is laziness. The people I work with put in
-long hours and are very devoted to their jobs. They're certainly not lazy
-in the conventional sense. But I think we've all become lazy in our
-thinking, in our reluctance to dig out original stories and come up with
-new ways to tell them.
- The Fifth Daily Sin is oversimplification. Our audience is smarter
-and more thoughtful than a lot of us think. The people out there in America
-know that life is not as simple as what they see on the news: a world of
-heroes and villains, winners and losers, exploiters and victims. Yet that's
-what we show them, night after night.
- The Sixth Daily Sin is hype. Can you remember the last 'story
-you'll never forget?' How about the one before that? I can't. Over the
-years we've exaggerated so much that we've eroded our own ability to convey
-what's truly significant.
- The Seventh Daily Sin is cynicism. I think we're cynical about the
-audience and cynical about our ability to make a difference in peoples'
-lives. Journalists today are held in low esteem, but that doesn't have to
-be. Our viewers and listeners are also hungry for honest information, for
-help in coping with a bewildering world. We have an enormous opportunity to
-win our good name back--and insure our own survival in the bargain.
- -- Andrew Heyward, President of CBS News
-~
-Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.
- -- Benjamin Disraeli
-~
-Dr. Laura eats the Bible, live
-------------------------------
- Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to
-people who call in to her radio show. Paramount Television Group is
-currently producing a "Dr. Laura" television show. She has become a
-convert to Judaism, and now she is Ba'al T'shuvah.
- Recently, she made some statements about homosexuals, based on
-biblical edicts. The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura that
-was posted on the internet.
-
---
-
-Dear Dr. Laura,
- Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law.
-I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that
-knowledge with as many people as I can.
- When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example,
-I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an
-abomination. End of debate.
- Now I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the
-specific laws and how to best follow them.
- a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates
-a pleasing odour for the Lord (Lev.1:9). The problem is my neighbours.
-They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
- b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in
-Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair
-price for her?
- c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in
-her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev.15:19-24). The problem is, how
-do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.
- d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and
-female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend
-of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can
-you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
- e) I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus
-35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated
-to kill him myself?
- f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an
-Abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality.
-I don't agree. Can you settle this?
- g) Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I
-have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses.
-Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
- h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair
-around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.
-19:27. How should they die?
- i) I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes
-me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
- j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two
-different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments
-made of two different kinds of thread (cotton / polyester blend). He
-also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we
-go to the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them?
-(Lev. 24:10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family
-affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
- I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident
-you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is
-eternal and unchanging.
-Your devoted disciple and adoring fan,
-Aaron
-~
-Logic, like whiskey, loses its beneficial effect
-when taken in too large quantities.
- -- Lord Dunsany
-~
-It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-It is theory that decides what can be observed.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
- It would be too pat, perhaps, to say that modern people, men and
-women, expect the unexpected. But they certainly expect, or are inured
-to, constant change... Unquestionably, people sense constant movement,
-change, alteration, and 'progress'. Even clothes are supposed to change
-from year to year: there is this year's fashion, and last year's fashion,
-and the fashions of the year before.
- Then there is the idea of 'news,' that is, of something novel
-happening every day, something worth reporting. Millions of people wake up
-in the morning and watch the news on television; they may also listen to
-radio news throughout the day and later catch the evening television news.
-It would be unthinkable to read in the newspapers or to hear on television
-that 'nothing much happened today.' There is always news, always something
-going on, always change. Some days bring major headlines; other days are
-quieter. But there is never no news: the message we get every day is that
-things are never exactly the same.
- -- Lawrence M. Friedman, from "The Horizontal Society"
-~
-Education makes us more stupid than the brutes. A thousand voices
-call to us on every hand, but our ears are stopped with wisdom.
- -- Jean Giraudoux
-~
-I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier
-to answer questions. I can't answer your question.
- -- Presidential candidate GW Bush, in response to a question about
- whether he wished he could take back any of his answers in the
- first debate. Reynoldsburg, Ohio, Oct. 4, 2000
-~
-Notice the difference between what happens when a man
-says to himself, "I have failed three times," and what
-happens when he says, "I am a failure."
- -- S. I. Hayakawa
-~
-If you always do what interests you,
-at least one person is pleased.
- -- Katharine Hepburn
-~
-I cannot imagine a pleasant retired life of peace
-and meditation without a cat in the house.
- -- Paul Von Hindenberg
-~
-Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of
-are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the
-past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping.
- -- Eric Hoffer
-~
-It is cheering to see that the rats are
-still around--the ship is not sinking.
- -- Eric Hoffer
-~
-Always keep faith in the mind of clear light and be safe!
- -- Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
- Until now, in the Western world, leisure was the exclusive
-possession of a privileged class, which took upon itself the task of
-playing on behalf of the whole overworked society. For all the injustices
-which this entailed, it can be argued that this inequality in the
-distribution of leisure gave the minority that enjoyed it a certain
-responsibility for the quality of its amusements.
- Today our machines have turned leisure into an almost universal
-and obligatory state, one which many of us are finding enervating and even
-painful. To live free of the burden of grinding toil is the oldest of
-man's dreams. Yet no sooner has he rid himself of the accursed necessity
-of earning his living by the sweat of his brow, then he is confronted by a
-huge and alarming vacuum which -- if he is not to go mad -- must be quickly
-and entirely filled. With this new and abundant leisure come certain
-inescapable demands not to squander unimaginatively the resources that
-industrialization has opened for us. Many of us-consciously seldom, but
-unconsciously often-find this challenge so disturbing that we flee back to
-artificially strenuous work or even to war in order to escape the
-perplexities of choice presented to abundant leisure.
- This is a problem which you, as members of the Mass Audience, will
-be sharing with hundreds of millions of your fellow citizens the world over.
- -- John Houseman
-~
-If you want to write, keep cats.
- -- Aldous Huxley
-~
-It is because the body is a machine that education is possible.
-Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an artificial
-organization upon the natural organization of the body.
- -- Thomas H. Huxley
-~
-If you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it.
- -- William James
-~
-Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of
-a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
-The surest way to forfeit the esteem of a cat is to
-treat him as an inferior being.
- -- Michael Joseph
-~
-When you learn not to want things so badly, life comes to you.
- -- Jessica Lange
-~
-Don't tell me how hard you work.
-Tell me how much you get done.
- -- James Ling
-~
-The misfortunes hardest to bear are these which never came.
- -- James Russell Lowell
-~
-Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution.
- -- Mae West
-~
-A bachelor is a selfish, undeserving guy who has
-cheated some woman out of a divorce.
- -- Don Quinn
-~
-Serocki's Stricture: Marriage is always a bachelor's last option.
-~
-The gods gave man fire and he invented fire engines.
-They gave him love and he invented marriage.
-~
-When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane,
-most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are required to swear
-that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and exhausting condition
-continuously until death do them part.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-Marriage is nature's way of keeping people from fighting with strangers.
-~
-If you're upset and wonder what your wife does with
-all the grocery money, stand sideways and look at yourself.
-~
-I don't worry about terrorism;
-I was married for two years.
- -- Sam Kinison
-~
-Every man wants a wife who is beautiful, understanding,
-economical and a good cook. Unfortunately, the law allows
-only one wife.
-~
-Men are men before they are lawyers, or physicians, or merchants, or
-manufacturers; and if you make them capable and sensible men, they
-will make themselves capable and sensible lawyers or physicians.
- -- John Stuart Mill
-~
- Most of America's millionaires are first-generation rich. How is
-it possible for people from modest backgrounds to become millionaires in
-one generation? Why is it that so many people with similar socioeconomic
-backgrounds never accumulate even modest amounts of wealth?
- Most people who become millionaires have confidence in their own
-abilities. They do not spend time worrying about whether or not their
-parents were wealthy. They do not believe that one must be born wealthy.
-Conversely, people of modest backgrounds who believe that only the wealthy
-produce millionaires are predetermined to remain non-affluent. Have you
-always thought that most millionaires are born with silver spoons in their
-mouths? If so, consider the following facts that our research uncovered
-about American millionaires:
- * Only 19 percent receive any income or wealth of any kind from a
- trust fund or an estate.
- * Fewer than 20 percent inherited 10 percent or more of their wealth.
- * More than half never received as much as $1 in inheritance.
- * Fewer than 25 percent ever received "an act of kindness" of $10,000
- or more from their parents, grandparents, or other relatives.
- * Ninety-one percent never received, as a gift, as much as $1 of the
- ownership of a family business.
- * Nearly half never received any college tuition from their parents
- or other relatives.
- * Fewer than 10 percent believe they will ever receive an inheritance
- in the future.
- America continues to hold great prospects for those who wish to
-accumulate wealth in one generation. In fact, America has always been a
-land of opportunity for those who believe in the fluid nature of our
-nation's social system and economy.
- -- from the book "The Millionaire Next Door"
-~
- In Rome, Athens, and Sparta, honor alone was the reward for the
-greatest of services. A wreath of oak-leaves or laurel, a statue or public
-congratulations was an immense reward for winning a battle or capturing a town.
- In these cities, a man who had accomplished some great feat was
-sufficiently rewarded by the accomplishment itself. He could not meet any
-of his fellow-citizens without feeling the pleasure of having done
-something for them; he could calculate the extent of his services by the
-number of his countrymen. Everybody is capable of doing good to one man,
-but it is god-like to contribute to the happiness of an entire society."
- -- Montesquieu
-~
-I'll let you in on a secret. George Bush is not going to
-be the next president of the United States. Get over it,
-folks. It's not going to happen.
- -- Michael Moore, 9/21/2000, quoted by Eun-Kyung Kim (AP)
-~
- As I considered the premise put forth in the meeting room: that
-the shortest road to wisdom and peace with the world is the one that turns
-inward, away from direct sensory contact with other creatures. I will not
-assert that meditation, psychotherapy, and philosophical introspection are
-unproductive, but I simply can't accept that inward is the only or best way
-for everyone to turn. The more disciplined practitioners of contemplative
-traditions can turn inward and still get beyond the self, but many others
-simply become swamped by self-indulgence. There are far too many people
-living in our society who forget daily that other creatures--five kingdoms'
-worth of them--are cohabiting the planet with us.
- Over half a century ago, Robinson Jeffers suggested that it may be
-just as valid to turn outward: "The whole human race spends too much
-emotion on itself. The happiest and freest man is the scientist
-investigating nature or the artist admiring it, the person who is
-interested in things that are not human. Or if he is interested in human
-beings, let him regard them objectively as a small part of the great music."
- -- Gary Paul Nabhan
-~
-SWM 33, black belt kama sutra, seeking wonder woman. bring me your
-inhibitions and i will shatter them, you sweet thing. no violence.
-no caustics. sin is the word of restriction, so come pet my crowley.
-aleister can cook; aunt jemima treatment for all.
-~
-Chance favors only the prepared mind.
- -- Louis Pasteur
-~
-I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
-I lift my eyes and all is born again.
- -- Sylvia Plath
-~
-Books do furnish a room.
- -- Anthony Powell
-~
- For the benefit of the two or three other people in this society
-who don't know what 'Cats' is about, here's the answer: It's about a bunch
-of cats. The cats jump around in a postnuclear junkyard for some two and a
-half hours, bumping and grinding to that curiously Mesozoic pop music for
-which Andrew Lloyd Webber is famous--the kind of full-tilt truckin' that
-sounds like the theme from 'The Mod Squad.' There's an Elvis impersonator
-cat, and a cat that looks like Cyndi Lauper, and a cat that looks like
-Phyllis Diller. All the other cast members look like Jon Bon Jovi with two
-weeks of facial growth.
- Sure, 'Cats' is allegedly based upon the works of T. S. Eliot, but
-from what I could tell, the show had about as much to do with the author of
-'The Waste Land' as those old Steve Reeves movies had to do with Euripides.
-'Cats' is what 'Grease' would look like if all the cast members dressed up
-like KISS. To give you an idea of how bad 'Cats' is, think of a musical
-where you're actually glad to hear 'Memory' reprised a third time because
-all the other songs are so awful. Think of a musical where the songs are so
-bad that 'Memory' starts to sound like 'Ol' Man River' by comparison.
-That's how bad 'Cats' is.
- -- Joe Queenan
-~
-Originality consists in trying to be like everybody else--and failing.
- -- Raymond Radiguet
-~
-green sandwich glowing bright, thou droppest mushrooms
-on my tights, i slackly drool and whine and moan, for i
-will soon give you a better, more acidic home.
-~
-By all means marry. If you get a good wife you will become
-happy, and if you get a bad one you will become a philosopher.
- -- Socrates
-~
-The life of the creative man is lead, directed, and controlled by
-boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes.
- -- Saul Steinberg
-~
-The new generation of software must be designed from day one to be pirated.
- -- CinemaElectric CEO Jim Robinson
-~
-thought is the only antidote to stupidity,
-but stupid people don't realize they need it.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-i don't have to speak
-in haiku at all times since
-i am way too cool
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
- What is more interesting in this world than our fellow human
-beings and other living creatures? Why do we know so few of what must be
-out there? What kind of philistines are we? Yet we can make a more
-practical point than this. We need to interact with other species whether
-we want to or not. They are our food and our environment: homes, scenery,
-soil, even the oxygen in the air is provided by courtesy of plants and
-photosynthesizing bacteria. We need actively to exploit our fellow
-creatures to survive. This is not an option: we have to exploit them unless
-we prefer to die. Therefore purely for selfish reasons (as well as for
-reasons that we may hope are less selfish) we also need to conserve them.
-Besides, even if we learnt to do without our fellow creatures--perhaps
-found some inexhaustible supply of food on some distant planet--they would
-not necessarily ignore us. We are flesh, too, for all our conceit, and many
-are more than happy to feed upon us. To contain, exploit, or conserve our
-fellow creatures we need to keep tabs on them.
- -- Colin Tudge
-~
- Nature's technology occurs on the surface of the same planet as
-that of human culture, so it endures the same physical and chemical
-limitations and must use the same materials. But nature copes and invents
-in a way fundamentally different from what we do. At the very least, the
-rate at which she alters herself is glacial by our cultural standard.
- The very shapes of the two technologies differ dramatically. Just
-look around you. Right angles are everywhere: the edges of this page, desk
-corners, street corners, floor corners, shelves, doors, boxes, bricks, and
-on and on. Then look at field, park, or forest. Where are the right angles?
-Absent? No, but rare, which raises questions. Why so few right angles in
-nature? Why do civilizations find them so serviceable?
- Natural and human technologies differ extensively and pervasively.
-We build dry and stiff structures; nature mostly makes hers wet and
-flexible. We build of metals; nature never does. Our hinges mainly slide;
-hers mostly bend. We do wonders with wheels and rotary motion; nature makes
-fully competent boats, aircraft, and terrestrial vehicles that lack them
-entirely. Our engines expand or spin; hers contract or slide. We fabricate
-large devices directly; nature's large things are cunning proliferations of
-tiny components.
- -- Steven Vogel's, from "Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds
- of Nature and People"
-~
-If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-I will be brief. Not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the
-world's shortest speech. He said I will be so brief I have already
-finished, and he sat down.
- -- Edward O. Wilson
-~
-yahoo throws a shoe;
-trouble in digital zone
-e-log drops out chute
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Take care not to step on the foot of a learned idiot.
-His bite is incurable.
- -- Paul Gaugin
-~
-A great sailor can sail even with a torn canvas. -- Seneca
-~
-What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists?
-In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet.
- -- Woody Allen
-~
- Unlike the Industrial Revolution, the Biomimicry Revolution
-introduces an era based not on what we can extract from nature, but on what
-we can learn from her... 'doing it nature's way' has the potential to
-change the way we grow food, make materials, harness energy, heal
-ourselves, store information, and conduct business.
- In a biomimetic world, we would manufacture the way animals and
-plants do, using sun and simple compounds to produce totally biodegradable
-fibers, ceramics, plastics, and chemicals. Our farms, modeled on prairies,
-would be self-fertilizing and pest-resistant. To find new drugs or crops,
-we would consult animals and insects that have used plants for millions of
-years to keep themselves healthy and nourished. Even computing would take
-its cue from nature, with software that "evolves" solutions, and hardware
-that uses the lock-and-key paradigm to compute by touch.
- In each case, nature would provide the models: solar cells copied
-from leaves, steely fibers woven spider-style, shatterproof ceramics drawn
-from mother-of-pearl, cancer cures compliments of chimpanzees, perennial
-grains inspired by tallgrass, computers that signal like cells, and a
-closed-loop economy that takes its lessons from redwoods, coral reefs, and
-oak-hickory forests.
- The biomimics are discovering what works in the natural world, and
-more important, what lasts. After 3.8 billion years of research and
-development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to
-survival. The more our world looks and functions like this natural world,
-the more likely we are to be accepted on this home that is ours, but not
-ours alone.
- -- Janine M. Benyus
-~
-It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep,
-than a sheep at the head of an army of lions.
- -- Daniel Defoe
-~
-stinky pinky in
-my eye, i must cry out at
-your nail gouge like lye.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-What one knows is, in youth, of little moment;
-they know enough who know how to learn.
- -- Henry Adams
-~
-One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.
- -- Walter Bagehot
-~
-A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation
-with the bricks that others throw at him or her.
- -- David Brinkley
-~
-Nobody who is not prepared to spoil cats will get
-from them the reward they are able to give.
- -- Compton MacKenzie
-~
- The other night when I went into a restaurant in Santa Monica,
-there was one president--Clinton. When I ordered a pizza there
-was another one--Gore. When I paid the bill there was a third
-president--Bush, and when I walked out onto Ocean Boulevard there
-was no president because Bill is now the husband of a senator from
-New York.
- Today I am witnessing the spectacle of a hyper-technological
-America which is sitting on the ruins of its electoral system
-waiting for absentee ballots in the mail.
- -- Bepe Severgnini, columnist for Milan's Corriere della Sera
-~
-do you think it would hurt very much to swallow a whole egg, in shell?
-would it be better to boil it first so it's hard or to leave it runny?
-i'm wondering which way would be most likely to keep the shell from
-breaking before it exits the body...
-~
-I will do everything in my power to restrict abortions.
- -- George W. Bush, Dallas Morning News, October 22, 1994
-~
-I saw the report that children in Texas are going hungry. Where?
-You'd think the governor would have heard if there are pockets of
-hunger in Texas.
- -- George W. Bush, whose state ranks 2nd in total number of children
- living in poverty, to Austin American Statesman, 12/18/99
-~
-"Please," Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "don't kill me."
- -- Bush mocking what Karla Faye Tucker said on Larry King when asked,
- "What would you say to Governor Bush?" prior to her execution by
- lethal injection as reported by Talk magazine, September 1999
-~
-An atmosphere of adolescence, a lack of gravitas--a carelessness, even a
-recklessness, perhaps born of things having gone a bit too easily so far.
- -- George Will, August 11, 1999, referring to Talk magazine's
- interview with Bush
-~
-Sitting down and reading a 500-page book on
-public policy or philosophy or something.
- -- GW Bush was asked to name something he isn't
- good at by Talk magazine, September 1999 issue
-~
-Bush should not advertise any allergy to serious things. A critical
-mass of lightness in a candidate causes the public mind to snap closed,
-with the judgement, "Not ready for prime time."
- -- George Will, August 11, 1999
-~
-Bush is taking a political party on his ride. He and it will care if
-on Nov. 7, 2000, people think of Gore or Bradley as an unexciting but
-serious professor and of him as an amiable fraternity boy, but a boy.
- -- George Will, August 11, 1999
-~
-What I'm against is quotas. I'm against hard quotas, quotas that
-basically delineate based upon whatever. However they delineate,
-quotas, I think, vulcanize society.
- -- George W. Bush (Austin American-Statesman 3/23/99)
-~
-Son, I love your strategy: Don't let them get to know you.
- -- Barbara Bush
-~
-If George is elected President, it would destroy my faith
-in the office because he is such an ordinary guy.
- -- David Rosen, Midland geologist & former neighbor of GW Bush
-~
-He's this week's pet rock.
- -- unknown, regarding GW Bush
-~
-There ought to be limits to freedom. We're aware of the site,
-and this guy is just a garbage man.
- -- GW Bush, commenting on the website www.gwbush.com
-~
-The Bush network is the only genuine network in the
-Republican Party. It is the Establishment.
- -- Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard
-~
-"I will look at each piece of legislation when
-it makes it to my desk," and "I will review that
-when it makes it to my desk."
- -- GW Bush, refusing to comment on anything
- before it's absolutely unavoidable
-~
-Reporters noticed four Latino men sitting at the Plaza, looking bored,
-wearing matching shirts from Buena Vista Farms. Buena Vista, it turns
-out, is a horse ranch run by Gerald Parsky, Bush's California chairman.
-The four men said they were brought to the event and were being paid
-their regular wages for attending.
- -- Salon Magazine reporting on a Bush fundraiser in California
-~
-Asked how he would define "compassionate conservatism," Bush replied:
- "Making sure every child can read, making sure that we encourage
- faith-based organizations... when it comes to helping neighbors in
- need, making sure that our neighborhoods are safe, making sure that
- the state of Texas recognizes that people from all walks of life have
- got a shot at the Texas dream but, most importantly, making sure that
- government is not the answer to people's problems."
-This may be the only time a candidate promised not to solve any problems
-(with the possible exception of Utah Phillips, who ran on the "Sloth &
-Indolence" platform.)
- -- from georgebush2000.com
-~
-I'd demand a recount.
- -- William F. Buckley, in the early '60s, in response to a
- reporter's question asking him what he would do if he
- were to win in his race for the office of Mayor of New York
-~
-Half of the American people have never read a newspaper.
-Half never voted for President.
-One hopes it is the same half.
- -- Gore Vidal
-~
-Start every day off with a smile and get it over with. -- W. C. Fields
-~
-Every man wishes to be wise,
-and they who cannot be wise are almost always cunning.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
-Finally, in conclusion, let me say just this.
- -- Peter Sellers
-~
- When issues of public policy are discussed in the outward form
-of an argument, often the conclusions reached are predetermined by
-the assumptions and definitions inherent in a particular vision of
-social processes. Different visions, of course, have different
-assumptions, so it is not uncommon for people who follow different
-visions to find themselves in opposition to one another across a
-vast spectrum of unrelated issues, in such disparate fields as law,
-foreign policy, the environment, racial policy, military defense,
-education, and many others. To a remarkable extent, however,
-empirical evidence is neither sought beforehand nor consulted after
-a policy has been instituted. Facts may be marshaled for a position
-already taken, but that is very different from systematically
-testing opposing theories by evidence. Momentous questions are
-dealt with essentially as conflicts of vision.
- -- Thomas Sowell, from "The Vision of the Anointed"
-~
-An election is a moral horror, as bad as a battle except for the
-blood; a mud bath for every soul concerned in it.
- -- George Bernard Shaw, "Back to Methuselah," 1921
-~
-If a person is obviously mentally disabled, such as having Down's
-syndrome or Alzheimer's, decent people respond with sympathy and
-understanding; and so why, if people merely have low IQs, are they
-treated with ridicule and contempt?
- -- Geoff Kuenning
-~
-Always go to other people's funerals,
-otherwise they won't come to yours.
- -- Yogi Berra
-~
-Animals are such agreeable friends--
-they ask no questions,
-they pass no criticisms.
- -- George Eliot
-~
-All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height.
- -- Casey Stengel
-~
-Willy
-
-Willy flies without wings,
-Fast as a shadow can go.
-Black slash on white snow.
-
-Black face, cold blue eyes
-fish pond, golden fish surprise.
-Wet paws ... cold water!
-
-Black heart on white fur
-Green eyes ... last sight for poor mouse,
-Punctured by Willy.
-
-Willy stalks field mice.
-Wild Bill to small buffalo.
-Kills them just for show.
-
-Cat slays Two in Dawn
-Homicide. Gruesome Remains
-Left On Welcome Mat.
- -- Bill Magee
-~
-Petey
-
-Pete's eyes spit light;
-Blue diamond icicles,
-Red retinal fires.
-
-Sharp nose, fast heart, mouse
-Scrounges by the sewer. Pete
-Pounces, sharp claws out.
-
-Once quick with mouse life,
-Now just carnage: tail, fur, skull.
-Two-scoop burial.
-
-Nowhere a rabbit
-Or goldfish or cardinal
-who loves our Petey.
-
-They hate Pete there,
-Crouched on the mossy rocks,
-Prospecting for gold.
- -- Bill Magee
-~
-Louis
-
-Louis wants to play.
-Its asthma, Lou! My asthma
-Tears us apart, m'boy.
-
-Louis -- scared by deer --
-spent all July and August
-Inside our closet.
-
-We don't let Louis out.
-He is too dumb even for inside.
-Eyes blue oceans of space.
-
-Hot air fluffs Louis.
-Willy warms the newspapers.
-Pete? Purrs in her arms.
- -- Bill Magee
-~
-dharma farm glistens
-like an earthy gem; yaks romp
-on verdant old hills.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Noir comme le diable, [ Black as the devil,
-chaud comme l'enfer, [ hot as hell,
-pur comme un ange, [ pure as an angel,
-doux comme l'amour. [ sweet as love.
- -- Talleyrand, 18th century French diplomat, describing his concept
- of a good cup of coffee
-~
-Coffee has two virtues. It is wet and it is warm. -- Dutch proverb
-~
-Coffee is the common man's gold, and like gold, it brings
-to every person the feeling of luxury and nobility.
- -- Sheik Abd-al-Kadir, In Praise of Coffee, 1587
-~
-Another head--and a black alpaca jacket and a
-serviette this time--to tell us coffee is ready.
-Not before it is time, too.
- -- D. H. Lawrence, from "Sea and Sardinia"
-~
-Give a frontiersman coffee and tobacco,
-and he will endure any privation,
-suffer any hardship, but let him be without
-these two necessaries of the woods, and he
-becomes irresolute and murmuring.
- -- U.S. Army Lt. William Whiting, 1849
-~
-Coffee is real good when you drink it it gives you time to think.
-It's a lot more than just a drink; it's something happening.
-Not as in hip, but like an event, a place to be, but not like a
-location, but like somewhere within yourself. It gives you time,
-but not actual hours or minutes, but a chance to be, like be
-yourself, and have a second cup.
- -- Gertrude Stein
-~
-Last comes the beverage of the Orient shore,
-Mocha, far off, the fragrant berries bore.
-Taste the dark fluid with a dainty lip,
-Digestion waits on pleasure as you sip.
- -- Pope Leo XII
-~
-A very good drink they call Chaube that is almost as black as ink
-and very good in illness, especially of the stomach. This they
-drink in the morning early in the open places before everybody,
-without any fear or regard, out of clay or China cups, as hot as
-they can, sipping it a little at a time.
- -- German physician and botanist Leonhard Rauwolf in 1582
-~
-The little campfires, rapidly increasing to hundreds in number,
-would shoot up along the hills and plains, and as if by magic,
-acres of territory would be illuminous with them. Soon they
-would be surrounded by the soldiers, who made it an inevitable
-rule to cook their coffee first.
- -- John D. Bilings, a Union veteran, in his book, Hardtack and Coffee
-~
-Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass
-all four essential food groups:
-alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fat.
- -- Alex Levine
-~
-Strong coffee, much strong coffee, is what awakens me.
-Coffee gives me warmth, waking, an unusual force and
-a pain that is not without very great pleasure.
- -- Napoleon Bonaparte
-~
-I would rather suffer with coffee than be senseless.
- -- Napoleon Bonaparte
-~
-The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity
-as sugar or coffee. And I pay more for that ability than for
-any other under the sun.
- -- John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
-~
-If you want to improve your understanding, drink coffee;
-it is the intelligent beverage.
- -- Sydney Smith
-~
-Wine is for aging, not coffee.
- -- Ken Hutchinson, Starsky and Hutch
-~
-I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
- -- T. S. Elliot
-~
-After a few months' acquaintance with European "coffee" one's mind
-weakens, and his faith with it, and he begins to wonder if the rich
-beverage of home, with it's clotted layer of yellow cream on top of
-it, is not a mere dream after all, and a thing which never existed.
- -- Mark Twain, in "A Tramp Abroad"
-~
-The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the
-cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot
-be expected to reproduce.
- -- Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr.
-~
-It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means
-it's too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make
-it weak. But if you pour too much cream in it, you won't even know you
-ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be
-strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep.
- -- Malcolm X, 196, Message to the Grass Roots
-~
-Make my coffee like I like my men: hot, black, and strong.
- -- Willona Wood, Good Times
-~
-Never drink black coffee at lunch;
-it will keep you awake in the afternoon.
- -- Jilly Cooper, 1970, "How to Survive from Nine to Five"
-~
-Resolve to free yourselves from the slavery
-of the tea and coffee and other slop-kettle.
- -- William Cobbett, 1829, "Advise to Young Men"
-~
-Tobacco, coffee, alcohol, hashish, prussic acid,
-strichnine, are weak dilutions: the surest poison is time.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Society and Solitude: Old Age"
-~
-Coffee, according to the women of Denmark, is to the body
-what the Word of the Lord is to the soul.
- -- Isak Dinesen, 1934
-~
-Coffee: we can get it anywhere, and get as loaded
-as we like on it, until such teeth-chattering,
-eye-bulging, nonsense-gibbering time as we may be
-classified unable to operate heavy machinery.
- -- Joan Frank, 1991
-~
-Many people are like instant coffee:
-the minute they get in hot water they dissolve.
- -- Anonymous, from Toronto Globe and Mail; July 10, 1993
-~
-The discovery of coffee has enlarged the realm of illusion
-and given more promise to hope.
- -- Isidore Bourdon
-~
-The powers of a man's mind are directly proportional
-to the quantity of coffee he drank.
- -- Sir James MacKintosh, 18th century philosopher
-~
-If it wasn't for coffee, I'd have no discernible personality at all.
- -- David Letterman Esquire Interview Fall '94
-~
-Ah! How sweet coffee tastes!
-Lovelier than a thousand kisses,
-sweeter far than muscatel wine!
- -- From J. S. Bach's "Coffee Cantata," 1732
-~
-You make good coffee... You're a slob,
-but you make good coffee.
- -- Cher, in "Moonstruck"
-~
-See how special you are? I serve you coffee in the parlor.
- -- Anthony Quinn to Sophia Loren in "The Black Orchid"
-~
-The first cup is for the guest,
-the second for enjoyment,
-the third for the sword.
- -- Arabic proverb about coffee
-~
-The vacuum pot is truly the CD player of coffeemakers;
-all you taste is the coffee.
- -- Corby Kummer, food expert
-~
-People are kind of like zombies in Hong Kong nowadays.
-You don't see that glow anymore. In terms of colour
-Hong Kong looks a bit grey. To counter that, I think
-we should give out free espresso samples to give people
-more caffeine; triple espresso with Irish cream syrup,
-iced! People just need to get a bit more wired.
- -- David Wu, Actor and Channel V VJ, quoted in Post Magazine 29 August 99
-~
-a small fish is this
-with so many other big
-tasks still to complete
-~
-For myself I am an optimist--it does not seem
-to be much use being anything else.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one
-is constantly making exciting discoveries.
- -- A. A. Milne
-~
-Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
- -- Pablo Picasso
-~
-There are two means of refuge from the
-miseries of life: music and cats.
- -- Albert Schweitzer
-~
-Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator,
-but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
- -- W. H. Auden
-~
-A clever man commits no minor blunders.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-my fingers have slipped;
-keyboard greasy from pizza
-sloppily consumed.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-One could not be a successful scientist without realizing that,
-in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers
-and mothers of scientists, a goodly number of scientists are
-not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.
- -- James Watson
-~
-Fine things books, but perhaps the moment has come to stop taking them
-so seriously. Who was it that said people who are always reading never
-discover anything? I'm not sure if that is true, but I do know that
-reading and thinking are not necessarily the same thing. Sometimes
-reading supplies the most cunning of all means of avoiding thought. It
-would be good once in awhile to try thinking without the stimulus of
-books, to become not an out of-the-box -- never, please, that -- but at
-least an out-of-the-book thinker. Books may furnish a room, but there
-surely are other things quite as suitable for furnishing a mind. Time,
-I think, for me to attempt to find out what these might be.
- -- Joseph Epstein
-~
-Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.
- -- John Kenneth Galbraith
-~
-You can observe a lot by just watching. -- Yogi Berra
-~
-No wonder Al Gore thinks he is president--this is a most confusing time.
-The leading rap singer is white, the world's best golfer is black, and
-Bill Clinton just got back from Vietnam.
- -- Paul Harvey, Early December 2000
-~
-The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
-discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I've found it!), but "That's funny...".
- -- Isaac Asimov
-~
-Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-Dr. Seuss takes a look at election recounts:
-I cannot count them in a box.
-I cannot count them with a fox.
-I cannot count them by computer.
-I will not with a Roto-Rooter.
-I cannot count them card-by-card.
-I will not 'cause it's way too hard.
-I cannot count them on my fingers.
-I will not while suspicion lingers.
-I'll leave the country in a jam--
-I won't count ballots, Sam-I-Am.
-~
- For some years, we have been surprised and distressed by the
-intellectual trends in certain precincts of American academia.
-Vast sectors of the humanities and the social sciences seem to
-have adopted a philosophy that we shall call, for want of a better
-term, "postmodernism": an intellectual current characterized by
-the more-or-less explicit rejection of the rationalist tradition
-of the Enlightenment, by theoretical discourses disconnected from
-any empirical test, and by a cognitive and cultural relativism
-that regards science as nothing more than a 'narration,' a 'myth'
-or a social construction among many others.
- To respond to this phenomenon, one of us (Sokal) decided to try
-an unorthodox (and admittedly uncontrolled), experiment: submit to
-a fashionable American cultural-studies journal, "Social Text," a
-parody of the type of work that has proliferated in recent years,
-to see whether they would publish it. The article, entitled
-"Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics
-of Quantum Gravity", is chock-full of absurdities and blatant
-non-sequiturs. In addition, it asserts an extreme form of cognitive
-relativism: after mocking the old-fashioned "dogma" that "there
-exists an external world, whose properties are independent of any
-individual human being and indeed of humanity as a whole", it
-proclaims categorically that "physical `reality', no less than
-social `reality', is at bottom a social and linguistic construct".
-By a series of stunning leaps of logic, it arrives at the conclusion
-that "the [Pi] of Euclid and the G of Newton, formerly thought to be
-constant and universal, are now perceived in their ineluctable
-historicity; and the putative observer becomes fatally de-centered,
-disconnected from any epistemic link to a space-time point that can
-no longer be defined by geometry alone". The rest is in the same vein.
- And yet, the article was accepted and published. Worse, it was
-published in a special issue of 'Social Text' devoted to rebutting the
-criticisms leveled against postmodernism and social constructivism by
-several distinguished scientists. For the editors of 'Social Text,'
-it was hard to imagine a more radical way of shooting themselves in
-the foot.
- -- Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, "Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern
- Intellectuals' Abuse of Science."
-~
-May you live all the days of your life.
- -- Jonathan Swift
-~
- We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication
-below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its
-faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
- 'I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa
-Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me
-the truth, is there a Santa Claus?' -- Virginia O'Hanlon
- Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by
-the skepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except they see.
-They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little
-minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are
-little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in
-his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured
-by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
- Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
- He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and
-you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.
-Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would
-be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike
-faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We
-should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light
-with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
- Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies.
-You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on
-Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus
-coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no
-sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are
-those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies
-dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not
-there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and
-unseeable in the world.
- You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside,
-but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man,
-nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could
-tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain
-and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real?
-Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
- No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand
-years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will
-continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
- Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!
- -- The editorial "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus," first printed
- in the New York Sun in 1897.
-~
-Most Internet appliances that I've seen are simply dumbed-down
-PCs, and some analysts call any damn thing that can access the
-Internet--other than a PC--an Internet appliance, even if it's
-your cell phone or a wireless PDA. That leads to some huge
-market projections, which are pretty much meaningless as a
-single figure. I think the idea of Internet appliances as a
-unique market is a pipe dream, with a lot of people sucking
-off that hookah.
- -- Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, a market
- research firm
-~
-Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.
- -- Immanuel Kant
-~
-Ah but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?
- -- Robert Browning
-~
-She played with her cat, and it was a wonder to watch the white hand
-and the white paw frolic in the shade of night.
- -- Paul Verlaine
-~
-Just because something doesn't do what you planned
-it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
- -- Thomas Alva Edison
-~
-Spare no expense to make everything as economical as possible.
- -- Samuel Goldwyn
-~
-smirking idiot
-drools on oval office desk
-while country expires
- -- about the dubya years
-~
-brave new president
-laughs as he pulls death switch for
-the innocents too
- -- about the dubya years
-~
-they call me a shrub
-but i shrug and ask daddy
-for black ops killing
- -- about the dubya years
-~
-educatedest
-moron ever known on earth:
-gee dubya bee, dude.
- -- about the dubya years
-~
-bush bipartisan
-means "we do it my way" and
-bend over for me
- -- about the dubya years
-~
-smiling lies, dumb looks,
-idea-free, insults all,
-my prez--GWB!
- -- about the dubya years
-~
-my feeling is that humans are both divine and full of sh*t.
-most people are drowning in their own mental diarrhea.
-
-solution? a sewer pipe for the mind, perhaps. or at least to
-realize that the contagion is part of us and has to be purified
-from within. there is no external enemy to kill or persecute;
-all evil deeds and words and thoughts are our own property.
-no one else can take them away for you; you must "dispose of
-properly". clean these damaged mental constituents using your
-will to heal your consciousness.
-~
-If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will
-change a past or future event, then you are residing on another
-planet with a different reality system.
- -- William James
-~
-Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns;
-he should be drawn and quoted.
- -- Fred Allen
-~
-A day without rebooting is like a day without Microsoft. -- fred t. hamster
-~
-I've met many thinkers and many cats,
-but the wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.
- -- Hippolyte Taine
-~
- People living and working in a business system cannot change it.
-Their perspectives are foreshortened, their information gathering and
-measurement systems reinforce the past, and their incentives encourage
-continuity. Archimedes proclaimed, 'Give me where to stand, and I will move
-the earth.' But where should those who might change a business system be
-standing?
- The answer is that every organization needs two business systems.
-Borrowing a term from linguistics, we shall call them the 'surface system'
-and the 'deep system.' The surface system is comprised of the organized
-tasks of the business processes, with their attendant jobs, structures,
-systems, and values. But this surface system is in periodic need of major
-change. Accomplishing that change is the job of the deep system.
- The deep system creates no customer value; it makes no products and
-delivers no services. It doesn't process orders, develop new products, or
-create value for customers. Rather it monitors, governs, adjusts, and
-reforms the surface system that does create customer value. A company's
-deep system bears the responsibility for detecting external changes,
-determining what those changes mean, and intervening to modify or transform
-the surface system accordingly. The deep system, working beneath the
-surface, embodies the capacity to change.
- The deep system continually hurls challenges: Is this still the
-right way or the best way to do things? If not, what is? The deep system
-ensures that the appropriate internal change--moderate or radical--takes
-place, shaping and reshaping the organization to take account of, and
-whenever possible take advantage of, ongoing external change.
- -- Michael Hammer
-~
-There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to
-conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the
-introduction of a new order of things.
- -- Nicolas Machiavelli
-~
-Only those who take leisurely what the people of the world are busy
-about can be busy about what the people of the world take leisurely.
- -- Chang Ch'ao
-~
-I am opposed to millionaires, but it would
-be dangerous to offer me the position.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Never eat more than you can lift. -- the muppet Miss Piggy
-~
-tired of knowing
-politics are poison, but
-it has to be said...
-
-dubya bush will lead
-to lower expectations
-at every level
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
- Distance changes utterly when you take the world on foot. A mile
-becomes a long way, two miles literally considerable, ten miles
-whopping, fifty miles at the very limits of conception. The world,
-you realize, is enormous in a way that only you and a small community
-of fellow hikers know. Planetary scale is your little secret.
- Life takes on a neat simplicity, too. Time ceases to have any
-meaning. When it is dark, you go to bed, and when it is light again
-you get up, and everything in between is just in between. It's quite
-wonderful, really.
- You have no engagements, commitments, obligations, or duties; no
-special ambitions and only the smallest, least complicated of wants;
-you exist in tranquil tedium, serenely beyond the reach of
-exasperation, 'far removed from the seats of strife,' as the early
-explorer and botanist William Bartram put it. All that is required
-of you is a willingness to trudge.
- There is no point in hurrying because you are not actually going
-anywhere. However far or long you plod, you are always in the same
-place: in the woods. It's where you were yesterday, where you will
-be tomorrow. The woods is one boundless singularity. Every bend in
-the path presents a prospect indistinguishable from every other, every
-glimpse into the trees the same tangled mass. For all you know, your
-route could describe a very large, pointless circle. In a way, it
-would hardly matter.
- -- Bill Bryson, "A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the
- Appalachian Trail."
-~
-You can't cheat an honest man. -- W. C. Fields
-~
-Most conversations are simply monologues
-delivered in the presence of a witness.
- -- Margaret Millar
-~
-There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down
-at a typewriter and open a vein.
- -- Red Smith
-~
-Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence
-should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary
-sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no
-unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
- -- William Strunk Jr.
-~
- The small and elite group of scientists who create most of the
-flavor in most of the food now consumed in the United States are
-called 'flavorists.' They draw on a number of disciplines in their
-work: biology, psychology, physiology, and organic chemistry. A
-flavorist is a chemist with a trained nose and a poetic sensibility.
-Flavors are created by blending scores of different chemicals in
-tiny amounts--a process governed by scientific principles but
-demanding a fair amount of art. In an age when delicate aromas and
-microwave ovens do not easily co-exist, the job of the flavorist is
-to conjure illusions about processed food and, in the words of one
-flavor company's literature, to ensure 'consumer likeability.' The
-flavorists with whom I spoke were discreet, in keeping with the
-dictates of their trade. They were also charming, cosmopolitan, and
-ironic. They not only enjoyed fine wine but could identify the
-chemicals that give each grape its unique aroma. One flavorist
-compared his work to composing music. A well-made flavor compound
-will have a 'top note' that is often followed by a 'dry-down' and a
-'leveling-off,' with different chemicals responsible for each stage.
-The taste of a food can be radically altered by minute changes in the
-flavoring combination. 'A little odor goes a long way,' one
-flavorist told me.
- In order to give a processed food a taste that consumers will
-find appealing, a flavorist must always consider the food's
-'mouthfeel'--the unique combination of textures and chemical
-interactions that affect how the flavor is perceived. Mouthfeel can
-be adjusted through the use of various fats, gums, starches,
-emulsifiers, and stabilizers. The aroma chemicals in a food can be
-precisely analyzed, but the elements that make up mouthfeel are much
-harder to measure. How does one quantify a pretzel's hardness, a
-french fry's crispness? Food technologists are now conducting basic
-research in rheology, the branch of physics that examines the flow and
-deformation of materials. A number of companies sell sophisticated
-devices that attempt to measure mouthfeel. The TA.XT2i Texture
-Analyzer, produced by the Texture Technologies Corporation, of
-Scarsdale, New York, performs calculations based on data derived from
-as many as 250 separate probes. It is essentially a mechanical mouth.
-It gauges the most-important rheological properties of a food--bounce,
-creep, breaking point, density, crunchiness, chewiness, gumminess,
-lumpiness, rubberiness, springiness, slipperiness, smoothness,
-softness, wetness, juiciness, spreadability, springback, and tackiness.
- -- Eric Schlosser, from "Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good",
- Atlantic Monthly, 2001.
-~
-We haven't failed. We now know a thousand things that
-won't work, so we are much closer to finding what will.
- -- Thomas Edison
-~
-If you surveyed a hundred typical middle-aged Americans, I bet you'd find that
-only two of them could tell you their blood types, but every last one of them
-would know the them song from 'The Beverly Hillbillies'.
- -- Dave Barry
-~
-The first thing to learn in intercourse with others is
-non-interference with their own particular ways of being
-happy, provided those ways do not assume to interfere by
-violence with ours.
- -- William James
-~
-My dad was the town drunk. Usually that's not so bad, but New York City?
- -- Henny Youngman
-~
-Ninety percent of the politicians give the other
-ten percent a bad name.
- -- Henry Kissinger
-~
-You can imagine my embarrassment when I killed the wrong guy.
- -- Joe Valachi
-~
-We must abandon the prevalent belief in the
-superior wisdom of the ignorant.
- -- Daniel Boorstin
-~
- If the primary effect of the media in the late twentieth century was
-to turn nearly everything that passed across their screens into
-entertainment, the secondary and ultimately more significant effect was
-to force nearly everything to turn itself into entertainment in order to
-attract media attention. Daniel Boorstin had coined the term 'pseudo-
-event' to describe events that had been concocted by public relations
-practitioners to get attention from the press. Movie premieres,
-publishing parties, press conferences, balloon crossings, sponsored
-sporting contests, award ceremonies, demonstrations and hunger strikes,
-to name just a few examples, all were synthetic, manufactured pseudo-
-events that wouldn't have existed if someone hadn't been seeking
-publicity and if the media hadn't been seeking something to fill their
-pages and airwaves, preferably something entertaining.
- But the idea of pseudo-events almost seemed quaint by the late
-twentieth century. Most people realized that the object of virtually
-everyone in public life of any sort was to attract the media and that
-everyone from the top movie stars to the parents of septuplets now had
-to have a press agent to promote them. What most people were also coming
-to realize, if only by virtue of how much the media had grown, was that
-pseudo-events had proliferated to such an extent that one could hardly
-call them events anymore because there were no longer any seams between
-them and the rest of life, no way of separating the pseudo from the
-so-called authentic. Almost everything in life had appropriated the
-techniques of public relations to gain access to the media, so that it
-wasn't the pseudo-event one was talking about anymore when one cited the
-cleverness of PR men and women: it was pseudo-life.
- Yet not even pseudo-life did full justice to the modern condition.
-That's because the media were not just passively recording the public
-performances and manipulations of others, even when life was nothing but
-manipulations. Having invited these performances in the first place,
-the media justified covering them because they were receiving media
-attention, which is every bit as convoluted as it sounds. The result
-was to make of modern society one giant Heisenberg effect, in which the
-media were not really reporting what people did; they were reporting
-what people did to get media attention. In other words, as life was
-increasingly being lived for the media, so the media were increasingly
-covering themselves and their impact on life.
- -- Neal Gabler, in "Life, the Movie"
-~
-So little time, so little to do.
- -- Oscar Levant
-~
-Consistency requires you to be as ignorant
-today as you were a year ago.
- -- Bernard Berenson
-~
-Who becomes a CPO? Stephanie Perrin, the chief privacy officer of
-Montreal-based Zero-Knowledge Systems, explains: "Obviously, we're
-not going to just pick somebody from the legal department," because
-privacy is more than a matter of just following the law. "You have
-to have a fundamental commitment to--dare I say it?--morality.
-Privacy is not just good business. We are framing the information
-age, and it is important to take that job seriously. We really do
-look at privacy as a human right, and not just a luxury item for
-spoiled North Americans. We're talking about the global information
-infrastructure."
-~
-The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love.
- -- Pearl Bailey
-~
-He's simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed.
- -- H.H. Munro
-~
-No easy problems ever come to the president of the United States.
-If they are easy to solve, someone else has solved them.
- -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
-~
-Your presence in the class is disruptive and affects the other students!
- -- A teacher's complaint to the teenage Albert Einstein
-~
- When you're in a world of experts and so-called professionals, the
-common sense of the people is marginalized.
- I'll give you an example. We're talking about building a building
-not too far from where I live, in this warehouse district. It's an old,
-totally undistinguished warehouse in what has been designated a historic
-district. So we're working up the Environmental Impact Report, and you hire
-a consultant. The consultant is this young lady who says, 'The developer
-wants to tear this whole warehouse down and build an eight-story building,
-and that would have a negative impact on the historic warehouse district.'
- I say, 'Wait a minute. Why? It's an eight-story building. What's
-different? Why do you say it's negative? Why isn't it positive? It will
-bring more people -- there are not enough people down here.'
- 'No,' she said, 'in my professional judgment...' And that is given
-weight by the courts. Her opinion could have more sway than the city
-council, the manager, the mayor, and all the people of Oakland put together.
- That's amazing. That's what I call 'expertise versus common sense.'
-What do they call those guys in Russia: the nomenklatura? The class of
-folks who run things. I think that's an important issue: reclaiming the
-power of ordinary people to control their lives. Every time we turn around,
-we've got some kind of a state or federal rule or regulation.
- 'In my professional judgment...' That whole academic discipline was
-probably created less than 25 years ago, and that lore -- I call it lore;
-these are like stories you tell around the campfire -- is then raised to
-the level of legal significance with greater authority than the vote of the
-people and the elected representatives. The people have lost their
-democratic right to make a decision over the shape of their lives, and you
-can find that happening on a lot of issues more controversial than historic
-preservation.
- -- Jerry Brown
-~
-Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade.
- -- Rudyard Kipling
-~
-Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
- -- Lilly Tomlin
-~
-Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life it is perhaps
-the greatest of God's gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of
-arts and of sciences.
- -- Freeman Dyson
-~
-You make men love their government and their country by giving them the
-kind of government and the kind of country that inspire respect and love;
-a country that is free and unafraid, that lets the discontented talk in
-order to learn the causes of their discontent and end those causes, that
-refuses to impel men to spy on their neighbors, that protects its citizens
-vigorously from harmful acts while it leaves the remedies for objectionable
-ideas to counterargument and time.
- -- Zechariah Chafee, Jr.
-~
-Kites rise highest against the wind--not with it.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-Shall I tell you the secret of the true scholar? It is this: every
-man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-A cucumber should be well-sliced, dressed with
-pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
- Technology is often defined as the creation of tools to gain control
-over the environment. However, this definition is not entirely sufficient.
-Humans are not alone in their use or even creation of tools. Orangutans in
-Sumatra's Suaq Balimbing swamp make tools out of long sticks to break open
-termite nests. Crows fashion tools from sticks and leaves. The leaf-cutter
-ant mixes dry leaves with its saliva to create a paste. Crocodiles use tree
-roots to anchor dead prey.
- What is uniquely human is the application of knowledge--recorded
-knowledge--to the fashioning of tools. The knowledge base represents the
-genetic code for the evolving technology. And as technology has evolved,
-the means for recording this knowledge base has also evolved, from the oral
-traditions of antiquity to the written design logs of nineteenth-century
-craftsmen to the computer-assisted design databases of the 1990s.
- Technology also implies a transcendence of the materials used to
-comprise it. When the elements of an invention are assembled in just the
-right way, they produce an enchanting effect that goes beyond the mere
-parts. When Alexander Graham Bell accidentally wire-connected two moving
-drums and solenoids (metal cores wrapped in wire) in 1875, the result
-transcended the materials he was working with. For the first time, a human
-voice was transported, magically it seemed, to a remote location. Most
-assemblages are just that: random assemblies. But when materials--and in
-the case of modern technology, information--are assembled in just the
-right way, transcendence occurs. The assembled object becomes far greater
-than the sum of its parts.
- -- Ray Kurzweil
-~
-All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.
- -- Sean O'Casey
-~
-The foresight of the astronomer who predicts with complete precision
-the state of the solar system many years in advance is absolutely the
-same in kind as that of the savage who predicts the next sunrise.
-The only difference lies in the extent of their knowledge.
- -- Auguste Comte
-~
-Nothing strengthens the judgment and quickens
-the conscience like individual responsibility.
- -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton
-~
- The bug, that perverse and elusive malfunctioning of hardware and
-later of software, was born in the nineteenth century. It was already
-accepted shop slang as early as 1878, when Thomas Edison described his
-style of invention in a letter to a European representative: 'The first
-step is an intuition and it comes with a burst, then difficulties arise--
-this thing gives out and then that--"Bugs"--as such little faults and
-difficulties are called--show themselves, and months of intense watching,
-study and labor are requisite before commercial success--or failure--is
-certainly reached.'
- Edison implies that this use of 'bug' had not begun in his laboratory
-but was already standard jargon. The expression seems to have originated
-as telegrapher's slang. Western Union and other telegraph companies, with
-their associated branch offices, formed America's first high-technology
-system. About the time of Edison's letter, Western Union had over twelve
-thousand stations, and it was their condition that probably helped inspire
-the metaphor. City offices were filthy, and clerks exchanged verse about
-the gymnastics of insects cavorting in the cloakrooms. When, in 1945, a
-moth in a relay crashed the Mark II electromechanical calculator that the
-Navy was running at Harvard--it can still be seen taped in the original
-logbook--the bug metaphor had already been around for at least seventy-
-five years.
- -- Edward Tenner, from "Why Things Bite Back"
-~
-Look back, and smile on perils past.
- -- Sir Walter Scott
-~
-I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.
- -- Marie Curie
-~
-Cast a cold eye
-On life, on death.
-Horseman, pass by!
- -- William Butler Yeats' auto-epitath
-~
- The bug, that perverse and elusive malfunctioning of hardware and
-later of software, was born in the nineteenth century. It was already
-accepted shop slang as early as 1878, when Thomas Edison described his
-style of invention in a letter to a European representative: 'The first
-step is an intuition and it comes with a burst, then difficulties arise--
-this thing gives out and then that--"Bugs"--as such little faults and
-difficulties are called--show themselves, and months of intense watching,
-study and labor are requisite before commercial success--or failure--is
-certainly reached.'
- Edison implies that this use of 'bug' had not begun in his
-laboratory but was already standard jargon. The expression seems to have
-originated as telegrapher's slang. Western Union and other telegraph
-companies, with their associated branch offices, formed America's first
-high-technology system. About the time of Edison's letter, Western Union
-had over twelve thousand stations, and it was their condition that probably
-helped inspire the metaphor. City offices were filthy, and clerks exchanged
-verse about the gymnastics of insects cavorting in the cloakrooms. When, in
-1945, a moth in a relay crashed the Mark II electromechanical calculator
-that the Navy was running at Harvard--it can still be seen taped in the
-original logbook--the bug metaphor had already been around for at least
-seventy-five years.
- -- Edward Tenner, "Why Things Bite Back"
-~
-But the true threats to stability and peace are these nations that are not
-very transparent, that hide behind the--that don't let people in to take a
-look and see what they're up to. They're very kind of authoritarian regimes.
-The true threat is whether or not one of these people decide, peak of anger,
-try to hold us hostage, ourselves; the Israelis, for example, to whom we'll
-defend, offer our defenses; the South Koreans.
- -- George W. Bush, Media roundtable, Washington, D.C., March 13, 2001
-~
-The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others.
- -- Homer
-~
-It wasn't until late in life that I discovered
-how easy it is to say "I don't know".
- -- W. Somerset Maugham
-~
-It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a
-pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young.
- -- Konrad Lorenz
-~
-He is the best physician who is the most ingenious inspirer of hope.
- -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
-~
-Failure is not an option.
- -- Gene Kranz
-~
- The year 1950 was the last full cry of urban America, at least on
-the surface. It was the year many of the cities visited in this book
-reached their historic peaks in population. Everybody was working, in folk
-memory, and in fact. Armies clad in overalls poured out of plants at
-quitting time or watched as the next shift filed in. Houses cost a couple
-of thousand bucks, or in high-cost cities some fifteen thousand. The
-mortgage was often less than a hundred a month. The teeming ethnic ghettos
-of the early century had given way to a more comfortable life, with
-religion and ethnicity, race and class still used as organizing principles
-for the neighborhood. The rough edges of the immigrant 'greenhorns' were
-worn smooth, and a confident younger generation now entered a fuller,
-richer American life. Grandma and Grandpa had their accents and old ways
-intact, and still mumbled sayings in the language your parents used when
-they didn't want you to understand. You could still find Il Progresso,
-Freiheit, Norske Tidende, and Polish Daily Zgoda on the newsstands, but the
-neighborhoods themselves were no longer alien places. It was the ghetto,
-yes, but made benign by assimilation.
- It was this world that the first surge tide into the suburbs left
-behind. They were people for whom the city had done its work, making
-Americans out of families from Dublin to Donetsk. America had given the
-urban young educations, and expectations. For many, those expectations had
-been nurtured through world war and economic depression. Something better
-was needed for the baby boomers.
- Today we look back on it all in hurt and wonder. How did this
-happen? Where did that good life go? When an accidental detour or a missed
-expressway exit brings us into contact with the world we left behind, we
-can still place all the blame firmly and squarely elsewhere. The shuttered
-factories and collapsing row houses, the vacant storefronts and rutted
-streets are regarded with the same awe reserved for the scenes of natural
-disasters. We look out on a world that somehow, in the American collective
-memory, destroyed itself.
- -- Ray Suarez, PBS journalist
-~
-The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our
-enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.
- -- G. K. Chesterton
-~
-Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember.
- -- Oscar Levant
-~
-If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner.
- -- Tallulah Bankhead
-~
-Kids don't watch when they are stimulated and look away when
-they are bored. They watch when they understand and look away
-when they are confused.
- -- Malcolm Gladwell
-~
-We especially need imagination in science. It is not all
-mathematics, nor all logic, it is somewhat beauty and poetry.
- -- Maria Mitchell
-~
-The masons have a "temple of living stones".
-Well, I have a temple of stoned living.
-Except that the temple is my parents' basement.
-~
-Pain is just another form of information.
- -- Don DeLillo
-~
- The traditional image of Asian countries--and the one I held before
-we moved there--was of overwhelmingly poor societies: city dwellers
-starving in the streets and farmers slaving to raise barely enough rice
-to feed a family, while a tiny clique of well-connected magnates lived
-behind barbed-wire fences in ornate mansions. Today, those scenes can
-still be found in parts of East Asia. But for the most part, the Asian
-countries are building a huge middle class, in which most people have
-about as much as everybody else.
- Japan has been the model; when Japan became a rich country, it did
-so in ways that spread the wealth broadly and evenly. In opinion polls
-today, more than 90 percent of the Japanese people describe themselves
-as 'middle class.' In the other 'high-performing Asian economies' the
-economic boom has also been broadly distributed...
- You can legitimately question whether equal distribution of a
-nation's wealth is a sign of social success. The American dream, in
-economic terms, at least, has generally been the dream of enormous
-success--not of making as much money as everybody else but rather of
-getting really rich. And that dream has been one of the key reasons
-for the dynamism and resiliency of the United States over the decades.
-On the other hand, the egalitarian distribution of wealth, and the
-resulting sense that everybody is getting a relatively fair shake, is
-surely one of the reasons that Asian countries have civil and stable
-societies.
- -- T. R. Reid, "Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living in the East
- Teaches Us About Living in the West"
-~
-Who will underrate the influence of loose popular
-literature in debauching the popular mind?
- -- Walt Whitman
-~
-There are so many ways of earning a living and most of them are failures.
- -- Gertrude Stein
-~
-Nothing shocks me. I'm a scientist.
- -- Indiana Jones
-~
-Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.
- -- Charles Lamb
-~
-Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog.
-Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.
- -- E. B. White
-~
- This idea of breaking the world into pieces and then explaining
-the pieces in terms of smaller pieces is called reductionism. It
-would be perfectly justified to consider Murray Gell-Mann, the father
-of the quark, to be the century's arch-reductionist. But very early
-on, long before mushy notions of holism became trendy, Gell-Mann
-appreciated an important truth: While you can reduce downward, that
-doesn't automatically mean you can explain upward. People can be
-divided into cells, cells into molecules, molecules into atoms, atoms
-into electrons and nuclei, nuclei into subatomic particles, and those
-into still tinier things called quarks. But, true as that may be,
-there is nothing written in the laws of subatomic physics that can be
-used to explain higher-level phenomena like human behavior. There is
-no way that one can start with quarks and predict that cellular life
-would emerge and evolve over the eons to produce physicists. Reducing
-downward is vastly easier than explaining upward--a truth that bears
-repeating.
- -- George Johnson, "Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the
- Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics"
-~
-Perhaps no mightier conflict of mind occurs ever again in a lifetime
-than that first decision to unseat one's own tooth.
- -- Gene Fowler
-~
-The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the
-old ones that ramify, for those brought up as most of us have
-been, into every corner of our minds.
- -- John Maynard Keynes
-~
- In the centuries preceding the introduction of the printing press,
-those who held power reinforced it by uses of language that mystified the
-powerless and kept them subservient. Even more so in today's world, power
-is inextricably tied to the use of language, and today's priesthood of
-professionals in many fields employs jargon-fueled mystification. That is a
-political use of language that deliberately excludes the 'powerless' lay
-audience from participation. The doctor whose technical terms confuse, no
-less than the politician whose equivocations obfuscate, the lawyer whose
-terms intimidate, and the accountant whose explanations obscure, is taking
-advantage of audiences through what are called 'gatekeeper' uses of
-language. They include euphemisms, jargon and other devices designed to
-prevent rather than augment the free flow of knowledge.
- Lawyers have been particularly egregious in this practice.
-Gatekeeper language also frequently masks what physicians do especially in
-circumstances that can be fraught with emotion. A relative of a cancer
-patient, seeking straight and hard informational answers to questions --
-how bad is the situation, how much time does she have left, is there any
-hope -- was informed by her doctor that his relative's cancer was
-'treatable' and her prognosis was 'guarded...'
- The philosopher Jrgen Habermas provides an insight into the
-political nature of gatekeeper uses of language through his identification
-of the 'scientization of the public sphere,' a process now occurring in
-many societies. In this trend, elites effectively disqualify members of the
-public from being able to participate in policy discussions by insisting
-that only specialists can really understand what is going on. When
-politicians come to believe that only they can understand what is going on
-in the high councils of government, and that their job is to translate it
-for us and to protect themselves in the process, the language they aim at
-the electorate takes on more and more aspects of purposeful deceit.
- -- Tom Shachtman, "The Inarticulate Society"
-~
-If you think you are too small to make a difference,
-try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.
- -- African proverb
-~
-It does not do to leave a dragon out of your calculations,
-if you live near him.
- -- J. R. R. Tolkien
-~
-Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers
-is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.
- -- Ben Hecht
-~
-Friendships, like marriages, are dependent on avoiding the unforgivable.
- -- John S. MacDonald
-~
-authority does not exist.
-we are all equally feeble when compared
-with the profundity of the universe.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Sports do not build character. They reveal it.
- -- Heywood Hale Broun
-~
-Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information
-about life to last him the rest of his days.
- -- Flannery O'Connor
-~
-Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food:
-frequently there must be a beverage.
- -- Woody Allen
-~
- We live with strangers. Those we love most, with whom we share
-a shelter, a table, a bed, remain mysterious. Wherever lives overlap
-and flow together, there are depths of unknowing. Parents and children,
-partners, siblings, and friends repeatedly surprise us, revealing the
-need to learn where we are most at home. We even surprise ourselves
-in our own becoming, moving through the cycles of our lives. There is
-strangeness hidden in the familiar.
- At the same time there is familiarity hidden in the strange. We can
-look with curiosity and respect at the faces of men and women we have
-never met. Learning to recognize these strangers with whom we share an
-increasingly crowded and interdependent world, we can imagine ourselves
-joined in a single family, perhaps by a marriage between adventurous
-grandchildren.
- Strangers marry strangers, whether they have been playmates for
-years or never meet before the wedding day. They continue to surprise
-each other through the evolutions of love and the growth of affection.
-Lovers, gay and straight, begin in strangeness and often, for the zest
-of it, find ways to increase their differences.
- Children arrive like aliens from outer space, their needs and
-feelings inaccessible, sharing no common language, yet for all their
-strangeness we greet them with love. Traditionally, the strangeness of
-infants has been understood as temporary, the strangeness of incomplete
-beings who are expected to become predictable and comprehensible. This
-expectation has eased the transition from generation to generation, the
-passing on of knowledge and responsibility, on which every human society
-depends. Yet the gap between parent and child, like the gap between
-partners, is not left behind with the passage of time. Today, in a
-world of rapid change, it is increasing, shifting into new rhythms still
-to be explored.
- -- Mary Catherine Bateson, in "Full Circles, Overlapping Lives:
- Culture and Generation in Transition"
-~
-Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.
- -- Niels Bohr
-~
-At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future,
-tradition has placed 10,000 men to guard the past.
- -- Maurice Maeterlink
-~
-Before you run in double harness, look well to the other horse.
- -- Ovid
-~
-There is nothing in the dark that isn't there when the lights are on.
- -- Rod Serling
-~
-The overly sure belief that one knows the truth,
-but that this truth doesn't need to be tested or verified,
-is the root of all human errors.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Any fool can make a rule and every fool will mind it.
- -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
-How many cares one loses
-when one decides
-not to be something
-but to be someone.
- -- Coco Chanel
-~
-If someone says 'can't', that shows you what to do.
- -- John Cage
-~
-Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together.
- -- Eugene Ionesco
-~
-If a thing can not go on forever, it will come to an end.
- -- Herbert Stein
-~
-Nothing ever gets anywhere.
-The earth keeps turning round and round and gets nowhere.
-The moment is the only thing that counts.
- -- Jean Cocteau
-~
-Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow;
-don't walk behind me, I may not lead;
-walk beside me, and just be my friend.
- -- Albert Camus
-~
-Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our brightest
-blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
-The following is a poem made up entirely of quotations from George
-W. Bush. The quotes have been arranged, for aesthetic reasons only,
-by Washington Post writer Richard Thompson.
-
- MAKE THE PIE HIGHER
- by George W. Bush
-
- I think we all agree, the past is over.
- This is still a dangerous world.
- It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
- and potential mental losses.
-
- Rarely is the question asked
- Is our children learning?
- Will the highways of the internet
- become more few?
- How many hands have I shaked?
-
- They misunderestimate me.
- I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
-
- I know that the human being
- and the fish can coexist.
-
- Families is where our nation finds hope,
- where our wings take dream.
-
- Put food on your family!
- Knock down the tollbooth!
- Vulcanize Society!
-
- Make the pie higher! Make the pie higher!
-
-~
-Those crazy kids!
-~
-When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard", I am always
-tempted to ask: "Compared to what?"
- -- Sydney Harris
-~
-What is laid down, ordered, factual is never enough
-to embrace the whole truth: life always spills over
-the rim of every cup.
- -- Boris Pasternak
-~
-Hard is the herte that loveth nought in May.
- -- Geoffrey Chaucer
-~
-Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.
- -- G. K. Chesterton
-~
-{{ your mental acuity sharpens, your self image improves, your breath
-becomes minty fresh, the problems in your life all seem simpler and you
-feel you can deal with them each separately and conquer them one by one,
-your hair grows back in all the right places and stops growing in your
-ears and other inappropriate places, when i snap my fingers, you will
-feel wholly refreshed and renewed... }}
-
-*SNAP*
-
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-If you owe the bank $100, that's your problem.
-If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem.
- -- J. Paul Getty
-~
- The Hutterites (who came out of the same tradition as the Amish
-and the Mennonites) have a strict policy that every time a colony
-approaches 150, they split it in two and start a new one. "Keeping
-things under 150 just seems to be the best and most efficient way to
-manage a group of people," Bill Gross, one of the leaders of a
-Hutterite colony outside Spokane told me. "When things get larger
-than that, people become strangers to one another."
- The Hutterites, obviously, didn't get this idea from contemporary
-evolutionary psychology. They've been following the 150 rule for
-centuries... At 150, the Hutterites believe, something happens--
-something indefinable but very real--that somehow changes the nature
-of community overnight. "In smaller groups people are a lot closer.
-They're knit together, which is very important if you want to be
-effective and successful at community life," Gross said. "If you
-get too large, you don't have enough work in common. You don't have
-enough things in common, and then you start to become strangers and
-that close-knit fellowship starts to get lost."
- Gross spoke from experience. He had been in Hutterite colonies
-that had come near to that magic number and seen first-hand how
-things had changed. "What happens when you get that big is that the
-group starts, just on its own, to form a sort of clan." He made a
-gesture with his hands, as if to demonstrate division. "You get two
-or three groups within the larger group. That is something you
-really try to prevent, and when it happens it is a good time to
-branch out."
- -- Malcolm Gladwell, "The Tipping Point"
-~
-If men could regard the events of their own lives with more open
-minds, they would frequently discover that they did not really
-desire the things they failed to obtain.
- -- Andre Maurois
-~
-Middle age is when you're sitting at home on Saturday night
-and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you.
- -- Ogden Nash
-~
-The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
- -- Walter Bagehot
-~
- I think a power to do something is of value. Whether the result
-is a good thing or a bad thing depends on how it is used, but the
-power is a value. Once in Hawaii I was taken to see a Buddhist
-temple. In the temple a man said, "I am going to tell you something
-that you will never forget." And then he said, "To every man is
-given the key to the gates of heaven. The same key opens the gates
-of hell."
- And so it is with science. In a way it is a key to the gates of
-heaven, and the same key opens the gates of hell, and we do not have
-any instructions as to which is which gate. Shall we throw away the
-key and never have a way to enter the gates of heaven? Or shall we
-struggle with the problem of which is the best way to use the key?
-That is, of course, a very serious question, but I think that we
-cannot deny the value of the key to the gates of heaven.
- All the major problems of the relations between society and
-science lie in this same area. When the scientist is told that he
-must be more responsible for his effects on society, it is the
-applications of science that are referred to. If you work to develop
-nuclear energy you must realize also that it can be used harmfully.
-Therefore, you would expect that, in a discussion of this kind by a
-scientist, this would be the most important topic. But I will not
-talk about it further. I think that to say these are scientific
-problems is an exaggeration. They are far more humanitarian problems.
-The fact that how to work the power is clear, but how to control it is
-not, is something not so scientific and is not something that the
-scientist knows so much about.
- -- Richard P. Feynman, "The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen
- Scientist"
-~
-If once a man indulges himself in Murder, very soon he comes to think
-little of Robbing, and from Robbing he comes next to Drinking and
-Sabbath-breaking, and from that to Incivility and Procrastination.
- -- Thomas De Quincey
-~
-These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper,
-but minds alive on the shelves.
- -- Gilbert Highet
-~
-Let us not look back in anger,
-nor forward in fear,
-but around in awareness.
- -- James Thurber
-~
-Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with
-the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for
-the right purpose, and in the right way--that is not easy.
- -- Aristotle
-~
-A nation in which grown men say things like "I am not a happy camper"
-at momentous junctures is manifestly not the Shining City on the Hill
-that our forefathers dreamed about.
- -- Joe Queenan
-~
- Among the devices that we use to impose order upon a complicated
-(but by no means unstructured) world, classification--or the division
-of items into categories based on perceived similarities--must rank
-as the most general and most pervasive of all. And no strategy of
-classification cuts deeper--while providing such an even balance of
-benefits and difficulties--than our propensity for division by two,
-or dichotomy.
- Some basic attributes of surrounding nature do exist as complem-
-entary pairings--two large lights in the sky representing day and
-night; two sexes that must couple their opposing parts to produce a
-continuity of generations--so we might argue that dichotomization
-amounts to little more than good observation of the external world.
-But far more often than not, dichotomization leads to misleading or
-even dangerous oversimplification. People and beliefs are not either
-good or evil (with the second category ripe for burning); and
-organisms are not either plant or animal, vertebrate or invertebrate,
-human or beast. We seem so driven to division by two, even in
-clearly inappropriate circumstances, that I must agree with several
-schools of thought (most notably Claude Levi-Strauss and the French
-structuralists) in viewing dichotomization more as an inherent
-mechanism of the brain's operation than as a valid perception of
-external reality.
- -- Stephen Jay Gould
-~
-Crude classifications and false generalizations
-are the curse of the organized life.
- -- H. G. Wells
-~
-Whosoever shall not fall by the sword or by famine,
-shall fall by pestilence, so why bother shaving?
- -- Woody Allen
-~
-Those who really deserve praise are the people who, while human
-enough to enjoy power, nevertheless pay more attention to justice
-than they are compelled to do by their situation.
- -- Thucydides
-~
-It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
- -- Grace Hopper
-~
-The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil
-is for good men to do nothing.
- -- Edmund Burke
-~
-If the aborigine drafted an IQ test, all of
-Western civilization would presumably flunk it.
- -- Stanley Garn
-~
-It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.
- -- Diogenes Laertes
-~
- The human race has reached a critical time in its social evolution
-when it has no choice but to make peace with its biological origins and
-to learn how to live once again as a member and partner of the natural
-community rather than as its dominator and destroyer. In other words,
-we must rediscover how to live as our savage ancestors once lived--in
-nature, rather apart from it, much less above it. We must, that is,
-invent the civilized analogue of the hunter-gatherer way of life, the
-only sustainable mode of human existence the planet has ever known.
-Suggesting that we live in a much simpler and more natural way does not
-imply a return to the Stone Age or anything like it: we have many
-possibilities open to us that were not available to our forebears, for
-we have been enormously enriched and enlightened by the long experience
-of civilization (or at least so one hopes). Nevertheless, how such a
-profound transformation of civilization toward a more experienced and
-wiser savagery can be achieved is obviously an immensely difficult
-question, because it will clearly entail radical changes in every aspect
-of our way of life.
- Just how radical is suggested by one of the most poignant and
-pointed critiques of modern civilization ever uttered. Breaking into
-a filmed interview on the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, an
-anonymous Kayapo Indian woman shouted, "We don't want your dams. Your
-mothers did not hold you enough. You are all orphans." It is perhaps
-too simple to say that the good society is one in which your mother--
-and by extension your father, your community, and indeed your entire way
-of life--holds you enough, so that you grow up feeling that the world is
-a good place and that life is intrinsically satisfying just as it is and
-that there is thus no need to make it more satisfying by accumulating
-endless wealth and power at others' expense. But this at least points
-in the right direction: to become more experienced and wiser savages, to
-meet the real political challenge of the twenty-first century, we shall
-have to create cultures so rich and nurturing that we would have no need
-to pursue happiness; we could simply enjoy it.
- -- William Ophuls, in "Requiem for Modern Politics: The Tragedy of
- the Enlightenment and the Challenge of the New Millennium."
-~
-The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.
- -- Jonas Salk
-~
-In Washington, it's dog eat dog.
-In academia, it's exactly the opposite.
- -- Robert Reich
-~
-I have had many troubles in my life, but the worst of them never came.
- -- James A. Garfield
-~
-There comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget
-something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance,
-therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.
- -- Arthur Conan Doyle
-~
-The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
- -- Edward Gibbon
-~
-I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired
-at nine o'clock every morning.
- -- Peter de Vries
-~
-It is no secret that organized crime in America takes in over forty
-billion dollars a year. This is quite a profitable sum, especially
-when one considers that the Mafia spends very little for office supplies.
- -- Woody Allen
-~
-It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.
- -- W. Edwards Deming
-~
-A man is called a good fellow for doing things which, if done
-by a woman, would land her in a lunatic asylum.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-Those who desire to give up Freedom
-in order to gain Security, will not have,
-nor do they deserve, either one.
- -- Thomas Jefferson
-~
-There's no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery.
-You can't do any business from there.
- -- Colonel (Harlan) Sanders
-~
-To imagine is everything, to know is nothing at all.
- -- Anatole France
-~
-There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion.
-There are only intersecting monologues.
- -- Rebecca West
-~
-You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.
- -- Dave Barry
-~
- Memory's malfunctions can be divided into seven fundamental transgressions
-or 'sins.' Just like the ancient seven deadly sins, the memory sins occur
-frequently in everyday life and can have serious consequences for all of us.
-Transience, absent-mindedness, and blocking are sins of omission: we fail to
-bring to mind a desired fact, event, or idea. Transience refers to a weakening
-or loss of memory over time. It's probably not difficult for you to remember
-now what you have been doing for the past several hours. But if I ask you
-about the same activities six weeks, six months, or six years from now, chances
-are you'll remember less and less.
- Absent-mindedness involves a breakdown at the interface between attention
-and memory. Absent-minded memory errors--misplacing keys or eyeglasses, or
-forgetting a lunch appointment--typically occur because we are preoccupied with
-distracting issues or concerns, and don't focus attention on what we need to
-remember.
- The third sin, blocking, entails a thwarted search for information that we
-may be desperately trying to retrieve. We've all failed to produce a name to
-accompany a familiar face. This frustrating experience happens even though we
-are attending carefully to the task at hand, and even though the desired name
-has not faded from our minds--as we become acutely aware when we unexpectedly
-retrieve the blocked name hours or days later.
- In contrast to these three sins of omission, the next four sins of
-misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence are all sins of
-commission: some form of memory is present, but it is either incorrect or
-unwanted. The sin of misattribution involves assigning a memory to the wrong
-source: mistaking fantasy for reality, or incorrectly remembering that a friend
-told you a bit of trivia that you actually read about in a newspaper.
-Misattribution is far more common than most people realize, and has potentially
-profound implications in legal settings. The related sin of suggestibility
-refers to memories that are implanted as a result of leading questions,
-comments, or suggestions when a person is trying to call up a past experience.
- The sin of bias reflects the powerful influences of our current knowledge
-and beliefs on how we remember our pasts. We often edit or entirely rewrite
-our previous experiences--unknowingly and unconsciously--in light of what we
-now know or believe. The result can be a skewed rendering of a specific
-incident, or even of an extended period in our lives, which says more about how
-we feel now than about what happened then.
- The seventh sin -- persistence -- entails repeated recall of disturbing
-information or events that we would prefer to banish from our minds altogether:
-remembering what we cannot forget, even though we wish that we could. Recall
-the last time that you suddenly awoke at 3:00 a.m., unable to keep out of your
-mind a painful blunder on the job or a disappointing result on an important
-exam. In more extreme cases of serious depression or traumatic experience,
-persistence can be disabling and even life-threatening.
- -- Daniel Schacter, "The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets
- and Remembers."
-~
-When I was a young man I observed that nine out of ten things I did were
-failures. I didn't want to be a failure, so I did ten times more work.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-People demand freedom of speech as a compensation
-for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
- -- Soeren Kierkegaard
-~
-Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
-Live the life you have imagined.
- -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
-Brave men are all vertebrates; they have their softness
-on the surface and their toughness in the middle.
- -- G. K. Chesterton
-~
-Being willing to accept that the past--
-even the priceless, irreplaceable past--
-will be largely lost is a sign of mental health.
- -- Tim Cavanaugh
-~
-We are what we repeatedly do.
-Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
- -- Aristotle
-~
-Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. -- Voltaire
-~
-It requires wisdom to understand wisdom:
-the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
- -- Walter Lippman
-~
-What difference does it make how much you have?
-What you do not have amounts to much more.
- -- Seneca
-~
- We now all live in a society marked by increasing, not decreasing,
-interconnection and mutual reliance. Each of our lives is affected by
-more people than ever before. We generally need the cooperation of
-more people than ever to accomplish even those goals we set for
-ourselves. This insight needs no elaborate demonstration; one is
-reminded of it with every smoggy breath we take, and every time we step
-on an airplane and ponder how our life depends on the competent,
-attentive behavior of dozens of strangers, from the pilot to the air
-traffic controller to the ground mechanic who was supposed to inspect
-the extent of the metal fatigue on the wings. Technology increases the
-links that tie people together, voluntarily or not, and the complexity
-of our economic system and the organizations we work for multiplies
-these linkages.
- To exercise control over what happens to you as an individual, you
-must be involved with others in a process that decides what happens to
-you and your fellow citizens collectively. We can no longer separate
-the quality of personal life from the quality of social life. To
-preserve private space, we must also preserve the commons.
- That is one reason why even in a society so seduced by and attached
-to autonomy, many people are now getting fed up with what can only be
-called acts of vandalism against the public space. Threatening,
-disrespectful, wanton, and manifestly selfish acts--from the warfare of
-crack dealers and gangs to the shameless greed of the S&L thieves and
-the destruction of our very environment by the industrial polluters--
-are poisonous to everyone, not just those directly harmed. Of course,
-we pay for such things as taxpayers and as consumers, but that is not
-the most important cost. All of us are morally impoverished by these
-assaults on the quality and integrity of our common life.
- -- Willard Gaylin and Bruce Jennings, "The Perversion of Autonomy:
- The Proper Uses of Coercion and Constraints in a Liberal Society"
-~
-Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common
-belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young.
- -- W. Somerset Maugham
-~
-Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
- -- B. F. Skinner
-~
-The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved--
-loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
- -- Victor Hugo
-~
-If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
- -- Seneca
-~
-Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world.
- -- Lily Tomlin
-~
-The wicked leader is one whom the people despise.
-The good leader is one whom the people revere.
-The great leader is one about whom the people say,
-"We did it ourselves."
- -- Lao Tzu
-~
-Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.
- -- Marcus Aurelius
-~
-Ideas pull the trigger, but instinct loads the gun.
- -- Don Marquis
-~
-No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one
-concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
- -- Niccolo Machiavelli
-~
-Every exit is an entry somewhere.
- -- Tom Stoppard
-~
-Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us
-nothing but the shape of the spoon.
- -- E. M. Forster
-~
-We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers
-connect us with our fellow men.
- -- Herman Melville
-~
-There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.
- -- Bertrand Russell
-~
-If this is coffee, please bring me some tea,
-but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-All men who have turned out worth anything have had
-the chief hand in their own education.
- -- Sir Walter Scott
-~
-Few things can help an individual more
-than to place responsibility on him,
-and to let him know that you trust him.
- -- Booker T. Washington
-~
-The last time somebody said, "I find I can write much
-better with a word processor," I replied, "They used to
-say the same thing about drugs."
- -- Roy Blount, Jr.
-~
-The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn
-When teachers themselves are taught to learn.
- -- Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), German playwright, poet
-~
-Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.
- -- John Lehman
-~
-Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time.
-Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become
-ugly with time.
- -- Jean Cocteau
-~
-To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana.
- -- Shakyamuni Buddha
-~
-the best part about killing software bugs is that
-there's no goo nor exoskeleton fragments left behind.
-~
-Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares
-about doing it right, or doing it better.
- -- John Updike
-~
-Great spirits have always encountered
-violent opposition from mediocre minds.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-There's a fine line between genius and
-insanity. I have erased this line.
- -- Oscar Levant
-~
-Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's
-original, you will have to ram it down their throats.
- -- Howard Aiken
-~
-Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves,
-or we know where we can find information upon it.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
- Historically, consumer acceptance of new technologies has been
-slow and cumbersome, delaying anticipated profits by decades.
-Indeed, consumer acceptance of any innovation is typically slow,
-despite extraordinary benefits and convenience.
- When cake mixes were first created, they required consumers to
-only add water--a major behavioral shift. Consumers felt a cake
-made with such a mix could not possibly be as good as a homemade
-cake. So cake mix formulas were revised to require the addition of
-an egg and milk. The new mixes met with great success, because the
-behavior shift required of consumers was minor. Eventually some
-consumers became comfortable adding only water (some never will).
- -- Kathy Biro
-~
-An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even
-how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what
-you know and what you don't.
- -- Anatole France
-~
-A man is a worker. If he is not that he is nothing.
- -- Joseph Conrad
-~
-All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely
-players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one
-man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
- -- Shakespeare, "As You Like It"
-~
-Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.
- -- James Bryant Conant
-~
- I say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined this
-government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.
-We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before
-us many, many months of struggle and suffering.
- You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea,
-and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given
-us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the
-dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.
- You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory.
-Victory at all costs--Victory in spite of all terrors--Victory, however
-long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.
- Let that be realized. No survival for the British Empire, no
-survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for
-the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward
-toward his goal.
- I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause
-will not be suffered to fail among men. I feel entitled at this
-juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, "Come then,
-let us go forward together with our united strength."
- -- Winston Churchill, first speech to Parliament, May 13, 1940
-~
-Be it religion, love under all its forms, literature, or art,
-there is not a single spiritual force that does not become an
-object of commercial exploitation.
- -- Etienne Gilson
-~
-History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.
- -- James Joyce from "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"
-~
-Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon,
-but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!
- -- John Parker, leader of the "Minutemen", April 19, 1775
-~
-These are the times that try men's souls.
- -- Tom Paine
-~
- Yesterday, December 7, 1941--a day which will live in infamy--the
-United states of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by
-naval and air forces of the empire of Japan... The attack yesterday
-on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and
-military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives
-have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported
-torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu... Japan
-has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the
-Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves.
-The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and
-well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our
-nation.
- As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all
-measures be taken for our defense, that always will our whole nation
-remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long
-it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American
-people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.
- I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the
-people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the
-uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery
-shall never again endanger us. Hostilities exist. There is no
-blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests
-are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the
-unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable
-triumph. So help us God.
- -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
-~
-Our strength grows out of our weakness.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
-I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
-I shall use my time.
- -- Jack London
-~
-What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly;
-it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
- -- Tom Paine
-~
-it's hard not to blame microsoft for the new worm. they point at
-their feeble little patch (which actually doesn't stop all the
-types of attack nimda uses), but why aren't their operating systems
-automatically getting the patch if it's critical? also, why are
-there so many huge gaping holes in the first place? they'll never
-stop plugging them... it's like a dyke made out of sponges.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-after i got my millionth annoying spam today, i decided that there must
-be something to it after all. perhaps i can write spam all day while
-wearing only underpants and make money by magic too. clearly no one has
-shut off the spammers' internet connections yet, so they survive somehow.
-subsistence-level living based on a life of evil, here i come!
-i like to call this:
-"my frist spam"
-
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-~
-Courage is grace under pressure. -- Ernest Hemingway
-~
-To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years.
-To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that
-gentleness is to be expected only from the strong.
- -- Leo Rosten
-~
- The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are
-worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all
-attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy
-ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of
-treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence.
- It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation,
-enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by
-violence without a struggle, or be cheated out of them by the artifices of
-false and designing men.
- Of the latter we are in most danger at present; let us therefore be aware
-of it. Let us contemplate our forefathers and posterity; and resolve to
-maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the
-latter.
- Instead of sitting down satisfied with the efforts we have already made,
-which is the wish of our enemies, the necessity of the times, more than ever,
-calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and perseverance.
-Let us remember that 'if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty,
-we encourage it, and involve others in our doom.' It is a very serious
-consideration, which should deeply impress our minds, that millions yet unborn
-may be the miserable sharers in the event.
- -- Samuel Adams, tasty American Patriot
-~
-The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is
-before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out
-to meet it.
- -- Thucydides
-~
-I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself
-I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore,
-and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble
-or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of
-truth lay all undiscovered before me.
- -- Isaac Newton
-~
-As a rule, software systems do not work well until they have been
-used, and have failed repeatedly, in real applications.
- -- Dave Parnas
-~
-Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-When fanatics are on top, there is no limit to oppression.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
-Willing is not enough; we must do.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-tkelele ekki eekkle cthulhu hurf hurf hurf *plat*
- -- H. P. Lovecraft's "cat" ejecting a hairball
-~
-If we survive danger it steels our courage more than anything else.
- -- Reinhold Niebuhr
-~
-Computer Science is no more about computers
-than astronomy is about telescopes.
- -- Edsger W. Dijkstra
-~
-What we become depends on what we read after all of the
-professors have finished with us. The greatest university
-of all is a collection of books.
- -- Thomas Carlyle
-~
-The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in
-higher esteem those that think alike than those who think differently.
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.
- -- Tom Paine
-~
-clean underwear is
-crucial in these turbulent
-final days of earth...
-
-president shrub does
-wonders for sagging garment
-industry's profits.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-will afghanis have
-christian values? hate the bombs,
-but love the bombers?
-~
-Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.
- -- John Locke
-~
-Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, "Certainly,
-I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it.
- -- Theodore Roosevelt
-~
-Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve
-greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
- -- William Shakespeare
-~
-fred had a job but
-then he frittered it away
-waxing poetic.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Half this game is ninety percent mental.
- -- Yogi Berra
-~
-Action may not always bring happiness;
-but there is no happiness without action.
- -- Benjamin Disraeli
-~
-The world is faced with a transcendent conflict between those who love life
-and those who love death both for themselves and their enemies.
- -- Charles Krauthammer
-~
-doomed bovines eat sand
-scrape on cactus in AZ
-then chowed on and gone
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-To find out what one is fitted to do,
-and to secure an opportunity to do it,
-is the key to happiness.
- -- John Dewey
-~
-I have never understood Brahms. I believe he was
-burning the midnight oil trying to be complicated.
- -- Albert Einstein, in a conversation with Peter G. Neumann
-~
-Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training.
- -- Anna Freud
-~
-It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to
-entertain a thought without accepting it.
- -- Aristotle
-~
-The fastest way to succeed is to look as if you're playing
-by somebody else's rules, while quietly playing by your own.
- -- Michael Korda
-~
-tie your future to
-a brick; microsoft sinking
-fast as cement shoes
-~
-Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction.
-Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers is another.
- -- G. K. Chesterton
-~
-We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
- -- Thomas Alva Edison
-~
-Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet
-of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.
- -- Gene Fowler
-~
-Any activity becomes creative when the doer
-cares about doing it right, or doing it better.
- -- John Updike
-~
-Experience with technology teaches us that once a technology makes
-something possible, it gets applied, whether for good or bad.
- -- Donald A. Norman
-~
-The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in
-other men the conviction and the will to carry on.
- -- Walter Lippman
-~
-Without education we are in a horrible and deadly
-danger of taking educated people seriously.
- -- G. K. Chesterton
-~
-When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt.
- -- Henry J. Kaiser
-~
-Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only
-the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy.
- -- Nora Ephron
-~
-Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness
-that some things are really important, others not; and that the two
-kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs.
- -- Christopher Morley
-~
-Nobody ever died of laughter.
- -- Max Beerbohm
-~
- Mein Herr looked so thoroughly bewildered that I thought it best
-to change the subject. "What a useful thing a pocket-map is!" I
-remarked.
- "That's another thing we've learned from your Nation," said Mein
-Herr, "map-making. But we've carried it much further than you. What
-do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?"
- "About six inches to the mile."
- "Only six inches!" exclaimed Mein Herr. "We very soon got to six
-yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And
-then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the
-country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!"
- "Have you used it much?" I enquired.
- "It has never been spread out, yet," said Mein Herr: "the farmers
-objected; they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out
-the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and
-I assure you it does nearly as well."
- -- Lewis Carroll, "Sylvie and Bruno Concluded"
-~
-The fly has an autonomous system that avoids being swatted. It has
-the ability to see and navigate and make decisions on millisecond time
-scales. We've never been able to make artificial vision systems that
-come within orders of magnitude of that, with all the computation we
-can throw at them.
- -- Carver Mead
-~
-The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending,
-we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours;
-We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
- -- William Wordsworth
-~
-You return and again take the proper course, guided by what?
-By the picture in mind of the place you are headed for.
- -- John McDonald
-~
-The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who
-are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-Xtianity the Easy Way
----------------------
-
-jesus heal my head,
-so i won't drop dead;
-god better get me real happy,
-'cause he's my celestial pappy.
-
-yo god, i'll just lie around here at home,
-you fill my pockets with money while i moan.
-it'll make me real religious,
-if you ain't fictitious...
-
-being a zealot is a lot of hassle,
-and with my faith i must wrassle.
-'til jesus gets my brain repaired,
-to humans my butt remains bared.
-
-surmounting one's lot is for others,
-who have energy unsmothered,
-by wacky notions of invisible spirits,
-that reward and punish holy twits.
-
-heaven better live up to my imagination,
-and to its oft repeated reputation;
-the next life better not suck, holy dad,
-'cause this one on earth you f*cked pretty bad.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so
-long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see
-the ones which open for us.
- -- Alexander Graham Bell
-~
-The mind is its own place and
-in itself can make a heaven
-of hell, a hell of heaven.
- -- John Milton
-~
-Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
-Willing is not enough; we must do.
- -- Johann von Goethe
-~
-I've developed a new philosophy... I only dread one day at a time.
- -- Charlie Brown, in Charles Schultz's cartoon "Peanuts"
-~
-It is hard to say exactly when the monumentalization of the trivial became
-a way of life in America. It may have been when the National Football League
-started according contests between large men in skintight pants the sort of
-solemn designations formerly reserved for armed global conflicts.
- -- Michael Kelly, in "The Atlantic Monthly"
-~
-When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second.
-When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour.
-That's relativity.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned,
-so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
- -- E. M. Forster
-~
-The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
- -- Alan Kay
-~
-Unless one's predictions are confirmed more often than a random
-guesser's, we should be suspicious of their quality, however
-cogent they may have seemed when made.
- -- Richard A. Posner
-~
-It is said an eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent a
-sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate
-in all times and situations. They presented him with the words,
-"And this, too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening
-in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.
-Small people always do that, but the really great make you
-feel that you, too, can become great.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-The belief that microsoft has done it all right this time with Windows-XP
-is just like... the suspension of disbelief that allows people to think
-it's perfectly normal to see kids flying around on brooms in the Harry
-Potter movie while they're in the darkened movie theater. It's time to
-turn on the lights in your mental theater...
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-We always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love--
-first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage.
- -- Albert Camus
-~
- The majority of important television commercials take the form of
-religious parables organized around a coherent theology. Like all religious
-parables, they put forward a concept of sin, intimations of the way to
-redemption, and a vision of Heaven. They also suggest what are the roots of
-evil and what are the obligations of the holy.
- Consider, for example, the Parable of the Ring Around the Collar. This
-is to television scripture what the Parable of the Prodigal Son is to the
-Bible, which is to say it is an archetype containing most of the elements of
-form and content that recur in the genre.
- The narrative structure of the Parable of the Ring Around the Collar is,
-indeed, comfortably traditional. The story has a beginning, a middle, and an
-end. A married couple is depicted in some relaxed setting--a restaurant, say--
-in which they are enjoying each other's company and generally having a
-wonderful time. But then a waitress approaches their table, notices that the
-man has a dirty collar, stares at it boldly, sneers with cold contempt, and
-announces to all within hearing the nature of his transgression. The man is
-humiliated and glares at his wife with scorn, for she is the source of his
-shame. She, in turn, assumes an expression of self-loathing mixed with a
-touch of self-pity...
- The parable continues by showing the wife at home using a detergent
-that never fails to eliminate dirt around the collars of men's shirts...
- In television-commercial parables, the root cause of evil is
-"Technological Innocence", a failure to know the particulars of the
-beneficent accomplishments of industrial progress...
- Technological innocence refers not only to ignorance of detergents,
-drugs, sanitary napkins, cars, salves, and foodstuffs, but also to
-ignorance of technical machinery such as savings banks and transportation
-systems.
- -- Neil Postman, "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age
- of Show Business"
-~
-Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some
-blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.
-Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a
-spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-I don't know much about being a millionaire,
-but I'll bet I'd be darling at it.
- -- Dorothy Parker
-~
-term: Microflaccidity
-definition: An addiction to Microsoft products accompanied by a decrease in IQ.
-~
-Poetry is what gets lost in translation.
- -- Robert Frost
-~
-Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey "people". People
-say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war.... Each
-instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense
-of the rest....
- -- C. S. Lewis
-~
-[Hollywood is] a place where they shoot too many films and not enough actors.
- -- Walter Winchell
-~
-Money sometimes makes fools of important persons,
-but also makes important persons of fools.
- -- Walter Winchell
-~
-I made my money by selling too soon.
- -- Bernard Baruch
-~
-Tell me who admires you and loves you, and I will tell you who you are.
- -- Charles Augustin Sainte-Beauve
-~
-False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often
-endure long; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm,
-for everyone takes a salutory pleasure in proving their falseness.
- -- Charles Darwin
-~
-I never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back.
- -- Zsa-Zsa Gabor
-~
-I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from
-listening carefully. Most people never listen.
- -- Ernest Hemingway
-~
-Ten point list of lessons learned
-from the high-tech industry failures during 2001:
-
- 1) Prediction tools must improve.
- 2) It's hugely difficult to build chicken and egg simultaneously.
- 3) Venture capital firms' demands that startups generate $50 million
- in revenue within three years were unrealistic.
- 4) Companies used narrowcast to broadcast.
- 5) Free is folly.
- 6) We all, like sheep, will go astray (with enough pressure).
- 7) Many startups were fundamentally uncreative and "un-Internet."
- 8) Too early to market? Too bad.
- 9) New stuff doesn't replace old.
- 10) Nothing changes overnight.
-
- -- Webmergers.com
-~
-The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy.
- -- John Galsworthy
-~
-The ultimate result of shielding men from the
-effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
- -- Herbert Spencer
-~
-Sports is the toy department of human life. -- Howard Cosell
-~
-First keep the peace within yourself,
-then you can also bring peace to others.
- -- Thomas Kempis
-~
-What one has not experienced, one will never understand in print.
- -- Isadora Duncan
-~
-Newspapermen learn to call a murderer "an alleged murderer" and the
-King of England "the alleged King of England" to avoid libel suits.
- -- Stephen Leacock
-~
-I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places.
-He told me to quit going to those places.
- -- Henny Youngman
-~
-Never mistake motion for action. -- Ernest Hemingway
-~
-The first duty of a leader is to make himself
-be loved without courting love. To be loved
-without "playing up" to anyone--even to himself.
- -- Andre Malraux
-~
-All you need in this life is ignorance and
-confidence, and then success is sure.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited
-energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of
-order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence.
- -- Norman Podhoretz
-~
-If only I could master the skill of telefecalkinesis, the act of
-sh*tting on someone from any distance. Another useful skill is
-evilknievelportation, the ability to jump out of the way right
-before some horrible accident occurs. This is useful to avoid
-the telefecalkinetics.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six,
-result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual
-expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.
- -- Charles Dickens, in "David Copperfield"
-~
-Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest
-way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless.
- -- Sinclair Lewis
-~
-It's the wonder of the world, it's a rocket to the moon, it gets you high,
-it gets you low, but once you get that glow... Love, love, hooray for love,
-who was ever too blase for love? Make this the night for love. If we have
-to fight, let's fight for love. Some sigh and cry for love--Ah, but in
-Pa-ree they die for love. Some waste away for love. Just the same--hooray
-for love!
- -- Harold Arlen
-~
-Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
- -- Philip K. Dick
-~
-Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long.
- -- Ogden Nash
-~
-Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.
- -- Petrarch
-~
-The young have aspirations that never come to pass,
-the old have reminiscences of what never happened.
- -- H.H. Monroe (Saki)
-~
-An inventor is a person who makes an ingenious arrangement
-of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization.
- -- Ambrose Bierce
-~
-There's nothing quite like doing nothing.
- -- John Ong
-~
-For a successful technology, reality must take precedence
-over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
- -- Richard Feynmann
-~
-The mind commands the body and the body obeys.
-The mind commands itself and finds resistance.
- -- St. Augustine
-~
- The English word "way" is perhaps the nearest translation that we can
-make to the Chinese word tao. It is usually pronounced "dow." The Tao
-means many things. Primarily, it means the way of nature, the process of
-the universe. But it also means a way of life, a way of living in
-accordance with that process. We have lost the idea that our occupations
-are vocations. Our idea of an occupation is that it is a way of making
-money. We make a very, very destructive division between work and play.
-We spend eight hours, or whatever it may be, at work in order to earn the
-money to enjoy ourselves in the other eight hours. And that is a perfectly
-ridiculous way of living. It is much better to be very poor indeed than to
-do something so stupid as boring ourselves and wasting ourselves for eight
-hours in order to be able to enjoy ourselves the other eight hours. The
-result of this fantastic division between work and play is that work
-becomes drudgery, and play becomes empty. When we say that our occupation
-should also be our vocation, we are speaking of a conception of life within
-which work and play should be identical.
- It is interesting that Hindus, when they speak of the creation of the
-universe, do not call it the work of God, they call it the play of God,
-the Vishnu-lila, lila meaning "play." And they look upon the whole
-manifestation of all the universes as a play, as a sport, as a kind of
-dance--lila perhaps being somewhat related to our word lilt. We in the
-West have tended to lose the idea of our work, our profession, as being a
-way, a tao.
- Now, mind you, these ways I am talking about in Asia are not followed
-by an enormous number of people, except in a kind of nominal, superficial
-way. And I am not trying to make any vast comparisons between Asian society
-and Western society or to say that the total Asian way of life is superior
-to ours. I do not think it is, but I do not think it is necessarily
-inferior, either; it is just different. But the fact remains that there is
-an aspect of Asian religion and philosophy that is very subdued in Western
-religion and philosophy, so that you might say that the Way, in the sense of
-the Chinese Tao, does not quite exist in the West, in any recognizable form.
-It does exist, yes. It exists unofficially, it exists occasionally, but it
-is never clearly recognized.
- -- Alan Watts, "The Way of Zen"
-~
-It is not certain that everything is uncertain.
- -- Blaise Pascal
-~
-We used to think that
-if we knew one, we knew two,
-because one and one are two.
-We are finding that we must
-learn a great deal more about "and".
- -- Sir Arthur Eddington
-~
-The so-called Pythagoreans, who were the first to take up mathematics,
-not only advanced this subject, but, saturated with it, they fancied
-that the principles of mathematics were the principles of all things.
- -- Aristotle
-~
-Civilization advances by extending the number of important
-operations which we can perform without thinking of them.
- -- Alfred North Whitehead
-~
-Any solution to a problem changes the problem.
- -- R. W. Johnson
-~
-I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure,
-could walk on a cloud without coming through.
- -- Jules Verne
-~
-Pay no attention to what the critics say; there has
-never been set up a statue in honor of a critic.
- -- Jean Sibelius
-~
-Do not ask things to happen as you wish, but wish them to
-happen as they do happen, and your life will go smoothly.
- -- Epictetus
-~
-One of the things most beguiling to cat lovers is the
-intractability of a cat... its refusal to surrender
-the least part of its spiritual independence.
- -- Marguerite Steen
-~
-Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed.
-Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery
-and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they
-might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say
-to myself, "It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams
-come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
- -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
-~
-I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the
-morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.
- -- Frank Sinatra
-~
-The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk, they're sober.
- -- William Butler Yeats
-~
-Drinking provides a beautiful excuse to pursue the one activity that
-truly gives me pleasure, hooking up with fat, hairy girls.
- -- Ross Levy
-~
-What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch?
- -- Tee Mans
-~
-Life is a waste of time, time is a waste of life, so get
-wasted all of the time and have the time of your life.
- -- Michelle Mastrolacasa
-~
-I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy.
- -- Tom Waits
-~
-Newscasters have gotten so repellant,
-talk shows so superficial,
-sitcoms so unfunny,
-dramas so mundane,
-movies so predictable,
-that the Food Network offers the best
-fare on TV in every sense of the word.
- -- Florence King
-~
-My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four.
-Unless there are three other people.
- -- Orson Welles
-~
-The people's good is the highest law. -- Cicero
-~
-In all recorded history there has not been one economist who
-has had to worry about where the next meal would come from.
- -- Peter Drucker
-~
-The great thing in this world
-is not so much where we stand,
-as in what direction we are moving.
- -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
-~
-Reality is the leading cause of stress
-amongst those in touch with it.
- -- Jane Wagner
-~
-If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.
- -- Bill Lyon
-~
-The nice thing about egotists is that
-they don't talk about other people.
- -- Lucille S. Harper
-~
-Wisdom outweighs any wealth. -- Sophocles
-~
-A problem is a chance for you to do your best. -- Duke Ellington
-~
-It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing.
-It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.
- -- Mother Teresa
-~
-The human mind is like an umbrella--it functions best when open.
- -- Walter Gropius
-~
-They always say that time changes things, but
-you actually have to change them yourself.
- -- Andy Warhol
-~
-If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the
-computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles
-per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
- -- Robert X. Cringely
-~
-The man who says he is willing to meet you
-halfway usually is a poor judge of distance.
- -- Laurence J. Peter
-~
-To do two things at once is to do neither.
- -- Publilius Syrus
-~
-We live in an age when pizza gets to your home before the police.
- -- Jeff Marder
-~
-Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.
- -- Quentin Crisp
-~
-Hell, there are no rules here, we're trying to accomplish something.
- -- Thomas Edison
-~
-The days of the digital watch are numbered. -- Tom Stoppard
-~
-A little drowsing cat is an image of perfect beatitude.
- -- Champfleury
-~
-World peace must develop from inner peace.
-Peace is not just mere absence of violence.
-Peace is, I think, the manifestation of human compassion.
- -- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
-~
-The human mind treats a new idea the same way
-the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.
- -- P. B. Medawar
-~
-A hat should be taken off when you greet a
-lady and left off for the rest of your life.
-Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.
- -- P. J. O'Rourke
-~
-Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends.
- -- Woody Allen
-~
-It is a very sad thing that nowadays
-there is so little useless information.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-I was born not knowing and have had only a
-little time to change that here and there.
- -- Richard Feynman
-~
-I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the
-best of them, and I know how bad I am.
- -- Joseph Baretti
-~
-Delusions of grandeur make me feel a lot better about myself.
- -- Jane Wagner
-~
-It's a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn't want to hear.
- -- Dick Cavett
-~
-Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't
-mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.
- -- Edward R. Murrow
-~
-What can you say about a society that says that
-God is dead and Elvis is alive?
- -- Irv Kupcinet
-~
-Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.
- -- G. K. Chesterton
-~
-Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?
- -- Edgar Bergen, as "Charlie McCarthy"
-~
-A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can
-do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done.
- -- Fred Allen
-~
-Whatever you do will be insignificant,
-but it is very important that you do it.
- -- Mahatma Gandhi
-~
-Cats know how to obtain food without labor,
-shelter without confinement,
-and love without penalties.
- -- W. I. George
-~
-Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad.
- -- Diogenes the Cynic
-~
-When it is not necessary to make a decision,
-it is necessary not to make a decision.
- -- Lord Falkland
-~
-Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew
-and for several days we had nothing to live on but food and water.
- -- W. C. Fields
-~
-Why isn't there a special name for the tops of your feet? -- Lily Tomlin
-~
-I took a speed reading course and read "War and
-Peace" in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.
- -- Woody Allen
-~
-Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.
- -- Michel de Montaigne
-~
-I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it.
- -- Groucho Marx
-~
-In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. -- Andy Warhol
-~
-Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
- -- Lewis Carroll
-~
-The reason grandparents and grandchildren get
-along so well is that they have a common enemy.
- -- Sam Levenson
-~
-A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.
- -- Herman Melville
-~
-The prayer of the scientist if he prayed, which is not likely:
-Lord, grant that my discovery may increase knowledge and help other men.
-Failing that, Lord, grant that it will not lead to man's destruction.
-Failing that, Lord, grant that my article in "Brain" be published before
-the destruction takes place.
- -- Walker Percy, in "Love in the Ruins"
-~
-Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by
-confessing our parents' shortcomings.
- -- Laurence J. Peter
-~
-Cooperate on Standards, Compete on Implementation
- -- Sun Corporations's Founding Principle
-~
-If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive.
- -- Sam Goldwyn
-~
-Someday I want to be rich. Some people get so rich they lose
-all respect for humanity. That's how rich I want to be.
- -- Rita Rudner
-~
-Kids who have yet to master spelling or basic math are in no position to
-dogmatize about scientific questions like global warming or nuclear power.
- -- Thomas Sowell
-~
-If you can't ride two horses at the same time you shouldn't be in the circus.
- -- Dennis Healey
-~
- Whenever a person walks in on the middle of a film or a conversation, or
-starts a new friendship, opens a book, takes a new job, or moves to a new
-city, his first need is to orient himself. We all must know, in a general
-way, what to expect so that we can plan and respond intelligently and feel
-comfortable. And although all animals work with their senses and brains to
-orient themselves, human being do something unique. We live less simply and
-directly in the world than do other animals. We make a version of a world,
-an interpretation of it, and then we live in that. The degree of comfort
-and success that we achieve in our lives depends on how well that
-interpretation suits our circumstances.
- Another way to state this idea is that genetically built into people is
-a special organizing mode of perception. The philosopher Susanne Langer
-calls this mode transformational: we are co-creators of our own perceptions.
-In the very act of physically perceiving, we interpret; we transform the raw
-data gathered by our senses into complex symbolic meanings. We literally
-cannot function and survive without seeing in our world evidence of order
-and purpose. We take nothing at face value; we systematize, explain, weave
-a large network of connected meanings.
- While nonhuman animals toil for their lives, play, or lie in the sun--do
-whatever is suitable for the moment--only people fret and practice and
-struggle to achieve distant or abstract goals. We are the only animals who
-live partly removed from our immediate physical circumstances. This
-extravagance is the source of our language, art, science, music, religions,
-philosophies: those things we value most. Aside from such direct physical
-causes of death as hunger, exposure, old age, or disease, the one
-circumstance we truly cannot survive is living in a raw, uninterpreted
-place--in chaos. Each of us either finds a meaning in some traditional
-religion or philosophy or patches together one of his own, or else he
-panics, loses the will to live, and, in one way or another perishes.
- -- Shirley Park Lowery, "Familiar Mysteries: The Truth in Myth"
-~
-I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific
-problems is just as dumb as the next guy.
- -- Richard Feynman
-~
-The operating system for the *world* is too important a resource to be
-entrusted to just one proprietary company. No one company can handle
-the responsibility, nor can any one company be trusted to stay honest
-and fair when wielding such awesome power.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Middle age is when you've met so many people that every
-new person you meet reminds you of someone else.
- -- Ogden Nash
-~
-Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself.
- -- A. H. Weiler
-~
-I was walking down the street wearing glasses when the prescription ran out.
- -- Steven Wright
-~
-Sometimes I think we're alone. Sometimes I think we're not.
-In either case, the thought is staggering.
- -- R. Buckminster Fuller
-~
-Birds fly over the rainbow, why then oh why can't I?
- -- E. Y. Harburg
-~
-The software business is the worst
-of all possible business models,
-except for all the others.
- -- Marc Andreessen
-~
-Instant gratification takes too long.
- -- Carrie Fisher
-~
-Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.
- -- John Kenneth Galbraith
-~
-No one can have a higher opinion of him than I have,
-and I think he's a dirty little beast.
- -- W. S. Gilbert
-~
-Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but
-man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
- -- Reinhold Niebuhr
-~
-The great tragedy of Science--the slaying of a
-beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.
- -- Thomas H. Huxley
-~
-Against logic there is no armor like ignorance. -- Laurence J. Peter
-~
-In mathematics you don't understand things.
-You just get used to them.
- -- John von Neumann
-~
-Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?
- -- James Thurber
-~
-As for me, except for an occasional heart attack,
-I feel as young as I ever did.
- -- Robert Benchley
-~
-Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.
- -- Benjamin Franklin
-~
-When ideas fail, words come in very handy. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages,
-may be preserved by quotation.
- -- Benjamin Disraeli
-~
-Hi Mark,
-I am not familiar with the command RTFM.
-I tried giving it but got an warning that the command does not exist.
-Regards,
-Sodip
- -- A real user's response to advice
-~
-A happy childhood has spoiled many a promising life.
- -- Robertson Davies
-~
-The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two
-opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the
-ability to function.
- -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
-~
-Everything you've learned in school as "obvious" becomes less and
-less obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there
-are no solids in the universe. There's not even a suggestion of a
-solid. There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces.
-There are no straight lines.
- -- R. Buckminster Fuller
-~
- Our happiness doesn't depend on somebody else's action or on anything
-else. It doesn't depend on our success, but rather on the effort we're
-willing to put into everything we do. Even if people disappoint or fail
-us left and right, even if people turn against us, hurt us, lie about us,
-don't understand us, even if they think they know everything about us and
-judge us unfairly, they can't infringe upon our happiness. True happiness
-means that we have a deep-seated peace and tranquility that transcends all
-the difficulties of life, that cannot be disturbed by the chaos and
-warfare that might touch our lives.
- Digging in the trenches of a Nazi concentration camp Victor Frankl once
-said to a fellow inmate: "This is where you've got to find your happiness--
-right here in this trench, in this camp." It is a simple matter of fact:
-you can be just as happy in a concentration camp, horrific and terrible as
-it surely is, as you can in any other circumstance in life.
- For this is where we're supposed to find our happiness--where we are
-now, wherever that might happen to be, in all that we do, in whatever
-circumstances we find ourselves. Being happy involves the intense
-struggle of entering intimately into all that we do.
- -- "The Monks of New Skete, In the Spirit of Happiness"
-~
-Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour,
-Rains from the sky a meteoric shower
-Of facts . . . they lie unquestioned, uncombined.
-Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill
-Is daily spun; but there exists no loom
-To weave it into fabric.
- -- Edna St. Vincent Millay, from "Upon This Age"
-~
-An ignorant person is one who doesn't know what you have just found out.
- -- Will Rogers
-~
-Everybody gets so much information all day long
-that they lose their common sense.
- -- Gertrude Stein
-~
-Rationalists, wearing square hats,
-Think, in square rooms,
-Looking at the floor,
-Looking at the ceiling.
-They confine themselves
-To right-angled triangles.
-If they tried rhomboids,
-Cones, waving lines, ellipses--
-As, for example, the ellipse of the half-moon--
-Rationalists would wear sombreros.
- -- Wallace Stevens
-~
-I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.
- -- G. K. Chesterton
-~
-fat in dee head / fat in dee mind / thin on dee love / absent dee kind
-yon falwell got dee big head / falwell got dee tiny brain
-falwell don' like what you be liken' / falwell hate what he don' understan'
-which be everyteen' for dis one / falwell dee bigot boy.
- -- love poem to jerry f.
-~
-The cat is, above all things, a dramatist.
- -- Margaret Benson
-~
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed
-us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
- -- Galileo Galilei
-~
-The human mind treats a new idea the same way
-the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.
- -- P. B. Medawar
-~
-I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
- -- Bertrand Russell
-~
-The key to being a good manager is keeping the people
-who hate me away from those who are still undecided.
- -- Casey Stengel
-~
-Reality is nothing but a collective hunch. -- Lily Tomlin
-~
-To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. -- Thomas Edison
-~
-If I knew I was going to live this long,
-I'd have taken better care of myself.
- -- Mickey Mantle
-~
-What we anticipate seldom occurs; what we least expected generally happens.
- -- Benjamin Disraeli
-~
-The cat is the mirror of the human mind, personality and attitude,
-just as the dog mirrors his human's physical appearance.
- -- Winfred Carriere
-~
-Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy?
-I don't know and I don't care.
- -- William Safire
-~
-Historians are like deaf people who go on
-answering questions that no one has asked them.
- -- Leo Tolstoy
-~
-There are two moments worthwhile in writing, the one when you
-start and the other when you throw it in the waste-paper basket.
- -- Samuel Beckett
-~
-The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems
-to be vastly greater than that of any other animal.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you
-looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.
- -- Poul Anderson
-~
-common sense is just the things your parents tell you that
-actually make it into your brain when you're a kid.
-
- don't touch hot things,
- look both ways when crossing the street,
- don't eat dirt.
-
-these ones work; thus they survive.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Men have become the tools of their tools. -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
-Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the
-ego, and lessens the frictions of social contacts.
- -- Clare Booth Luce
-~
-You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.
- -- Henry Ford
-~
-When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries
-disappear and life stands explained.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Why was I born with such contemporaries? -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact. -- Edmund Burke
-~
-What's on your mind, if you will allow the overstatement? -- Fred Allen
-~
-The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof,
-a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an
-oracle, is inborn in us.
- -- Paul Valery
-~
-The mad mind does not halt. If it halts, it is enlightenment.
- -- Chinese Zen Saying
-~
-He who controls his mind and has cut off desire and anger realizes the Self.
- -- The Bhagavad Gita
-~
-A fly, when it exists, has as much being as God. -- Soren Kierkegaard
-~
-Our final experience, like our first, is conjectural.
-We move between two darknesses.
- -- E. M. Forster
-~
-If you have not lived through something, it is not true. -- Kabir
-~
-I like a view but I like to sit with my back to it. -- Gertrude Stein
-~
-Lightning flashes!
-So bright in the eyes of those
-clutching at the thought of death.
- -- Issa
-~
-The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you,
-the better you will hear what is sounding outside.
-And only she who listens can speak.
- -- Dag Hammarskjold
-~
-If knowledge does not liberate the self from the self,
-then ignorance is better than such knowledge.
- -- Sina'i
-~
-When the eye wakes up to see again,
-it suddenly stops taking anything for granted.
- -- Frederick Franck
-~
-Only when we know little things do we know
-anything; doubt grows with knowledge.
- -- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
-~
-Among corn stalks
-wind rippling
-just for the corn.
- -- Soen Nakagawa
-~
-He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates,
-knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.
- -- Plato
-~
-Words are just like a man carrying a lamp to look for
-his property, by which he can say: this is my property.
- -- The Lankavatara Sutra
-~
-That best portion
- of a good man's life,
-His little, nameless,
- unremembered acts
-Of kindness and love.
- -- William Wordsworth
-~
-I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm
-some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself
-in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer.
- -- Henri Matisse
-~
-Life is like stepping onto a boat that is about to sail out to sea and sink.
- -- Shunryu Suzuki
-~
-Such stillness
-The cries of the cicadas
-Sink into the rocks.
- -- Basho
-~
-We live in a rainbow of chaos. -- Paul Cezanne
-~
-love's like a purple dinosaur because it can't outrun a truck,
-life's like a bowl of nixons sometimes you f*ck.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
- -- Napoleon Bonaparte
-~
-Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the
-imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
-We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not
-unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of
-thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what
-we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
- -- Richard Feynman
-~
-The playful kitten, with its pretty little tigerish gambols, is infinitely
-more amusing than half the people one is obliged to live with in the world.
- -- Lady Sydney Morgan
-~
-The mystery of life is not a problem to be
-solved but a reality to be experienced.
- -- Aart Van Der Leeuw
-~
-Have no designs on becoming a Buddha. This has nothing
-whatever to do with sitting or lying down.
- -- Dogen
-~
-When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves,
-it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
- -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
-~
-We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big
-difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which,
-over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
- -- Marian Wright Edelman
-~
-Golf is a good walk spoiled.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-The day we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity. -- Seneca
-~
-Life is stressful enough without customer service. -- Thomas Oliver
-~
-To assume a cat's asleep is a grave mistake.
-He can close his eyes and keep both his ears awake.
- -- Aileen Fisher
-~
-Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged
-in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
-The tendency has always been strong to believe that whatever received
-a name must be an entity or being, having an independent existence of
-its own. And if no real entity answering to the name could be found,
-men did not for that reason suppose that none existed, but imagined
-that it was something peculiarly abstruse and mysterious.
- -- John Stuart Mill
-~
-You aren't a failure until you start blaming others for your mistakes.
- -- John Wooten
-~
- The master, Hseuh-feng, asked a newly arrived monk where
-he had come from. The monk answered: "From the Monastery of
-Spiritual Light."
- The master said, "In the daytime we have sunlight; in the
-evening, lamplight. What is spiritual light?"
- The monk had no answer.
- The Master said, "Sunlight. Lamplight."
- -- Zen mondo
-~
-There is no wealth but life. -- John Ruskin
-~
-Approach it and there is no beginning; follow it
-and there is no end. You can't know it, but you
-can be it, at ease in your own life.
- -- Lao-Tzu
-~
-And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where
-we started and know the place for the first time.
- -- T. S. Eliot
-~
-There's an old saying in Tennessee--I know it's in Texas, probably in
-Tennessee--that says: Fool me once, shame on [pause] shame on you.
-[Pause] Fool me [long, uncomfortable, agonizing pause] you can't get
-fooled again.
- -- Bush at East Literature Magnet School in Nashville yesterday.
-~
-Concentration is my motto--first honesty,
-then industry, then concentration.
- -- Andrew Carnegie
-~
-Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence. -- Charles de Gaulle
-~
-If you would make a man happy, do not add to his possessions but
-subtract from the sum of his desires.
- -- Seneca
-~
-Live life like your hair is on fire. -- Ashley Brilliant
-~
- City people have a hard time handling the silences when they first
-come out to the country. After a certain period of solitude, I myself
-experiencing an aloneness that is sometimes disturbing, but the country
-eventually cleanses my spirit and purges my body of the sounds, fumes and
-toxins of urban life. I think cities feed psychological stress and tension
-in many ways, including an overload of electrical forces and energy. When
-you go to a country cabin without electricity, you will be surprised at how
-tensions fall away.
- Some practitioners advocate that urban dwellers removed from the
-country find a space in the yard or the garden and dig a hole deep enough
-to enfold the body. Lie down in the hole. Make sure your body can lie just
-below the surface of the ground. Stay in this hollow of earth. You will be
-surprised how rested you will feel simply because you have escaped for a
-moment the man-made influences. You have retreated for a moment to Mother
-Earth's very simple electrical systems. For the chemical and electrical
-balance of the body to be calibrated, you have to stay close to the earth
-itself, align yourself with its polarity so that your body can find harmony
-between the interior world and the exterior universe.
- Once we become detached from nature, we begin to think we can do
-without it. The lights of the Great White Way overpower the stars. It is
-very hard to see the brightest constellation when you live in or near a
-city. The dark solitude of the country reunites you with the universe of
-the stars. The woods and hills restore in you something primal in yourself.
-The sea's pulse sets your own heartbeat.
- -- James Earl Jones, "Voices and Silences"
-~
-Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
- -- Jonathan Swift
-~
-i think i found my other leak now. and this was a frelling dumb one.
-somehow the deletion of the memory was commented out. wtf?
-arrrrrrrhhhh... i don't know what i'm doing....
-i hate the C and everything coded in it.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-When men are pure, laws are useless;
-when men are corrupt, laws are broken.
- -- Benjamin Disraeli
-~
-Only the mediocre are always at their best. -- Jean Giraudoux
-~
-If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome;
-if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent;
-if you believe the military, nothing is safe.
- -- Lord Salisbury
-~
-He is indebted to his memory for his jests
-and to his imagination for his facts.
- -- Richard Brinsley Sheridan
-~
-If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of
-arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the
-physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of
-poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability.
- -- Vannevar Bush
-~
-As a public company, and as a CEO, you have to worry about the stock price
-to some extent. But you figure out after a while that there are very few
-things you can do in the short term that can positively impact stock price.
-If you build a great company, the value of the company goes up. That's very
-important for employees to realize coming out of this age of day trading,
-mass hysteria and "we're all going to be bazillionaires." You've got to get
-people saying: "Why are we really here?" Well, we're here to build a great
-company. That takes time. You may have a great day today and the stock goes
-down, and you may have a horrible day tomorrow and the stock goes up. Short
-term, they don't have a lot to do with each other. But over a long period of
-time you build a great company, and it's going to be worth a lot. Customers
-will reward it. Shareholders will reward it. Employees will want to be a
-part of it and beat our door down to want to work here.
- -- Michael Dell, Founder of Dell Computers
-~
-Cats have the gift of appearing at ease in any situation--high, low or
-anywhere in between.
- -- Dr. Morag Kerr
-~
-I am no more humble than my talents require. -- Oscar Levant
-~
-Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.
- -- Albert Schweitzer
-~
-It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there
-is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-The torch of doubt and chaos, this is what the sage steers by. -- Chuang-Tzu
-~
-I would patch them, but I have not a half-sheet of paper.
-Ah, well--at least torn windows don't need to be pushed open.
-The blowing wind puts out my lamp.
-Rain falling from the eaves wets my inkstone.
- -- Ikkyu
-~
-The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning.
-Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.
- -- Erich Fromm
-~
-I tell you: one must still have chaos in one,
-to give birth to a dancing star.
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-At that pond
- the frog is growing old now--
- among fallen leaves.
- -- Buson
-~
-Consciousness is a being,
-the nature of which
-is to be conscious of
-the nothingness of its being.
- -- Jean-Paul Sartre
-~
-Since it is all too clear,
-It takes time to grasp it.
-When you understand that it's foolish
-To look for fire with fire,
-The meal is already cooked.
- -- Wu-men
-~
-May you live all the days of your life. -- Jonathan Swift
-~
-How could there be any question of acquiring
-or possessing, when the one thing needful for
-a man is to /become/--to /be/ at last, and to die
-in the fullness of his being.
- -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
-~
-Death, the most dreaded of evils, is therefore of no concern to us;
-for while we exist death is not present,
-and when death is present we no longer exist.
- -- Epicurus
-~
-Singing and danching are the voice of dharma. -- Hakuin
-~
-All great truths begin as blasphemies. -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-Hope is not a strategy. -- Thomas McInerney
-~
-I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month,
-and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.
- -- Thomas Jefferson
-~
-As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now
-to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
-Sometimes the veil between human and animal intelligence wears
-very thin--then one experiences the supreme thrill of keeping
-a cat, or perhaps allowing oneself to be owned by a cat.
- -- Catherine Manley
-~
-I'm never going to be famous. My name will never be writ large on the
-roster of Those Who Do Things. I don't do any thing. Not one single
-thing. I used to bite my nails, but I don't even do that any more.
- -- Dorothy Parker
-~
-One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the
-belief that one's work is terribly important.
- -- Bertrand Russell
-~
-The universality of change, when completely understood, is the seeing
-into the heart of all things, and the Mind that thus understands is
-the Mind that truly seeks the way.
- -- Nagarjuna
-~
-The spirit down here in man and the spirit up there in the sun,
-in reality are only one spirit, and there is no other one.
- -- The Upanishads
-~
-To free oneself is nothing--the really arduous task is to
-know what to do with one's freedom.
- -- Andre Gide
-~
-I hate women because they always know where things are. -- James Thurber
-~
-I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting. -- Mark Twain
-~
-Be careful about reading health books.
-You may die of a misprint.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Autumn, cloud blades on the horizon.
-The west wind blows from ten thousand miles.
-Dawn, in the clear morning air.
-Farmers busy after long rain.
-The desert trees shed their few green leaves.
-The mountain pears are tiny but ripe.
-A Tartar flute plays by the city gate.
-A single wild goose climbs into the void.
- -- Tu Fu
-~
-When you get there, there isn't any there there. -- Gertrude Stein
-~
-I want to sing like birds sing,
-not worrying who hears or what they think.
- -- Jelaluddin Rumi
-~
-The practice of zazen is not
-for gaining a mystical mind.
-Zazen is for allowing a clear mind--
-as clear as a bright autumn day.
- -- Shunryu Suzuki
-~
-... and he was almighty because he had wrenched
-from chaos the secret of its nothingness.
- -- Jean-Paul Sartre
-~
-Practice thirty more years. -- Zen proverb
-~
-Student: "Roshi, what are you doing here?"
-Suzuki-roshi: "Nothing special."
- -- Zen mondo
-~
-After the leaves fall in the village at the foot of Ogura Peak,
-one can see through the tree branches the moon shining in the clear.
- -- Saigyo
-~
-Chaos often breeds life, where order breeds habit.
- -- Henry Adams
-~
-You yourselves must make the exertion.
-The Buddhas are only teachers.
- -- Shakyamuni Buddha
-~
-Cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words,
-and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns your
-light inward to illuminate your self. Body and mind of themselves will
-drop away, and your original face will be manifest.
- -- Dogen
-~
-Next time you have a bad day, imagine this: You are a Siamese twin.
-Your brother that is attached to you at the shoulder is gay.
-You are not. But you only have one ass.
-~
-From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition
-is something up with which I will not put.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-The meaning of life is to see. -- Hui-Neng
-~
-Fundamentally not one thing exists. -- Hui-Neng
-~
-In the blue heavens, cold geese calling.
-On the empty hills, leaves flying.
- -- Ryokan
-~
-When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-An intense love of solitude, distaste for involvement in worldly
-affairs, persistence in knowing the Self and awareness of the goal
-of knowing--all this is called true knowledge.
- -- The Bhagavad Gita
-~
-Some people are born to lift heavy weights.
-Some are born to juggle with golden balls.
- -- Max Beerbohm
-~
-Every man serves a useful purpose: A miser, for
-example, makes a wonderful ancestor.
- -- Lawrence J. Peter
-~
-Smokey the Bear Sutra
-
-Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago,
-the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite
-Void gave a Discourse to all the assembled elements
-and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings,
-the flying beings, and the sitting beings -- even grasses,
-to the number of thirteen billion, each one born from a
-seed, assembled there: a Discourse concerning
-Enlightenment on the planet Earth.
-
-"In some future time, there will be a continent called
-America. It will have great centers of power called
-such as Pyramid Lake, Walden Pond, Mt. Rainier, Big Sur,
-Everglades, and so forth; and powerful nerves and channels
-such as Columbia River, Mississippi River, and Grand Canyon
-The human race in that era will get into troubles all over
-its head, and practically wreck everything in spite of
-its own strong intelligent Buddha-nature."
-
-"The twisting strata of the great mountains and the pulsings
-of volcanoes are my love burning deep in the earth.
-My obstinate compassion is schist and basalt and
-granite, to be mountains, to bring down the rain. In that
-future American Era I shall enter a new form; to cure
-the world of loveless knowledge that seeks with blind hunger:
-and mindless rage eating food that will not fill it."
-
-And he showed himself in his true form of
-
- SMOKEY THE BEAR
-
- a.. A handsome smokey-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs,
-showing that he is aroused and
- watchful.
-
- b.. Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath
-appearances; cuts the roots of useless
- attach- ments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war;
-
- c.. His left paw in the Mudra of Comradely Display -- indicating that all
-creatures have the full right to live to
- their limits and that deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions, and
-lizards all grow in the realm of the
- Dharma;
-
- d.. Wearing the blue work overalls symbolic of slaves and laborers, the
-countless men oppressed by a
- civilization that claims to save but often destroys;
-
- e.. Wearing the broad-brimmed hat of the West, symbolic of the forces that
-guard the Wilderness, which is the
- Natural State of the Dharma and the True Path of man on earth: all true
-paths lead through mountains --
-
- f.. With a halo of smoke and flame behind, the forest fires of the
-kali-yuga, fires caused by the stupidity of
- those who think things can be gained and lost whereas in truth all is
-contained vast and free in the Blue Sky
- and Green Earth of One Mind;
-
- g.. Round-bellied to show his kind nature and that the great earth has
-food enough for everyone who loves her
- and trusts her;
-
- h.. Trampling underfoot wasteful freeways and needless suburbs; smashing
-the worms of capitalism and
- totalitarianism;
-
- i.. Indicating the Task: his followers, becoming free of cars, houses,
-canned foods, universities, and shoes;
- master the Three Mysteries of their own Body, Speech, and Mind; and
-fearlessly chop down the rotten
- trees and prune out the sick limbs of this country America and then burn
-the leftover trash.
-
-Wrathful but Calm. Austere but Comic. Smokey the Bear will
-Illuminate those who would help him; but for those who would hinder or
-slander him,
-
- HE WILL PUT THEM OUT.
-
-Thus his great Mantra:
-
- Namah samanta vajranam chanda maharoshana
- Sphataya hum traks ham nam
-
- "I DEDICATE MYSELF TO THE UNIVERSAL DIAMOND
- BE THIS RAGING FURY DESTROYED"
-
-And he will protect those who love woods and rivers,
-Gods and animals, hobos and madmen, prisoners and sick
-people, musicians, playful women, and hopeful children:
-
-And if anyone is threatened by advertising, air pollution, television,
-or the police, they should chant SMOKEY THE BEAR'S WAR SPELL:
-
- DROWN THEIR BUTTS
- CRUSH THEIR BUTTS
- DROWN THEIR BUTTS
- CRUSH THEIR BUTTS
-
-And SMOKEY THE BEAR will surely appear to put the enemy out
-with his vajra-shovel.
-
- a.. Now those who recite this Sutra and then try to put it in practice
-willl accumulate merit as countless as the
- sands of Arizona and Nevada.
-
- b.. Will help save the planet Earth from total oil slick.
-
- c.. Will enter the age of harmony of man and nature.
-
- d.. Will win the tender love and caresses of men, women, and beasts.
-
- e.. Will always have ripe blackberries to eat and a sunny spot under a
-pine tree to sit at.
-
- f.. AND IN THE END WILL WIN HIGHEST PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT.
-
- thus have we heard.
-~
-I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a
-nice letter saying that I approved of it.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-We are here to witness the creation and to abet it. -- Annie Dillard
-~
-Today is the eighth of the month, tomorrow is the thirteenth. -- Zen proverb
-~
-Often I am still listening when the song is over.
- -- Marquis de Saint-Lambert
-~
-Worldly acquisitions of wealth and the need of clinging to them, as well as
-the pursuit of the Eight Worldly Aims, I regard with as much loathing and
-disgust as a man who is suffering from biliousness regardeth the sight of
-rich food. Nay, I regard them as if they were the murderers of my father;
-therefore it is that I am assuming this beggarly and penurious mode of life.
- -- Milarepa
-~
-Vast solitude
-My thinning body
-Transparent autumn
- -- Soen Nakagawa
-~
-Maturity is only a short break in adolescence. -- Jules Feiffer
-~
-It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker
-that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.
- -- Adam Smith
-~
-Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable
-that we have to alter it every six months.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who
-can't talk for people who can't read.
- -- Frank Zappa
-~
- Bodhidharma sat facing the wall. The Second Patriarch, after standing
-outside in the snow for so long, cut off his arm. "My mind is not yet
-at peace. Please, Master, put my mind at peace."
- Bodhidharma said: "Bring me your mind and I will pacify it for you."
- The Second Patriarch replied: "Although I have searched for my mind,
-it is totally ungraspable."
- Bodhidharma said: "In that case I have pacified your mind for you."
-~
-Explanation of the unspeakable cannot be finished. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
-~
-We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness.
- -- Mother Teresa
-~
-Since it is the practice of enlightenment,
-that practice has no beginning and
-since it is enlightenment within the practice,
-that realization has no end.
- -- Dogen
-~
-The quieter you become, the more you can hear. -- Baba Ram Dass
-~
-As long as you seek for something, you will get
-the shadow of reality and not reality itself.
- -- Shunryu Suzuki
-~
-Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least
-triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to
-recollect how often we have told it to the same person?
- -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
-~
-I love being married. It's so great to find that one
-special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.
- -- Rita Rudner
-~
-I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-A happy childhood has spoiled many a promising life. -- Robertson Davies
-~
-At this point in history genius has become
-a commodity, an ambition, even a lifestyle.
- -- Marjorie Garber
-~
-A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world. -- Jean le Carre
-~
-Martyrdom is the only way in which a
-man can become famous without ability.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
-For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
- -- Christopher Smart
-~
-It's not autumn's cold that keeps me awake,
-but what I feel before the grasses and trees in my courtyard.
-My banana tree has lost its leaves; my parasol tree is old;
-and night after night--the sound of wind, the sound of rain.
- -- Chujo Joshin
-~
-I believe in an ultimate decency of things. -- Robert Louis Stevenson
-~
-Autumn light
-fills the room
-vacancy.
- -- Soen Nakagawa
-~
-We have two eyes to see two sides of things, but there must be a third eye
-which will see everything at the same time and yet not see anything.
-That is to understand Zen.
- -- D. T. Suzuki
-~
-Yes it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth
-sometimes comes to the top.
- -- Virginia Woolf
-~
-Having precise ideas often leads to a man doing nothing. -- Paul Valery
-~
-The cat was a creature of absolute convictions,
-and his faith in his deductions never varied.
- -- Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
-~
-Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay
-any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose
-any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
- -- John F. Kennedy
-~
-With Henry Adams we see the moment when the pronouncements
-of philosophers ceased to be greeted with forehead slaps of
-recognition or shouts of "Heretic!" and began to be met
-with mumbles of "Oh, shut up."
- -- P. J. O'Rourke
-~
-The nature of mind, when understood, no human words can
-compass or disclose. Enlightenment is naught to be obtained,
-and he that gains it does not say he knows.
- -- Bodhidharma
-~
-As long as you haven't experienced this: to die and so to grow,
-you are only a troubled guest on the dark earth.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-Nirvana is right here, before our eyes. -- Hakuin
-~
-It is the stars not known to science that I would know,
-the stars which the lonely traveler knows.
- -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
-You've got to take the bitter with the sour. -- Sam Goldwyn
-~
-And a man shall be free, and as pure as the day prior to
-his conception in his mother's womb, when he has nothing,
-wants nothing and knows nothing.
- -- Meister Eckhart
-~
-Words, like eyeglasses, blur everything they do not make clear.
- -- Joseph Joubert
-~
-Outside mind there is no Buddha,
-Outside Buddha there is no mind.
- -- Ma-Tsu
-~
-They are ill discoverers that think there is no land,
-when they can see nothing but sea.
- -- Sir Francis Bacon
-~
-My father hated radio and could not wait for television to be
-invented so he could hate that too.
- -- Peter de Vries
-~
-Opportunity is missed by most people because
-it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
- -- Thomas Alva Edison
-~
-Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead. -- Benjamin Franklin
-~
-When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus,
-it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV
-has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained.
- -- Edward R. Murrow
-~
-In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others.
- -- Andre Maurois
-~
-The art of medicine consists in amusing the
-patient while nature cures the disease.
- -- Voltaire
-~
-I am enlightened, and always have been, simultaneously
-with the beginning of the universe.
- -- The Buddha, first words after realizing the truth
-~
-A billion stars go spinning through the night,
-blazing high above your head.
-But in you is the presence that will be,
-when the stars are dead.
- -- Rainer Maria Rilke
-~
-The goal of Buddhism is to bring about right human life, not to have
-the teaching, or teacher, or sentient beings, or Buddhism, or Buddha.
-But if you think that without any training you can have that kind of
-life, that is a big mistake.
- -- Shunryu Suzuki
-~
-So much of what we call management consists
-in making it difficult for people to work.
- -- Peter Drucker
-~
-People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.
- -- Hermann Hesse
-~
-Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from
-acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.
- -- W. Somerset Maugham
-~
-Everything you know is wrong. -- Firesign Theatre
-~
-One day Yuan-wu took the high seat, and said:
- A monk asked Yun-men: 'Where did all the buddhas come from?'
- Yun-men answered: 'The East Mountain walks over the water.'
- But if I were asked, I would not answer that way.
- I would say: 'A fragrant breeze comes of itself from the south,
- and in the palace a refreshing coolness stirs.'
- -- Zen mondo
-~
-I would believe only in a god who could dance. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-The moon floats above the pines, and the night veranda is cold as the
-ancient, clear sound comes from your finger tips. The old melody usually
-makes the listeners weep, but Zen music is beyond sentiment. Do not play
-again unless the Great Sound of Lao-tzu accompanies you.
- -- Hseuh-T'ou
-~
-Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow. -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-Logically considered, Zen may be full of contradictions and repetitions.
-But as it stands above all things, it goes serenely on its own way.
- -- D. T. Suzuki
-~
-Clouds come from time to time--and bring a chance
-to rest from looking at the moon.
- -- Basho
-~
-Listen. Make a way for yourself inside yourself.
-Stop looking in the other way of looking.
- -- Jelaluddin Rumi
-~
-Do not be an embodiment of fame; do not be a storehouse of schemes;
-do not be an undertaker of projects; do not be a proprietor of wisdom.
-Wander where there is no trail. Hold on to all that you have received
-from Heaven but do not think you have gotten anything. Be empty, that
-is all. The Perfect Man uses his mind like a mirror--going after nothing,
-welcoming nothing, responding but not storing.
- -- Chuang-Tzu
-~
-In the end, everything is a gag. -- Charlie Chaplin
-~
-One can not be certain of living
-even into the evening.
-In the dim first light
-I watch the waves
-from a departing boat.
- -- Shinkei
-~
-The truth dazzles gradually, or else the world would be blind.
- -- Emily Dickinson
-~
-All things in this world are impermanent.
-They have the nature to rise and pass away.
-To be in harmony with this truth brings true happiness.
- -- Buddhist Chant
-~
-True words always seem paradoxical but no other form
-of teaching can take their place.
- -- Lao-Tzu
-~
-Did you not know that at the edge of a deep valley there is an excellent
-pine tree growing up straight in spite of the many years of cold?
- -- Keizan Zenji
-~
-Death destroys a man, but the idea of death saves him.
- -- E. M. Forster
-~
-In a snowfall that covers the winter grass
-a white heron uses his own whiteness to disappear.
- -- Dogen
-~
-Settle the self on the self. -- Shunryu Suzuki
-~
-Finished, finished...
-when it is completely finished
-there is nothing to finish.
- -- Soen Nakagawa
-~
-I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity. -- Tom Stoppard
-~
-Which is the more beautiful, feline movement or feline stillness?
- -- Elizabeth Hamilton
-~
-We cannot speak without incurring some risk, at least in theory;
-the only way of being absolutely safe is to say nothing.
- -- Isaiah Berlin
-~
-Numerous studies demonstrate that people can be motivated to creativity
-simply with the addition of an instruction to "be creative."
- -- Richard Saul Wurman
-~
- Our obsessions with history and prophecy perhaps reflect an inability
-to comprehend the implications of geological time. The mind's traditional
-organization of duration into past, present, and future really has more
-relevance to the five-thousand-year-old earth of the seventeenth century
-than it does to the five-billion-year-old one of the twentieth. Past and
-future require certain limitations and symmetries to be meaningful--there
-must be a plot or at least a story. But time is really not much like a
-story. It is more like an ocean current that rises from imperfectly
-perceived depths and flows into unseen distances.
- This immensity might seem to diminish the present--the living moment--
-to utter insignificance, but actually the present looms much larger in
-geological time than in historical time. If time is a story, the present
-is merely a hiatus between the significant events that were and will be.
-If time is an ocean, however, the present is not less important than the
-other moments, which stretch away on all sides, any more than a single
-water molecule in an ocean is less important than the others. In a sense
-each living moment is the whole of time--an eternal present--because it
-can't be set apart from all the other moments.
- -- David Rains Wallace, from "Idle Weeds"
-~
-Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
- -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
-We are generally the better persuaded by the reasons we
-discover ourselves than by those given to us by others.
- -- Blaise Pascal
-~
-You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
- -- J. M. Barrie
-~
-Television has raised writing to a new low. -- Samuel Goldwyn
-~
-I detest life-insurance agents; they always argue
-that I shall some day die, which is not so.
- -- Stephen Leacock
-~
-People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.
- -- A. J. Liebling
-~
-He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-If the voter cannot grasp the details of the problems of the day because he
-has not the time, the interest or the knowledge, he will not have a better
-public opinion because he is asked to express his opinion more often.
- -- Walter Lippmann
-~
-i have eliminated every fault,
-except for pride...
-doomed to walk the earth
-another time.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular. -- Laurence J. Peter
-~
-Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige's wall there was this one: "Matters of
-great concern should be treated lightly." Master Ittei commented, "Matters
-of small concern should be treated seriously." Among one's affairs there
-should not be more than two or three matters of what one could call great
-concern. If these are deliberated upon during ordinary times, they can be
-understood. Thinking about things previously and then handling them lightly
-when the time comes is what this is all about. To face an event and solve
-it lightly is difficult if you are not resolved beforehand, and there will
-always be uncertainty in hitting your mark. However, if the foundation is
-laid previously, you can think of the saying, "Matters of great concern
-should be treated lightly," as your basis for action.
- -- Hagakure, book of the samurai
-~
-There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with
-a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road.
-But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still
-get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be
-perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding
-extends to everything.
- -- Hagakure, book of the samurai
-~
-I deserve good things.
-I am entitled to my share of happiness.
-I refuse to beat myself up.
-I am attractive person.
-I am fun to be with.
- -- Stuart Smalley
-~
-The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous,
-the sensible man hardly anything.
- -- Goethe
-~
-In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car.
- -- Lawrence Summers
-~
- I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the
-river of life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him.
-I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the
-starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and
-brotherhood can never become a reality.
- I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must
-spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear
-destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will
-have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is
-stronger than evil triumphant.
- I believe that even amid today's motor bursts and whining bullets,
-there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded
-justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can
-be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of
-men.
- I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three
-meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and
-dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what
-self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still
-believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be
-crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive
-goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.
- -- Martin Luther King, Jr
-~
-Every increased possession loads us with new weariness. -- John Ruskin
-~
-If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind,
-what is the significance of a clean desk?
- -- Lawrence J. Peter
-~
-I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is two weeks.
- -- Totie Fields
-~
-I am not young enough to know everything. -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-I had never held a position for more than four years,
-and did not so much plan my new jobs as flee my old ones.
- -- Joseph Epstein
-~
-It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward.
- -- The White Queen, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland
-~
-I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by
- the animosities he excites among his opponents.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-All things are difficult before they are easy. -- Thomas Fuller
-~
-There's no business like show business, but
-there are several businesses like accounting.
- -- David Letterman
-~
-All truth passes through three stages.
-First, it is ridiculed.
-Second, it is violently opposed.
-Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
- -- Arthur Schopenhauer
-~
-Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence
-but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to
-shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
- -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
-~
-Talent is like the battery in a car. It'll get you started,
-but if the generator is bad, you don't go very far.
- -- Ellis Marsalis
-~
-No man ever listened himself out of a job. -- Calvin Coolidge
-~
-I was unable to devote myself to the learning of this algebra and the continued
-concentration upon it, because of obstacles in the vagaries of time which
-hindered me; for we have been deprived of all the people of knowledge save for
-a group, small in number, with many troubles, whose concern in life is to
-snatch the opportunity, when time is asleep, to devote themselves meanwhile to
-the investigation and perfection of a science; for the majority of people who
-imitate philosophers confuse the true with the false, and they do nothing but
-deceive and pretend knowledge, and they do not use what they know of the
-sciences except for base and material purposes; and if they see a certain
-person seeking for the right and preferring the truth, doing his best to refute
-the false and untrue and leaving aside hypocrisy and deceit, they make a fool
-of him and mock him.
- -- Omar Khayyam, "Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra"
-~
-It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish. -- Aeschylus
-~
-Imagine what it would be like if TV actually were good.
-It would be the end of everything we know.
- -- Marvin Minsky
-~
-Many engineering deadlocks have been broken by people who are not engineers
-at all. This is simply because perspective is more important than IQ.
- -- Nicholas Negroponte
-~
-We are doomed to choose, and every choice may entail an irreparable loss.
- -- Isaiah Berlin
-~
-California is a fine place to live--if you happen to be an orange.
- -- Fred Allen
-~
-Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first call promising.
- -- Cyril Connolly
-~
-It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both
-incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted
-by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper.
- -- Rod Serling
-~
-All successful newspapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose. They
-never defend anyone or anything if they can help it; if the job is forced
-on them, they tackle it by denouncing someone or something else.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
-The corollary of constant change is ignorance. This is not often
-talked about: we computer experts barely know what we're doing.
- -- Ellen Ullman
-~
-The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others.
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo. -- H. G. Wells
-~
-Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that,
-once it is competently programmed and working smoothly,
-it is completely honest.
- -- Isaac Asimov
-~
-Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by
-confessing our parents' shortcomings.
- -- Laurence J. Peter
-~
-No opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing
-when they are feeling sensible.
- -- W. H. Auden
-~
-All truths are easy to understand once they are
-discovered; the point is to discover them.
- -- Galileo Galilei
-~
-We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is inconsequential.
-Hence the fact that many inventions had their birth as toys.
- -- Eric Hoffer
-~
-Considering how dangerous everything is,
-nothing is really very frightening.
- -- Gertrude Stein
-~
-A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude
-without providing you with company.
- -- Gian Vincenzo Gravina
-~
-What the world needs is more geniuses with humility.
-There are so few of us left.
- -- Oscar Levant
-~
-In the end, we will remember not the words of
-our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
- -- Martin Luther King
-~
-Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the
-living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children,
-and by children to adults.
- -- Thomas Szasz
-~
-You must first have a lot of patience to learn to have patience.
- -- Stanislaw W. Lec
-~
-I know the answer! The answer lies within the heart of all mankind!
-The answer is 12? I think I'm in the wrong building.
- -- Charles M. Schulz in "Peanuts"
-~
-The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who
-hate me away from those who are still undecided.
- -- Casey Stengel
-~
-What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
-People who've never fired a gun ("weapon", in Army-talk) explain "fire power"
-realities. Nobody--yet--would pretend to be an expert on brain surgery. But
-military tactics and modern warfare? What could be easier, right?
- -- Kenneth G. Robinson
-~
-When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.
- -- William Wrigley Jr.
-~
-Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an
-international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-Thought is only a flash between two long nights, but this flash is everything.
- -- Henri Poincare
-~
-A well-laid business plan is no guarantee against the
-disappearance of the industry on which it is based.
- -- Tim Cavanaugh
-~
-The way to protect human freedom is to make sure that your society is one
-in which the benefits of being a member of the society are so tempting and
-so great that people will take responsibility in order for it to happen.
- -- Daniel Dennett
-~
-Technology seems to always start out promising specialization and
-personalization. In the end, it delivers more homogenization instead.
- -- Lee Gomes
-~
-Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.
- -- Thomas H. Huxley
-~
-Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. -- Frank Zappa
-~
-Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence
-as you can find outside an advertising agency.
- -- Raymond Chandler
-~
-The only way to discover the limits of the possible
-is to go beyond them into the impossible.
- -- Ben Hecht
-~
-Life is full of misery, loneliness, and
-suffering--and it's all over much too soon.
- -- Woody Allen
-~
-An economist is a man who states the obvious in terms of the incomprehensible.
- -- Alfred A. Knopf
-~
-The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
- -- B. F. Skinner
-~
-In great affairs men show themselves as they wish to be seen;
-in small things they show themselves as they are.
- -- Nicholas Chamfort
-~
-Pain is no evil, unless it conquers us. -- Charles Kingsley
-~
-There's no reason to burn books if you don't read them. The education system
-in this country is just terrible, and we're not doing anything about it.
- -- Ray Bradbury
-~
-Each of us inevitable; each of us limitless--
-each of us with his or her right upon the earth.
- -- Walt Whitman
-~
-In science, the credit goes to the man who convinces the
-world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs.
- -- Sir William Osler
-~
-It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept
-anything but the best, you very often get it.
- -- W. Somerset Maugham
-~
-Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to,
-with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
- -- Marcus Aurelius
-~
-We have a natural opportunity to investigate the connections
-of a problem when looking back at its solution.
- -- George Polya
-~
-Money teaches us to count, but science, inasmuch as it is
-not governed by money, might yet teach us to think.
- -- Christopher M. Kelty
-~
-Painting, like flipping burgers or shearing sheep, is physical labor. It is
-enough nowadays to declare yourself an artist and then to declare some artifact
-in the vast world of found objects to be *your* work of art.
- -- Thomas M. Disch
-~
-The art of creation is older than the art of killing. -- Ed Koch
-~
-In wisdom gathered over time I have found that
-every experience is a form of exploration.
- -- Ansel Adams
-~
-Anyone who in discussion relies upon authority
-uses not his understanding but his memory.
- -- Leonardo Da Vinci
-~
-We've had a taste of Siemens before in the past. -- Bonafide PHB
-~
-The awareness of the ambiguity of one's highest achievements (as well
-as one's deepest failures) is a definite symptom of maturity.
- -- Paul Tillich
-~
-A guilty conscience needs to confess.
-A work of art is a confession.
- -- Albert Camus
-~
-When I examine myself and my methods of thought,
-I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy
-has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing
-positive knowledge.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.
- -- Laurence J. Peter
-~
-No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into
-account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.
- -- Isaac Asimov
-~
-We have profoundly forgotten everywhere that cash-payment is not
-the sole relation of human beings.
- -- Thomas Carlyle
-~
-No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone.
-His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his
-relation to the dead poets and artists.
- -- T. S. Eliot
-~
-There's a moment coming. It's not here yet. It's still on the way.
-It's in the future. It hasn't arrived. Here it comes.
-Here it is... It's gone.
- -- George Carlin
-~
-Irresponsibility is part of the pleasure of all art;
-it is the part the schools cannot recognize.
- -- James Joyce
-~
-It is easy to spot an informed man--
-his opinions are just like your own.
- -- Miguel de Unamuno
-~
-If you see in any given situation only what everybody else
-can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of
-your culture that you are a victim of it.
- -- S. I. Hayakawa
-~
-If you are going through hell, keep going. -- Winston Churchill
-~
- The Founders of the American nation were one of the most creative
-groups in modern history. Some among them, especially in recent years,
-have been condemned for their failures and weaknesses--for their racism,
-sexism, compromises, and violations of principle. And indeed moral
-judgments are as necessary in assessing the lives of these people as of
-any others. But we are privileged to know and to benefit from the outcome
-of their efforts, which they could only hopefully imagine, and ignore their
-main concern: which was the possibility, indeed the probability, that their
-creative enterprise--not to recast the social order but to transform the
-political system--would fail: would collapse into chaos or autocracy.
-Again and again they were warned of the folly of defying the received
-traditions, the sheer unlikelihood that they, obscure people on the outer
-borderlands of European civilization, knew better than the established
-authorities that ruled them; that they could successfully create something
-freer, ultimately more enduring than what was then known in the centers of
-metropolitan life.
- Since we inherit and build on their achievements, we now know what the
-established world of the eighteenth century flatly denied but which they
-broke through convention to propose -- that absolute power need not be
-indivisible but can be shared among states within a state and among
-branches of government, and that the sharing of power and the balancing of
-forces can create not anarchy but freedom.
- We know for certain what they could only experimentally and prayerfully
-propose--that formal, written constitutions, upheld by judicial bodies, can
-effectively constrain the tyrannies of both executive force and populist
-majorities.
- We know, because they had the imagination to perceive it, that there
-is a sense, mysterious as it may be, in which human rights can be seen to
-exist independent of privileges, gifts, and donations of the powerful, and
-that these rights can somehow be defined and protected by the force of law.
- We casually assume, because they were somehow able to imagine, that
-the exercise of power is no natural birthright but must be a gift of those
-who are subject to it."
- -- Bernard Bailyn, from "To Begin The World Anew: The Genius and
- Ambiguities of the American Founders
-~
-Discretion in speech is more than eloquence. -- Francis Bacon
-~
-I fell asleep reading a dull book, and I dreamed that
-I was reading on, so I awoke from sheer boredom.
- -- Heinrich Heine
-~
-I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep
-contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could
-share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation.
-It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill
-of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a rose of early peas just peeping
-forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green.
- -- Nathaniel Hawthorne
-~
-Another cause of your sickness, and the most important:
-you have forgotten what you are.
- -- Boethius
-~
-All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of
-their motives there lies a mystery. Writing a book is a horrible,
-exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.
-One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on
-by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.
- -- George Orwell
-~
-When a man mistakes his thoughts for persons and things, he is mad.
- -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
-~
-Did you ever see dishonest calluses on a man's hands? Hardly.
-When a man's hands are callused and women's hands are worn,
-you may be sure honesty is there. That's more than you can
-say about many soft white hands.
- -- Henry Ford
-~
-The march of invention has clothed mankind with powers of which
-a century ago the boldest imagination could not have dreamt.
- -- Henry George
-~
-The American invents
-as the Greek chiseled,
-as the Venetian painted,
-as the modern Italian sings.
- -- Willis M. West
-~
-If it's mechanical, has tits, or wheels, it will give you trouble.
- -- dano
-~
-Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.
- -- Charles Chaplin
-~
-A small nose means a small penis. Small noses make for difficult breathing
-and small penises make for difficulty breeding.
- -- rando
-~
-Executives are like joggers. If you stop a jogger, he goes on running
-on the spot. If you drag an executive away from his business, he goes
-on running on the spot, pawing the ground, talking business. He never
-stops hurtling onwards, making decisions and executing them.
- -- Jean Baudrillard
-~
-Every man bears in himself the germs of every human quality;
-but sometimes one quality manifests itself, sometimes another,
-and the man often becomes unlike himself,
-while still remaining the same man.
- -- Leo Tolstoy
-~
-You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.
- -- Anton Checkov
-~
-If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going.
- -- Professor Irwin Corey
-~
-When you wish to instruct be brief--so that people's minds can
-quickly grasp what you have to say, understand your point, and
-retain it accurately. Unnecessary words just spill over the
-side of a mind already crammed to the full.
- -- Cicero
-~
-I just don't understand why anyone is unable to realize what a disaster
-a meeting is for a business. Never meet. If it can't be settled in a
-five minute conversation, it's probably insoluble no matter how many
-people talk about it for however long.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Writing comes more easily if you have something to say. -- Sholem Asch
-~
-We the unwilling,
-led by the unknowing,
-are doing the impossible
-for the ungrateful.
-We have done so much for so long with so little
-We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
- -- Blue Collar Lament
-~
-Endure, and save yourself for happier times. -- Virgil
-~
-I don't think being funny is anyone's first choice. -- Woody Allen
-~
-i thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly
-spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
-which is natural which is infinite which is yes
- -- ee cummings
-~
-None but myself ever did me any harm. I was, I may say, the only enemy to
-myself: my own projects, that expedition to Moscow, and the accidents which
-happened there, were the causes of my fall. I must say, though, that those
-who failed to oppose me, who readily agreed with me, accepted all my views,
-and yielded easily to my opinions, were those who did me the most injury,
-and were my worst enemies, because, by surrendering to me so easily, they
-encouraged me to go too far... I was then too powerful for any man, except
-myself, to injure me.
- -- Napoleon Bonaparte
-~
-If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better
-mousetrap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the
-world will make a beaten path to his door.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, attributed by Sarah B. Yule, Borrowings, 1889
-~
-Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-All conservatives are such from personal defects.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-The reliance on Property, including the reliance on governments which
-protect it, is the want of self-reliance.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-We are symbols, and inhabit symbols.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-Fame is proof that people are gullible.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-What is the hardest task in the world? To think....
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-The greatest discovery of any generation is that a
-human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.
- -- William James
-~
-Were we perfectly acquainted with the object,
-we should never passionately desire it.
- -- Francois De La Rochefoucauld
-~
-The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot
-stove lid again. But he won't sit upon a cold stove lid, either.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-There were two "Reigns of Terror", if we could but remember and consider it;
-the one wrought murder in hot passions, the other in heartless cold blood;
-the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one
-inflicted death upon a thousand persons, the other upon a hundred million;
-but our shudders are all for the horrors of the momentary Terror, so to
-speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe compared with
-lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty and heartbreak? A city
-cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief terror that we have
-all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France
-could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror--that
-unspeakable bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see
-in its vastness or pity as it deserves.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.
- -- William Blake
-~
-To be wholly overlooked, and to know it, are intolerable. -- John Adams
-~
-In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
-In practice, there is.
- -- Yogi Berra
-~
-The charm, one might say the genius, of memory is that it is choosy,
-chancy and temperamental; it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly
-photographs the small boy outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust.
- -- Elizabeth Bowen
-~
-Literature is the art of writing something that will be
-read twice; journalism what will be read once.
- -- Cyril Connolly
-~
-It takes at least a couple of decades to realize that you were well taught.
-All true education is a delayed-action bomb assembled in the classroom for
-explosion at a later date. An educational fuse of 50 years long is by no
-means unusual.
- -- Kenneth D. Gangel
-~
-When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy,
-it ceases to be a subject of interest.
- -- William Hazlitt
-~
-Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the
-industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
-An author is a fool who, not content with boring those
-he lives with, insists on boring future generations.
- -- Charles de Montesquieu
-~
-Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you
-don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's
-a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.
- -- Charlie Parker
-~
-If knowledge can create problems, it is not through
-ignorance that we can solve them.
- -- Isaac Asimov
-~
-A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. -- Sir Francis Bacon
-~
-The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice.
-And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little
-we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our
-thoughts and deeds.
- -- R. D. Laing
-~
-People who are unhappy with the way things are tend to remain unhappy
-even after they have changed them. The nature of their unhappiness
-is such that change does not slake it.
- -- Michael Lewis
-~
-The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments of
-production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication,
-draws all nations into civilization.
- -- Karl Marx
-~
-I learned one really sad fact from my career as a columnist: nobody changes
-their mind about anything. Ever. Once we form the opinion, we become
-evidence processors and we just collect all the evidence that supports our
-opinion and reject all the evidence that disputes it.
- -- Bob Metcalfe
-~
-I keep the subject of my inquiry constantly before me, and wait till the first
-dawning opens gradually, by little and little, into a full and clear light.
- -- Isaac Newton
-~
-The end of the road map is a cliff that both sides will fall off.
- -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, on the Mideast peace effort, 2003.
-~
-Once we admit that there is room for newness--that there are vastly more
-conceivable possibilities than realized outcomes--we must confront the fact
-that there is no special logic behind the world we inhabit, no particular
-justification for why things are the way they are. Any number of arbitrary
-small perturbations along the way could have made the world as we know it
-turn out very differently.
- -- Paul Romer
-~
-Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be
-sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.
- -- Robert Louis Stevenson
-~
-All human beings should try to learn before they die
-what they are running from, and to, and why.
- -- James Thurber
-~
-The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the
-world; the humorist makes fun of himself.
- -- James Thurber
-~
-All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really
-happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all
-that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and
-the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse, and sorrow, the people and the places
-and how the weather was.
- -- Ernest Hemingway
-~
-The true conquests, the only ones that leave no regret,
-are those that have been wrested from ignorance.
- -- Napoleon Bonaparte
-~
-No love, no friendship can cross the path of our
-destiny without leaving some mark on it forever.
- -- Francois Mauriac
-~
-Better beware of notions like genius and inspiration; they are a sort of magic
-wand and should be used sparingly by anybody who wants to see things clearly.
- -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
-~
-A thick skin is a gift from God. -- Konrad Adenauer
-~
-Far from idleness being the root of all evil,
-it is rather the only true good.
- -- Soren Kierkegaard
-~
-It is the wretchedness of being rich that you have to live with rich people.
- -- Logan Pearsall Smith
-~
-The secret of joy is the mastery of pain. -- Anais Nin
-~
-Everything is practice. -- Pele
-~
-However much we guard ourselves against it, we tend to shape ourselves in
-the image others have of us. It is not so much the example of others we
-imitate, as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of
-ourselves in their words.
- -- Eric Hoffer
-~
-It is astonishing what you can do when you have
-a lot of energy, ambition and plenty of ignorance.
- -- Alfred P. Sloan Jr.
-~
-The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.
- -- G. K. Chesterton
-~
-If there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex? -- Art Hoppe
-~
-For all these new and evolutionary facts, meanings, purposes,
-new poetic messages, new forms and expressions, are inevitable.
- -- Walt Whitman
-~
-A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king,
-and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
- -- Hamlet
-~
-Only he is an artist who can make a riddle out of a solution. -- Karl Kraus
-~
-Love demands infinitely less than friendship. -- George Jean Nathan
-~
-People only see what they are prepared to see. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one
-dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are
-relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past,
-present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in
-the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.
- -- Anais Nin
-~
-I hate house work! You make the beds, you do the dishes and six months
-later you have to start all over again.
- -- Joan Rivers
-~
-The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only
-a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and
-deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the
-man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
- -- William Blake
-~
-If a man watches three football games in a row
-he should be declared legally dead.
- -- Erma Bombeck
-~
-To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at. -- Claude Monet
-~
-Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence,
-by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and
-rewards of grownups, and opportunities for action in all spheres of life.
-Adolescence should be a time of useful action, while book learning and
-scholarship should be a preoccupation of adults.
- -- Eric Hoffer
-~
-Being defeated appears to be an inexhaustible
-wellspring of intellectual progress.
- -- Reinhart Koselleck
-~
-Any genuine teaching will result, if successful, in someone's knowing
-how to bring about a better condition of things than existed earlier.
- -- John Dewey
-~
-George Orwell, on why someone might write a book...
-
- 1. Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered
-after death, to get your own back on grownups who snubbed you in childhood,
-etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend that this is not a motive, and a strong
-one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians,
-lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen-in short, with the whole top crust
-of humanity. The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish. After
-the age of about thirty they abandon individual ambition and live chiefly for
-others or are simply smothered under drudgery. But there is also the minority
-of gifted, willful people who are determined to live their own lives to the
-end, and writers belong to this class. Serious writers, I should say, are on
-the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested
-in money.
- 2. Esthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on
-the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact
-of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good
-story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not
-to be missed. Above the level of a railway guide, no book is quite free from
-esthetic considerations.
- 3. Historical impulse. Desire to see things as they are, to find out true
-facts and store them up for the use of posterity.
- 4. Political purpose -- using the word "political" in the widest possible
-sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other
-people's idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once
-again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art
-should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.
-~
-The only true exploration, the only real Fountain of Youth, will not be
-in visiting foreign lands, but in having other eyes, in looking at the
-universe through the eyes of others.
- -- Marcel Proust
-~
-They said it couldn't be done but sometimes it doesn't work out that way.
- -- Casey Stengel
-~
-To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. -- Cicero
-~
-Nobody ever died of laughter. -- Max Beerbohm
-~
-A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for. -- W. C. Fields
-~
-Women speak because they wish to speak, whereas a man speaks
-only when driven to speech by something outside himself--like,
-for instance, he can't find any clean socks.
- -- Jean Kerr
-~
-Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all-time thing. You don't win
-once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them
-right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
- -- Vince Lombardi
-~
-It is by logic that we prove but by intuition that we discover.
- -- Henri Poincare
-~
-Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win,
-by fearing to attempt.
- -- William Shakespeare, "Measure for Measure"
-~
-Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom
-of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before.
- -- Edith Wharton
-~
-Family quarrels are bitter things. They don't go according to any rules.
-They're not like aches or wounds; they're more like splits in the skin
-that won't heal because there's not enough material.
- -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
-~
-One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with
-gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is
-so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for
-the growing plant and for the soul of the child.
- -- Carl Jung
-~
-Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute. -- Josh Billings
-~
-One can know a man from his laugh, and if you like a man's laugh before
-you know anything of him, you may confidently say that he is a good man.
- -- Fyodor Dostoevsky
-~
-When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision,
-then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
- -- Aurdre Lorde
-~
-Fascism should more properly be called corporatism,
-since it is the merger of state and corporate power.
- -- Benito Mussolini
-~
-Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop. -- Ovid
-~
-There is hardly anything in the world that some men cannot make a little
-bit worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price
-only are this man's lawful prey.
- -- John Ruskin
-~
-The globe has been circumnavigated, but no man ever yet has; you may survey
-a kingdom and note the results in maps, but all the savants in the world
-could not produce a reliable map of the poorest human personality.
- -- Alexander Smith
-~
-Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death.
- -- Harold Wilson
-~
-Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
- -- John Wooden
-~
-One important key to success is self-confidence.
-An important key to self-confidence is preparation.
- -- Arthur Ashe
-~
-If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will
-change a past or future event, then you are residing on another
-planet with a different reality system.
- -- William James
-~
-As people grow up, they change brands. -- Al Ries
-~
-If there is just one beam of sunshine coming into a room,
-you can be sure that the cat is lazing in its heat.
- -- Stuart and Linda MacFarlane
-~
-If your parents never had children, chances are you won't, either.
- -- Dick Cavett
-~
-If the human race wishes to have prolonged and indefinite period
-of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful
-and helpful way toward one another.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-All charming people have something to conceal, usually
-their total dependence on the appreciation of others.
- -- Cyril Connolly
-~
-Part of the function of memory is to forget; the omni-retentive mind will break
-down and produce at best an idiot savant who can recite a telephone book, and
-at worst a person to whom every grudge and slight is as yesterday.
- -- Christopher Hitchens
-~
-Try to be one of the people on whom nothing gets lost. -- Henry James
-~
-If a man hasn't discovered something that
-he would die for, he isn't fit to live.
- -- Martin Luther King Jr.
-~
-The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of
-60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.
- -- C. S. Lewis
-~
-Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-I am happy to engage in discussion with those who accept that technology and
-affluence are a net plus, but who worry about their troubling side effects.
-Spare me, however, the sensitive souls who deplore technological advance and
-economic growth over their cell phones on their way to the airport.
- -- Charles Murray
-~
-There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish
-together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between.
- -- Sir Thomas Beecham
-~
-The incompetent with nothing to do can still make a mess of it.
- -- Laurence J. Peter
-~
-The universe is full of magical things patiently
-waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
- -- Eden Phillpotts
-~
-Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the
-usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and
-nobody thinks of complaining.
- -- Jef Raskin
-~
-My life needs editing. -- Mort Sahl
-~
-Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better. -- Emile Coue
-~
-Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My
-opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-
-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.
- -- Flannery O'Connor
-~
-There is nothing so wrong in this world that a sensible
-woman can't set it right in the course of an afternoon.
- -- Jean Giraudoux
-~
-There is no one, no matter how wise he is, who has not in his youth said
-things or done things that are so unpleasant to recall in later life that
-he would expunge them entirely from his memory if that were possible.
- -- Marcel Proust
-~
-Adults are obsolete children. -- Dr. Seuss
-~
-Barbie would also be tired of Microsoft's licensing bullsh*t.
- -- Maury Cesterino, Chief Software Architect, Mattel, Inc.
-~
-When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we
-fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.
-Sooooo, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!
- -- Brian O'Rourke
-~
-A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-Allowing a schizophrenic in a cowboy costume to represent himself in a
-death penalty case gives new meaning to the term "frontier justice."
- -- Jim Marcus, executive director of the Texas Defender Service.
-~
-Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves
-you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.
- -- D. H. Lawrence
-~
-Creativity is not merely the innocent spontaneity of our youth
-and childhood; it must also be married to the passion of the
-adult human being, which is a passion to live beyond one's death.
- -- Rollo May
-~
-Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
- -- Martin Luther King
-~
-Life Shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. -- Anais Nin
-~
-Freedom is the sure possession of those alone
-who have the courage to defend it.
- -- Pericles
-~
-Psychoanalysis is that spiritual disease of
-which it considers itself to be the cure.
- -- Karl Kraus
-~
-Teaching is arduous work, entailing much grinding detail and
-boring repetition--a teacher, it has been said, never says
-anything once--interrupted only occasionally by moments of
-always surprising exultation. And I should like to add that
-I don't think I learned a thing from my students, except that,
-as one student evaluation informed me, I tend to jingle the
-change in my pocket.
- -- Joseph Epstein
-~
-All humanity is passion; without passion, religion, history,
-novels, art would be ineffectual.
- -- Honore de Balzac
-~
-We do not sit in such-and-such a way because a carpenter has built
-a chair in such-and-such a way; rather, the carpenter makes the chair
-as he does because someone wants to sit that way.
- -- Adolf Loos
-~
-No brilliance is required in law, just common sense
-and relatively clean fingernails.
- -- John Mortimer
-~
-Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body. -- Seneca
-~
-True friends stab you in the front. -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice. -- Henry Ford
-~
-Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse. It's a bum's life.
-The principal benefit acting has afforded me is the money to pay for
-my psychoanalysis.
- -- Marlon Brando
-~
-Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.
- -- Theodore Levitt
-~
-Life need not be easy provided only that it is not empty. -- Lise Meitner
-~
-Some of us cannot be optimists, but all of us can be bigamists.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-No more frisking as of old,
-Or chasing his shadow over the lawn,
-But a dignified old person, tickling
-His nose against twig or flower in the border,
-Until evening falls and bed-time's in order...
-My cat and I grow old together.
- -- A. L. Rowse
-~
-Logic, like whiskey, loses its beneficial effect when taken
-in too large quantities.
- -- Lord Dunsany
-~
-The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and
-mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.
- -- Thomas A. Edison
-~
-Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative
-pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little
-falls into lazy habits of thinking.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-Engineering can be seen as a family of paths crossing a solution space--in
-this case a space defined by all the possible arrangements and combinations
-of geometry, time, and material properties that might satisfy the particular
-specifications of a design. Filtering a good design out of these possibilities
-by simple, direct calculation is impossible both because of the enormous number
-of variables and because there are always elements in the specifications--like
-aesthetics or ergonomics or compatibility with the corporate image--that can't
-be reduced to a number or folded into a common denominator. What humans do in
-these cases is: think up a completely wrong (but sincerely felt) approach to
-the problem, jump in, fail, and then do an autopsy. Each failure contains
-encrypted somewhere on its body directions for the next jump: "strengthen this
-part," "tie this down next time," "buy a better battery." Good engineering is
-not a matter of creativity or centering or grounding or inspiration or lateral
-thinking, as useful as those might be, but of decoding the clever, even witty,
-messages solution space carves on the corpses of the ideas in which you
-believed with all your heart, and then building the road to the next message.
- -- Fred Hapgood, from "Up the Infinite Corridor: MIT and Technical
- Imagination"
-~
-The hardest part of gaining any new idea is
-sweeping out the false idea occupying that niche.
- -- Robert Heinlein
-~
-Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, "We've always done
-it this way." I try to fight that. That's why I have a clock on my
-wall that runs counter-clockwise.
- -- Grace Hopper
-~
-What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.
- -- Theodore Roethke
-~
-A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
-an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-I have always felt that everybody on earth goes about in disguise.
- -- Sean O'Faolain
-~
-At bottom, every man knows perfectly well that he is a unique being,
-only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a
-marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever
-be put together a second time.
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the
-lack of contradiction a sign of truth.
- -- Blaise Pascal
-~
-If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.
-The more things you do, the more you can do.
- -- Lucille Ball
-~
-The car as we know it is on the way out. To a large extent, I deplore
-its passing, for as a basically old-fashioned machine, it enshrines a
-basically old-fashioned idea: freedom. In terms of pollution, noise and
-human life, the price of that freedom may be high, but perhaps the car,
-by the very muddle and confusion it causes, may be holding back the
-remorseless spread of the regimented, electronic society.
- -- J. G. Ballard
-~
-I live in company with a body, a silent companion, exacting and eternal.
- -- Eugene Delacroix
-~
-History never looks like history when you are living through it.
- -- John W. Gardner
-~
-In a cat's eyes round as golden bells,
-The mad Spring's flame glows.
-On a cat's gently closed lips,
-The soft Spring's drowsiness lies.
-On a cat's sharp whiskers,
-The green Spring's life dances.
- -- Jang-Hi Lee
-~
-People always talk to me about my drinking; they never ask me about my thirst.
- -- Oscar Levant
-~
-Algebraic symbols are used when you do not know what you are talking about.
- -- Philippe Shnoebelen
-~
-We don't stop playing because we grow old;
-we grow old because we stop playing.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-Competitions are for horse, not artist. -- Bela Bartok
-~
-I feel that if a person has problems communicating
-the very least he can do is to shut up.
- -- Tom Lehrer
-~
-It is, of course, totally pointless to call a cat when it is intent
-on the chase. They are deaf to the interruptive nonsense of humans.
-They are on cat business, totally serious and involved.
- -- John D. MacDonald
-~
-Look wise, say nothing, and grunt. Speech was given to conceal thought.
- -- Sir William Osler
-~
-The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
- -- Robertson Davies
-~
-Where do the words come from? The same mysterious place, I suspect,
-where notes of music go. They precede ideas, and are inseparable
-from them. For myself, I bow my head, touch wood, and utter a small
-prayer that the flow of them never cease.
- -- Joseph Epstein
-~
-The only thing that I'd rather own than Windows is English, because then I
-could charge you two hundred and forty-nine dollars for the right to speak it.
- -- Scott McNealy, quoted at BrainyQuotes
-~
-Only a monopolist could study a business and ruin it by giving away products.
- -- Scott McNealy, quoted at ThinkExist.com
-~
-Try moving off NT easily. You can move from Solaris to HP/UX to AIX or DEC
-easily relative to moving off of NT, which is like a Roach Motel. Once you
-check in, you never check out.
- -- Scott McNealy, quoted at World of Quotes
-~
-With Microsoft the first hit is always free--remember that all your life.
- -- Scott McNealy, quoted at CNet
-~
-I am convinced that if General Motors could eliminate [Microsoft] Office from
-their entire company, they could get the 1999 cars out next year at half price.
- -- Scott McNealy, quoted at Anti-Microsoft Association Web site
-~
-We've got bayonets fixed, and we'll go into any cave no matter how dark and
-dank it is. And in the air war [against Microsoft to win new developers],
-we'll go after any developer and not just let them turn over to the dark side.
- -- Scott McNealy, quoted at News.com
-~
-Microsoft is now talking about the digital nervous system.
-I guess I would be nervous if my system was built on their technology too.
- -- Scott McNealy, November 4, 1998, quoted at CNN.com
-~
-Every time you turn on your new car, you're turning on 20 microprocessors.
-Every time you use an ATM, you're using a computer. Every time I use a
-settop box or game machine, I'm using a computer. The only computer you
-don't know how to work is your Microsoft computer, right?
- -- Scott McNealy, quoted at Anti-Microsoft Association Web site
-~
-Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hittin'. -- Yogi Berra
-~
-"I've seen things like this before," he told the daily Il Messaggero.
-"Demons occupy a house and appear in electrical goods."
- -- Gabriele Amorth, one of the Catholic Church's exorcists, quoted
- in an article about Canneto di Caronia, a town where electronics
- catch on fire.
-~
-Nature is an unlimited broadcasting station,
-through which God speaks to us every hour,
-if we only will tune in.
- -- George Washington Carver
-~
-To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream;
-not only plan, but also believe.
- -- Anatole France
-~
-The first step to getting the things
-you want out of life is this:
-Decide what you want.
- -- Ben Stein
-~
-A scientist will never show any kindness for
-a theory which he did not start himself.
- -- Mark Twain, in "A Tramp Abroad"
-~
-Grief upon griefs!
-Disappointments upon disappointments.
-What then?
-This is a gay, merry world notwithstanding.
- -- John Adams
-~
-What is now proved was once imagined. -- William Blake
-~
-We haven't had any tea for a week.
-The bottom is out of the universe.
- -- Rudyard Kipling
-~
-If a man has no tea in him, he is incapable
-of understanding truth and beauty.
- -- Japanese Proverb
-~
-Dogs eat.
-Cats dine.
- -- Ann Taylor
-~
-Telephone, n.: An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the
-advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
-~
-I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers
-his enemies; for the hardest victory is the victory over self.
- -- Aristotle
-~
-Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him
-with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words or in good order.
- -- Francis Bacon
-~
-Magnetism, as you recall from physics class, is a powerful force
-that causes certain items to be attracted to refrigerators.
- -- Dave Barry
-~
-One sees great things from the valley, only small things from the peak.
- -- G. K. Chesterton
-~
-Encountering sufferings will definitely contribute to the elevation
-of your spiritual practice, provided you are able to transform the
-calamity and misfortune into the path.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Tranquility: Daily Wisdom",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-In Buddhism, both learning and practice are extremely important, and they must
-go hand in hand. Without knowledge, just to rely on faith, faith, and more
-faith is good but not sufficient. So the intellectual part must definitely be
-present. At the same time, strictly intellectual development without faith and
-practice, is also of no use. It is necessary to combine knowledge born from
-study with sincere practice in our daily lives. These two must go together.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western
- Buddhists", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The nature of beings is ever enlightened,
-yet not realizing this, they wander endlessly in samsara.
-May intense compassion arise within me
-for sentient beings, whose suffering knows no bounds.
-
-In the moment of love, when the vibrant power of intense compassion
-is uncontained, the empty essence shines forth nakedly.
-May I never step off this supreme path of unity that never goes awry,
-and practice it at all times, day and night.
- -- "The Eighth Situpa on the Third Karmapa's Mahamudra Prayer", translated
- by Lama Sherab Dorje, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice.
- -- Following the Equator
-~
-Love is metaphysical gravity. -- R. Buckminster Fuller
-~
-Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it.
-Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-In accordance with the conditioning of desire, fear, disgust, and so forth--
-the conditioning of habitual tendencies that one has been accustomed to since
-beginningless time--mind itself appears as body, enjoyments, abode, and so
-forth. Yet, childish ordinary individuals do not comprehend that these
-[appearances] are the identity of their own minds. Conceiving of mind as being
-"here" and objects "over there," they hold the separation, the vast divide
-between the apprehended and apprehender, to be established in actuality. This
-is entirely imputation, or a deluded misapprehension of the way things are, as
-when not knowing that the dream elephant is personal experience, but instead
-apprehending it as an actual elephant in the external world.
- -- "Speech of Delight: Mipham's Commentary on Shantarakshita's Ornament
- of the Middle Way", translated by Thomas H. Doctor.
-~
-Instead of prompting the appearance of delusions and/or hallucinations,
-many of the patients receiving Valium displayed a progressive development
-of dislikes and hates. The patients themselves deliberately used the term
-"hate". This hatefulness first involved non-significant figures in the
-patients' environment, progressed from there to the involvement of key
-figures such as aides, nurses and physicians, and went on to the involvement
-of important personal figures such as parents and spouses... This
-hatefulness was of a peculiar type. The patients were unhappy with it; they
-realized that it was unnatural and without basis, but were impotent to do
-anything about it. Many of them, exhibiting real distress, would inquire,
-"Why do I feel like this?"
- -- P.E. Feldman, Journal of Neuropsychiatry
-~
-The greatest book is not the one whose messages engraves itself on the brain,
-but the one whose vital impact opens up other viewpoints, and from writer to
-reader spreads the fire that is fed by various essences, until it becomes a
-great conflagration.
- -- Romain Rolland
-~
-The world is a looking glass and gives back
-to every man the reflection of his own face.
- -- William M. Thackeray
-~
-Travel is only glamorous in retrospect. -- Paul Theroux
-~
-Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which
-difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
- -- John Quincy Adams
-~
-Beware the fury of a patient man. -- John Dryden
-~
-I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works
-to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets
-anyone suspect the labors it has cost me.
- -- Henri Matisse
-~
-You might find this discussion of attitudes threatening or insulting. No one
-wants to be told they're practicing incorrectly. We don't want to hear that
-we are uptight or repressed, that we are unskillful in dealing with our pain.
-We just want to continue doing what we are doing. But there's a Tibetan saying
-that the highest teaching is the one that reveals practice and any mistake you
-might be making, it will only result in what you most truly desire--progress in
-your spiritual development. Remember, I know of these mistakes because I've
-made them all myself. Practice involves a radical transformation of our being,
-and we have to learn to face and eventually to dissolve all the attitudes we
-have about everything, not only meditation. So check yourself out.
- -- Bruce Newman, in "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism: Notes from a
- Practitioner's Journey"
-~
-Nothing is better than the unintended humor of reality. -- Steve Allen
-~
-At this point, a vote for Bush is a character flaw. -- Janeane Garofalo
-~
-It is inexcusable for scientists to torture animals; let them make
-their experiments on journalists and politicians.
- -- Henrik Ibsen
-~
-Heredity is what sets the parents of a teenager wondering about each other.
- -- Laurence J. Peter
-~
-Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. -- Theodore Roosevelt
-~
-I have taken all knowledge to be my province. -- Sir Francis Bacon
-~
-Genius is childhood recaptured at will. -- Charles Baudelaire
-~
-Generally speaking, whenever we perceive things, our perception is deluded, in
-that we project onto things a status of existence and a mode of being which is
-simply not there. We exaggerate things, and the way they then appear falsely
-to our minds gives rise to afflictive emotions. When we see our friends or
-enemies, for instance, we superimpose on them a quality of desirability or
-undesirability that is beyond the actual facts of the situation, and this
-superimposition or exaggeration sparks off fluctuating states of emotion in
-our mind. Towards our friends we feel strong attachment and desire, and
-towards our enemies powerful anger and hatred. So if we are serious about
-trying to purify our minds of these afflictive emotions, an understanding of
-emptiness becomes crucial.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
- Perfection", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-If you examine the nature of your own mind, you will realize that the
-pollutants, such as afflictive emotions and thoughts rooted in a distorted
-way of relating to the world, are actually unstable. No matter how powerful
-an affliction, when you cultivate the antidote of true insight into the nature
-of reality, it will vanish because of the power of the antidote, which
-undermines its continuity. However, there is nothing that can undermine the
-basic mind itself; nothing that can actually interrupt the continuity of
-consciousness. The existence of the world of subjective experience and
-consciousness is a natural fact. There is consciousness. There is mind.
-There is no force that can bring about a cessation of your mental continuum.
- -- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, in "Illuminating the Path to
- Enlightenment", published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive
-~
-When we habituate our minds to being fearless, to being brave and open towards
-our emotions, fearlessness will also arise naturally. In order for this to
-happen we must train in applying antidotes to our thought patterns that are
-caught up in fear. In this way, we transcend fear first through a conceptual
-process, which later becomes nonconceptual, a natural fearlessness. In order
-to become fearless in this way, we need determination and the willingness to
-face our emotions. With that strong determination and courage, fearlessness
-will arise effortlessly.
- -- from Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of
- Avalokiteshvara, trans. by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The
- Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The strongest element of growth lies in the human choice. -- George Eliot
-~
-But again, I warn you my son: If you want to continue to be a devoted yogi,
-generally you should never cling to dreams. If you do, you will eventually
-expose yourself to the influence of the four maras. If your dreams are
-positive, do not have any expectations. If we are filled with hopes and
-expectations, even positive things can turn negative. If your dreams are
-negative, don't take them too seriously. Learn to see negative dreams as
-illusion, not real. Then, although a dream seems negative, because we realize
-that it isn't real, it becomes a positive thing that prepares us for further
-development and realization in the spiritual path. This is the practice of
-a yogi.
- -- "The Life of Gampopa", by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, Snow Lion Publications
-~
-In our time it is broadly true that political writing is bad writing. Where
-it is not true, it will generally be found that the writer is some kind of
- rebel, expressing his private opinions and not a "party line." Orthodoxy,
-of whatever color, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style. The political
-dialects to be found in pamphlets, leading articles, manifestos, White Papers
-and the speeches of under-secretaries do, of course, vary from party to party,
-but they are all alike in that one almost never finds in them a fresh, vivid,
-home-made turn of speech. When one watches some tired hack on the platform
-mechanically repeating the familiar phrases--bestial atrocities, iron heel,
-bloodstained tyranny, free peoples of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder--
-one often has a curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being
-but some kind of dummy: a feeling which suddenly becomes stronger at moments
-when the light catches the speaker's spectacles and turns them into blank
-discs which seem to have no eyes behind them. And this is not altogether
-fanciful. A speaker who uses that kind of phraseology has gone some distance
-towards turning himself into a machine. The appropriate noises are coming out
-of his larynx, but his brain is not involved, as it would be if he were
-choosing his words for himself. If the speech he is making is one that he
-is accustomed to make over and over again, he may be almost unconscious of
-what he is saying, as one is when one utters the responses in church. And
-this reduced state of consciousness, if not indispensable, is at any rate
-favorable to political conformity.
- -- George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language"
-~
-An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful.
-A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life
-when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.
- -- George Orwell
-~
-Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart. -- Seneca
-~
-I am a devilish fellow, who has mastered many arts. -- August Strindberg
-~
-Every real thought on every real subject
-knocks the wind out of somebody or other.
- -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
-~
-Come, lovely cat, and rest upon my heart,
-And let my gaze dive in the cold
-Live pools of thine enchanted eyes that dart
-Metallic rays of green and gold.
- -- Charles Baudelaire
-~
-A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution. -- Hazel Nicholson
-~
-As every cat owner knows,
-nobody owns a cat.
- -- Ellen Perry Berkeley
-~
-One of the most important practices is that of tolerance, patience. Tolerance
-can be learned only from an enemy; it cannot be learned from your guru. At
-these lectures, for instance, you cannot learn tolerance, except perhaps when
-you are bored! However, when you meet your enemy who is really going to hurt
-you, then, at that moment you can learn tolerance. Shantideva makes a
-beautiful argument; he says that one's enemy is actually a good spiritual
-guide because in dependence upon an enemy one can cultivate patience, and in
-dependence upon patience one accumulates great power of merit. Therefore, it
-is as if an enemy were purposefully getting angry in order to help you
-accumulate merit.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
- Buddhist Path to Peace", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-In the intermediate stages of practice, you must be like a farmer during the
-harvest. Once he has determined that it is time to reap his crop, he works
-at it continuously, no matter what anyone tells him. Just as a farmer works
-to make the most of the crop he has grown, we who now have opportunities and
-conditions which are so valuable to our practice, should use them
-immediately, understanding that there is no time to be wasted.
- -- "The Life of Gampopa", by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, Snow Lion Publications
-~
-I'm growing old, I delight in the past. -- Henri Matisse
-~
-Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation
-with us--that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
- -- Tom Paine
-~
-Things equal out pretty well.
-Our dreams seldom come true,
-but then neither do our nightmares.
- -- Charles Kennedy
-~
-Inner development comes step by step. You may think "Today my inner calmness,
-my mental peace is very small," but still, if you compare, if you look five,
-ten, or fifteen years back, and think, "What was my way of thinking then? How
-much inner peace did I have then and what is it today?", comparing it with what
-it was then, you can realize that there is some progress, there is some value.
-This is how you should compare--not with today's feeling and yesterday's
-feeling, or last week or last month, even not last year, but five years ago.
-Then you can realize what improvement has occurred internally. Progress comes
-by maintaining constant effort in daily practice.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Men give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have lies in this; when
-I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before
-me. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort that I have made is
-what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor
-and thought.
- -- Alexander Hamilton
-~
-Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the
-young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that
-it cares for its helpless members.
- -- Pearl S. Buck
-~
-It is important for us to have a stable and peaceful mind, for it is mostly
-through our mind that we experience suffering and problems. With diligence,
-we can establish our minds in peace by abandoning the afflictions that create
-obstacles. Meditation makes this possible because it establishes a steady
-mind. Among the many types of meditation, calm abiding (shamatha) and deep
-insight (vipashyana) are central to this process. In calm abiding, our mind
-is focused inwardly, which allows us to suppress the afflictions so that they
-do not actually manifest. There is a sense of distance between us and the
-afflictions. It is not possible, however, to eradicate them with calm abiding
-alone; deep insight is necessary to remove them at the root.
- -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art & Teachings of the 17th Karmapa
- Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Learning from experience is a faculty almost never practiced.
- -- Barbara Tuchman
-~
- If you persevere in this practice of recognizing the state of natural
-light, it will progressively become easier to repeat the lucid recognition
-that you are dreaming. There will arise a steady awareness within the dream,
-and you will know that you are dreaming. When you look in a mirror, you see
-a reflection. Regardless of whether it is beautiful or ugly, you know that
-it is a reflection. This is similar to knowing that a dream is a dream, to
-being lucid. Whether the dream is tragic or ecstatic, you are aware that it
-is merely a dream.
- Awareness within the Dream State becomes a way to develop oneself and to
-break one's heavy conditioning. With this awareness, one can manipulate the
-dream material. For example, one can dream whatever one wishes, or one can
-pick up a desired theme. One can continue dreaming from where one left off
-on a previous occasion.
- -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, in "Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light"
-~
-Responsibility educates. -- Wendell Phillips
-~
-What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid
-of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that
-which he thinks he already knows.
- -- Epictetus
-~
-There are two kinds of food--food for mental hunger and food for physical
-hunger. Thus a combination of these two--material progress and spiritual
-development is the most practical thing. I think that many Americans,
-particularly young Americans, realize that material progress alone is not
-the full answer for human life. Right now all of the Eastern nations are
-trying to copy Western technology. We Easterners such as Tibetans, like
-myself, look to Western technology feeling that once we develop material
-progress, our people can reach some sort of permanent happiness. But when
-I come to Europe or North America, I see that underneath the beautiful
-surface there is still unhappiness, mental unrest, and restlessness. This
-shows that material progress alone is not the full answer for human beings.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness", Snow Lion
-~
-Nobody sees a flower--really--it is so small it takes time--we haven't
-time--and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.
- -- Georgia O'Keeffe
-~
-The eighth root downfall is to regard our physical bodies, or the skandhas or
-aggregates of our psycho-physical makeup, as impure and base. The reason why
-this is a root downfall is because Vajrayana sees everything as sacred. All
-appearances is a form of divinity, all sound is the sound of mantra, and all
-thought and awareness is the divine play of the transcending awareness, the
-Mahamudra experience. The potential for that sacredness exists within our
-present framework, so to speak, of the five skandhas. Acknowledging psycho-
-physical aggregates of an individual as the potential of the Buddhas of the
-five families, or the five elements, or the five feminine aspects, and so
-forth, is to recognize that, in tantra, the potential for the transformation
-exists within our present situation. To disparage that potential as something
-useless or impure or unwholesome is a root downfall, a basic contradiction,
-from the point of view of tantric practice.
- -- H.E. Kalu Rinpoche, in "Foundations of Tibetan Buddhism", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Terrorists and totalitarians have always been two sides of one coin;
-a totalitarian out of office is a terrorist.
- -- David Gelernter
-~
-Now that as humans we have met with spiritual teachings and have met a teacher,
-we should not be like a beggar doing nothing meaningful year after year, ending
-up empty-handed at death. I, an ordinary monk in the lineage of Buddha
-Shakyamuni, humbly urge you to make efforts in spiritual practice. Examine the
-nature of your mind and cultivate its development. Take into account your
-welfare in this and future existences, and develop competence in the methods
-that produce happiness here and hereafter. Our lives are impermanent and so
-are the holy teachings. We should cultivate our practice carefully.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-Time makes more converts than reason. -- Tom Paine
-~
-We operate under a jury system in this country, and as much as
-we complain about it, we have to admit that we know of no better
-system, except possibly flipping a coin.
- -- Dave Barry
-~
-To be dead is to stop believing in
-The masterpieces we will begin tomorrow.
- -- Patrick Kavanagh, Irish poet
-~
-The obvious is always least understood. -- Klemens von Metternich
-~
-We are decent 99 percent of the time, when we could easily be vile.
- -- R. W. Riis
-~
-The whole world loves a maverick, but the whole world wants
-the maverick to achieve something nobler than simple rebellion.
- -- Kevin Patterson
-~
- Insofar as the destructive effects of anger and hateful thoughts are
-concerned, one cannot get protection from wealth; even if one is a
-millionaire, one is subject to these destructive effects of anger and
-hatred. Nor can education guarantee that one will be protected from
-these effects. Similarly, the law cannot guarantee protection. Even
-nuclear weapons, no matter how sophisticated the defense system may be,
-cannot give one protection or defend one from these effects.
- The only factor that can give refuge or protection from the destructive
-effects of anger and hatred is the practice of tolerance and patience.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
- Buddhist Perspective", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Theoretically it may be comfortable to have compassion for "all sentient
-beings," but through our practice we realize that "all sentient beings" is
-a collection of individuals. When we actually try to generate compassion
-for each and every individual, it becomes much more challenging. But if we
-cannot work with one individual, then how can we work with all sentient
-beings? Therefore it is important for us to reflect more practically, to
-work with compassion for individuals and then extend that compassion further.
- -- "Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara",
- translated by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The Dzogchen Ponlop
- Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating
-the problem in a way that will allow a solution.
- -- Bertrand Russell
-~
-I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.
- -- Jonathan Swift
-~
-The worst, the hardest, the most disagreeable thing that you may have
-to do may be the thing that counts most, because it is the hard discipline,
-and it alone, that makes possible the highest efficiency.
- -- Elihu Root
-~
-I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
-I learn by going where I have to go.
- -- Theodore Roethke
-~
-Don't let yesterday use up too much of today. -- Cherokee proverb
-~
-Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world. -- T'ien Yiheng
-~
-Women are like tea bags. They don't know how strong
-they are until they get into hot water.
- -- Eleanor Roosevelt
-~
-There are two appropriate methods of mahamudra meditation to give rise to
-the primordial awareness of the dharmadhatu: looking while the mind is
-resting and looking while the mind is moving. The approach to the first
-method is the meditation of calm abiding. One lets one's mind rest until
-it abides calmly, and then with precision one looks at it. One looks for
-how it rests, for where it abides, and whoever or whatever it is that
-abides there. This is looking at the true nature of the mind while the
-mind is resting.
- -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from "Everyday Consciousness and
- Buddha-awakening", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-It is better to debate a question without settling it
-than to settle a question without debating it.
- -- Joseph Joubert
-~
-What is the purpose of the Dharma? Just like other spiritual traditions,
-Buddhadharma is an instrument for training the mind--something we use to try
-to work out the problems that we all experience; problems that originate
-mainly at the mental level. Negative emotional forces create mental unrest,
-such as unhappiness, fear, doubt, frustration and so forth; these negative
-mental states then cause us to engage in negative activities, which in turn
-bring us more problems and more suffering. Practicing Dharma is a way of
-working out these problems, be they long-term or immediate. In other words,
-Dharma protects us from unwanted suffering.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion.
-~
-Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the
-symbol of his liberty--his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when
-it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.
- -- Aldous Huxley
-~
-Everything in the world has a hidden meaning... Men, animals, trees, stars,
-they are all hieroglyphics. When you see them you do not understand them.
-You think they are really men, animals, trees, stars. It is only years
-later that you understand.
- -- Nikos Kazantzakis, from "Zorba the Greek"
-~
-One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things
-like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool.
- -- George Orwell
-~
-A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
- -- John Lennon
-~
- For a romantic relationship to survive, more than romantic love is needed.
-We need to love the other person as a human being and as a friend. The sexual
-attraction that feeds romantic love is an insufficient basis on which to
-establish a long-term relationship. Deeper care and affection, as well as
-responsibility and trust, must be cultivated.
- In addition, we do not fully understand ourselves and are a mystery to
-ourselves. Needless to say, other people are even more of a mystery to us.
-Therefore, we should never presuppose, with a bored attitude that craves
-excitement, that we know everything about our partner because we have been
-together so long. If we have the awareness of the other person being a
-mystery, we will continue to pay attention and be interested in him or her.
-Such interest is one key to a long-lasting relationship.
- -- Thubten Chodron, from "Buddhism for Beginners", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Two cats can live as cheaply as one, and their owner has twice as much fun.
- -- Lloyd Alexander
-~
-Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the
-same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least
-twice as fast as that!
- -- Lewis Carroll
-~
-Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its
-instrument. To perform this difficult office it is sometimes necessary
-for him to sacrifice happiness and everything that makes life worth living
-for the ordinary human being.
- -- Carl Jung
-~
-Vision without action is a daydream;
-action without vision is a nightmare.
- -- Japanese proverb
-~
-To satisfy a cat, a new state of being needs to be
-created--halfway between in and out.
- -- Stuart and Linda MacFarlane
-~
-The Perfection of Zeal
- 1. Thus, one who has patience should cultivate zeal, because Awakening is
-established with zeal, and there is no merit without zeal, just as there is no
-movement without wind.
- 2. What is zeal? It is enthusiasm for virtue. What is said to be its
-antithesis? It is spiritual sloth, clinging to the reprehensible, apathy, and
-self-contempt.
- 3. Spiritual sloth arises from indolence, indulging in pleasures, sleep,
-and craving for lounging around due to one's apathy toward the miseries of the
-cycle of existence.
- 4. Scented out by the hunters, the mental afflictions, you have entered the
-snare of rebirth. Why do you not recognize even now that you are in the mouth
-of death?
- -- Shantideva, in "A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life", trans. from the
- Sanskrit and Tibetan by Vesna A. Wallace and B. Alan Wallace, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-I have a perfect horror of words that are not backed up by deeds.
- -- Theodore Roosevelt
-~
-Sufferings arise from specific causes and conditions, which are collected by
-individual sentient beings. That being so, it is extremely important that
-individual sentient beings know what is to be practiced and what is to be
-given up--what brings suffering and what brings long-lasting happiness. We
-must show sentient beings the right path, which brings happiness and the wrong
-path, which brings suffering. Therefore, when we talk about benefiting other
-sentient beings, it is through showing them the path and helping them
-understand what is to be given up and what is to be practiced. This is how
-we can help other sentient beings.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Stages of Meditation", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-We make our lives miserable by being miserable, so why not do exactly the
-opposite, and make our lives happy, joyful, and harmonious, by being happy,
-joyful, and harmonious? We create our own lives and yet we think that
-something else is doing it. All we have to do is change our mental
-reactions towards the opposite direction. And the way to do that is to
-meditate, otherwise we won't have the strength of mind to do it. A mind
-that can meditate is a mind that is one-pointed. And a mind that is one-
-pointed, the Buddha said, is like an ax that has been sharpened. It has a
-sharp edge that can cut through everything. If we want to remove stress
-and strain, and have a different quality of life, we have every opportunity.
-We need to strengthen our mind to the point where it will not suffer from
-the things which exist in the world.
- -- from "Buddhism Through American Women's Eyes", edited by Karma Lekshe
- Tsomo, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study
-mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and
-philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation,
-commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study
-painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
- -- John Adams
-~
-There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more
-easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.
- -- Benjamin Franklin
-~
-Thank God I have the seeing eye, that is to say, as I lie in bed I can walk
-step by step on the fells and rough land seeing every stone and flower and
-patch of bog and cotton pass where my old legs will never take me again.
- -- Beatrix Potter
-~
-Umpire's heaven is a place where he works third base every game.
-Home is where the heartache is.
- -- Ron Luciano
-~
-There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
-Other than the meditation that occurs, where is the one who is meditating?
-There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
-Other than the behavior that occurs, where is the one who is behaving?
-There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
-Other than the samaya vow that occurs, where is the one who is guarding it?
-There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
-Other than the fruition that occurs, where is the one who is realizing it?
-You should look at your own mind, observing it again and again.
- -- from "Self-Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness", translation
- and commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds, published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-You must understand that I'm just as interested in someone I've
-known for ten minutes as in someone I've known for ten years.
- -- Alberto Giacometti
-~
-Now in our day-to-day lives we know that the more stable, calm and contented
-our mind is, the more feelings and experiences of happiness we will derive
-from it. The more undisciplined, untrained, and negative our mind is, the
-more we suffer mentally, and physically as well. So we can see only too well
-that a disciplined and contented mind is the source of our happiness.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
- Perfection", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-If we do not wish merely to know intellectually about the view of emptiness,
-but rather wish to experience it ourselves in our own continuum, we should
-build a firm foundation for this. Then, according to our mental ability we
-should hear and consider both the sutras and treatises which teach the profound
-view of emptiness as well as the good explanations of them by the experienced
-Tibetan scholars in their commentaries. Together with this, we should learn
-to make our own ways of generating experience of emptiness accord with the
-precepts of an experienced wise man.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Buddhism of Tibet", published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-A great deal of our suffering comes from having too many thoughts. And, at
-the same time, the way we think is not sane. We are only concerned by our
-immediate satisfaction and forget to measure its long-term advantages and
-disadvantages, either for ourselves or for others. But such an attitude
-always goes against us in the end. There is no doubt that by changing our
-way of seeing things we could reduce our current difficulties and avoid
-creating new ones.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-If, motivated by the attainment of fame and gain for this life and hoping to
-look good in the eyes of others, one's behavior appears to be temporarily
-beautiful and one appears to be diligent in moral conduct, hearing, and
-contemplation, then one should think, "What is the use of appearing good in the
-eyes of others when my practice does not counteract the afflictions? When my
-practice does counteract the afflictions then even if it is not beautiful,
-what have I got to lose?
- -- Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub, from "Three Visions: Fundamental Teachings of
- the Sakya Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you,
-well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best
-preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-If you can't describe what you are doing as a process,
-you don't know what you're doing.
- -- W. Edwards Deming
-~
-Our Dharma practice is the best offering to make to our teachers. If we have
-material possessions, talents, and time, we can offer those. However, we don't
-neglect our practice, for that is what our teacher cares about most. When we
-follow the Dharma instructions we've received and keep whatever precepts we've
-taken, that pleases our teacher more than anything else.
- -- Thubten Chodron, in "Taming the Mind", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-If organized religion is the opium of the masses, then
-disorganized religion is the marijuana of the lunatic fringe.
- -- Principia Discordia
-~
-When you are proclaiming peace with your lips,
-be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.
- -- St. Francis of Assisi
-~
-Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.
- -- Albert Einstein, "The World as I See It", 1934.
-~
-It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie
-which is being systematically repeated. If something is in me which can be
-called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the
-world so far as our science can reveal it.
- -- Albert Einstein, in "Albert Einstein : The Human Side", from a 1954
- letter to an atheist.
-~
-This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of the herd nature, the military
-system, which I abhor. That a man can take pleasure in marching in formation
-to the strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been
-given his big brain by mistake; a spinal cord was all he needed.
- -- Albert Einstein, "The World as I See It", 1934.
-~
-I'm not a teacher, but an awakener. -- Robert Frost
-~
-It is very important to understand the context of the Buddhist emphasis on
-recognizing that we are all in a state of suffering, otherwise there is a
-danger we could misunderstand the Buddhist outlook, and think that it involves
-rather morbid thinking, a basic pessimism and almost an obsessiveness about the
-reality of suffering. The reason why Buddha laid so much emphasis on
-developing insight into the nature of suffering is because there is an
-alternative--there is a way out, it is actually possible to free oneself from
-it. This is why it is so crucial to realize the nature of suffering, because
-the stronger and deeper your insight into suffering is, the stronger your
-aspiration to gain freedom from it becomes. So the Buddhist emphasis on the
-nature of suffering should be seen within this wider perspective, where there
-is an appreciation of the possibility of complete freedom from suffering. If
-we had no concept of liberation, then to spend so much time reflecting on
-suffering would be utterly pointless.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama's Book of Awakening", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-A cat is a demure animal; it will not come into the living room
-wagging its tail and knocking over lamps and tables.
- -- H. Monger Burdock
-~
-There is no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat.
- -- Wesley Bates
-~
-Lack of understanding of the true nature of happiness, it seems to me, is the
-principal reason why people inflict sufferings on others. They think either
-that the other's pain may somehow be a cause of happiness for themselves or
-that their own happiness is more important, regardless of what pain it may
-cause. But this is shortsighted, no one truly benefits from causing harm to
-another sentient being. Whatever immediate advantage is gained at the expense
-of someone else is short-lived. In the long run causing others misery and
-infringing their rights to peace and happiness result in anxiety, fear and
-suspicion within one-self. Such feelings undermine the peace of mind and
-contentment which are the marks of happiness.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness", Snow Lion
-~
-When we're told that things are mere deceptive appearances, we shouldn't
-misinterpret it as license to act in any way we please. Of course, none of
-us would be so silly! Appearances are extremely powerful. You dream your
-house is on fire and you're surrounded by flames. You can't escape and feel
-terrified. You wake up soaked in sweat and screaming. What a relief! It was
-just a nightmare and none of it actually happened, but while it all seemed to
-be happening, you were in anguish.
- -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-A man is not old until his regrets take the place of dreams.
- -- John Barrymore
-~
-I am independent! I can live alone and I love to work. -- Mary Cassatt
-~
-If one ever wishes to retain one's fantasies about the good sense
-of the people in the realm of literary taste, one does best never
-to consult the bestseller lists.
- -- Joseph Epstein
-~
-The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere. -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
-~
-Speaking of others' faults can also be a way to distract ourselves from
-acknowledging our own painful emotions. For example, if we feel hurt or
-rejected because a dear one hasn't called us in a long time, rather than
-feel the suffering nature of our attachment, we criticize our loved one
-for being unreliable and inconsiderate.
- -- Thubten Chodron, in "Taming the Mind", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-A consistent man believes in destiny, a capricious man in chance.
- -- Benjamin Disraeli
-~
-The things that we love tell us what we are. -- St. Thomas Aquinas
-~
-Everything on this planet functions according to the law of nature. Particles
-come together, and on the basis of their co-operation everything around us, our
-whole environment, can develop and be sustained. Our own body too has the same
-structure. Different cells come together and work together in co-operation,
-and as a result, human life is sustained. In a human community the same law
-and principle of co-operation applies. Even for an aeroplane to fly or for a
-single machine to work, it can only do so by depending on many other factors,
-and with their co-operation. Without them it is impossible. Just so, to
-sustain everyday life in human society we need co-operation.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Dzogchen: Heart Essence of the Great Pefection"
-~
-We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the byways and
-untrodden depths of the wilderness, and travel and explore
-and tell the world the glories of our journey.
- -- John Hope Franklin
-~
-Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
-Be happy. Talk happiness. Happiness calls out responsive gladness in
-others. There is enough sadness in the world without yours.
- -- Helen Keller
-~
-There are two ways to slide easily through life:
-to believe everything or to doubt everything;
-both ways save us from thinking.
- -- Alfred Korzybski
-~
-We shall not cease from exploration. And at the end of our exploring will be
-to arrive where we started and to know the place for the first time.
- -- T.S. Eliot
-~
-I conceive that pleasures are to be avoided if greater pains
-be the consequence, and pains to be coveted that will terminate
-in greater pleasures.
- -- Michel de Montaigne
-~
-A plot, if there is to be one, must be a secret. A secret that, if we only
-knew it, would dispel our frustration, lead us to salvation; or else the
-knowing of it in itself would be salvation. Does such a luminous secret
-exist? Yes, provided it is never known. Known, it will only disappoint us.
- -- Umberto Eco
-~
-The subjects that were dearest to the examiners were almost invariably those I
-fancied least... I should have liked to be asked to say what I knew. They
-always tried to ask what I did not know. When I would have willingly displayed
-my knowledge, they sought to expose my ignorance. This sort of treatment had
-only one result: I did not too well in examinations.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-One of the great movements in my lifetime among educated people is the need to
-commit themselves to action. Most people are not satisfied with giving money;
-we also feel we need to work.
- -- Peter Drucker
-~
-One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind.
- -- Dorothea Lange
-~
-The universe is made of stories, not of atoms. -- Muriel Rukeyser
-~
-Chemists are a strange class of mortals, impelled by an almost maniacal impulse
-to seek their pleasures amongst smoke and vapour, soot and flames, poisons and
-poverty, yet amongst all these evils I seem to live so sweetly that I would
-rather die than change places with the King of Persia.
- -- Johann Joachim Becher
-~
-Cherishing children is the mark of a civilized society. -- Joan Ganz Cooney
-~
-Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end. -- Igor Stravinsky
-~
-Purifying the unwholesome: In the past we have engaged in unwholesome physical,
-verbal, and mental actions. All these actions are of the past and cannot be
-touched; we cannot reach back and wipe them away. They have left detrimental
-imprints on our mind-stream that obstruct our spiritual practice and manifest
-as suffering when they come to full maturation, giving rise to misfortune and
-grief. However, these imprints can be affected, and even purified, by our
-present behavior. They are like seeds carried along in the current of our
-mind-stream. We cannot annihilate them without a trace, but we can burn them
-so that they have little or no potency to cause damaging results.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Seven-Point Mind Training", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-First it is important to recognize the human form as rare and precious. It is
-not enough just to obtain this precious human form which has great potential;
-rather, you should use that potential to its fullest extent by taking its
-essence. For example, if a person's ascent to high office is not followed by
-good work for the community and people, it is not very beneficial and
-worthwhile. If, on the basis of full use of the potential, one is able to
-accomplish great feats, that would truly be a great success. Therefore, it is
-important initially to recognize all the significance and great potential of
-this human existence.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Path to Bliss", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-We haven't had any tea for a week.
-The bottom is out of the universe.
- -- Rudyard Kipling
-~
-Does one's integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that
-usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills
-conflicting in one man, Freedom cannot be conceived simply.
- -- Flannery O'Connor, in "Wise Blood", 1952
-~
-We may seek a fortune for no greater reason than to secure the respect
-and attention of people who would otherwise look straight through us.
- -- Alain de Botton
-~
-Only in the most unusual cases is it useful to determine whether
-a book is good or bad; for it is just as rare for it to be one or
-the other. It is usually both.
- -- Robert Musil
-~
-A lie gets halfway around the world before
-the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-Like yourself, everyone else from their own side equally does not want
-suffering and equally wants happiness. For example, among ten ill people,
-each of them just wants happiness; from their side they are all ill, and
-they all want to be freed from their illness. Hence there is no possible
-reason for making a biased exception, treating a certain one better and
-neglecting the others. It is impossible to select one out for better
-treatment. Moreover, from your own viewpoint, all sentient beings, in
-terms of their connection with you over the course of lifetimes, have in
-the past helped you and in the future will help again. Thus, you also
-cannot find any reason from your own side to treat some better and others
-worse.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
- Buddhist Path to Peace", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption.
- -- Raymond Chandler
-~
-Life is not a spectacle or a feast; it is a predicament. -- George Santayana
-~
-Mediocre men often have the most acquired knowledge. -- Claude Bernard
-~
-When we practice, initially, as a basis we control ourselves, stopping the
-bad actions which hurt others as much as we can. This is defensive. After
-that, when we develop certain qualifications, then as an active goal we
-should help others. In the first stage, sometimes we need isolation while
-pursuing our own inner development; however, after you have some confidence,
-some strength, you must remain with, contact, and serve society in any
-field--health, education, politics, or whatever.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Kindness, Clarity and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Other paths that are aimed at "sudden awakening" lead one on an unmapped
-journey that may offer no clear indications of progress. In contrast, in this
-practice we have definite sign-posts along the way. Look at your mental
-distortions and see how they are doing. After practicing for a month, a year,
-six years, are the mental distortions somewhat diminished? Do wholesome
-qualities arise more readily, more frequently, more deeply? At the very root
-of the mental distortions, is the self-grasping attenuated? Is there less
-self-centeredness and greater humility? Is there more loving concern for the
-welfare of others? All of these are causes that lead either to well-being or
-to misery.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Seven-Point Mind Training", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-In the jungle of samsara arisings are ceaseless, there is never any let up in
-the interplay between past, present and future and in the turbulent interchange
-between inner thoughts and outer events. 'I', 'me' and 'mine' are tossed about
-like corks in the waves. There is no exit from this on the level of 'I'.
-There is no way to think yourself out of samsara. Even the thoughts that
-everything is empty, or is Padmasambhava, or pure from the very beginning do
-not help for no thought can unlock the door to awakening. The key is not
-shaped like a thing; it is not a thought, a feeling or a sensation. It's not
-something outer or inner. The key is your own nature, how you have been from
-the very beginning, simple, raw, naked, uncontrived, free of all constructs.
- -- Nuden Dorje, in "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text", Snow Lion
-~
-Great ideas originate in the muscles. -- Thomas A. Edison
-~
-If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. -- Mark Twain
-~
-Mathematics is a game played according to certain
-simple rules with meaningless marks on paper.
- -- David Hilbert
-~
-When you are poor enough, everything has some value. -- Barbara Ann Porte
-~
-I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have
-been only a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and
-then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst
-the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
- -- Isaac Newton
-~
-In ancient times, a candidate for initiation into the Mysteries was led through
-a series of dark chambers, virtually a labyrinth, beset by terrifying sounds
-and ominous presences. And then in the adytum, the final chamber, there was a
-sudden illumination. The enthroned hierophant tells the candidate, "Behold the
-light, my child! It is your own being and nature." Just this epopteia, or
-sudden illumination, is the introduction to the Clear Light that is one's own
-original nature. The course of the initiation in the ancient Mystery Religions
-simulates the experience of death and rebirth and leads the candidate into what
-lies beyond, so that one no longer need fear death. This initiatory process
-may be compared to the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
- -- John Myrdhin Reynolds, in "The Golden Letters", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-If only I had the theorems! Then I should find the proofs easily enough.
- -- Bernhard Riemann
-~
-Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent,
-literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.
- -- Barbara Tuchman
-~
-But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot
-hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
-have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-A memory is more atmospheric than accurate, more an evolving fiction than a
-sacred text. And thank heavens. If rude, shameful, or brutal memories
-can't be expunged, they can at least be diluted. So is nothing permanent
-and fixed in life? By definition life is a fickle noun, an event in
-progress. Still, we cling to philosophical railings, religious icons,
-pillars of belief. We forget on purpose that Earth is rolling at 1,000
-miles an hour, and, at the same time, falling elliptically around our sun,
-while the sun is swinging through the Milky Way, and the Milky Way migrating
-along with countless other galaxies in a universe about 13.7 billion years
-old. An event is such a little piece of time and space, leaving only a
-mindglow behind like the tail of a shooting star. For lack of a better
-word, we call that scintillation memory.
- -- Diane Ackerman, in "An Alchemy Of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of
- the Brain"
-~
-Many people who approach the practice of Buddhism are willing to sacrifice one
-or two hours of their day in order to perform some ritual practice or engage in
-meditation. Time is relatively easy to give up, even though their life may be
-very busy. But, they are not willing to change anything of their personality--
-they are not willing to forgo anything of their negative character. With this
-type of approach to Buddhism, it hardly matters how much meditation we do, our
-practice remains merely a hobby or a sport. It does not touch our lives. In
-order actually to overcome our problems, we have to be willing to change--
-namely to change our personality. We need to renounce and rid ourselves of
-those negative aspects of it that are causing us so much trouble.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama & Alexander Berzin in "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
- Mahamudra"
-~
-Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into
-you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into
-you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
- -- John Muir
-~
-Whoso does not see that genuine life is a battle
-and a march has poorly read his origin and his destiny.
- -- Lydia Child
-~
-The more intelligent one is, the more men of originality
-one finds. Ordinary people find no difference between men.
- -- Blaise Pascal
-~
-The last proceeding of reason, is to recognize that
-there is an infinity of things beyond it.
- -- Blaise Pascal
-~
-Argument is the worst sort of conversation. -- Jonathan Swift
-~
-No burden is so heavy for a man to bear as a succession of happy days.
- -- Max Planck
-~
-Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-I decline utterly to be impartial between the fire brigade and the fire.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-The self that is grasped by ignorance should be refuted, but we should not
-refute the conventionally existent self. If we refute the self that is merely
-conventionally existent, that is like a seeing a person and saying, "Oh, I
-didn't see the person." Or we might look at another person and say, "All I
-see is the basis of designation of the person or the visual form of the body."
-This is no way to speak. It would be impossible to maintain any valid or
-justifiable use of language in this way. We would be negating the existence
-of a merely designated self, but we would not negate the self that is refuted
-by means of the wisdom that investigates the nature of emptiness. Once again,
-the self to be negated is the self which is grasped by ignorance.
- -- Gen. Lamrimpa, in "Realizing Emptiness: Madhyamaka Insight Meditation",
- translated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-In general, the countries of the East have had less material progress and thus
-have great suffering from poverty. In the West, though poverty is not severe,
-there is the suffering of worry and not knowing satisfaction. In both East and
-West, many persons spend their lives in jealousy and competition; some think
-only of money, and when they meet with conditions unfavourable to their wish
-develop a dislike or enmity for these unfavourable circumstances from the very
-orb of their heart. Within and between countries people are disturbed, not
-trusting and believing each other, having to spend their lives in continual
-lies and deceit. Since the most we can live is a hundred years, what point is
-there in spending our lives in jealousy, deceit, and competition?
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Deity Yoga", translated and edited by Jeffrey
- Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-She was fascinated by baths. I suppose total immersion in water
-must have seemed to her a peculiar method of cleansing oneself.
- -- Elizabeth Peters
-~
-The uncompromising self-examination of a Rembrandt self-portrait remains,
-almost four centuries on, far more 'shocking' than a museum installation
-of cow carcasses.
- -- Ralph Peters
-~
-Complaint is the largest tribute Heaven receives. -- Jonathan Swift
-~
-Mere belief in a source of refuge is not firm; unless there is valid cognition,
-you are going only on the assertion that Buddhism is good. Refuge is not an
-act of partisanship but is based on analysing what scriptures are reasonable
-and what scriptures are not. In order for the mind to engage one-pointedly in
-practice, there must be reasoned conviction that only the Buddhist path is
-non-mistaken and capable of leading to the state of complete freedom from
-defects and possession of all auspicious attainments. One should engage in
-honest investigation, avoiding desire and hatred and seeking the teaching that
-sets forth the means for fulfilling the aims of trainees.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Tantra in Tibet", trans. & ed. by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
-A bad peace is even worse than war. -- Tacitus
-~
-The way of fortune is like the milky way in the sky; which is a number of
-smaller stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together; so it is a number
-of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that
-make men fortunate.
- -- Francis Bacon
-~
-Ability will never catch up with the demand for it. -- Confucius
-~
-There is more to life than increasing its speed. -- Mahatma Gandhi
-~
-If cats could talk, they wouldn't. -- Nan Porter
-~
-I read the newspaper avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction.
- -- Aneurin Bevan
-~
- The teeth, hair and nails are not I, nor am I bone, blood, mucus, phlegm,
-pus or lymph.
- Bodily oil is not I, nor is sweat, fat or the entrails either. The cavity
-of the entrails is not I, nor is excrement or urine.
- Flesh is not I, nor are the sinews, warmth nor air. The bodily cavities are
-not I, nor is any one of the six types of consciousness.
- If the self truly exists in the manner in which it appears, then it should be
-identifiable as one inspects the components of a person one by one. Following
-the above verses, no part of the body, including the four elements and space,
-nor the six types of consciousness can be identified as the self. This implies
-that the self that experiences joy and sorrow and that appears to the mind as
-if it existed independently does not exist at all. This is ascertained by
-engaging in such analysis.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Transcendent Wisdom", Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Once, on behalf of his mother, Kyogom produced a thangka of the five buddha
-families. He asked the guru, Gampopa, to bless it quickly.
- Gampopa agreed, saying, "Burn this stick of incense and make a mandala
-offering."
- He then transformed himself into the Buddha, and from his ushnisha there
-radiated a glorious light that dissolved into the thangka. The air resounded
-with the tinkling of bells and the drumbeat of the damaru, and the sky was
-filled with parasols, auspicious banners, and canopies. The sound of cymbals
-was heard, and a rain of flowers fell from the sky.
- When Kyogom saw this, the lama said, "This is the way to do a rapid
-consecration."
- -- Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, in "The Life of Gampopa", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-The absolute nature of the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill
-treatment means that no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a
-state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any
-other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for torture.
- -- Theo van Boven, UN official charged with monitoring incidents of torture
-~
-No executive, legislative, administrative, or judicial measure authorizing
-recourse to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
-can be considered as lawful under international law.
- -- Theo van Boven, UN official charged with monitoring incidents of torture
-~
-In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a
-long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians
-will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an
-unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time--literally
---substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the
-first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally
-unprepared for it.
- -- Peter F. Drucker
-~
-Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food. -- Hippocrates
-~
-One of the lessons of the Web is that if people have access to information,
-they will consume it, whether they are hungry or not.
- -- Lee Gomes
-~
-If cats seem distant and aloof, it is because this is not their native
-planet--they are here just to visit and dominate.
- -- Hank Roll
-~
-History is the only laboratory we have in which to test
-the consequences of thought.
- -- Etienne Gilson
-~
-In journalism it is simpler to sound off than it is to find out.
-It is more elegant to pontificate than it is to sweat.
- -- Harold Evans
-~
-If we have only cultivated undistracted meditative concentration and lack the
-supreme knowledge that realizes how things actually are, it is impossible to
-see ultimate reality. On the other hand, if we have the correct view of
-understanding identitylessness but no meditative concentration in which the
-mind rests one-pointedly, our mind will be distracted by other objects, not be
-under control, and thus not be workable. Consequently, it will be impossible
-for the light of wisdom to shine clearly and realize ultimate reality. Another
-analogy for the need to combine calm abiding and superior insight as an
-inseparable unity is a sharp scalpel in the steady hand of an experienced
-surgeon. If the scalpel is blunt or the surgeon's hand shaky, the operation
-cannot be performed properly. In the same way, when the mind rests in a state
-that involves both stillness and a crisp wakefulness or awareness, it is like
-a steady hand that deftly operates on our objects of investigation with the
-sharp blade of superior insight.
- -- Karl Brunnhoelzl, in "The Center of the Sunlit Sky: Madyhamaka in the
- Kagyu Tradition, Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Golf is the only sport where the ball doesn't move until you hit it.
- -- Ted William
-~
-... when a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men
-of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact
-that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending
-any save the most elemental--men whose whole thinking is done in terms of
-emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand.
-So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost.
-
-... all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and
-mediocre--the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is
-a virtual vacuum.
-
-The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is
-perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of
-the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the
-plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the
-White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
- -- H. L. Mencken (July 26, 1920, in the Baltimore Sun):
-~
-The mastery of the turn is the story of how aviation became practical as a
-means of transportation. It is the story of how the world became small.
- -- William Langewiesche
-~
-Flight's greatest gift is to let us look around. I mean a simple form of
-looking around, and one that requires little instruction--just gazing down at
-the ordinary scenery sliding by below. The best views are views of familiar
-things, like cities and farms and bottlenecked freeways. So set aside the
-beauty of sunsets, the majesty of mountains, the imprint of winds on golden
-prairies. The world beneath our wings has become a human artifact, our most
-spontaneous and complex creation. Tourists may not like to contemplate the
-evidence, with its hints of greed and self-destruction, but the fact remains
-that the old sterilized landscapes--like designated outlooks and pretty parks
-and sculpted gardens--have become obsolete, and that it is largely the airplane
-that has made them so. The aerial view is something entirely new. We need to
-admit that it flattens the world and mutes it in a rush of air and engines, and
-that it suppresses beauty. But it also strips the facades from our
-constructions, and by raising us above the constraints of the treeline and the
-highway it imposes a brutal honesty on our perceptions. It lets us see
-ourselves in context, as creatures struggling through life on the face of a
-planet, not separate from nature, but its most expressive agents. It lets us
-see that our struggles form patterns on the land, that these patterns repeat to
-an extent which before we had not known, and that there is a sense to them.
- -- William Langewiesche, "Inside The Sky: Meditation on Flight"
-~
-A lot of good arguments are spoiled by some fool
-who knows what he is talking about.
- -- Miguel de Unamuno
-~
-Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real. -- Jules Verne
-~
-We have the bias of considering some people to be enemies and others to be
-friends. If this really were true such that an enemy always remained an enemy
-and a friend always remained a friend, then there might be a reason to hate
-certain people and love others. But, again, this is not the case. There is
-no certainty in relationships.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
- Buddhist Path to Peace", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are. -- George Santayana
-~
-It is said that the awareness of a buddha is completely even, like the ocean,
-taking in equally the joys and sorrows of all people, friends, loved ones,
-relatives, and those never met. This is the meaning of a statement made by so
-many of the world's great spiritual teachers, "Love your enemy." It doesn't
-mean love the person you hate. You can't do that. Love those who hate you.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
- Mind-Training", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal
-does this--no dog exchanges bones with another.
- -- Adam Smith
-~
-Art is not about thinking something up.
-It is the opposite--getting something down.
- -- Julia Cameron
-~
-Although we regard the realization of the selflessness of persons as something
-particularly exalted and therefore difficult to achieve, in fact, if you look
-directly at your mind and see its nature, you will realize this selflessness.
-This is not a matter of trying to convince yourself that there is no self in
-the mind. It is simply a matter of looking. And when you look, you will see
-that there is no mind, and that therefore there is no self that could be
-imputed on the basis of the mind.
- -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Pointing out the Dharmakaya", Snow Lion
-~
-Cold! If the thermometer had been an inch longer we'd have frozen to death.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. -- Henry Fielding
-~
-Material progress is for the sake of achieving that happiness and relieving
-that suffering which depends upon the body. But it is indeed difficult to
-remove all suffering by these external means and thereby achieve complete
-satisfaction. Hence there comes to be a great difference between seeking
-happiness in dependence upon external things and seeking it in dependence
-upon one's own internal spiritual development. Furthermore, even if the
-basic suffering is the same, there is a great difference in the way we
-experience it and in the mental discomfort that it creates, depending upon
-our attitude towards it. Hence our mental attitude is very important in
-how we spend our lives.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Kindness, Clarity and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Love is a condition in which the happiness of another
-person is essential to your own.
- -- Robert Heinlein
-~
-Looking at a cat, like looking at clouds or stars or the ocean, makes
-it difficult to believe there is nothing miraculous in this world.
- -- Leonard Michaels
-~
-Waking in the night
-the lamp is low
-the oil freezing.
- -- Matsuo Basho
-~
-Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are.
- -- Thomas Carlyle
-~
- If you have love, deities and humans will love you and will naturally
-gravitate toward you. Moreover, the Conqueror defeated Mara's armies with the
-power of love, so love is the supreme protector, and so forth. Thus, although
-love is difficult to develop, you must strive to do so.
- The way to cultivate love is as follows. Just as you can develop compassion
-once you have repeatedly thought about how living beings are made miserable by
-suffering, develop love by thinking repeatedly about how living beings lack all
-happiness, both contaminated and uncontaminated. When you become familiar with
-this, you will naturally wish for beings to be happy. In addition, bring to
-mind various forms of happiness and then offer them to living beings.
- -- from "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment",
- Volume 2, Snow Lion Publications
-~
-There is no less invention in aptly applying a thought found
-in a book, than in being the first author of the thought.
- -- Pierre Bayle
-~
-You'll never need a lawn ornament if you have a cat in the yard.
- -- Katherine Palmer Peterson
-~
-Karma has four main characteristics. The first is its increasing effect:
-goodness heralds further goodness and evil heralds further evil. Secondly,
-karma is definite: in the long run, goodness always produces joy and negativity
-always produces suffering. Thirdly, one never experiences a joy or sorrow that
-does not have an according karmic cause. And lastly, the karmic seeds that are
-placed on the mind at the time of an action will never lose their potency even
-in a hundred million lifetimes, but will lie dormant within the mind until one
-day the conditions that activate them appear.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion
-~
-The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat. -- Jules Reynard
-~
- There are generally two kinds of buddhist meditation: stabilizing meditation
-and analytical meditation. The stabilizing type of meditation gets the brain
-very mellow. It is a soothing of the mind to a clear state of calm, like a
-still lake. Stabilization allows all thoughts to flow through the mind without
-attachment to any of them. But the analytical type of meditation uses the
-power of logic to examine what is bothering one. Through meditative analysis,
-problems are conquered by finding their root causes and by developing
-techniques for mitigating the effects of those causes on the mind. Analysis
-can focus on topics such as impermanence, suffering, the need for patience,
-and other topics.
- These two phases of meditation are not practiced at different times of the
-day, but from instant to instant. At first, when one is a beginner, one must
-actively work to stabilize the mind and release all the distractions. But
-just when one starts to doze off because this process is so relaxing, one
-switches over to analytical meditation to keep the brain moving and to balance
-out the bliss.
- One has to pay careful attention to the state of one's mind to determine
-what is needed at a particular time. But this wakeful refocusing of the
-attention helps to develop mindfulness, which in turn helps develop
-understanding and concentration. Later on, the switch between analytical
-and stabilizing meditations will happen somewhat more automatically; if
-thoughts start swirling too fast, the meditative mind seeks stabilization. If
-things get too calm or placid, then analysis can bring the balance back to
-thinking and improving.
- Analysis is insufficient by itself, because it might be all about what's
-currently "wrong" or it might produce a billion approaches to improving the
-mind which cannot all be followed, but it would miss out on just enjoying our
-somewhat short existence. Complete realization of the enjoyability of
-sentience and sapience seems to come from stabilization, not analysis. And
-stabilization is not enough by itself either, because one sees the result
-of too much placidity in a person asleep in bed: they have a cow-like calm
-without any thoughts breaking the surface to cause future progress. The
-impetus behind the push towards enlightenment seems to come from analysis,
-because one cannot see why one would want to fully awake and aware unless
-one can logically compare that state with the current one. Thus analytical
-and stabilizing meditations are the dynamic duo of meditation, the laurel
-and the hardy, the R and the D, the anion and the cation, for without both
-the ultimate mental state is unattainable.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-The bad news: there is no key to the universe.
-The good news: it was never locked.
- -- Swami Beyondananda
-~
-What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of
-frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the
-first law of nature.
- -- Voltaire
-~
-A man's manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-If I wished to punish a province, I would have it governed by philosophers.
- -- Frederick the Great
-~
-I know that many people have difficulty thinking of spirits in the way I
-describe them. There are many spirits described in Tibetan texts related to
-specific places in Tibet. I'm not sure, if we live in New York or Tokyo, that
-it's very helpful to try to connect to those spirits. When we are in Western
-cities, rather than thinking of spirits living in mountain passes or caves, we
-might find it easier to think that spirits travel the streets, creating anger
-and agitation in the drivers. When we experience aggressive driving, it is a
-good idea to breathe evenly and relax. Otherwise, we may find ourselves
-connected to traffic demons!
- -- "Healing with Form, Energy and Light: The Five Elements in Tibetan
- Shamanism, Tantra and Dzogchen", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools.
-Let's start with typewriters.
- -- Frank Lloyd Wright
-~
-As long as algebra is taught in school, there will be prayer in school.
- -- Cokie Roberts
-~
-In Tantra the term bodhicitta assumes a more specific connotation. The essence
-of enlightenment or "Buddha-nature," revealed in the sutras of the third
-turning of the wheel of Dharma, is equated to the subtle essence (thig le) of
-the human body, the coarse aspect of which is present in the seminal fluid and
-in the ovum. Thus in Tantra, bodhicitta is recognized as the seed of the
-manifestation of the infinite mandalas and deities who are all already
-contained in potentiality in the energy structure of the physical body itself,
-what is known as the "vajra body." However in spite of this underlying
-recognition as its base, tantric practice entails visualization and commitments
-of body voice, and mind to achieve the transformation of the energies of impure
-vision into the pure dimension of the mandala and of the deities.
- -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu and Adriano Clemente, in "The Supreme Source: The
- Fundamental Tantra of the Dzogchen Semde Kunjed Gyalpo", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books
-I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me.
- -- Anatole France
-~
-It is impossible to keep a straight face in
-the presence of one or more kittens.
- -- Cynthia E. Varnardo
-~
-I always explain that violence is not the human way. I believe that,
-fundamentally, human nature is positive, gentle; therefore, the non-violent way
-is the human way. Also, whatever result we achieve through non-violence has no
-negative side effect. Through violence, even though we may get some kind of
-satisfaction, negative side effects are also incurred. Then, most importantly,
-whether we like it or not, we have to live side by side with the Chinese; thus,
-in the long future, generation to generation, in order to live happily,
-peacefully, it is extremely important, while we are carrying on the struggle,
-to accord with the principle of non-violence.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates discuss
- Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Mencken's Creed
-
- I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind--
-that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have
-been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
- I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless
-to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent,
-can be anything but vicious.
- I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must
-necessarily make war upon liberty...
- I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence
-of witches, and deserves no more respect.
- I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech...
- I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what
-it is made of, and how it is run.
- I believe in the reality of progress.
- I--But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it
-is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be
-free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be
-ignorant.
- -- H. L. Mencken
-~
- The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small
-electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying
-even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is
-nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and
-the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds
-are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre--the man
-who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual
-vacuum.
- The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is
-perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the
-people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the
-plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White
-House will be adorned by a downright moron.
- -- Henry Louis Mencken, "Bayard vs. Lionheart", Baltimore Evening Sun,
- 26 July 1920.
-~
-The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of
-wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.
- -- Anais Nin
-~
-There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
- -- Sir Francis Bacon
-~
-I say that the art of sculpture is eight times as great as any other art based
-on drawing, because a statue has eight views and they must all be equally good.
- -- Benvenuto Cellini
-~
- When we talk about patience or tolerance, we should understand that there are
-many degrees, starting from a simple tolerance, such as being able to bear a
-certain amount of heat and cold, progressing toward the highest level of
-patience, which is the type of patience and tolerance found in the great
-practitioners, the Bodhisattvas on the high levels of the Buddhist path.
-Since patience or tolerance comes from a certain ability to remain firm and
-steadfast, to not be overwhelmed by the adverse situations or conditions that
-one faces, one should not see tolerance or patience as a sign of weakness, but
-rather as a sign of strength coming from a deep ability to remain steadfast and
-firm. We can generally define patience or tolerance in these terms. We find
-that even in being able to tolerate a certain degree of physical hardship, like
-a hot or cold climate, our attitude makes a big difference.
- If we have the realization that tolerating immediate hardship can have long-
-term beneficial consequences, we are more likely to be able to tolerate
-everyday hardships. Similarly, in the case of those on the Bodhisattva levels
-of the path practicing high levels of tolerance and patience, intelligence also
-plays a very important role as a complementary factor.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
- Buddhist Perspective", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the
-background. They fade on the page and live on the stage when set to music.
- -- Stephen Sondheim
-~
-All the good ideas I ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
- -- Grant Wood
-~
-Completely pure desirous attachment expresses itself through Buddha Amitabha.
-A person guided by desire, attachment, or grasping becomes diffused and loses
-power over phenomena. Through completely purified desirous attachment,
-however, one is able to gain control over, and to independently coordinate,
-everything. This is because the entourage, possessions, merit, and so forth
-are controlled by the power of this Buddha. In this way Amitabha grants us the
-empowering enlightened activity and the empowering extraordinary achievements.
- -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Everyday Consciousness and
- Buddha-awakening", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-No harm's done to history by making it something someone would want to read.
- -- David McCollough
-~
-If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and
-only one sentence passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement
-would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the
-atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, if you wish to call it that) that all
-things are made of atoms--little particles that move around in perpetual
-motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but
-repelling upon being squeezed into one another.
- -- Richard P. Feynman
-~
-The third aspect of the practice of generosity is giving the gift of the
-Dharma by making the teachings available. Through the Dharma, we can bring
-understanding into the lives of others and help them remove their patterns of
-ignorance. We do not have to be great scholars to practice generosity through
-the Dharma. We may know just one line of the Dharma, but if we know that one
-line clearly and correctly, we can genuinely express it to others and help
-them. If we know four lines of the teachings, through those four lines we can
-help to clear up someone's ignorance or lessen someone's problems and
-sufferings. What counts is not how much we know but how correctly we know it
-and how sincerely we use it to help others. We should not wear the mask of the
-Dharma, pretending we know a great deal and are doing great things, while
-hiding ugliness inside us.
- -- Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, in "Dharma Paths", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-One difference between the destructive, negative emotions on the one side and
-constructive, positive emotions on the other is that constructive, positive
-emotions have a strong grounding in valid experience and reasoning. In fact,
-the more we analyze these positive emotions, the more they are enhanced.
-Negative, afflictive emotions, by contrast, are usually quite superficial.
-They have no grounding in reason and often arise out of habit rather than
-reasoned thought processes.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment",
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Whenever you travel on an airplane, the flight attendants demonstrate what to
-do in an emergency. They tell you to put the oxygen mask over your own nose
-before putting it over your child's nose. That's not because you should be
-selfish, but because if you pass out, you won't be able to help anyone at all.
-So you see, the essential point is that we must first subdue our own minds
-before we can effectively serve others.
-
-If you have failed to subdue your own mind, even if a thousand Buddhas surround
-you, they will be of no benefit. If you want to subdue your enemies, you must
-subdue your own mind. If you want to bring about world peace, subdue your
-mind. A subdued mind is the Lama. A subdued mind is the Dakini, the chosen
-deity, and the Buddha. A subdued mind is the pure land. You are already
-imbued with the Buddha-nature. This is your inherent nature. What actual
-benefit have you gotten from the essential nature of your mind?
- -- Karma Chagme, in "A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on
- the Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-From: non-verbal sys-admin
-To: support technician
-Subject: harriet crash
-
- harriet crashed this afternoon
- it is back online now
- looks like a bad drive in the array
- i have an ibm ticket opened
- hope to have it serviced sometime tomorrow
-
- the current state or the repair
- should not affect core team work in build
-
----
-
-From: support technician
-To: non-verbal sys-admin
-Subject: Re: harriet crash
-
- capital letters
- complete sentences, grammar
- needless in haiku
-~
-I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little,
-they become its visible soul.
- -- Jean Cocteau
-~
-I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death; but an infinite
-ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.
- -- George Fox
-~
-Besides the first degree of eminence in science, a professor with us must be
-of sober and correct morals and habits, having the talent of communicating his
-knowledge with facility, and of an accommodating and peaceable temper. The
-latter is all important for the harmony of the institution.
- -- Thomas Jefferson
-~
-Like all the best families, we have our share of eccentricities,
-of impetuous and wayward youngsters and of family disagreements.
- -- Queen Elizabeth II
-~
-We do not see, or we forget, that the birds that are idly singing around us
-mostly live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life.
- -- Charles Darwin
-~
-Obstacles to our practice may be external, internal or secret. The external
-ones consist of natural disasters, harm inflicted by human and nonhuman
-beings, sicknesses and so forth. Internal obstacles are our own disturbed
-states of mind and emotions and all the obstructions to liberation and full
-knowledge of all phenomena. Secret obstacles are seemingly good
-circumstances, which distract the practitioner and make him or her forget
-about practice. For instance, one might gain a good reputation as a sincere
-practitioner and thereby attract followers and wealth, which in the end make
-one neglect one's practice.
- -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "Eight Verses for Training the Mind",
- Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-From Linus Benedict Torvalds Oct 5 1991, 8:53 am
-Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
-From: torva...@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
-Date: 5 Oct 91 05:41:06 GMT
-Local: Fri, Oct 4 1991 10:41 pm
-Subject: Free minix-like kernel sources for 386-AT
-
-Do you pine for the nice days of minix-1.1, when men were men and wrote
-their own device drivers? Are you without a nice project and just dying
-to cut your teeth on a OS you can try to modify for your needs? Are you
-finding it frustrating when everything works on minix? No more all-
-nighters to get a nifty program working? Then this post might be just
-for you :-)
-
-As I mentioned a month(?) ago, I'm working on a free version of a
-minix-lookalike for AT-386 computers. It has finally reached the stage
-where it's even usable (though may not be depending on what you want),
-and I am willing to put out the sources for wider distribution. It is
-just version 0.02 (+1 (very small) patch already), but I've successfully
-run bash/gcc/gnu-make/gnu-sed/compress etc under it.
-
-Sources for this pet project of mine can be found at nic.funet.fi
-(128.214.6.100) in the directory /pub/OS/Linux. The directory also
-contains some README-file and a couple of binaries to work under linux
-(bash, update and gcc, what more can you ask for :-). Full kernel
-source is provided, as no minix code has been used. Library sources are
-only partially free, so that cannot be distributed currently. The
-system is able to compile "as-is" and has been known to work. Heh.
-Sources to the binaries (bash and gcc) can be found at the same place in
-/pub/gnu.
-
-ALERT! WARNING! NOTE! These sources still need minix-386 to be compiled
-
-(and gcc-1.40, possibly 1.37.1, haven't tested), and you need minix to
-set it up if you want to run it, so it is not yet a standalone system
-for those of you without minix. I'm working on it. You also need to be
-something of a hacker to set it up (?), so for those hoping for an
-alternative to minix-386, please ignore me. It is currently meant for
-hackers interested in operating systems and 386's with access to minix.
-
-The system needs an AT-compatible harddisk (IDE is fine) and EGA/VGA. If
-you are still interested, please ftp the README/RELNOTES, and/or mail me
-for additional info.
-
-I can (well, almost) hear you asking yourselves "why?". Hurd will be
-out in a year (or two, or next month, who knows), and I've already got
-minix. This is a program for hackers by a hacker. I've enjouyed doing
-it, and somebody might enjoy looking at it and even modifying it for
-their own needs. It is still small enough to understand, use and
-modify, and I'm looking forward to any comments you might have.
-
-I'm also interested in hearing from anybody who has written any of the
-utilities/library functions for minix. If your efforts are freely
-distributable (under copyright or even public domain), I'd like to hear
-from you, so I can add them to the system. I'm using Earl Chews estdio
-right now (thanks for a nice and working system Earl), and similar works
-will be very wellcome. Your (C)'s will of course be left intact. Drop me
-a line if you are willing to let me use your code.
-
- Linus
-
-PS. to PHIL NELSON! I'm unable to get through to you, and keep getting
-"forward error - strawberry unknown domain" or something.
-~
-Question: How do things exist if they are empty of inherent existence?
-
-His Holiness: The doctrines of emptiness and selflessness do not imply the non-
-existence of things. Things do exist. When we say that all phenomena are void
-of self-existence, it does not mean that we are advocating non-existence, that
-we are repudiating that things exist. Then what is it we are negating? We are
-negating, or denying, that anything exists from its own side without depending
-on other things. Hence, it is because things depend for their existence upon
-other causes and conditions that they are said to lack independent self-
-existence.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will,
-But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.
- -- Thomas Moore
-~
-Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things,
-in which smiles, and kindnesses, and small obligations, given habitually,
-are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort.
- -- Sir Humphrey Davy
-~
-It is only when I am doing my work that I feel truly alive.
- -- Federico Fellini
-~
-When you engage in a project or an activity that helps other sentient beings,
-there is no question of a time limit. You must do it continuously. This is
-how you should train your mind. If you think you will achieve enlightenment or
-bodhichitta within a few days or months, and if you think that you will get
-enlightened after entering into a retreat for three years and three months, you
-are mistaken. When I hear the suggestion that you will attain Buddhahood if
-you go into retreat for three years and three months, sometimes I jokingly say
-that this is just like communist propaganda. I tell my Western friends that
-wanting to practice the most profound and the quickest path is a clear sign
-that you will achieve no result. How can you achieve the most profound and the
-vast in the shortest way? The story of the Buddha says that he achieved
-Buddhahood after three countless aeons. So harboring an expectation to achieve
-Buddhahood within a short time-like three years and three months-is a clear
-indication that you will make no real progress. We have to be practical.
-There is no use in fooling others with your incomplete knowledge.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Stages of Meditation", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Buddhist moral philosophy is strikingly pragmatic. Something is valuable
-insofar as it is relevant to people's lives and useful for achieving their
-happiness. If it will bring happiness for oneself and others, pursue it; if it
-will bring suffering, better to avoid it. There are no absolute dictates;
-ethical personal behavior is seen as simply the most practical way to cope with
-the difficulties of the human condition. Although guidelines and copious
-illustrations are given, nothing is absolute or definitive. The power and
-freedom to make decisions rests with the individual. There is no arbitrary or
-mysterious force controlling our lives; there is simply the law of cause and
-effect. Of course, decisions are dependent upon many factors. The choices we
-make are conditioned by circumstances, both outer and inner, but ultimately
-human beings have free will to decide. Individuals make decisions and
-experience the consequences of their decisions.
- -- from "Buddhism Through American Women's Eyes", edited by Karma Lekshe
- Tsomo, Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Chemistry stands at the pivot of science. On the one hand it deals with biology
-and provides explanations for the processes of life. On the other hand it
-mingles with physics and finds explanations for chemical phenomena in the
-fundamental processes and particles of the universe. Chemistry links the
-familiar with the fundamental.
- -- P. W. Atkins
-~
-In a cat's eyes, all things belong to cats. -- English Proverb
-~
-A university is what a college becomes when the faculty
-loses interest in students.
- -- John Ciardi
-~
-Ye can lead a man up to the university, but ye can't make him think.
- -- Finley Peter Dunne
-~
-The new electronic interdependence recreates the
-world in the image of a global village.
- -- Marshall McLuhan
-~
-One of the ways in which cats show happiness is by sleeping.
- -- Cleveland Amory
-~
-For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life. -- William Blake
-~
-Love is a kind of warfare. -- Ovid
-~
-Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what
-is excellent in others belong to us as well.
- -- Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire, 1694
-~
- From a Buddhist point of view, one might be able to distinguish different
-states of dreaming. Generally speaking, a dream is a dream, something you
-can't control. But for the highly advanced meditator, there could be
-possibilities for gaining certain insights through dreams.
- I know some Tibetans who lived in Tibet prior to the 1959 uprising. Before
-their escape from Tibet, they did not know about the natural trails and passes
-by which to get over the Himalayas into India. Some of these people I met had
-very clear dreams of these tracks and, years later, when they actually had to
-follow the actual trails, they found that they were already familiar with them
-because of the very clear dreams they had had previously.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
- with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", ed. by Zara Houshmand,
- Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, Snow Lion Publications
-~
-I think, for the rest of my life, I shall refrain from looking up things.
-It is the most ravenous time-snatcher I know. You pull one book from the
-shelf, which carries a hint or a reference that sends you posthaste to
-another book, and that to successive others.
- -- Carolyn Wells (1862-1942), Mystery Writer
-~
-It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life
-that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that
-goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
- -- Arnold Toynbee
-~
-Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity,
-we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second
-time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
- -- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
-~
- One method for disciples to develop bodhichitta entails recognizing all
-beings as having been their mothers in some previous life and focusing on
-their mothers' kindness. Similarly, guru-meditation requires focusing on
-their mentors' kindness.
- Many Westerners, however, have difficulty focusing on the kindness of their
-mothers. Unable to find the goodness and kindness in their mothers, most
-cannot find any goodness in themselves either. Although they may be desperate
-for love and kindness, their mental blocks often prevent them from recognizing
-and appreciating the kindness of others, for instance their spiritual mentors.
-No matter how much kindness they receive, it is never enough.
- One of the reasons for being unable to acknowledge our mothers' kindness
-may be that they fail to live up to our models of ideal parents. Similarly,
-when our spiritual mentors have shortcomings and do not live up to our models
-of ideal teachers, we may also have difficulty recognizing their kindness.
-Like children yearning for ideal love, we feel cheated if our mentors fail
-to meet our expectations.
- -- Alexander Berzin, in "Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy
- Relationship", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.
- -- Edward Abbey
-~
-I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis
-and I don't deserve that either.
- -- Jack Benny
-~
-I have come to believe over and over again that what is most
-important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at
-the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.
- -- Audre Geraldine Lorde
-~
-The word dharma in Sanskrit means "that which holds". All existents are
-dharmas, phenomena, in the sense that they hold or bear their own entity or
-character. Also, a religion is a dharma in the sense that it holds persons
-back or protects them from disasters. Here the term dharma refers to the
-latter definition. In rough terms, any elevated action of body, speech or
-mind is regarded as a dharma because through doing such an action one is
-protected or held back from all sorts of disasters. Practice of such
-actions is practice of dharma.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Buddhism of Tibet", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-What will survive of us is love. -- Philip Larkin
-~
-Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
- -- Elbert Hubbard
-~
-Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.
- -- Erica Jong
-~
-Optimism can make you look stupid but cynicism always makes you look cynical.
- -- Calum Fisher
-~
-An architect proves his skill by turning the defects of a site into advantages.
- -- Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini
-~
-Physicists and astronomers see their own implications in the world
-being round, but to me it means that only one-third of the world is
-asleep at any given time and the other two-thirds is up to something.
- -- Dean Rusk
-~
-What is my purpose in life, what is my responsibility? Whether I like it or
-not, I am on this planet, and it is far better to do something for humanity.
-So you see that compassion is the seed or basis. If we take care to foster
-compassion, we will see that it brings the other good human qualities. The
-topic of compassion is not at all religious business; it is very important to
-know that it is human business, that it is a question of human survival, that
-is not a question of human luxury. I might say that religion is a kind of
-luxury. If you have religion, that is good. But it is clear that even without
-religion we can manage. However, without these basic human qualities we cannot
-survive. It is a question of our own peace and mental stability.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An
- Anthology of Writings By and About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited
- by Sidney Piburn, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.
- -- Benjamin Disraeli
-~
- We often get angry when something we consider undesirable happens. But what
-use is this anger? If we can change the situation, then let's go ahead and do
-it. There's no need to be angry. It's very useful to think like this when
-confronted with social problems and injustice. They can be changed, so rather
-than be angry, it's wiser to work calmly to improve the society.
- On the other hand, if the situation can't be changed, anger is equally
-useless. Once our leg is broken, we can't unbreak it. All of the corruption
-in the world can't be solved in a year. Getting angry at something we can't
-alter makes us miserable. Worrying about or fearing something that hasn't
-happened immobilizes us. Shantideva said in A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way
-of Life:
- Why be unhappy about something If it can be remedied? And what is the
- use of being unhappy about something If it cannot be remedied?
- -- Thubten Chodron, in "Open Heart, Clear Mind", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-From the Hacker's Lexicon:
-
-Heisenbug /hi:'zen-buhg/ from Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in
-quantum physics n. A bug that disappears or alters its behavior when one
-attempts to probe or isolate it. Antonym of Bohr bug; see also mandelbug,
-schroedinbug. In C, nine out of ten heisenbugs result from either
-fandango on core phenomena (esp. lossage related to corruption of the
-malloc arena) or errors that smash the stack.
-
-Schroedinbug MIT: from the Schroedinger's Cat thought-experiment in
-quantum physics n. A design or implementation bug in a program which
-doesn't manifest until someone reading source or using the program in an
-unusual way notices that it never should have worked, at which point the
-program promptly stops working for everybody until fixed. Though this
-sounds impossible, it happens; some programs have harbored latent
-schroedinbugs for years. Compare heisenbug, Bohr bug, mandelbug.
-
-Bohr bug /bohr buhg/ from quantum physics n. A repeatable bug; one that
-manifests reliably under a possibly unknown but well-defined set of
-conditions. Antonym of heisenbug; see also mandelbug, schroedinbug.
-
-Mandelbug /mon'del-buhg/ from the Mandelbrot set n. A bug whose
-underlying causes are so complex and obscure as to make its behavior
-appear chaotic or even non-deterministic. This term implies that the
-speaker thinks it is a Bohr bug, rather than a heisenbug. See also
-schroedinbug.
-~
-If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in
-music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-Nothing's impossible I have found,
-For when my chin is on the ground,
-I pick myself up, Dust myself off,
-Start all over again.
- -- Dorothy Fields
-~
-You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats.
- -- Colonial American Proverb
-~
-The essence of dharma practice is to bring about a discipline within the mind,
-a state of mind free of hatred, lust and harmful intentions. Hence the entire
-message of the buddhadharma could be summed up in two succinct statements:
-"Help others," and "If you cannot help them, at least do not harm others."
-It is a grave error to think that apart from such a disciplining of the
-physical and mental faculties there is something else called "the practice of
-dharma." Various, and in some cases divergent, methods to achieve such an
-inner discipline have been taught in the scriptures by the Buddha.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-It is not the strongest of the species that survive,
-nor the most intelligent,
-but the one most responsive to change.
- -- Charles Darwin
-~
-As progress is made in dream practice, dreams become clearer and more detailed,
-and a larger part of each dream is remembered. This is a result of bringing
-greater awareness into the dream state. Beyond this increased awareness in
-ordinary dreams is a second kind of dream called the dream of clarity, which
-arises when the mind and the prana are balanced and the dreamer has developed
-the capacity to remain in non-personal presence. Unlike the samsaric dream, in
-which the mind is swept here and there by karmic prana, in the dream of clarity
-the dreamer is stable. Though images and information arise, they are based
-less on personal karmic traces and instead present knowledge available directly
-from consciousness below the level of the conventional self.
- -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn than to contemplate.
- -- Rene Descartes
-~
-Be careful when reading health books--you might die of a misprint.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-The practice of pure perception is effective when it is practiced a lot. In
-pure perception, look beyond the surface and imagine that other people are none
-other than expressions of buddha-mind. We can choose to focus on positive
-attributes. What we attend to becomes our reality and if we attend to the
-buddhas in situations, in things, in other people it is the buddhas we engage
-with and the reality of the buddhas that becomes our reality.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Buddhism with an Attitude: Tibetan Seven-Point
- Mind-Training", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Correctness is clearly the prime quality. If a system does not do what it
-is supposed to do, then everything else about it matters little.
- -- Bertrand Meyer
-~
-The path to genuine co-operation is again through sincere compassion and love.
-Sometimes we misunderstand compassion as being nothing more than a feeling of
-pity. Compassion is much, much more. It embraces not only a feeling of
-closeness, but also a sense of responsibility. When you develop compassion, it
-will help you enormously to generate inner strength and self-confidence, and to
-reduce your feelings of fear and insecurity. So compassion and love, embodied
-in an attitude of altruism, are qualities that are of tremendous importance for
-the individual, as well as for society and the community at large.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
- Perfection", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The value of transmission is not only that of introducing the state of
-knowledge, but lies also in its function of bringing about the maturing of the
-transmission, right up until one reaches realization. For this reason the
-relationship that links master and disciple is a very close one. The master,
-in Dzogchen, is not just like a friend who helps and collaborates with the
-disciple; rather the master is himself or herself the path. This is because
-the practice of contemplation develops through the unification of the state of
-the disciple with that of the master. The master is extremely important, too,
-at the Sutra and the Tantra levels of teaching, in the former because he or she
-is the holder of Buddha's teachings, and in the latter because he or she is the
-source of all the manifestations of transformation.
- -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, in "Dzogchen: The Self-perfected State",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Setting the Appropriate Motivation
- It is very important before receiving any Dharma teaching to set a proper
-motivation, or reaffirm and enhance that motivation if we already basically
-have it. This is important not only for those who are listening to a spiritual
-discourse, but also for the person delivering it. If a discourse or
-explanation is given with an attitude of pride, competitiveness or jealousy, it
-will not do as a Dharma teaching. A Buddhist teaching must be given with the
-sincere wish to benefit all beings by means of it.
- Likewise, the listeners to a Buddhist teaching must have a proper
-motivation, always thinking, "What new point can I learn from this that will
-help me be of more benefit to others?" If we sit here with the notion to learn
-something about mahamudra so that we can make a display of ourselves and
-proudly talk to others about mahamudra so that they will consider us an
-erudite, spiritual person, we have a completely wrong motivation.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-There is one simple Divinity found in all things, everything has Divinity
-latent within itself. For she enfolds and imparts herself even unto the
-smallest beings. Without her presence nothing would have being, because she
-is the essence of the existence of the first unto the last being.
- -- Giordano Bruno, "The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast", (1582)
-~
-Even to have come forth is something, since I see that being able to conquer
-is placed in the hands of fate. However, there was in me, whatever I was able
-to do, that which no future century will deny to be mine, that which a victor
-could have for his own: Not to have feared to die, not to have yielded to any
-equal in firmness of nature, and to have preferred a courageous death to a
-noncombatant life.
- -- Giordano Bruno, "De Monade"
-~
-Thus is the excellence of God magnified and the greatness of his kingdom made
-manifest; He is glorified not in one, but in countless suns; not in a single
-earth, a single world, but in a thousand thousand, I say in an infinity of
-worlds!
- -- Giordano Bruno
-~
-The real story of our times is seldom told in the horse-puckey-filled memoirs
-of dopey, self-serving presidents or generals, but in the outrageous, demented
-lives of guys like Lenny Bruce, Giordano Bruno, Scott Fitzgerald--and Paul
-Krassner. The burrs under society's saddle. The pains in the ass.
- -- Harlan Ellison
-~
-The Tibetan word that is usually translated as "blessing" or "inspiration" can
-more literally be translated as "to transform into magnificence." We are
-asking the Buddhas to transform our minds into magnificence. How that happens
-isn't by the Buddha going in and pulling some switches inside our mind.
-Because our mind is conditioned and changing, the mental energy of the Buddha's
-realizations can affect our energy, so to speak. Conditioned phenomena affect
-each other, so the force of Tara's realizations can positively affect our mind.
- -- Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-A botnet is comparable to compulsory military service for windows boxes.
- -- Stromberg
-~
-The greatest strength is gentleness. -- Iroquois proverb
-~
-Whether or not we actually achieve the realisation of bodhicitta and to what
-level or depth we gain such a realisation depends upon the force of our
-experience of great compassion. This great compassion, which aspires to free
-all sentient beings from suffering, is not confined to the level of mere
-aspiration. It has a dimension of far greater power, which is the sense of
-commitment or responsibility to personally bring about this objective of
-fulfilling others' welfare. In order to cultivate this powerful great
-compassion, we need to train our mind separately in two other factors. One is
-to cultivate a sense of empathy with or closeness to all sentient beings, for
-whose sake we wish to work so that they become free from suffering. The other
-factor is to cultivate a deeper insight into the nature of the suffering from
-which we wish others to be relieved.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Lighting the Way", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Religion does not mean just precepts, a temple, monastery, or other external
-signs, for these as well as hearing and thinking are subsidiary factors in
-taming the mind. When the mind becomes the practices, one is a practitioner
-of religion, and when the mind does not become the practices one is not.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Deity Yoga", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Hamlet's Cat's Soliloquy
-
-To go outside, and there perchance to stay
-Or to remain within: that is the question:
-Whether 'tis better for a cat to suffer
-The cuffs and buffets of inclement weather
-That Nature rains on those who roam abroad,
-Or take a nap upon a scrap of carpet,
-And so by dozing melt the solid hours
-That clog the clock's bright gears with sullen time
-And stall the dinner bell.
-To sit, to stare Outdoors, and by a stare to seem to state
-A wish to venture forth without delay,
-Then when the portal's opened up, to stand
-As if transfixed by doubt.
-To prowl; to sleep;
-To choose not knowing when we may once more
-Our readmittance gain: aye, there's the hairball;
-For if a paw were shaped to turn a knob,
-Or work a lock or slip a window-catch,
-And going out and coming in were made
-As simple as the breaking of a bowl,
-What cat would bear the household's petty plagues,
-The cook's well-practiced kicks, the butler's broom,
-The infant's careless pokes, the tickled ears,
-The trampled tail, and all the daily shocks
-That fur is heir to, when, of his own free will,
-He might his exodus or entrance make
-With a mere mitten?
-Who would spaniels fear,
-Or strays trespassing from a neighbor's yard,
-But that the dread of our unheeded cries
-And scratches at a barricaded door
-No claw can open up, dispels our nerve
-And makes us rather bear our humans' faults
-Than run away to unguessed miseries?
-Thus caution doth make house cats of us all;
-And thus the bristling hair of resolution
-Is softened up with the pale brush of thought,
-And since our choices hinge on weighty things,
-We pause upon the threshold of decision.
- -- shakespaw
-~
-It is not good to begin many different works, saying "This looks good; that
-looks good", touching this, touching that, and not succeeding in any of them.
-If you do not generate great desires but aim at what is fitting, you can
-actualise the corresponding potencies and become an expert in that. With
-success, the power or imprint of that practice is generated.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Tantra in Tibet", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Through the skillful methods of tantra, meditators are able to cultivate
-pleasure in a way that actually aids in spiritual progress. Afflicted
-grasping and desires based on mistaken ideas are the problem, not happiness
-and pleasure. If the pursuit of happiness and pleasure can be separated
-from afflictive emotions, then it can be incorporated into the path and
-will even become a powerful aid to the attainment of enlightenment.
- -- John Powers, in "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-REFUGE
-What kind of refuge does Buddhism offer? How are Buddhists and non-Buddhists
-differentiated? From the viewpoint of refuge, a Buddhist is someone who
-accepts Buddha, his doctrine, and the spiritual community as the final refuge.
-From the viewpoint of philosophy, a Buddhist is someone who asserts the four
-views that guarantee a doctrine as being Buddhist. With respect to the three
-refuges, called the Three Jewels, it is said that the Buddha is the teacher of
-refuge but that the actual refuge is the Dharma, the doctrine. Buddha himself
-said, "I teach the path of liberation. Liberation itself depends upon you."
-From the same perspective, Buddha said, "You are your own master." The
-spiritual community are those who assist one in achieving refuge.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard", Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-Bodhisattvas are motivated by universal compassion, and they seek the ultimate
-goal of buddhahood in order to be of service to others. They embark on this
-path with the generation of the mind of enlightenment, which Geshe Rabten
-states is "the wish for Supreme Enlightenment for the sake of others. The sign
-of the true Bodhicitta is the constant readiness to undergo any sacrifice for
-the happines of all beings." Unlike ordinary beings, who think of their own
-advantage, bodhisattvas consider how best to benefit others.
- -- John Powers, in "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Why are there fierce protectors? Peaceful deities such as Tara have a certain
-energy that calms and gladdens our mind. But sometimes our mind is so
-belligerent and stuck that we need the kind of energy that goes "Pow!" to wake
-us up or to pull us out of unproductive behavior. For this reason, the
-Buddhas' wisdom and compassion appear in the form of these wrathful deities to
-demonstrate clean-clear wisdom and compassion that act directly. This active
-wisdom doesn't vacillate and pamper us. This wisdom doesn't say, "Well,
-maybe," or, "Poor you. You deserve to be treated well, not like that horrible
-person treated you." Instead, it's forceful: "Cut it out! Stop those false
-expectations and preconceptions right now!" Sometimes we need that strong,
-wise energy to be in our face to wake us up to the fact that our afflictions
-and old patterns of thought and behavior are making us miserable.
- -- Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator"
-~
-I never joined the army because at ease was never that easy to me. Seemed
-rather uptight still. I don't relax by parting my legs slightly and putting
-my hands behind my back. That does not equal ease. At ease was not being
-in the military. I am at ease, bro, because I am not in the military.
- -- Mitch Hedberg
-~
-The human essence of good sense finds no room with anger. Anger, jealousy,
-impatience, and hatred are the real troublemakers; with them problems cannot
-be solved. Though one may have temporary success, ultimately one's hatred or
-anger will create further difficulties. With anger, all actions are swift.
-When we face problems with compassion, sincerely and with good motivation, it
-may take longer, but ultimately the solution is better, for there is far less
-chance of creating a new problem through the temporary "solution" of the
-present one.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Kindness, Clarity and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Killing and eating meat are interrelated, so do we have to give up eating
-animal products? I myself once tried to give it up, but health problems arose
-and two years later my doctors advised me to again use meat in my diet. If
-there are people who can give up eating meat, we can only rejoice in their
-noble efforts. In any case, at least we should try to lessen our intake of
-meat and not eat it anywhere where it is in scarce supply and our consumption
-of it would cause added slaughter.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The mind is beyond expression, thought and conceptualization, because it is
-empty. Yet, there is phenomena and appearance. The objects that you cling to
-in this waking reality are dreamlike, but if you do not inquire into the nature
-of this dream, you remain attracted as though there were really something here.
-Upon examination, you find that these objects have no true existence at all and
-are just like space. A practitioner who understands that phenomena lack
-inherent existence and resemble space should then examine himself or herself to
-discover whether he or she possesses an individual self. Then it will be
-discovered that there is no truly existing examiner either.
- -- Gyatrul Rinpoche, from "The Generation Stage in Buddhist Tantra",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
- -- Isaac Asimov
-~
-In discursive meditations it is imperative that one's growing disenchantment
-with mundane existence is complemented with growing confidence in the real
-possibility of true freedom and lasting joy that transcends the vicissitudes
-of conditioned existence. Without this faith and the yearning for such
-liberation, the meditations may easily result in profound depression, in which
-everything seems hollow, unreal, and futile. Thus instead of polarizing one's
-desires towards the single-pointed pursuit of nirvana, one is reduced to a
-debilitating kind of spiritual sloth.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Balancing the Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach
- to Refining Attention", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-I believe that in human actions, the prime mover is motivation. On the spot,
-it is important to tackle the symptoms of problems, but in the long run, it is
-necessary to look at the motivation and whether there is possibility to change
-it. For the long run, this is crucial. As long as the negative motivation is
-not changed, then although there might be certain rules and methods to stop
-counterproductive actions, human beings have the ability through various ways
-to express their negative feeling. Thus, for the long run, we need to look at
-our motivation and try to change it. This means that we must try to cultivate
-the right kind of motivation and try to reduce the negative motivation.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates Discuss
- Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-When we talk of karma or action, it entails action committed by an agent, in
-this case, oneself, in the past. So what type of future will come about, to a
-large extent, lies within one's own hands and can be determined by the kind of
-initiatives that one takes now. Not only that, but karma should not be
-understood in terms of passive, static kind of force, but rather in terms of
-active process. This indicates that there is an important role for the
-individual agent to play in determining the course of the karmic process.
-Consider, for instance, a simple act like fulfilling our need for food. In
-order to achieve that simple goal one must take action on one's own behalf: one
-needs to look for food, to prepare it, to eat it. This shows that even a
-simple act, even a simple goal is achieved through action.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
- Buddhist Perspective", Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Nothing is easier than to bring others down to our level, particularly in
-cultures where it is taken as a sign of keen intelligence to view every person
-and situation as a challenge to "name the ten things wrong with this picture."
-The presence of Guru Rinpoche in so many forms in our world makes us question
-life in a way pre-1959 persons rarely had to. Life isn't the same after
-meeting the Dalai Lama or Kyentse Rinpoche and others. We can't erase them
-from our minds, as inconvenient as these open doors to enlightenment might be.
-We had other plans; we didn't ask to see so vividly another totally different
-horizon.
- The question, "How can I integrate this into my daily life?" doesn't plumb
-the depth of the inquiry. I have translated for lamas in North America,
-Europe, and Asia, and have found this to be the typical North American
-question. I think the best answer is, "You can't; don't even try." But I
-have to wonder about the question itself. What do you do when an event or an
-encounter changes your life? If you won a 10,000,000 dollar jackpot, if a
-dear friend dies, or if you fall deeply in love, do you ask, "How can I
-integrate this into my daily life?" Some events change us, are earth-
-shattering, and are not meant to be integrated into what can sometimes feel
-like a rat race existence. Meeting Guru Rinpoche is one such event.
- -- Ngawang Zangpo, in "Guru Rinpoche: His Life and Times", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Now in terms of the actual practice, when one is immersed in the contemplation
-of the clear light, since all dualistic appearances vanish, it becomes
-impossible to distinguish the object from the consciousness perceiving it.
-They seem to become as if they were one, like water mixed with water. Of
-course, strictly speaking, there are two entities, subject and object, but
-within the experience of the clear light this duality is lost.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Guardians of the teachings
- There are eight principal classes of Guardians each with many subdivisions.
-Some are highly realized beings, others not realized at all. Every place--
-every continent, country, city, mountain, river, lake or forest--has its
-particular dominant energy, or Guardian, as have every year, hour and even
-minute: these are not highly evolved energies. The various teachings all have
-energies which have special relationships with them: these are more realized
-Guardians. These energies are iconographically portrayed as they were
-perceived when they manifested to masters who had contact with them, and their
-awesome power is represented by their terrifyingly ferocious forms, their many
-arms and heads, and their ornaments of the charnel ground. As with all the
-figures in tantric iconography, it is not correct to interpret the figures of
-the guardians as merely symbolic, as some Western writers have been tempted to
-do. Though the iconographic forms have been shaped by the perceptions and
-culture of those who saw the original manifestation and by the development of
-tradition, actual beings are represented.
- -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra
- and Dzogchen, Teachings of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu", compiled and edited by
- John Shane, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-5. When others out of jealousy treat me unreasonably, with abuse, slander, and
-so on, I will learn to take all loss and offer the victory to them. When any
-type of deserved or undeserved slander, prompted by jealousy, and so forth,
-and unpleasant verbal abuse [comes to one], do not lose patience. Keep a
-peaceful mind. Further, when problems arise, do not say "It is his fault,
-not mine!" Accept the blame, as did Geshe Lang ri thang pa. [Reflect:]
- "Whoever created this mess, it includes me! I have [a hand in it] also."
-The reason for this is that we must endeavor toward generosity and the various
-modes of ethical behavior, for the sake of purifying our many misdeeds and
-completing the accumulations [of merit and wisdom].
- Therefore, when one shows kindness to slanderers, even if one does not
-deserve the abuse and slander, it is said to be necessary for purifying our
-misdeeds when problems arise. Taking all blame on ourselves prevents our evil
-karma from arising.
- Geshe Lang ri thang pa speaks of a person from the Valley of Phan who
-sometimes gave a little butter cake to the Lamas, and at other times slandered
-them for no reason. The Lamas regarded him with great kindness. This
-cleansed their misdeeds and helped their accumulation of the two collections.
-They claimed that his slanderous talk was great. Shantideva's
-bodhisattvacaryavatara says:
- Therefore, since patience can be generated
- In dependence upon a very hate filled mind
- And because it is the cause of patience,
- Make offerings to it as if it was the most excellent doctrine!
-More correct even than this statement is that ethics and patience lead to
-great merit, and to the end of misdeeds such as anger. Therefore it is said
-that the hardest practice is patience. [Learn] the patience that is keeping
-still no matter what happens.
- -- Lo Jong
-~
-I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.
- -- Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)
-~
-All sentient beings are exactly the same in that every one desires happiness
-and seeks to avoid misery. We are not isolated entities disconnected from
-each other. The happiness and suffering of other beings affect us. This
-mutual relation is obvious. Sentient beings have been kind and have benefited
-us directly and indirectly throughout beginningless time. These beings are
-intrinsically the same as us in their pursuit of happiness and effort to avoid
-suffering. Thus, it is essentially logical for us to train in cultivating an
-impartial attitude wishing for the happiness of all beings.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", Snow Lion Pub.
-~
- Our exaggerated sense of self and our compulsion to find happiness for this
-larger-than-life self we have fabricated cause us to ignore, neglect and harm
-others. Of course, it is our right to love and take care of ourselves, but
-not at the expense of others. While "As long as I'm alright" is our motto,
-we have no hesitation in acting with total disregard for others.
- We may find this description of self-concern altogether too crass to apply
-to us. "I'm not like that," we object, but though we may not consciously
-think in this way, when self-concern is operating, our behavior shows a cold
-indifference to others. Conflicts between partners, parents and children and
-with other family members, conflicts between students and teachers and on a
-larger scale within and between countries have their source in personal and
-collective self-concern.
- Buddhas and Bodhisattvas see clearly that our neglect of others, our self-
-preoccupation and our disregard for the connection between actions and their
-effects are responsible for all our miseries.
- -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path: An
- Oral Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Ordinarily, it is difficult to remember one's past life. Such recollections
-seem to be more vivid when the child is very young, such as two or three, and
-in some cases even younger. ...When the present body is fully formed, the
-ability to recall past life seems to diminish.
- The mental associations with this life become increasingly dominant. There
-is a close relationship during the first few years of one's life with the
-continuum of consciousness from the previous life. But as experiences of this
-life become more developed and elaborate, they dominate.
- It is also possible within this lifetime to enhance the power of the mind,
-enabling one to reaccess memories from previous lives. Such recollection
-tends to be more accessible during meditative experiences in the dream state.
-Once one has accessed memories of previous lives in the dream state, one
-gradually recalls them in the waking state.
- -- H.H Dalai Lama, in "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
- The Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", Edited by Zara Houshmand,
- Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Relaxation involves a kind of awareness which reverses the normal tendency
-that we have. Because, as we have seen, this ordinary sense of self that we
-have lacks inherent self existence, it has to keep constructing itself and
-that requires a particular kind of effort. The ego's root feeling is that if
-I do not hold myself together there will be a falling apart into something
-chaotic and difficult. So there is anxiety, an energetic anxiety which is
-located in the body, in the whole energetic system of the body and
-interpersonal turbulence reminds us again and again "If I don't keep it
-together, I will get in trouble." The belief in reincarnation indicates that
-for many lifetimes we have been caught up in this anxiety, this nervous
-contraction which is holding our ordinary grasping sense of self in place.
- -- from "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje entitled
- 'The Mirror of Clear Meaning,'" commentary by James Low, Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Buddhas are always striving for the welfare of beings migrating in cyclic
-existence. In every hour and minute they create limitless forms of welfare
-for beings throughout billions of emanations of their body, speech and mind.
-For instance, in this aeon--an aeon being a period of an extremely great
-number of years--they will appear in the aspect of one thousand supreme
-Emanation Bodies (Nirmanakaya) as Buddhas, and each will have his own new
-teaching.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Buddhism of Tibet", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Spiritual Mentors
- The Buddhist teachings differentiate between flash insights (nyam, nyams),
-and stable realizations (togpa, rtogs-pa). A flash insight does not make a
-significant change in one's life, but may lead in that direction. A stable
-realization, on the other hand, whether it be partial or complete, actually
-produces a noticeable improvement that lasts. The distinction we are drawing
-here between Dharma instructors and spiritual mentors derives from this
-difference. Dharma instructors may have either insight or realization,
-whereas spiritual mentors need to have some level of stable realization.
- -- Alexander Berzin, in "Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a
- Healthy Relationship, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Not even computers will replace committees, because committees buy computers.
- -- Edward Shepherd Mead
-~
-If you can't do what you want, do what you can. -- Lois McMaster Bujold
-~
-Human history is work history. The heroes of the people are work heroes.
- -- Meridel le Sueur
-~
-It is not the man who has too little,
-but the man who craves more, that is poor.
- -- Seneca
-~
-Drive-in banks were established so most of the
-cars today could see their real owners.
- -- E. Joseph Crossman
-~
-I base my fashion taste on what doesn't itch. -- Gilda Radner
-~
-It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish.
- -- J.R.R. Tolkien
-~
-You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that
-make you want to live to be a hundred.
- -- Woody Allen
-~
-No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.
- -- Elbert Hubbard
-~
-Do not look where you fell but where you slipped.
-~
-There is nothing more demoralizing than a small but adequate income.
- -- Edmund Wilson
-~
-Measure not the work until the day's out and the labor done.
- -- Elizabeth Barret Browning
-~
-Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
- -- Robert Louis Stevenson
-~
-We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from
-artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.
- -- Alfred E. Newman, Mad Magazine
-~
-The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.
- -- Richard Bach
-~
-You are what you are--and not what people think you are. -- O.W. Polen
-~
-Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.
- -- Aristotle
-~
-From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.
- -- Arthur Ashe
-~
-I touch the future. I teach. -- Christa McAuliffe
-~
-Curiosity is one of the permanent and
-certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
-People ask for criticism, but they only want praise. -- W. Somerset Maugham
-~
-Money is like muck, not good except it be spread. -- Sir Francis Bacon
-~
-The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting
-otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.
- -- Theodore Rubin
-~
-We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.
- -- Wernher von Braun
-~
-The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and
-write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.
- -- Alvin Toffler
-~
-Wealth is the possession of whatever gives us happiness,
-contentment or a sense of significance.
- -- Ernest Wilson
-~
-To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-I bought some batteries, but they weren't included. -- Steven Wright
-~
-The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool.
- -- Jane Wagner
-~
-People who work sitting down get paid
-more than people who work standing up.
- -- Ogden Nash
-~
-It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. -- Sir Edmund Hillary
-~
-What we should ask of ourselves is growth, not perfection. -- Pat Boone
-~
-Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand. -- Unknown
-~
-The purpose of life is to fight maturity. -- Dick Wertheimer
-~
-Your true value depends entirely on what you are compared with. -- Bob Wells
-~
-A good mind possesses a kingdom. -- Lucius Anaaeus Seneca
-~
-I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the
-position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles he has
-overcome while trying to succeed.
- -- Booker T. Washington
-~
-An intelligence test sometimes shows a man how smart
-he would have been not to have taken it.
- -- Laurence J. Peter
-~
-I have not lost my mind--it's backed up on disk somewhere. -- Unknown
-~
-Wise men talk because they have something to say;
-fools, because they have to say something.
- -- Plato
-~
-Don't waste a thousand dollars' worth of emotion over a 5-cent triviality.
- -- Anonymous
-~
-Fortune does not change men, it unmasks them. -- Suzanne Necker
-~
-Some people are born on third base and go
-through life thinking they have hit a triple.
- -- Barry Switzer
-~
-I can't understand why people are scared of new ideas.
-I'm frightened of the old ones.
- -- John Cage
-~
-It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on. -- Samuel Goldwyn
-~
-When we practice, initially, as a basis we control ourselves, stopping the bad
-actions which hurt others as much as we can. This is defensive. After that,
-when we develop certain qualifications, then as an active goal we should help
-others. In the first stage, sometimes we need isolation while pursuing our
-own inner development; however, after you have some confidence, some strength,
-you must remain with, contact, and serve society in any field--health,
-education, politics, or whatever.
-
-There are people who call themselves religious-minded, trying to show this by
-dressing in a peculiar manner, maintaining a peculiar way of life, and
-isolating themselves from the rest of society. That is wrong. A scripture of
-mind-purification (mind-training) says, "Transform your inner viewpoint, but
-leave your external appearance as it is." This is important. Because the
-very purpose of practicing the Great Vehicle is service for others, you should
-not isolate yourselves from society. In order to serve, in order to help, you
-must remain in society.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness",
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The indivisible nature of mind is said to possess a "mobile quality." This
-mobile quality is described as currents of energy which flow through the
-channels of various parts of the body, presiding over physical as well as
-mental functions, and pass through the nostrils as breathing. Such currents
-of energy, called "winds" (rlung, vayu), serve as the bridge between body and
-mind.
- The winds are a blend of two types of energy, one associated with
-emotionality, called karmic or conditioned wind (las kyi rlung), and the other
-related to the original state of the individual, called pristine awareness
-wind (ye shes kyi rlung). Distinguished in terms of the three principles,
-darkness (tamas), mobility (rajas), and buoyancy (sattva), winds are of three
-types: wind of Rahu, solar wind, and lunar wind. Moreover, the winds are
-differentiated as the five root winds (rtsa ba'i rlung), the natures of the
-five elements, and five branch winds (yan lag gi rlung), produced through the
-five elemental transformations. The winds of the five elements, or five
-mandalas, flow back and forth through the right and left nostrils in the order
-of generation of the elements and of birth (first space, then wind, fire,
-water, earth) and in the order of dissolution of the elements and of death
-(first earth, then water, and so on), respectively. In one day, they are
-exhaled and inhaled 21,600 times, divided between the two nostrils, a time
-corresponding to eight periods or watches (thun). The outward movement of
-these energy currents as the breath diminishes the strength of the wind
-associated with pristine awareness. Therefore, when outward movement
-increases, there occur signs of death. If the winds are held inside,
-pristine awareness wind is strengthened. Hence, many extraordinary powers
-such as longevity are gained through breath control techniques for "holding
-the winds" in the central channel.
- -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, in "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six,
- Part Four: Systems of Buddhist Tantra, The Indestructible Way of
- Secret Mantra"
-~
-When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
- -- Jimi Hendrix
-~
- ...you should have the deep conviction that cessation of the sufferings and
-the delusions is possible, and also that it is possible within your mind.
-True cessation is a state where you have destroyed the delusions at their root
-so that there remains no potential for their re-emergence. Such a cessation
-can be realized only through the true paths that penetrate into the nature of
-reality.
- When you develop this conviction, you will also be able to develop faith in
-a being who has really mastered cessation, who is the Buddha--a person who has
-fully accomplished the realization of the dharma. If you contemplate along
-such lines, you will be able to develop a very deep faith and conviction in
-Buddha Shakyamuni and see him as an incomparable master.
- What distinguishes Buddhist practitioners from others is the factor of
-taking refuge. But merely seeking a refuge out of the fear of suffering is
-not unique to Buddhists; non-Buddhists could also have such a motivation. The
-unique practice of refuge that Buddhists should have is that of taking refuge
-in the Buddha out of a deep conviction in his exceptional qualities and
-realizations. If you think in such terms you will be able to understand Lama
-Tsongkhapa's profound praise of Buddha Shakyamuni: "Those who are far from his
-doctrine always reinforce the illusion of self-existence that they have within
-themselves, whereas those who follow his guidance will be able to free
-themselves from such confusions."
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Bliss", Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...they say that the initial realization of the nature of the mind is the
-first breakthrough. It's a very important point in all Buddhist schools. At
-that moment, you cease to be an ordinary person. You become in Buddhist
-parlance an arya, a noble one. It doesn't mean you are finished. It doesn't
-mean you are a high level bodhisattva. We can fall back from this. But
-still, this is a big breakthrough. We now understand what is true and what is
-not true. We don't have to take it all on faith any more. It is a direct
-non-dual experience. The point is that it is very easy. It's not difficult,
-and it's not something that can only be attained after years and years of
-practice.
- Our main obstacle is the fact that we don't know how to relax our minds
-enough to be open to this experience. In the back of our minds we keep
-thinking this is something so difficult and so advanced. For this reason we
-don't recognize what is in front of our face. This is why a teacher can be
-extraordinarily helpful. A teacher living within that realization is able--
-if the mind of the disciple is completely open--to transmit his or her
-experience. The problem here is that we have too many hopes and fears; it
-creates a barrier. It is very hard to be open. You can't just will it.
- -- Ani Tenzin Palmo, in "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on
- Practical Buddhism"
-~
-The Level of Initial Capacity
-
-All the essential spiritual practices related primarily to the achievement of
-rebirth in the higher realms belong to what Atisha calls the 'small capacity'.
-
-Verse 3
- Know that those who by whatever means
- Seek for themselves no more
- Than the pleasures of cyclic existence
- Are persons of the least capacity.
- [Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment]
-
-...the principal means for attaining birth in the higher realms is the ethical
-discipline of refraining from the ten negative actions of body, speech and
-mind. These comprise three actions of the body--killing, stealing and sexual
-misconduct; four verbal actions--lying, divisive speech, harsh speech and
-frivolous speech; and three mental actions--covetousness, ill-will and
-harbouring wrong views. To live an ethically sound life, it helps to remind
-ourselves of what are known as the four reflections, namely the preciousness
-of human life; the inevitability of our death and the uncertainty of the time
-of death; the infallibility of the law of cause and effect and the workings of
-karma; and understanding the nature of suffering. Concerning the first
-reflection, some Tibetan masters have said that when we contemplate the
-preciousness of this human existence, we should literally cultivate the
-determination to make our human life something precious in itself, rather than
-allowing it to be wasted or to become a cause of future suffering.
-
-Contemplating these four reflections gives us the courage to engage earnestly
-in the practice of the Dharma in order to free ourselves from the possibility
-of rebirth in the lower realms. This involves a process of training our mind,
-not just at the mental level but also at the level of our emotions and
-actions. Living an ethical life is not a case of adhering to a set of
-regulations imposed on us from outside, such as the laws of a country. Rather
-it involves voluntarily embracing a discipline on the basis of a clear
-recognition of its value. In essence, living a true ethical life is living a
-life of self-discipline. When the Buddha said that 'we are our own master, we
-are our own enemy', he was telling us that our destiny lies in our own hands.
-
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-In his autobiography Freedom in Exile, His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks of
-his attachment as a child to the monastery's Master of the Kitchen,
-commenting, "I sometimes think that the act of bringing food is one of the
-basic roots of all relationships." And the connection between giving food and
-understanding the interrelationship of all life is recognized also in stories
-about the belated discovery of an enlightened master who lived humbly as a
-monastery cook; or the stories of a great lama who gathers his disciples to
-test their progress, only to discover that the most highly realized of all is
-the cook, who has neither meditated nor studied, but who simply served the
-others.
- May you have long life,
- may the house be filled with grain,
- and may you have the luck
- to make use of this abundance.
- -- Tibetan drinking song
-
- -- Tsering Wangmo and Zara Houshmand, in "The Lhasa Moon Tibetan Cookbook"
-~
-The Level of Middling Capacity
-
-In the following verse Atisha describes the characteristics of spiritual
-trainees of the middling capacity.
-
-Verse 4
- Those who seek peace for themselves alone,
- Turning away from worldly pleasures
- And avoiding destructive actions
- Are said to be of middling capacity.
- -- Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment
-
-The phrase "destructive actions" refers to the afflictions that, together with
-karma, constitute the origin of suffering. This is why practitioners at the
-level of middling capacity concentrate on the spiritual practices that are
-primarily aimed at the elimination of the afflictions. Broadly speaking,
-these practices fall into two categories. One is training the mind to
-cultivate the genuine desire to gain freedom from cyclic existence, which is
-often referred to as the cultivation of renunciation. The other is
-cultivating the path to bring about the fulfillment of that wish for
-renunciation. In order to train one's mind in this way, one needs to reflect
-upon the defects of cyclic existence and to develop an understanding of the
-causation chain of karma and the afflictions. Through these reflections one
-cultivates the wish to gain freedom and then embarks upon the path to bring
-about that freedom.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Number of Recitations
- The sixth section of the yoga of speech concerns measuring the accumulation
-of mantra recitations. How do you know when you have recited enough of a
-particular mantra? Generally speaking, you should count a mantra until you
-achieve some common spiritual power and ideally until you achieve the supreme
-spiritual attainment. Wouldn't that be the best way?
- After all, if you are really hungry, don't you eat until you are satisfied?
-Similarly, if you plan a trip to San Francisco, you want to travel until you
-arrive at your destination. You would not travel halfway and be satisfied
-with that, would you? In the same way, when you recite a mantra, you have a
-specific goal in mind: to gain the supreme spiritual attainment--buddhahood.
-Wouldn't it be wise to keep on reciting the mantra until you have achieved
-your goal, or at least until you achieve some perceptible improvement?
- -- Gyatrul Rinpoche, in "The Generation Stage in Buddhist Tantra", published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The Level of Great Capacity
-
-Atisha continues his discussion on the three capacities by turning his
-attention to spiritual trainees at the highest level.
-
-Verse 5
- Those who, through their personal suffering,
- Truly want to end completely
- All the suffering of others
- Are persons of supreme capacity.
- -- Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment
-
-Practitioners at this level use their deep understanding of the nature of
-suffering, derived from reflection on their personal experience, to recognise
-the fundamental equality of oneself and others insofar as the desire to
-overcome suffering is concerned. This then leads to the arising of a
-spontaneous wish to free all sentient beings from their suffering, a wish
-which becomes the powerful impetus for engaging in spiritual practices aimed
-at bringing about this altruistic objective.
-
-The most important practice in relation to this altruistic goal is the
-generation of bodhicitta, the altruistic aspiration to attain buddhahood for
-the benefit of all beings.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in Lighting the Way, Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The Meaning of Empowerment
- As for empowerment in general, what does the term wang, or empowerment,
-signify? To begin with, our fundamental nature--what we term "the buddha
-nature", or tathagatagarbha, the very nature of our mind, is inherently
-present within us as a natural attribute. This mind of ours, the subject at
-hand, has been going on throughout beginningless time, and so has the more
-subtle nature of that mind. On the basis of the continuity of that subtle
-nature of our mind rests the capacity we have to attain enlightenment. This
-potential is what we call "the seed of buddhahood", "buddha nature", "the
-fundamental nature", or tathagatagarbha. We all have this buddha nature, each
-and every one of us. For example, this beautiful statue of Lord Buddha here,
-in the presence of which we are now sitting, is a representation that honours
-someone who attained buddhahood. He awakened into that state of enlightenment
-because his nature was the buddha nature. Ours is as well, and just as the
-Buddha attained enlightenment in the past, so in the future we can become
-buddhas too.
- In any case, there dwells within us all this potential which allows us to
-awaken into buddhahood and attain omniscience. The empowerment process draws
-that potential out, and allows it to express itself more fully. When an
-empowerment is conferred on you, it is the nature of your mind--the buddha
-nature--that provides a basis upon which the empowerment can ripen you.
-Through the empowerment, you are empowered into the essence of the buddhas of
-the five families. In particular, you are "ripened" within that particular
-family through which it is your personal predisposition to attain buddhahood.
- So, with these auspicious circumstances established in your mindstream,
-and when you reflect on what is taking place and maintain the various
-visualizations, the conditions are right for the essence of the empowerment to
-awaken within you, as a state of wisdom which is blissful yet empty--a very
-special state that is the inseparability of basic space and awareness. As you
-focus your devotion in this way, it allows this special quality of mind, this
-new capability, as it were, to awaken.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
- Perfection", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Value Our Good Circumstances
- We often focus on a few circumstances in our life that aren't going well
-instead of all those that are. Although we all have problems, when we over-
-emphasize their importance, we easily begin thinking that we are incapable and
-worthless. Such self-hatred immobilizes us and prevents us from developing
-our good qualities and sharing them with others.
- When we look at the broad picture, however, we can see many positive things
-in our life. We can rejoice that we are alive and appreciate whatever degree
-of good health we have. We also have food (often too much!), shelter,
-clothing, medicine, friends, relatives, and a myriad of good circumstances.
-Many of the people reading this book live in peaceful places, not in war-torn
-areas. Many have jobs they like, and family and friends they appreciate. We
-shouldn't take these for granted. Most importantly, from a spiritual
-viewpoint, we have access to an authentic path, qualified teachers to guide
-us, and kind companions who encourage us. We have genuine spiritual
-aspirations and the time to cultivate these. Thinking about these good
-conditions one by one, we will be filled with joy, and any sense of being
-incapable and hopeless will vanish.
- -- Thubten Chodron, in "Working with Anger", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-15. This fresh state of present awareness, unspoiled
-
- This fresh state of present awareness (da lta'i shes pa)
- Unspoiled by dualistic thoughts,
- Effortlessly sustained in the natural state,
- Is Buddha Kuntu Zangpo's wisdom mind.
-
- Do not hope or fear for good or bad outcomes.
- Regardless of what formulation of thought occurs,
- they arise and are liberated simultaneously;
- Their essential nature is empty awareness.
- Reach that unmoving, unassailable state.
-
-I, Jnana, spoke these words immediately In response to
-Zangmo's supplication. May this be virtuous!
- -- from "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice" translated and
- introduced by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion
-~
- Concern for others to be happy and compassion wishing them to be free from
-suffering are needed not only as the basis for a bodhichitta motivation for
-mahamudra* practice, but also for keeping that practice on course to its
-intended goal. When we have changed our focus in life from the contents of
-our experience to the process of experience, there is great danger of becoming
-fixated on mind itself. This is because the direct experience of mind itself
-is totally blissful--in a calm and serene sense--and entails extraordinary
-clarity and starkness. Concern for others is one of the strongest forces that
-brings us back down to earth after having been up in the clouds. Although all
-appearances exist as a function of mind, other beings do not exist merely in
-our head. Their suffering is real and it hurts them just as much as ours
-hurts us.
- Furthermore, to be concerned about someone does not mean to be frantically
-worried about this person. If we are fixated on our child's problems at
-school, for example, we lose sight that whatever appearance of the problems
-our mind gives rise to is a function of mind. Believing the appearance to be
-the solid reality "out there," we again feel hopeless to do anything and thus
-become extremely anxious and tense. We worry to the point of becoming sick
-and we over-react toward our child, which does not help. If we focus instead
-on the process of mind that gives rise to our perception of the problem as if
-it existed as some horrible monster "out there," we do not eliminate our
-concern for our child, only our worry. This allows us to take whatever clear
-and calm action is necessary to alleviate the problem. Thus not only is
-compassion necessary for successful practice of mahamudra, but mahamudra
-realization is necessary for successful practice of compassion.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
- * "Mahamudra" is a Sanskrit word meaning "great seal" and refers to the
- nature of all phenomena. Mahamudra also refers to sophisticated Buddhist
- systems of meditation and practice to realize this great sealing nature.
-~
-Better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one.
- -- Chinese Proverb
-~
-45. This fresh present knowing, unbound
-
-This fresh present knowing,
-Unbound by the intellect that clings to meditation,
-Is naked unobstructed non-meditation.
-Relax at ease
-And settle in the state of naturalness.
-This is the meaning of realization of meditation.
-
-When thoughts move, let them.
-Movement arises and is liberated without a trace.
-When there is no movement, don't search for it.
-This is empty luminosity, naked empty awareness.
-Tantric practice without suppression or
- cultivation of thoughts
-Brings the accomplishment of the destruction
- of hope and fear.
-
-There is nothing more to add to this.
-Madman Dudjom said this:
-Let it remain like this in your heart.
- -- from "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice", translated and
- introduced by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...karma refers not only to our actions but, more importantly, to the
-motivation or intention behind them. The acts themselves are not the primary
-cause of our suffering; rather, it arises from the world of our intentions or,
-in other words, from our thoughts and emotions. These afflictive states of
-mind underlie our negative karma and are therefore the source of our
-suffering.
-
- Obviously, these afflictions won't go away simply by saying prayers or
-wishing them away; they can only be eliminated by cultivating their
-corresponding remedies or antidotes. To understand how this process of
-applying the antidote works we can observe our physical world. For instance,
-we can contrast heat and cold: if we are suffering from the effects of too
-cold a temperature, then we increase the thermometer on our heater or air-
-conditioning unit and adjust it to our comfort. Thus, even in the physical
-world we can see instances where opposing forces counter each other.
-
- ...From our own personal experience we recognise that anger and hostility
-disturb our peace of mind and, more importantly, that they have the potential
-to harm others. Conversely, we recognise that positive emotions like
-compassion and loving kindness can engender in us a deep sense of peace and
-serenity, beneficial results that we can extend to others as well. This
-appreciation of their great value naturally leads to a desire to cultivate
-these positive emotions. It is through this gradual process that the
-antidotes work in decreasing and eventually eliminating their opposing forces
-in the mental realm, the realm of our thoughts and emotions.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", published by Snow Lion
-~
-Starting Dzogchen Practice
- When we start to practice, in order to grasp the normal mind, our first
-practice consists in engaging our mind. For example, if we have a problem of
-some kind, we may go to a movie to distract ourselves from our problem.
-Likewise when we start to practice, we try to calm down our problem-creating
-mind in order to be able to observe the nature of thought. The observation of
-the arising, abiding, and dissolving of thought in the empty state of the mind
-is an essential practice in Dzogchen in order to discover that moving thoughts
-are of the same nature as the thoughtless state of the mind. Since we are not
-accustomed to meditation, it seems very difficult, and every slight sound or
-movement, outside or inside the mind itself, becomes a major distraction
-interfering with our ability to continue to practice. In order to overcome
-this problem, we engage the mind in a practice so that it is not so easily
-distracted, by focusing attention so that the movement of the mind caused by
-thought or sense perception does not have the power to divert our
-concentration. This first stage, of grasping the mind, is concentration
-practice, described in detail in the Bonpo 'Ati' system.
- -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in "Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of
- Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic
-religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and
-theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a
-religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and
-spiritual, as a meaningful unity
- -- Albert Einstein in "Albert Einstein: The Human Side", edited by Helen
- Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press, 1954
-~
-Techniques for Improvement
- All of us have attained a human life; we are, in a sense, incomparable among
-the various types of sentient beings, as we are able to think about many
-topics with a subtler mind and are endowed with vaster capabilities. Dogs,
-birds, and so forth do communicate, but only humans can settle and ascertain
-deep topics on the basis of words; it is obvious that there are no other
-sentient beings capable of as many thoughts and techniques. Nowadays, humans
-are engaging in many activities that were not even objects of thought a
-century or two ago. The metaphors of the poets of the past, such as "the
-wonderful house of the moon", are becoming actualities.
- ...People have made great effort right up to this century, thinking to
-become free from suffering, but we cannot point to even one person in the
-world, no matter how rich he or she is, who has no worry--except for those
-who have the inner happiness of renouncing the material way of life. Without
-internal renunciation it is difficult to achieve happiness and comfort.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins from "Deity Yoga",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. -- Confucius
-~
-Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake,
-zucchini bread and pumpkin pie.
- -- Jim Davis (Garfield)
-~
-A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions
-than anything else in the world.
- -- Edmond de Concourt
-~
-Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. -- Jimi Hendrix
-~
-There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
- -- Hamlet (by William Shakespeare)
-~
-People who have what they want are fond of telling people
-who haven't what they want that they really don't want it.
- -- Ogden Nash
-~
-There are only two ways of telling the complete
-truth--anonymously and posthumously.
- -- Thomas Sowell
-~
-The easiest way for your children to learn
-about money is for you not to have any.
- -- Katharine Whitehorn
-~
-If you look good and dress well, you don't need a purpose in life.
- -- Robert Pante
-~
-Do not go where the path may lead, go instead
-where there is no path and leave a trail.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-I have a simple philosophy.
-Fill what's empty.
-Empty what's full.
-Scratch where it itches.
- -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth
-~
-Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.
- -- John Archibald Wheeler
-~
-You know that children are growing up when they start
-asking questions that have answers.
- -- John J. Plomp
-~
-The average man, who does not know what to do with his life,
-wants another one which will last forever.
- -- Anatole France
-~
-Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is
-a broken winged bird that canot fly.
- -- Langston Hughes
-~
-Spare no expense to save money on this one. -- Samuel Goldwyn
-~
-It is absurd to divide people into good and bad.
-People are either charming or tedious.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute
-powerlessness make you pure?
- -- Harry Shearer
-~
-Parents were invented to make children happy
-by giving them something to ignore.
- -- Ofden Nash
-~
-Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
- -- Jules de Gaultier
-~
-I'm a kind of paranoiac in reverse.
-I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.
- -- J. D. Salinger
-~
-If you find it in your heart to care for
-somebody else, you will have succeeded.
- -- Maya Angelou
-~
-Time is an illusion.
-Lunchtime doubly so.
- -- Douglas Adams
-~
-Acquaintance, n.:
-A person whom we know well enough to borrow from,
-but not well enough to lend to.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
-~
-The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
- -- Eleanor Roosevelt
-~
-Eighty percent of success is showing up. -- Woody Allen
-~
-Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. -- Don Marquis
-~
-The only reason some people get lost in thought
-is because it's unfamiliar territory.
- -- Paul Fix
-~
-A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has
-a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.
- -- Thomas Szasz
-~
-Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. -- Steven Wright
-~
-Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast. -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
- -- William Shakespeare
-~
-If you can find something everyone agrees on, it's wrong. -- Mo Udall
-~
-I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money. -- Pablo Picasso
-~
-The shortest distance between two points is under construction.
- -- Noelie Altito
-~
-Lack of money is no obstacle.
-Lack of an idea is an obstacle.
- -- Ken Hakua
-~
-Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.
- -- Marcus Valerias Martialis
-~
-Great minds discuss ideas;
-average minds discuss events;
-small minds discuss people.
- -- Eleanor Roosevelt
-~
-I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there. -- Herb Caen
-~
-When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: "Whose?"
- -- Don Marquis
-~
-Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. -- Mahatma Gandhi
-~
-I'm living so far beyond my income that we may
-almost be said to be living apart.
- -- ee cummings
-~
-I try to avoid looking forward or backward,
-and try to keep looking upward.
- -- Charlotte Bronte
-~
-My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me. -- Henry Ford
-~
-Without democracy, religion becomes extreme.
-With religion, democracy becomes more spiritual.
- -- Mohammad Khatami, president of Iran
-~
-For fast acting relief, try slowing down. -- Lily Tomlin
-~
-A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.
- -- Jonathan Swift
-~
-Poor people have more fun than rich people, they say; and
-I notice it's the rich people who keep saying it.
- -- Jack Parr
-~
-Whatever you are, be a good one. -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
- -- Malcolm Forbes
-~
-Never spend your money before you have it. -- Thomas Jefferson
-~
-Confusion is always the most honest response. -- Marty Indik
-~
-Doing nothing is very hard to do... you never know when you're finished.
- -- Leslie Nielsen
-~
-Free advice is worth the price. -- Robert Half
-~
-A person who trusts no one can't be trusted. -- Jerome Blattner
-~
-There is nobody so irritating as somebody with
-less intelligence and more sense than we have.
- -- Don Herold
-~
-He that plants trees loves others besides himself. -- Dr. Thomas Fuller
-~
-To find something you can enjoy is far better
-than finding something you can possess.
- -- Glenn Holm
-~
-An intellectual is a man who takes more words than
-necessary to tell more than he knows.
- -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
-~
-Not everything that can be counted counts, and not
-everything that counts can be counted.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-Brain, n.: an apparatus with which we think we think.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
-~
-There is always some madness in love.
-But there is always some reason in madness.
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
- -- Martin Luther King Jr.
-~
-Good resolutions are simply checks that men
-draw on a bank where they have no account.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-The murals in restaurants are on par with the food in mueseums.
- -- Peter De Vries
-~
-Money can't buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy.
- -- Spike Milligan
-~
-Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate. -- Thomas Jones
-~
-It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis.
- -- Margaret Bonnano
-~
-Yesterday is history.
-Tomorrow is a mystery.
-Today is a gift.
-That's why it's called the present.
- -- Anonymous
-~
-Money is in abundance, where are you? -- Reverend Ike
-~
-Santa Claus had the right idea. Visit everyone once a year.
- -- Victor Borge
-~
-Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.
- -- Jules Renard
-~
-You cannot fix what you will not face. -- James Baldwin
-~
-There are too many people, and too few human beings. -- Robert Zend
-~
-Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.
- -- Herman Wouk
-~
-A good listener is usually thinking about something else. -- Kin Hubbard
-~
-If it weren't for baseball, many kids wouldn't
-know what a millionaire looked like.
- -- Phyllis Diller
-~
-Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-Everybody likes a kidder, but nobody lends him money. -- Arthur Miller
-~
-Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off
-their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time.
- -- Edith Wharton
-~
-If computers get too organized, we can organize
-them into a committee--that will do them in.
- -- Bradley's Bromide
-~
-It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.
- -- Rene Descartes
-~
-If we stand tall it is because we stand
-on the backs of those who came before us.
- -- Yoruba Proverb
-~
-The trouble with jogging is that, by the time you realize
-you're not in shape for it, it's too far to walk back.
- -- Franklin P. Jones
-~
-I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.
- -- Rita Rudner
-~
-By the time we've made it, we've had it. -- Malcolm Forbes
-~
-It was such a lovely day I thought it a pity to get up.
- -- W. Somerset Maugham
-~
-It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
- -- Henry David Thoreau
-~
-Accomplishing the impossible means only that
-the boss will add it to your regular duties.
- -- Doug Larson
-~
-Government big enough to supply everything you need
-is big enough to take everything you have...
-The course of history shows that as a government grows,
-liberty decreases.
- -- Thomas Jefferson
-~
-Computers can figure out all kinds of problems, except
-the things in the world that just don't add up.
- -- James Magary
-~
-Traditions are group efforts to keep the unexpected from happening.
- -- Barbara Tober
-~
-The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
- -- Flora Whittemore
-~
-When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.
- -- Marquis de la Grange
-~
-If more of us valued food and cheer and song
-above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
- -- J.R.R. Tolkien
-~
-While I was in Malaysia, I saw a T-shirt depicting a surfboard aloft huge
-waves. Sitting on the surfboard was a figure meditating cross-legged. The
-slogan read, "Riding the waves of life, be mindful, be happy." That's it.
-Awareness. Being present. Knowing thoughts as thoughts, emotions as
-emotions. It's just like riding a surfboard. You gradually develop the
-poise to cruise along on the roughest seas until, no longer immersed in
-the waves, you are riding on top of them. Of course you have to start
-with small waves until you get your balance. Then the higher the wave, the
-better! Likewise, when we begin to train in awareness, it is better if we
-have an atmosphere which is nonthreatening and peaceful. That's why people
-go on retreat. That's also a reason why people set aside regular sitting
-periods. But once we learn how to be balanced, we become like a surfer who
-finds that the bigger the wave, the greater the fun.
- -- Ani Tenzin Palmo, in "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on
- Practical Buddhism", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The word "mantra" means "mind-protection". It protects the mind from ordinary
-appearances and conceptions. "Mind" here refers to all six consciousnesses--
-eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mental consciousnesses--which are to be
-freed, or protected, from the ordinary world. There are two factors in mantra
-training, pride in oneself as a deity and vivid appearance of that deity.
-Divine pride protects one from the pride of being ordinary, and divine vivid
-appearance protects one from ordinary appearances. Whatever appears to the
-senses is viewed as the sport of a deity; for instance, whatever forms are
-seen are viewed as the emanations of a deity and whatever sounds are heard are
-viewed as the mantras of a deity. One is thereby protected from ordinary
-appearances, and through this transformation of attitude, the pride of being a
-deity emerges. Such protection of mind together with its attendant pledges
-and vows is called the practice of mantra.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins in "Tantra in Tibet",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-There is nothing new under the sun, but there are
-lots of old things we don't know.
- -- Ambrose Bierce
-~
-Win hearts, and you have all men's hands and purses. -- William Cecil Burleigh
-~
-Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world.
-Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
- -- Margaret Mead
-~
-He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder. -- M. C. Escher
-~
-Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn,
-whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.
- -- Helen Keller
-~
-Training in compassion has the capacity to be both profound and vast--both
-absolute and relative. Compassion has the quality of being approachable and
-at the same time ungraspable. It manifests both the quality of shunyata,
-emptiness, or egolessness, as well as the qualities of kindness and joyfulness.
-Therefore, from the Mahayana point of view, compassion is the most important
-practice we could ever engage in. It can lead us to the full realization of
-enlightenment without any need for other practices.
- -- from "Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of
- Avalokiteshvara", translated by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The
- Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Question: If the root of all suffering is attachment, are the desire to have a
-family and the desire for liberation from suffering contradictory?
-
-Answer: I think that a distinction should be made between desires that are due
-to ignorance and desires that are reasoned. In Tibetan, a difference can be
-made between "wish" and "desire"; for instance a Bodhisattva is reborn through
-his or her own wishes, not out of desire. Similarly, it is suitable to aspire
-toward liberation. Also, persons, such as Foe Destroyers, who have completely
-overcome all of the afflictive emotions, have thoughts such as, "Such and such
-is good; I need it." Merely such thoughts are not afflictive consciousnesses.
-Similarly, if we consider the desire for a family, there are persons practicing
-the Bodhisattva path who have families; also, in the scriptures of discipline,
-Buddha himself set forth vows for lay persons and vows for monks. Hence, there
-is no general prohibition of the wish to have a family.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
- Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-In general, most non-Buddhist religions meditate on the deity as being outside
-the physical body. In these cases the deity takes the form of a refuge, or of
-a protector or messenger. Thus do they meditate, and of course this is fine.
-In the Buddhist tradition, however, the deity is not meditated on as being
-outside of the physical body. One meditates on the deity as being one's own
-essence expressing itself through oneself arising as the deity. One therefore
-thinks, "I am the deity," and with this conviction one meditates. Why is it
-justifiable to meditate in this manner? ...our own mind is in essence exactly
-the same as the mind of a Buddha. In the philosophical treatises this is
-sometimes referred to as "sugatagarbha" or "buddha-nature".
- -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Everyday Consciousness and Buddha-
- Awakening", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- If things did in fact exist the way they appear--if things did exist so
-concretely--then when one looked into and investigated them, this inherent
-existence should become even clearer, more obvious. However, when you seek
-for the object designated, you cannot find it under analysis.
- ...[That] which gives rise to the appearance of I is mind and body, but when
-you divide this into mind and body and look for the I, you cannot find it.
-Also the whole, body, is designated in dependence upon the collection of parts
-of the body; if you divide this into its parts and look for the body, you
-cannot find it either. Even the most subtle particles in the body have sides
-and hence parts. Were there something partless, it might be independent, but
-there is nothing that is partless. Rather, everything exists in dependence on
-its parts... There is no whole which is separate from its parts.
- ...No matter what the phenomenon is, internal or external, whether it be
-one's own body or any other type of phenomenon, when we search to discover
-what this phenomenon is that is designated, we cannot find anything that is it.
- ...However, these things appear to us as if they do exist objectively and in
-their own right, and thus there is a difference between the way things appear
-to our minds and the way they actually exist... Since phenomena appear to us
-in a way that is different from what we discover when analysing, this proves
-that their concrete appearance is due to a fault of our minds.
- -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, translated and
- edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, from "Kindness,
- Clarity, and Insight" published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The Buddhist notion of diligence is to delight in positive deeds. Its
-opposite, called "le lo" in Tibetan, has three aspects. Le lo is usually
-translated as "laziness," though only its first aspect refers to laziness as
-we usually understand it. The first aspect is not doing something because of
-indolence, even though we know that it is good and ought to be done. The
-second aspect is faintheartedness. This comes about when we underestimate our
-qualities and abilities, thinking, "I'm so incompetent and weak. It would be
-good to do that, but I could never accomplish it." Not having the confidence
-of thinking, "I can do it," we end up doing nothing. The third aspect refers
-to being very busy and seeming diligent, but wasting time and energy on
-meaningless activities that will not accomplish anything in the long run.
-When we do many things for no real purpose, we fail to focus on what is truly
-worthwhile and our path has no clear direction. When we refrain from these
-three aspects of laziness, we are diligent.
- -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, in "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three
- Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- All events and incidents in life are so intimately linked with the fate of
-others that a single person on his or her own cannot even begin to act. Many
-ordinary human activities, both positive and negative, cannot even be
-conceived of apart from the existence of other people. Even the committing of
-harmful actions depends on the existence of others. Because of others, we
-have the opportunity to earn money if that is what we desire in life.
-Similarly, in reliance upon the existence of others it becomes possible for
-the media to create fame or disrepute for someone. On your own you cannot
-create any fame or disrepute no matter how loud you might shout. The closest
-you can get is to create an echo of your own voice.
- Thus interdependence is a fundamental law of nature. Not only higher forms
-of life but also many of the smallest insects are social beings who, without
-any religion, law, or education, survive by mutual cooperation based on an
-innate recognition of their interconnectedness. The most subtle level of
-material phenomena is also governed by interdependence. All phenomena, from
-the planet we inhabit to the oceans, clouds, forests, and flowers that
-surround us, arise in dependence upon subtle patterns of energy. Without
-their proper interaction, they dissolve and decay.
- -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, in "The Compassionate Life"
-~
-Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels
- ...a buddha is someone who has attained full enlightenment through the
-cultivation of compassion and the wisdom of no-self, the absence of self-
-existence. From our discussion we also saw how the Dharma jewel is to be
-understood as the path by which we can gradually accomplish the same result as
-the fully awakened Buddha. Likewise, the Sangha jewel is the community of
-sincere practitioners who have directly realised emptiness, the ultimate
-nature of reality.
- For those of us who consider ourselves to be practising Buddhists, it is
-crucial to have this kind of deeper understanding of the Three Jewels when we
-go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", published by Snow Lion
-~
-Being Mindful of Impermanence
-
- Loved ones who have long kept company will part.
- Wealth created with difficulty will be left behind.
- Consciousness, the guest, will leave the guest house of the body.
- Let go of this life--
- This is the practice of Bodhisattvas.
-
-Although we have this human life with freedom and richness, which is so
-valuable and difficult to get, it cannot last forever. This is because it is
-not permanent and is subject to decay moment by moment. This life will
-eventually become non-existent because our body and mind will separate.
-Although death meditation involves reflecting on the moment by moment changing
-nature of our life, it principally entails recognizing that one day it will
-come to a complete stop and our mind will leave our body behind. Therefore,
-we must take the essence from this life each day and try to fulfill a great
-Dharma purpose because we will not have this opportunity for long.
- -- from "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An Explanation of
- 'The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas' ", by Geshe Jampa Tegchok,
- edited by Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-What do we mean when we speak of a truly compassionate kindness? Compassion
-is essentially concern for others' welfare--their happiness and their
-suffering. Others wish to avoid misery as much as we do. So a compassionate
-person feels concerned when others are miserable and develops a positive
-intention to free them from it. As ordinary beings, our feeling of closeness
-to our friends and relatives is little more than an expression of clinging
-desire. It needs to be tempered, not enhanced. It is important not to
-confuse attachment and compassion.... A compassionate thought is motivated by
-a wish to help release beings from their misery.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Stages of Meditation", translated by Venerable
- Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Tantric yogis succeed in their cultivation of wisdom more quickly than do
-practitioners of the Perfection Vehicle because the tantric yogi, employing
-deity yoga, can achieve a mind that is a union of calm abiding and special
-insight--a mind of alert one-pointedness that realizes emptiness--in far
-less time than the period of countless great aeons required for those who
-practice sutra paths alone. Tantric yogis use deity yoga to enhance
-meditation on emptiness; their use of deity yoga brings them more quickly to
-an initial direct cognition of emptiness by enhancing their ability to combine
-meditative stability with analysis.... Also, in Highest Yoga Tantra,
-powerful, subtle consciousnesses that realize emptiness are manifested,
-whereby the obstructions to liberation and omniscience are quickly overcome.
- -- Daniel Cozort, in "Highest Yoga Tantra", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Howard C. Cutler, MD:
- Is happiness a reasonable goal for most of us? Is it really possible?
-
-HH the Dalai Lama:
- Yes. I believe that happiness can be achieved through training the mind.
-When I say "training the mind," in this context I'm not referring to "mind"
-merely as one's cognitive ability or intellect. Rather, I'm using the term
-in the sense of the Tibetan word Sem, which has a much broader meaning,
-closer to "psyche" or "spirit"; it includes intellect and feeling, heart
-and mind. By bringing about a certain inner discipline, we can undergo a
-transformation of our attitude, our entire outlook and approach to living.
- When we speak of this inner discipline, it can of course involve many things,
-many methods. But generally speaking, one begins by identifying those factors
-which lead to happiness and those factors which lead to suffering. Having
-done this, one then sets about gradually eliminating those factors which lead
-to suffering and cultivating those which lead to happiness. That is the way.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, MD, in "The Art of Happiness:
- A Handbook for Living", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-It can be difficult to accept others and to accept ourselves. "I should be
-better. I should be something different. I should have more." All of this
-is conception; it's all mental fabrication. It's just the mind churning up
-"shoulds," "ought tos," and "supposed tos." All this is conceptual rubbish,
-and yet we believe it. Part of the solution is to recognize that these
-thoughts are conceptual rubbish and not reality; this gives us the mental
-space not to believe them. When we stop believing them, it becomes much
-easier to accept what we are at any given moment, knowing we will change in
-the next moment. We'll be able to accept what others are in one moment,
-knowing that they will be different in the next moment. This is good stuff
-for everyday practice; it's very practical.
- -- Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The nature of samsaric evolution is not such that death is followed by
-nothingness, nor that humans are always reborn as humans and insects as
-insects. On the contrary, we all carry within us the karmic potencies of all
-realms of cyclic existence. Many beings transmigrate from higher to lower
-realms, others from lower to higher. The selection of a place of rebirth is
-not directly in our own hands but is conditioned by our karma and delusions.
-They who possess spiritual understanding can control their destiny at the time
-of death, but for ordinary beings the process is very much an automatic chain
-reaction of karmic seeds and habitual psychic response patterns....
- Our repeated experience of frustration, dissatisfaction and misery does not
-have external conditions as its root cause. The problem is mainly our lack of
-spiritual development. As a result of this handicap, the mind is controlled
-principally by afflicted emotions and illusions. Attachment, aversion and
-ignorance rather than a free spirit, love and wisdom are the guiding forces.
-Recognizing this simple truth is the beginning of the spiritual path.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, edited and translated by Glenn H. Mullin, in
- "The Path to Enlightenment", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-If persons who have attained calm abiding keep their minds in calm abiding,
-not only does the force of their meditative stabilization remain but their
-other good qualities increase and do not degenerate. Similarly, persons who
-have achieved special insight have clear perception not only with respect to
-the object of observation on which they have been meditating but also with
-respect to any other object to which they turn their minds. Persons who
-cultivate calm abiding but not special insight will gain the factor of
-stability but not that of an intense clarity; they will not be able to
-manifest any antidote to the afflictive emotions. One must achieve an
-intensity of clarity in order for anything to serve as an antidote to
-ignorance, and to achieve that clarity one must cultivate special insight.
- -- Geshe Gedun Lodro, in "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving
- Spiritual Transformation through Meditation", translated and edited
- by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Anne C. Klein and Leah Zahler,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-If you haven't found something strange during the day,
-it hasn't been much of a day.
- -- John A. Wheeler
-~
-Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.
- -- Philip K. Dick
-~
- It is hypocrisy to say that all religions are the same. Different religions
-have different views and fundamental differences. But it does not matter, as
-all religions are meant to help in bringing about a better world with better
-and happier human beings. On this level, I think that through different
-philosophical explanations and approaches, all religions have the same goal
-and the same potential. Take the concept[s] of the creator and self-creation
-for instance. There are big differences between the two, but I feel they have
-the same purpose. To some people, the concept of the creator is very powerful
-in inspiring the development of self-discipline, becoming a good person with a
-sense of love, forgiveness and devotion to the ultimate truth--the Creator or
-God.
- The other concept is self-creation: if one wants to be good, then it is one's
-own responsibility to be so. Without one's own efforts one cannot expect
-something good to come about. One's future is entirely dependent on oneself:
-it is self-created. This concept is very powerful in encouraging an
-individual to be a good and honest person. So you see, the two are different
-approaches but have the same goal.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Live in a Better Way: Reflections on Truth, Love
- and Happiness", compiled and edited by Renuka Singh, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- The wise perceive that all things--persons and phenomena--arise in reliance
-upon their own causes and conditions, and that based on this process we impute
-mental labels upon things. The phenomena themselves have no true or inherent
-existence from their own side. They have no self-nature whatsoever.
- Were persons or phenomena to have a self-presence, there would be no need
-for them to rely upon causes and conditions. Therefore one can be certain
-that even the smallest speck of matter has no true, inherent existence from
-its own side.
- Although all things lack even the smallest speck of true existence,
-nonetheless conventionally the laws of causes and conditions operate through
-them, and conventionally all the phenomena in samsara and nirvana seem to
-exist, arising in the same manner as do illusions, dreams and a reflected
-image.
- -- Glenn H. Mullin, in "The Six Yogas of Naropa: Tsongkhapa's commentary
- entitled 'A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of
- Training in the Profound Path of Naro's Six Dharmas' commonly referred
- to as 'The Three Inspirations' ", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-| George of the Bungle |
-
- And finally, new rule: America must recall the president. That's what this
-country needs. A good old-fashioned, California-style, recall election!
-Complete with Gary Coleman, porno actresses and action film stars. And just
-like Schwarzenegger's predecessor here in California, George Bush is now so
-unpopular he must defend his job against... Russell Crowe. Because at this
-point I want a leader who will throw a phone at somebody. In fact, let's have
-only phone throwers--Naomi Campbell can be the vice-president!
-
- Now I kid, but seriously Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you
-anymore. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't
-start another war because you also used up the army. And now, darn the luck,
-the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor
-people. Yeah, listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit card's
-maxed out, and no one's speaking to you: mission accomplished. Now it's time
-to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did
-with your military service. And the oil company. And the baseball team.
-It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy
-or space man?
-
- Now I know what you're saying; you're saying that there's so many other
-things that you as President could involve yourself in... Please don't. I
-know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela... and
-eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the
-church... and Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote.
-
- But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern
-like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised you haven't
-given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert
-Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire metropolis
-to rising water and snakes. On your watch, we've lost almost all of our
-allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the
-Pentagon, and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky!
-
- I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much
-worse it could be if you were on the other side. So, yes, God does speak to
-you... and what he is saying is: "Take a hint."
-
- -- Bill Maher on Real Time, October 2005
-~
- We have the ability and the responsibility to choose to direct our actions
-on a virtuous path.
- When we weigh a particular act, to determine whether it is moral or
-spiritual, our criterion should be the quality of our motivation. When someone
-deliberately makes a resolution not to steal, if he or she is simply motivated
-by the fear of getting caught and being punished by the law, it is doubtful
-whether engaging in that resolution is a moral act, since moral considerations
-have not dictated his or her choice.
- In another instance, the resolution not to steal may be motivated by fear of
-public opinion: "What would my friends and neighbors think? All would scorn
-me. I would become an outcast." Though the act of making a resolution may be
-positive, whether it is a moral act is again doubtful.
- Now, the same resolution may be taken with the thought "If I steal, I am
-acting against the divine law of God." Someone else may think, "Stealing is
-nonvirtuous; it causes others to suffer." When such considerations motivate
-one, the resolution is moral or ethical; it is also spiritual. In the
-practice of Buddha's doctrine, if your underlying consideration in avoiding a
-nonvirtuous act is that it would thwart your attainment of a state
-transcending sorrow, such restraint is a moral act.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
- Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland
-~
- A conventional enemy may harm us, but patience and a refusal to retaliate
-can bring us benefit both in this life and in the future. However, tolerance
-towards [our own] hostile disturbing emotions and attempts at peaceful
-coexistence with them will never bring us any reward. They will do us nothing
-but harm if we don't take steps to drive them out. No conventional enemy can
-do us such harm. The most an ordinary enemy can do is to defeat us for a
-short space of time or destroy us in this life, but the disturbing emotions
-will insure our misery for many lifetimes to come.
- Shantideva says:
- All other foes that I appease and wait upon
- Will show me favors, give me every aid,
- But should I serve my dark defiled emotions,
- They will only harm me, draw me down to grief.
- -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "Eight Verses for Training the Mind: An Oral
- Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- There is a story about a princess who had a small eye problem that she felt
-was really bad. Being the king's daughter, she was rather spoiled and kept
-crying all the time. When the doctors wanted to apply medicine, she would
-invariably refuse any medical treatment and kept touching the sore spot on her
-eye. In this way it became worse and worse, until finally the king proclaimed
-a large reward for whoever could cure his daughter. After some time, a man
-arrived who claimed to be a famous physician, but actually was not even a
-doctor.
- He declared that he could definitely cure the princess and was admitted to
-her chamber. After he had examined her, he exclaimed, "Oh, I'm so sorry!"
-"What is it?" the princess inquired. The doctor said, "There is nothing much
-wrong with your eye, but there is something else that is really serious." The
-princess was alarmed and asked, "What on earth is so serious?" He hesitated
-and said, "It is really bad. I shouldn't tell you about it." No matter how
-much she insisted, he refused to tell her, saying that he could not speak
-without the king's permission.
- When the king arrived, the doctor was still reluctant to reveal his findings.
-Finally the king commanded, "Tell us what is wrong. Whatever it is, you have
-to tell us!" At last the doctor said, "Well, the eye will get better within a
-few days--that is no problem. The big problem is that the princess will grow
-a tail, which will become at least nine fathoms long. It may start growing
-very soon. If she can detect the first moment it appears, I might be able to
-prevent it from growing." At this news everyone was deeply concerned. And the
-princess, what did she do? She stayed in bed, day and night, directing all
-her attention to detecting when the tail might appear. Thus, after a few
-days, her eye got well.
- This shows how we usually react. We focus on our little problem and it
-becomes the center around which everything else revolves. So far, we have
-done this repeatedly, life after life. We think, "My wishes, my interests, my
-likes and dislikes come first!" As long as we function on this basis, we will
-remain unchanged. Driven by impulses of desire and rejection, we will travel
-the roads of samsara without finding a way out. As long as attachment and
-aversion are our sources of living and drive us onward, we cannot rest.
- -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, in "Daring Steps toward Fearlessness: The Three
- Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-buddha mind listens
-sound waves crashing over head
-immutable calm
-~
-time god shits in hand
-catapults distraction dung
-unstained mind abides
-~
-Dr. Cutler: "... one of the reasons I brought up the topic of challenge at
-work," I said to the Dalai Lama, "is because it relates to a concept that
-seems to come up frequently these days in psychological literature, the
-concept of flow.* This concept is increasingly mentioned in articles on human
-happiness, and this state can commonly occur at work... while engaged in
-activity, there's a feeling of effortlessness, a sense of total control over
-what one is doing.... Although flow can occur in any activity, some
-investigators have found that Americans experience more flow at work than they
-do in their leisure time."
-
-The Dalai Lama: "You really like this flow, Howard!" the Dalai Lama exclaimed
-with an amused chuckle. "... no matter how nice that state may be, I don't
-think it is the most important source of satisfaction, fulfillment, or
-happiness.... For one thing, you can't be in that state at all times.... So
-through this flow, even if you get some temporary kind of happiness, it will
-not be an ongoing thing. I think this flow state is not reliable or
-sustainable, and I think it's much more important to develop other sources of
-satisfaction through one's work that are brought about by training one's mind,
-shaping one's outlook and attitude, integrating basic human values in the
-workplace. For example, dealing with one's destructive emotions while at
-work, reducing anger, jealousy, greed, and so on, and practicing relating to
-others with kindness, compassion, tolerance, these are much more important and
-stable sources of satisfaction than simply trying to create flow as much as
-possible."
-
-Dr. Cutler: "...To the Dalai Lama, true happiness is associated with a sense
-of meaning, and arises on the basis of deliberately cultivating certain
-attitudes and outlooks. True happiness may take longer to generate, and
-requires some effort, but it is this lasting happiness that can sustain us
-even under the most trying conditions of everyday life."
-
-* flow is defined here as [people] being so completely absorbed in their work
- that they lose track of time.
-
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., in "The Art of
- Happiness at Work"
-~
-Dzogchen could be defined as a way to relax completely. This can be clearly
-understood from the terms used to denote the state of contemplation, such as
-"leave it just as it is" (cog bzhag), "cutting loose one's tension" (khregs
-chod), "beyond effort" (rtsol bral), and so on. Some scholars have classified
-Dzogchen as a "direct path," comparing it to teachings such as Zen, where this
-expression is often used. In Dzogchen texts, however, the phrases "direct
-path" and "nongradual path" (cig car) are never used, because the concept of a
-"direct path" implies necessarily that there must be, on the one hand, a place
-from which one departs, and on the other, a place where one arrives. But in
-Dzogchen there is a single principle of the state of knowledge, and if one
-possesses this state one discovers that right from the beginning one is
-already there where one wants to arrive. For this reason the state is said to
-be "self-perfected" (lhun grub).
- -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, in "Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State", edited by
- Adriano Clemente, translated from the Italian by John Shane, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Since the situation in which we live is much changed but the attitude of
-people who are in that situation is at variance with the times, this is one of
-the causes of unnecessary pain, unnecessary problems. Therefore, education is
-needed to communicate that the concept of violence is counterproductive, that
-it is not a realistic way to solve problems, and that compromise is the only
-realistic way to solve problems. Right from the beginning, we have to make
-this reality clear to a child's mind--the new generation. In this way, the
-whole attitude towards oneself, towards the world, towards others, can become
-more healthy. I usually call this "inner disarmament." Without inner
-disarmament, it is very difficult to achieve genuine, lasting world peace.
- ...Through inner disarmament we can develop a healthy mental attitude, which
-also is very beneficial for physical health. With peace of mind, a calm mind,
-your body elements become more balanced. Constant worry, constant fear,
-agitation of mind, are very bad for health. Therefore, peace of mind not only
-brings tranquility in our mind but also has good effects on our body.
- With inner disarmament, now we need external disarmament. As I mentioned
-earlier, according to today's reality, there no longer is room for war, for
-destruction. From a compassionate viewpoint, destruction, killing others, and
-discriminating even against one's enemy are counterproductive. Today's enemy,
-if you treat them well, may become a good friend even the next day.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates Discuss
- Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-What we do for ourselves dies with us.
-What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.
- -- Albert Pine
-~
-Q: Where does hatred come from?
-
-A: That is a question which requires long hours of discussion. From the
-Buddhist viewpoint, the simple answer is that it is beginningless. As a
-further explanation, Buddhists believe that there are many different levels of
-consciousness. The most subtle consciousness is what we consider the basis of
-the previous life, this life and future lives. This subtle consciousness is
-a transient phenomenon which comes about as a consequence of causes and
-conditions. Buddhists have concluded that consciousness itself cannot be
-produced by matter. Therefore, the only alternative is to accept the
-continuation of consciousness. So that is the basis of the theory of rebirth.
-
-Where there is consciousness, ignorance and hatred also arise naturally.
-These negative emotions, as well as the positive emotions, occur right from
-beginningless time. All these are a part of our mind. However, these
-negative emotions actually are based on ignorance, which has no valid
-foundation. None of the negative emotions, no matter how powerful, have a
-solid foundation. On the other hand, the positive emotions, such as
-compassion or wisdom, have a solid basis: there is a kind of grounding and
-rootedness in reason and understanding, which is not the case with afflictive
-emotions like anger and hatred.
-
-The basic nature of the subtle consciousness itself is something neutral. So
-it is possible to purify or eliminate all of these negative emotions. That
-basic nature we call Buddha-nature. Hatred and negative emotions are
-beginningless; they have no beginning, but there is an end. Consciousness
-itself has no beginning and no end; of this we are certain.
-
- -- H.H. 14th Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
- Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- When the sun is freed from clouds, the sun becomes clear and bright.
-Similarly, when obstructions to omniscience are abandoned, wisdom becomes
-clear light.
- How does wisdom that is like the sun in a sky free from clouds dawn? It
-is described as yogic direct perception. Between ordinary beings--those born
-in dependence upon their individual karma--and yogins, here we are considering
-yogins. Their wisdom is not speculation from an inferential point of view, as
-is the case with ordinary beings. Neither is it pensive and lacking in
-clarity. Rather, it sees directly, for which reason it is called yogic direct
-perception. When we ordinary beings think about a thing, there is something
-in the way, obstruction, due to which we do not see clearly and directly.
-When those obstructions--the afflictive obstructions and the obstructions to
-omniscience--have been dispelled, then knowledge arises as yogic direct
-perception.
- When yogic direct perception arises, how does it see? It sees phenomena
-in a conventional context and it also sees reality in an ultimate context. In
-the conventional context, wisdom sees the shapes, colors, and defining
-characteristics of whatever things exist in worldly realms, individually and
-without mixing them, just as they are. This wisdom knows the varieties of
-phenomena. Similarly, in the context of reality, wisdom sees the meaning of
-emptiness directly; this wisdom knows the mode of all phenomena. In
-dependence upon release from the afflictive obstruction and the obstruction to
-omniscience, the wisdoms knowing the modes and the varieties actually arise.
- Someone in whom those two wisdoms are present is a buddha.
-
- -- Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Essential Practice: Lectures on
- Kamalashila's 'Stages of Meditation in the Middle Way School' ",
- translated by Jules B. Levinson, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Sometimes people mistakenly look on vows and pledges as if these were a
-type of punishment, but this is not at all the case. For example, just as
-we follow certain methods of eating and drinking to improve our health and
-certainly not to punish ourselves, so the rules the Shakymuni Buddha
-formulated are for controlling counter-productive ill-deeds and ultimately for
-overcoming afflictive emotions, because these are self-ruinous. Thus, to
-relieve oneself from suffering, one controls the motivations and deeds
-producing suffering for one's own sake. Realizing from his own experience
-that suffering stems from one's own afflictive emotions as well as actions
-contaminated with them, he sets forth styles of behavior to reduce the problem
-for our own profit, certainly not to give us a hard time. Hence, these rules
-are for the sake of controlling sources of harm.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba, and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Yoga Tantra:
- Paths to Magical Feats, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Giving with an open heart brings us joy and directly benefits others. Goods
-are then shared more equitably within our society and among nations, soothing
-the ill-feeling of social inequity and promoting world peace. Sharing is a
-source of our continued existence as a species. As His Holiness the Dalai
-Lama says, it is not survival of the fittest, but survival of those who
-cooperate the most, that makes a species prosper. None of us exists
-independently; we have to depend on others simply to stay alive. Thus,
-helping others and sharing wealth benefits both self and others. Generosity
-makes us happy now, enables our species to continue to prosper, and creates
-positive karma that brings us prosperity in the future. In addition, it is an
-essential trait of an enlightened being. Who ever heard of a stingy Buddha?
- -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- I have made the point in the past that it is not necessary to consider
-someone one's guru from the very outset simply because one has heard the
-explanation of the Buddha's teachings from that person. At first, it is much
-better if one does not have that kind of attitude toward them, simply
-regarding them as a Dharma-friend. One gets teachings, and time goes by.
-Then, when one feels that one knows that person quite well, and can take them
-as one's guru without any danger of transgressing the commitments that
-accompany such a relationship, when one has that kind of confidence, then one
-can go ahead and take him or her as one's guru. The Lord Buddha himself made
-it quite clear in both the Vinaya sutras and in the Mahayana scriptures, and
-even in the Tantrayana, in a very detailed fashion, what the qualities of a
-teacher should be. This is why I often criticize the Tibetan attitude of
-seeing whatever the guru does as good, of respecting everything that the guru
-does right from the start without the initial period of examination. Of
-course, if the guru is really qualified, then to have such an attitude is
-very worthwhile.
- Take the cases of Naropa and Marpa, for example. Sometimes it appears as
-though some of the things Tilopa asked of Naropa, or Naropa of Marpa, were
-unreasonable. Deep down, however, these requests had great meaning. Because
-of their great faith in their gurus, Naropa and Marpa did as instructed.
-Despite the fact that they appeared to be unreasonable, because the teachers
-were qualified, their actions had some meaning. In such situations, it is
-necessary that from the disciple's side all of the actions of the teacher be
-respected. But this cannot be compared to the case of ordinary people.
-Broadly speaking, I feel that the Buddha gave us complete freedom of choice to
-thoroughly examine the person who is to be our guru. This is very important.
-Unless one is definite, one should not take them as a guru. This preliminary
-examination is a kind of precautionary measure.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists", edited
- by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-13. Transforming suffering into the path
- Even if someone tries to cut off your head
- When you haven't done the slightest thing wrong,
- Out of compassion take all his misdeeds
- Upon yourself--
- This is the practice of Bodhisattvas.
- -- from "The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas"
- by Gyelsay Togme Sangpo
- Although we have done nothing to deserve it, someone may attack us, beat
-us, or perpetrate other forms of violence on us. Certainly it is tempting to
-get angry in such a situation, but our anger will do no good. In fact, this
-person is creating the cause for his own unfortunate rebirth by attacking us,
-and the karma he creates is even heavier if we hold any of the three sets of
-vows: pratimoksha, Bodhisattva, or tantric. Thus, we cultivate compassion,
-and wish to take the person's karma and resultant suffering on ourselves. For
-example, if a crazy person attacks a person who is sane, the latter will not
-only not fight back but try to help, by giving him medicine and wanting him to
-get well. The sane person sees that the crazy person does not know what he is
-doing. He is out of control.
- Similarly, when someone harms us, we should recognize that he too is out
-of control and is being led by his three poisonous attitudes. Similarly, we
-can remember that we are experiencing the ripening result of harmful actions
-we did in past lives, so why blame the other person? In addition, that person
-is causing our negative karma to be exhausted now, rather than later when the
-result could be much more difficult to bear. In this way, we will not be
-angry or retaliate, but will pray for and try to help the other. In "The
-Eight Verses of Thought Transformation," it says, "Whenever I meet a person of
-bad nature who is overwhelmed by negative energy and intense suffering, I will
-hold such a rare one dear, as if I had found a precious treasure." People like
-this suffer greatly because they think only of themselves, not of others, and
-thus they are worthy of compassion, the wish that they be free from suffering
-and its causes.
- Being patient when harmed by others does not mean that we take no action
-to prevent harm from occurring. Rather, patience frees our mind from the fog
-of anger and gives us the clarity and kindness to respond to a situation in a
-helpful way. Free of anger, we look for ways to resolve conflict other than
-seeking revenge.
- -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, in "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage:
- An Explanation of 'The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas' ", edited
- by Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Some people run a race to see who is the fastest.
-I run a race to see who has the most guts.
- -- Steve Prefontaine
-~
- Shantideva expresses tremendous courage, which transcends all boundaries
-of space and time, in a verse of his "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life"
-(Bodhicaryavatara). He writes:
- As long as space endures,
- As long as sentient beings remain,
- Until then, may I too remain
- And dispel the miseries of the world.
- When the altruistic intention is supported by insight into emptiness, and
-particularly by the direct realization of emptiness, one is said to have
-attained the two dimensions of bodhichitta which are known as conventional and
-ultimate bodhichitta. With both these practices of compassion and wisdom, the
-practitioner has within his or her hands the complete method for attaining the
-highest spiritual goal. Such a person is truly great and worthy of
-admiration.
- If one is able to cultivate these spiritual qualities within oneself then,
-as Chandrakirti writes very poetically in his Entry to the Middle Way
-(Madhyamakavatara), with one wing of altruistic intention and another wing of
-insight into emptiness, one can traverse the whole of space and soar beyond
-the state of existence to the shores of fully enlightened buddhahood.
- ...make an effort to contemplate, study and meditate, but without any
-shortsighted expectations. You should have the same attitude as Shantideva --
-that as long as space exists you will remain to dispel suffering in the world.
-When you have that kind of determination and courage to develop your capacity,
-then a hundred years, an aeon, a million years are nothing to you.
-Furthermore, you will not consider that the different human problems we have
-here and there are in any way insurmountable. Such an attitude and vision
-bring some kind of real inner strength.
- -- H.H. the XIV Dalai Lama, in "Transforming the Mind: Teachings on
- Generating Compassion", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, edited by
- Dominique Side and Geshe Thupten Jinpa.
-~
-The Tantric Way of Purifying One's Views
- The second important attitude is the Tantric way of purifying one's views,
-which means to transform one's ordinary and dualistic views and conceptions
-into a higher spiritual vision.
- For instance, you transform the place where teachings are received from an
-ordinary classroom into a complete and perfected mandala of the deities. You
-view the teacher as a pure form of Shen Lha Okar, the Buddha of Compassion, by
-mentally transforming him from an ordinary person into an enlightened one who
-has manifested in a human body to guide all sentient beings. You transform
-your companions and classmates from ordinary beings into deities and
-goddesses, and believe that they all have love, compassion, and care for all
-sentient beings.
- The purpose of transforming your views into pure visions toward these
-objects is to realize the extraordinary nature of this experience. This gives
-you a special reason to receive blessings and powers from the teacher (lama),
-the enlightened ones (Sangye), the deities (yidam), and the female
-manifestations of the enlightened ones (khadro), in order to develop your
-wisdom and stability. This is the essence of the practice of purifying one's
-view according to the Tantric ways.
- -- Latri Khenpo and Geshe Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche, in "Opening the Door to
- Bon", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-MENSA: My Ego Never Stops Aching
-~
-...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria
-than by drinking alcohol.
- -- W. C. Fields
-~
-Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will
-satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good.
- -- Joe Paterno
-~
-Desire is the source of endless problems. The more desires we have, the more
-we have to plan and work hard to realize them. Some time ago a businessman
-told me that the more he developed his company, the more he felt like making
-it even bigger. And the more he tried to make it bigger, the more he found he
-had to lie and fight mercilessly against his competitors. He had come to
-realize that wanting more and more made no sense, and that he only had to
-reduce the size of his business for competition to become less fierce so he
-would be able to carry out his work honestly. I found his testimony very
-true.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "365 Dalai Lama: Daily Advice from the Heart",
- edited by Matthieu Ricard, translated by Christian Bruyat and Dominique
- Messent
-~
-I--What Is a Treasure?
- According to the Nyingma School, the Treasures are most often comprised of
-spiritual instructions concealed by enlightened beings for the purpose of
-discovery at a later predestined time when their message will invigorate the
-Buddhist teaching and deepen spiritual understanding. Central to this process
-is the figure of the Treasure revealer (gter ston)--the person who acts as a
-medium for the re-emergence of this inspired material into the human world.
-Accordingly, beginning in the eleventh century and continuing into the
-present, the Nyingma School identifies a large number of Treasure revealers
-and grants authoritative status to their discoveries.
- The idea that religious truth lies concealed within the world of phenomena
-awaiting discovery by spiritually gifted people is by no means a concept
-exclusive to the Nyingma School or Tibetan Buddhism as a whole. Throughout
-Buddhist literature there are numerous descriptions of teachings being
-inherently present in the phenomenal world ready to be perceived by
-individuals possessing inspired levels of consciousness and, accordingly,
-spiritual revelations have surfaced on numerous occasions throughout the
-course of Buddhist history.
- -- Andreas Doctor, in "Tibetan Treasure Literature: Revelation, Tradition,
- and Accomplishment in Visionary Buddhism", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Patricia Churchland: But do you think that there is something, I am not sure
-what to call it--a kind of awareness that can exist independently of the
-brain? For example, something that survives death?
-
-Dalai Lama: Generally speaking, awareness, in the sense of our familiar, day-
-to-day mental processes, does not exist apart from or independent of the
-brain, according to the Buddhist view. But Buddhism holds that the cause of
-this awareness is to be found in a preceding continuum of awareness, and that
-is why one speaks of a stream of awareness from one life to another. Whence
-does this awareness arise initially? It must arise fundamentally not from a
-physical base but from a preceding continuum of awareness.
-
-The continuum of awareness that conjoins with the fetus does not depend upon
-the brain. There are some documented cases of advanced practitioners whose
-bodies, after death, escape what happens to everyone else and do not decompose
-for some time--for two or three weeks or even longer. The awareness that
-finally leaves their body is a primordial awareness that is not dependent upon
-the body. There have been many accounts in the past of advanced practitioners
-remaining in meditation in this subtle state of consciousness when they died,
-and decomposition of their body was postponed although the body remained at
-room temperature.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
- with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
- Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-The real source of my suffering is self-centeredness: my car, my possession,
-my well-being. Without the self-centeredness, the suffering would not arise.
-What would happen instead? It is important to imagine this fully and to focus
-on examples of your own. Think of some misfortune that makes you want to lash
-out, that gives rise to anger or misery. Then imagine how you might respond
-without suffering. Recognize that we need not experience the misery, let
-alone the anger, resentment, and hostility. The choice is ours.
-
-Let's continue with the previous example. You see that there is a dent in the
-car. What needs to be done? Get the other driver's license number, notify
-the police, contact the insurance agency, deal with all the details. Simply
-do it and accept it. Accept it gladly as a way to strengthen your mind
-further, to develop patience and the armor of forbearance. There is no way to
-become a Buddha and remain a vulnerable wimp. Patience does not suddenly
-appear as a bonus after full enlightenment. Part of the whole process of
-awakening is to develop greater forbearance and equanimity in adversity.
-Santideva, in the sixth chapter of his Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life,
-eloquently points out that there is no way to develop patience without
-encountering adversity, and patience is indispensable for our own growth on
-the path to awakening.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
- Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous. -- Aristotle
-~
-Now the kilt was only for day-to-day wear. In battle, we donned a full-length
-ball gown covered in sequins. The idea was to blind your opponent with luxury.
- -- Groundskeeper Willie
-~
-Dayata (Om) Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Swaha.
-
-A mantra is that which protects the mind. Through this mantra, which is the
-perfection of wisdom itself, we can overcome the demon of ignorance that
-possesses us and find unsurpassable happiness. It protects the minds of those
-who practice it from all fears and describes how to make the transition from
-worldly existence to the supreme state beyond sorrow. It is a mantra of great
-knowledge because it saves us from the poison of ignorance and its imprints.
-It is an unsurpassable mantra because it frees us from suffering and its
-causes as no other path of insight can. The incomparable is the state beyond
-suffering. Since it helps us to attain that state, it is comparable to the
-incomparable. It totally pacifies suffering because it rids us of all the
-troubles of the world and their causes. The world here refers to ordinary
-beings like us. Our troubles are many but foremost are birth, aging,
-sickness, and death. This mantra does not deceive us and it is true because
-wisdom sees things as they actually are without any error or deception. It is
-therefore transcendent.
- -- from "The Heart Sutra: An Oral Teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen",
- translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-I am interested not in converting other people to Buddhism but in how we
-Buddhists can contribute to human society, according to our own ideas. I
-believe that other religious faiths also think in a similar way, seeking to
-contribute to the common aim....
-
-Just as Buddha showed an example of contentment, tolerance, and serving others
-without selfish motivation, so did Jesus Christ. Almost all of the great
-teachers lived a saintly life--not luxuriously like kings or emperors but as
-simple human beings. Their inner strength was tremendous, limitless, but the
-external appearance was of contentment with a simple way of life.
-
-...the motivation of all religious practice is similar--love, sincerity,
-honesty. The way of life of practically all religious persons is contentment.
-The teachings of tolerance, love, and compassion are the same. A basic goal
-is the benefit of humankind--each type of system seeking in its own unique
-ways to improve human beings. If we put too much emphasis on our own
-philosophy, religion, or theory, are too attached to it, and try to impose it
-on other people, it makes trouble. Basically all the great teachers, such as
-Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ, or Mohammed, founded their new teachings with a
-motivation of helping their fellow humans. They did not mean to gain anything
-for themselves nor to create more trouble or unrest in the world.
-
-Most important is that we respect each other and learn from each other those
-things that will enrich our own practice. Ever if all the systems are
-separate, since they each have the same goal, the study of each other is
-helpful.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness", compiled
- and edited by Sidney Piburn, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Our teacher, Sakyamuni Buddha, is one among the thousand Buddhas of this
-aeon. These Buddhas were not Buddhas from the beginning, but were once
-sentient beings like ourselves. How they came to be Buddhas is this.
- Of body and mind, mind is predominant, for body and speech are under the
-influence of the mind. Afflictions such as desire do not contaminate the
-nature of the mind, for the nature of the mind is pure, uncontaminated by any
-taint. Afflictions are peripheral factors of a mind, and through gradually
-transforming all types of defects, such as these afflictions, the adventitious
-taints can be completely removed. This state of complete purification is
-Buddhahood; therefore, Buddhists do not assert that there is any Buddha who
-has been enlightened from the beginning.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Buddhism of Tibet: The Dalai Lama",
- translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- ...everbody thinks that compassion is important, and everyone has
-compassion. True enough, but the Buddha gave uncommon quintessential
-instructions when he taught the methods for cultivating compassion, and the
-differences are extraordinarily important.
- Generally, everyone feels compassion, but the compassion is flawed. In
-what way? We measure it out. For instance, some feel compassion for human
-beings but not for animals and other types of sentient beings. Others feel
-compassion for animals and some other types of sentient beings but not for
-humans. Others, who feel compassion for human beings, feel compassion for the
-human beings of their own country but not for the human beings of other
-countries. Then, some feel compassion for their friends but not for anyone
-else. Thus, it seems that we draw a line somewhere. We feel compassion for
-those on one side of the line but not for those on the other side of the line.
-We feel compassion for one group but not for another. That is where our
-compassion is flawed. What did the Buddha say about that? It is not
-necessary to draw that line. Nor is it suitable. Everyone wants compassion,
-and we can extend our compassion to everyone.
- -- Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Lectures on Kamalashila's 'Stages of
- Meditation in the Middle Way School' ", translated by Jules B. Levinson,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-4. Seven-Limbed Practice
-
- The seven parts of the practice are encompassed by two practices--the
-purification of negativities and the enhancing of the store of merit. When
-you engage in the practice, it is very important to understand that each and
-every one of the seven limbs has its individual purpose and significance, and
-only with such knowledge can you engage properly in the practice. The seven
-limbs are: prostration, offering, confession, rejoicing, requesting to turn
-the wheel of the dharma, entreating not to enter into nirvana, and dedication
-of merit.
- ...For the practice of confession, which is the third of the seven limbs,
-it is very important to have the factor of regret; without this factor there
-is no possibility of purifying the negativities.... The great yogi Milarepa
-said: "When I examined whether or not confession could purify the
-negativities, I found that it is regret that cleanses them." In order to
-generate regret, it is important to see the destructive nature of negative
-actions and also to understand the law of causality.
- Based on a disciplined mind, we experience happiness; based on an
-undisciplined, untamed mind, we undergo suffering. We should think that if we
-are not able to make any progress from our present state of mind, which always
-indulges in negative thoughts, there is not much hope for us. So, if we are
-able to think in such terms, we will be able to really see the destructive
-nature of negative actions, and also that the store of negative actions that
-we have is inexhaustible, like a rich person's bank balance. Without the
-recognition of the destructive nature of the negative forces, we will never be
-able to develop the deep factor of regret from the depth of our hearts.
- If we do not engage in a proper practice of dharma, it seems that we may
-expend all our store of merit in mundane pleasures. It is very important to
-have this faculty of regret in our practice of purification and confession.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), in "The Path to Bliss: A Practical
- Guide to Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa,
- edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-9. Glorious Lama (excerpt)
-
-...Those with faith have a refuge.
-Those with compassion have an altruistic attitude.
-Those with incisive knowledge have realization.
-Those with respect and devotion have blessings.
-
-Those with shame avoid carelessness.
-Those who avoid carelessness have a guarded mind.
-Those who have a guarded mind have vows and samaya.
-Those who have vows and samaya have spiritual attainments.
-
-Calm and self-control are signs of listening to the Dharma;
-Few passions, signs of meditation;
-Harmony with everyone is the sign of a practitioner;
-Your mind at ease, the sign of accomplishment.
-
-The root of phenomena is your own mind.
-If you tame your mind, you are a practitioner.
-If you are a practitioner, your mind is tamed.
-When your mind is tamed, that is liberation.
- -- Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, in "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart
- Advice", translated by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The Special Features of Dzogchen
-
- In the early translation school of the Nyingma, a system of nine yanas is
-taught. Three of these--the paths of the Sravaka, pratyekabuddha, and
-bodhisattva--constitute the sutra tradition, while the tantric tradition
-consists of six levels--the three outer tantras and the three inner tantras.
-The tradition of Dzogchen, or Atiyoga, is considered to be the pinnacle of
-these nine yanas. The other, lower, yanas are said to be philosophical
-systems that depend on ordinary consciousness, and so the path is based on
-that ordinary consciousness. Here the distinction being made is between
-ordinary mind--sem--and pure awareness--rigpa. The ninth yana, the most
-majestic, is beyond ordinary consciousness, for its path is based on rigpa,
-not on the ordinary mind.
- Throughout beginningless time, there has always been present, within us
-all, a pure awareness--that in-dwelling rigpa which in Atiyoga is evoked in
-all its nakedness, and which constitutes the practice.
- ...The ground for all the phenomena of samsara and nirvana is the
-fundamental innate mind of clear light, and these phenomena are its radiance
-or display. While we are following the path, in order for all the impure
-aspects of our experience to be purified on the basis of that rigpa--or, you
-can say, that fundamental innate mind of clear light--there is no other means
-apart from that fundamental and innate state itself, which is therefore the
-very essence of the path. Finally, when the fruition is made fully evident,
-it is just this fundamental innate mind of clear light itself, free from
-obscuration, that constitutes the attainment of fruition.
- ...Any given state of consciousness is permeated by the clear light of
-rigpa's pure awareness. However solid ice may be, it never loses its true
-nature, which is water. In the same way, even very obvious concepts... arise
-within the expanse of rigpa and that is where they dissolve. On this point,
-Dodrupchen Jikme Tenpe Nyima says that all objects of knowledge are permeated
-by clear light, just as a sesame seed is permeated by its oil. Therefore,
-even while the coarser states of the six consciousnesses are functioning,
-their subtle aspect--that of clear light--can be directly introduced by means
-of those states themselves, through blessings and through pith instructions.
- Here lies the extraordinary and profound implication of the Dzogchen
-teachings. When you are basing your path on the fundamental innate mind of
-clear light, you will employ skilful means to block the coarse and subtle
-states of energy and mind, as a result of which the state of clear light
-becomes evident, and on this you base your path. But in Dzogchen, even while
-the six consciousnesses are fully functioning, by means of those very states
-you can be directly introduced to their subtle aspect of clear light in your
-immediate experience, and you then meditate by focusing one-pointedly on that
-aspect. As you meditate in this way, resting in this non-conceptual state,
-gradually your experience of clear light becomes increasingly profound, while
-coarser thoughts and concepts dwindle away.
- The most difficult task is to differentiate between ordinary mind and
-rigpa. It is easy enough to talk about it. You can say, for example, that
-rigpa has never been confused, while ordinary mind has fallen under the
-influence of concepts and is mired in confusion. But to be introduced to the
-direct experience of the essence of rigpa is far from being easy. And so
-Dodrupchen says that although your arrogance might be such that you assume you
-are meditating on the ultimate meaning of rigpa, there is a danger that "you
-could end up meditating on the clear, empty qualities of your ordinary mind,
-which even non-Buddhist practitioners are capable of doing." He is warning us
-to be careful.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
- Perfection", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa and Richard Barron
- (Chokyi Nyima), edited by Patrick Gaffney, pub. by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Patience is like a beautiful ornament. When you become a person with
-great patience, it brings a certain element of charm to your life. You are
-loved by others, and you give no problems to your friends. You bring an
-element of joy, happiness, and calmness to other people's lives--your friends,
-your family, and the community. You do not have to ask to be accepted;
-everyone longs for your presence. Everyone looks up to you and respects you,
-not because you have worked for that or expected it, not because you were
-competing for their favor, but simply because of the nature of patience. You
-are respected and trusted, and you acquire dignity with the practice of
-patience. When you are honored, it is with sincerity, and it is something you
-can live up to.
- ...Just hearing about patience does not mean you are experiencing it now
-or will easily develop it. To lay the ground for training the mind, you must
-first tame the mind. To tame the mind, it is extremely important to do the
-basic shamata [tranquility meditation, calm abiding] practice, which develops
-calmness and tranquility. Then you can add the practice of patience,
-understanding the benefits of patience and reminding yourself to take
-advantage of the available antidotes.
- -- Ven. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, in "Dharma Paths", translated by Ngodup
- Burkhar and Chojor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of
-policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.
- -- Edward Abbey
-~
-We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
- -- Winston Churchill
-~
-If the government would make up its mind to require for every child a good
-education, it might save itself the trouble of providing one. It might leave
-to parents to obtain the education where and how they pleased, and content
-itself with helping to pay the school fees of the poorer classes of children,
-and defraying the entire school expenses of those who have no one else to pay
-for them.
- -- J. S. Mill
-~
-First, God created idiots.
-That was just for practice.
-Then He created school boards.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Whence it comes to pass, that for not having chosen the right course,
-we often take very great pains, and consume a good part of our time in
-training up children to things, for which, by their natural constitution,
-they are totally unfit.
- -- Montaigne
-~
-There are two types of education...
-One should teach us how to make a living,
-And the other how to live.
- -- John Adams
-~
-We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or
-fifteen years, and come out at last with a belly full of words and
-do not know a thing.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
- The Sanskrit word for compassion, karuna, has the implication of "that
-which blocks or prevents bliss." In general, when we develop compassion, we
-develop very strongly the attitude that cannot bear the suffering of other
-beings. We wish for it to end and for them to become free. Although we do
-not actually experience others' suffering at that time, the strength of the
-attitude that cannot bear their suffering causes our mind also to become
-unhappy. This is the general sense in which compassion blocks bliss....
- Only the power of a union of method and wisdom--namely the union of
-compassion, as a greatly blissful awareness, and the discriminating awareness
-of voidness--allows us to attain the total release of supreme nirvana, namely
-enlightenment.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra", with
- Alexander Berzin, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- There is a tradition of reciting prayers of request to the spiritual
-teachers of the lineage at the beginning of each study session, starting with
-the Buddha Shakyamuni and ending with our own personal teachers. What do we
-request? As we chant each verse, we take to mind the inspiring qualities of
-the great masters mentioned in it and ask them to bless us to develop
-compassion, wisdom and power similar to their own. Blessings are experienced
-in the form of a transformation which affects our body, speech and mind. Our
-mind becomes more serviceable and flexible, our way of speaking and acting
-more constructive. We become more open to the message of how to bring about
-inner transformation that has been handed down through this long line of
-spiritual teachers.
- Our teachers pass on the instructions they have received from their own
-teachers, the knowledge they have culled from their reading and everything
-they have understood and experienced as a result of their personal practice,
-without holding anything back. They are motivated by compassion and their
-deep wish to help us. To communicate it to us they choose whatever means are
-most effective--sometimes stern, sometimes gentle. This process must take
-place in an atmosphere of mutual trust, something very rare in relationships
-today. In the past the relationship between students and teachers was even
-closer and more trusting than that between siblings--and in Tibet brothers and
-sisters generally enjoyed a close and loving bond. Today this is a dying
-tradition, yet a good relationship between student and teacher is vital even
-for the communication of secular knowledge, let alone where spiritual wisdom
-is concerned.
- -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment: An
- Oral Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- We have happiness of mind and freedom from anxiety to just the degree that
-our minds are tamed.... Once we want happiness and do not want suffering, we
-should engage in the means to achieve happiness and eliminate suffering.
-Practice is based on reasoning, not force; it is up to oneself.
- The time for engaging in these techniques is now. Some feel, "I did not
-succeed in this lifetime; I will ask a lama for help in my future life." To
-think that we will practise in the future is only a hope. It is foolish to
-feel that the next life will be as suitable as this. No matter how bad our
-condition is now, since we have a human brain, we can think; since we have a
-mouth, we can recite mantra. No matter how old one may be, there is time for
-practice. However, when we die and are reborn, we are unable even to recite
-om mani padme hum. Thus, it is important to make all effort possible at this
-time when we have obtained the precious physical life-support of a human.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Deity Yoga: In Action and
- Performance Tantra by Tsong-ka-pa", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-How would we feel if one of our children was overpowered by a serious disease
-and did some terrible things without knowing what he or she was doing? We
-should try to view someone dear who suddenly hurts us in the same light. If
-we can see that person is out of control and sick with negative emotions, we
-will not feel so much hatred and disgust. There may be resentment, and we may
-not be able to love that person more than before, but almost automatically
-there will be a certain sympathy that will lessen or end our hatred and allow
-us to forgive.
- -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, in "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three
- Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Compassion is a theme the Dalai Lama returns to over and over again. I
-also know he has meditated on compassion every morning without fail for the
-past half century. In an interview, I asked the Dalai Lama to give me his
-take on compassion. Lhakdor [his translator], as usual, was by his side.
- "Compassion is something like a sense of caring, a sense of concern for
-others' difficulties and pain," the Dalai Lama said. "Not only family and
-friends, but all other people. Enemies also. Now, if we really analyze our
-feelings, one thing becomes clear. If we think only of ourselves, forget
-about other people, then our minds occupy a very small area. Inside that
-small area, even a tiny problem appears very big. But the moment you develop
-a sense of concern for others, you realize that, just like ourselves, they
-also want happiness; they also want satisfaction. When you have this sense of
-concern, your mind automatically widens. At this point, your own problems,
-even big problems, will not be so significant. The result? Big increase in
-peace of mind. So, if you think only of yourself, only your own happiness,
-the result is actually less happiness. You get more anxiety, more fear."
- "I was thirty-two years old when I developed a strong experience of
-compassion," he told me.... "Often when I reflect on the meaning and benefits
-of altruistic mind, tears came." Lhakdor translated: "...When he meditated on
-compassion, he would sometimes be filled with joy and appreciation. And there
-is a strong sense of concern for others accompanied by a feeling of
-sadness.... And when His Holiness reflected on certain profound explanations
-on emptiness, this would also trigger a strong emotion."
- "I think that strong conviction or strong emotions actually give more
-inner strength," the Dalai Lama explained. "So when I face some problems or
-criticism, for example, criticism from the Chinese, of course, little
-irritation sometimes..." "But then he'll have this feeling of compassion for
-them," Lhakdor translated. "He'll regret they're not making positive
-connection with him. But his sentiment is, although there is this negativity,
-may it also give positive fruit."
- "Now, the understanding of emptiness helps a lot toward developing
-compassion. There's no doubt it reinforces compassion," the Dalai Lama said.
-Lhakdor elaborated: "Emptiness allows us to have an understanding about
-ultimate reality. It helps us to appreciate the wisdom of interdependence--a
-fundamental law of nature. We gain an appreciation that we are all basically
-related. It is because of this interrelatedness that we are able to empathize
-with the suffering of others. With empathy, compassion flows naturally. We
-develop genuine sympathy for others' suffering and the will to help remove
-their pain. Emptiness thus strengthens positive emotions like compassion."
- Emptiness and compassion. Wisdom and method. These are the twin pillars
-of the Dalai Lama's practice--everything we need to know about spiritual
-practice. Both qualities are needed; they strengthen each other. Once we
-realize we are all interconnected, it is difficut not to feel some of
-compassion for the problems of our fellow human beings. And once we come by
-a feeling of compassion, we start to get a glimpse of the timeless truth of
-interdependence, of emptiness.
- The Dalai Lama looked thoughtful. After some time, he turned to me, "I
-think one thing I'm quite sure," he said. "I can tell you, the twin practice
-of emptiness and compassion is... effective." Then he lapsed into Tibetan
-again. Lhakdor translated. "His Holiness can say with conviction: if you
-meditate on emptiness and compassion, so long as you make the effort, then His
-Holiness is sure that, day in and day out, you will get tangible benefit.
-Your whole attitude will change." "....These things about compassion are
-something living--according to my own experience," the Dalai Lama went on. "I
-tell some of my experiences to other people, share some of my feelings, then
-other people understand: there is something real, something living."
- -- from "The Wisdom of Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys by"
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- ...it is difficult to recognize an authentic teacher, because these
-qualities are internal. We can not depend upon external factors, but external
-factors are what we see. It is very difficult to see the inner qualities of
-another person. A businessman might be friendlier to us than our best friend,
-while his unseen motivation is merely to make a sale. Likewise, if a
-"teacher" acts in a very kind and loving manner towards us it does not
-necessarily mean that he is compassionate and selfless, because we cannot see
-his motivation. We also cannot determine a teacher's qualifications based
-upon her fame, or whether she has thousands of students. So the seeker is
-left with this paradox.
- There is no simple solution, but there are things we can do. First, it is
-important that we familiarize ourselves with the characteristics* discussed by
-Kongtrul Rinpoche. Second, we must maintain awareness of our own motivation
-during the process of finding a teacher. Am I seeking a teacher in order to
-attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, or am I seeking
-to fulfill my need to acquire the prestige associated with a famous teacher,
-or am I merely attracted to a lama's beautiful retreat land or the social
-scene of a hip sangha, and so on.
- These motivations need to be acknowledged if we are to recognize an
-authentic wisdom teacher, because the teacher you find is related to your
-karma, and your karma is intimately connected to your motivation.
-Fortunately, there are methods that help us purify our motivation and create
-the proper conditions for finding a wisdom teacher, such as bringing our
-awareness to our motivations as much as possible, doing daily meditation
-practice, and praying to the Triple Gem [Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha] that we
-will meet and recognize an authentic wisdom teacher.
- -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, in "The Teacher-Student Relationship: A
- Translation of 'The Explanation of the Master and Student Relationship,
- How to Follow the Master, and How to Teach and Listen to the Dharma' ",
- translated and introduced by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion Pub.
-
-* "Whatever lama is followed must definitely have these qualities: He holds a
-pure lineage since he has not contradicted the commitments and prohibitions of
-the three vows.... He should be very learned... clear about the sutras,
-tantras, and shastras. His mind-stream should be so saturated with compassion
-that he loves all the limitless sentient beings as his only child. He should
-be expert in the outer tripitakas and on the inner level he should be expert
-in the ritual of the four classes of tantras of the secret mantra. He should
-have manifested the outstanding noble qualities of abandomnent and realization
-in his mind-stream by having relied upon practicing the meaning of this. He
-gathers fortunate disciples by the four ways of attracting: generosity,
-pleasant speech, his conduct should benefit others, and he should act in
-accord with the dharma."
- -- Patrul Rinpoche
-~
-...when we talk about the notion of self in Buddhism, it is important to bear
-in mind that there are different degrees or types. There are some types of
-sense of self which are not only to be cultivated but also to be reinforced
-and enhanced. For instance, in order to have a strong determination to seek
-Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, one needs a very strong
-sense of confidence, which is based upon a sense of commitment and courage.
-This requires a strong sense of self. Unless one has that identity or sense
-of self, one will not be able to develop the confidence and courage to
-strongly seek this aim. In addition, the doctrine of Buddha-nature gives us a
-lot of encouragement and confidence because we realize that there is this
-potential within us which will allow us to attain the perfection that we are
-seeking. However, there are different types of sense of self which are rooted
-in a belief in a permanent, solid, indivisible entity called "self" or "I."
-There is the belief that there is something very concrete or objective about
-this entity. This is a false notion of self which must be overcome.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience
- from a Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-...by respecting and serving your teachers you exhaust karma whose effects you
-would otherwise experience in the miserable realms. Your action of serving
-the teacher expends these miserable effects and replaces them with only slight
-harm to your body and mind in this lifetime, either in actuality or in dreams.
-In addition, the benefits of respecting and serving your teachers are
-tremendous, such as a collection of virtue which surpasses even the roots of
-virtue that you derive from making offerings to limitless buddhas, and so
-forth. As the Sutra of Ksitigarbha says:
- "Those whom the teachers care for will purify the karma that would
-otherwise cause them to wander through the miserable realms for ten million
-limitless eons. They purify this karma with harm to their bodies and minds in
-this lifetime. This harm includes sickness such as an infectious disease with
-fever and calamities such as famine. They may purify their karma by merely
-undergoing something as little as a dream or a scolding. They produce more
-roots of virtue in one morning than those who give gifts to, worship, or
-observe precepts from limitless tens of millions of buddhas. Those who
-respect and serve their gurus are endowed with unimaginable good qualities."
- -- Tsong-kha-pa, in "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to
- Enlightenment: Lam Rim Chen Mo", translated by the Lamrim Chenmo
- Translation Committee under editorial guidance of Joshua Cutler and Guy
- Newland, foreword by Robert A.F. Thurman, Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...if we remain clinging to this life even for one day, we are misusing
-our time. In this way, we can waste months and years on end. Because we
-don't know when our lives will finish, we should remain mindful and well
-prepared. Then, even if we die tonight, we will do so without regret. If we
-die tonight, the purpose of being well prepared is borne out; if we don't die
-tonight, there is no harm in being well prepared, because it will still
-benefit us.
- But when we leave the world of humans, we do so without a protector or
-supporter and the total responsibility falls on us. We only have our own
-intelligence to rely on at that time, so we must expend our own effort in
-order to protect ourselves. As the Buddha said, "I have shown you the path to
-liberation; know that liberation depends on you." We must put strenuous effort
-into gaining freedom from the lower migrations, liberation from samsara,
-freedom from conventional existence and solitary salvation.
- The body is compared to a guest house; it is a place to stay for just a
-short time and not permanently. At present, the guest of consciousness is
-staying in the guest house of the body, like renting a place to stay. When
-the day comes for consciousness to leave, the guest house of the body must be
-left behind. Not being attached to friends, the body, wealth and possessions
-is the practice of the Bodhisattvas.
- -- His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, in "The Heart of Compassion: A Practical
- Approach to a Meaningful Life"
-~
- ...the Transcendent Conqueror presented the two truths with respect to all
-inner and outer things, like sprouts and everything else. Genuine truth is
-described as being simply the authentic object of the noble ones' original
-wisdom that sees what is authentic and true; there is no identity actually
-established there for conceptual mind to find. Relative truth is the false
-object seen from the perspective of the conceptual mind whose eye of wisdom is
-completely covered by the cataract of ignorance, as is the case with ordinary
-beings. It is therefore posited as being this conceptual mind. The object
-perceived does not exist in the way that this mind perceives it to be.
- Thus, the Teacher explained that every thing found holds two natures
-within: a genuine nature and a relative one. From among these two, the object
-of the noble ones' authentic vision is the precise nature of reality, genuine
-truth, and the object of false seeing is relative truth.
- -- Chandrakirti, in "The Moon of Wisdom: Chapter Six of Chandrakirti's
- 'Entering the Middle Way' with Commentary from the Eighth Karmapa Mikyo
- Dorje's 'Chariot of the Dagpo Kagyu Siddhas', translated by Ari Goldfield,
- Jules Levinson, Jim Scott and Birgit Scott under guidance of Khenpo
- Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...we find Agastya, born to a family of Brahmans so illustrious as to be
-called "an ornament of the earth," living as an ascetic on the island of Kara
-in the Indian Ocean.... "On what accomplishment have you set your hopes?"
-Indra asked Agastya the Bodhisattva. "What is the object of your wishes that
-has led you to leave your sorrowful friends and relatives, desert a household
-and possessions that had been your happiness, and enter this way of life that
-destroys all pleasures?"
- The Bodhisattva replied according to the Dharma, in a way that immediately
-laid Indra's anxiety to rest. "Repeated births tend to great sorrow," he
-said. "So do the calamities of old age, sickness and death. All are just a
-disturbance to the mind. My vow is to save all sentient beings from these
-evils."
- Relieved, Indra immediately offered, in return for such candid truth, the
-fulfillment of any desire Agastya might name. "May the fire of covetousness
-that burns insatiably even after obtaining a beloved wife, children, power and
-riches never enter my heart," Agastya said. "Excellent, excellent," applauded
-Indra and urged Agastya to request the fulfillment of still another desire.
- "May the fire of hatred burn far from me," Agastya said. Pleased by this
-game, in which Agastya so ingeniously taught the Dharma while appearing to
-request the fulfillment of his desires, Indra urged him to go on. But this
-time he was startled to hear Agastya's words. "May I never hear, see, speak
-to, nor endure the annoyance and pain of staying with a fool," Agastya said.
-"What do you mean?" Indra asked. "Those in distress deserve sympathy; the
-root of distress is foolishness. How can you claim to be compassionate when
-you abhor the very presence of those most due sympathy?"
- Then Agastya reasoned in this way, to prove to Indra that one should
-associate not with the foolish but with men of wisdom. "A fool cannot be
-cured even by medical treatment," he said. "Habituated to wrong conduct
-because of a deficiency in moral education, he urges his neighbors to follow
-his impetuous way, inflamed by self-conceit and the affectation of wisdom.
-When reprimanded, he becomes angry. There is no help for him." "How true,"
-Indra said. "Let me hear more jewellike, well spoken sentences."
- "May I see, hear, live with and converse with a wise man," Agastya said,
-"for these reasons: because the wise man, walking the path of virtue, draws
-others along with him, and is never roused to impatience by harsh words spoken
-for his own good." Again Indra was delighted.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by His Holiness the
- Dalai Lama XIV on the Jatakamala Garland of Birth Stories", translated by
- Tenzin Dorjee
-~
-(2) What one has to abandon: how to get rid of arrogance by means of an
-antidote--
- "I'm not beyond my karma, the deeds I've done;
- I'll still fall ill, age, die, and leave my friends."
- Think like this again and yet again
- And with this remedy avoid all arrogance.
-"I will be sick, I will grow old, I will die, I will be separated from those
-I love, my relations and so forth. In such manner, the fully ripened effect
-of my actions will come to me and to no one else, and I am therefore not above
-depending on what I did in former lives." To think like this again and again
-is the antidote to such things as arrogance: make every effort not to become
-arrogant by meditating on this antidote.
- -- "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur Rinpoche
- by Nagarjuna", translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-For every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-Inwardly, we defend against death by the very structure of our ego. Our ego
-claims to have the ability to provide us with happiness based on its belief in
-its own permanent existence. On the one hand, to believe in ego results in
-denying death. On the other, to accept death is to question the very nature
-of ego as a permanent, on-going structure and to confront very strong defense
-mechanisms. As a result, we have strong resistance to contemplating death.
-This resistance is also the same resistance that comes up when we meditate.
-Please recognize it for what it is and move on.
- -- Bruce Newman, in "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism: Notes from a
- Practitioner's Journey", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Question: Could you please say something on the three kinds of suffering?
-
-His Holiness: One kind of suffering is like a headache or like yesterday's
-flu: discomfort in the nose, watery eyes, and so forth. In short, it includes
-all of those kinds of gross physical and mental sufferings that in ordinary
-parlance we usually call "suffering." This is the first category.
-
-Then the second category is as follows. When we feel hungry and begin to take
-food, at first we feel very happy. We take one mouthful, then two, three,
-four, five... eventually, though it is the same person, the same food, and
-the same time period, we begin to find the food objectionable and reject it.
-This is what is meant by the "suffering of change." Practically every worldly
-happiness and pleasure is in this second category. Compared to other forms of
-suffering, at the beginning these more subtle forms of suffering seem
-pleasurable; they seem to afford us some happiness, but this is not true or
-lasting happiness, for the more we become acquainted with them, the more
-involved we become with them, the more suffering and trouble they bring us.
-That is the second category.
-
-Now as for the third category, I think it is fair to say that it is one's own
-body. Roughly speaking, this is what it is. It is the body which is the
-fruit of afflictions, a body originally created by afflictions. Because the
-body is created by such causes, it is of the very nature of suffering. It
-comes to act as the basis of suffering. This, then, is the third category.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
- edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications.
-~
- One point I should make here is that some people, especially those who see
-themselves as very realistic and practical, are sometimes too realistic and
-obsessed with practicality. They may think, "The idea of wishing for the
-happiness of all beings, of wanting what is best for every single one, is
-unrealistic and too idealistic. Such an unrealistic idea cannot contribute in
-any way to transforming the mind or to attaining some kind of mental
-discipline, because it is completely unachievable."
- ...They feel there is simply no point in thinking about all beings since
-there is an infinite number of them. They may conceivably be able to feel
-some kind of connection with some fellow human beings on this planet, but they
-feel that the infinite number of beings throughout the universe has nothing to
-do with their own experience as individuals.
- ...What is important here, however, is to grasp the impact of cultivating
-such altruistic sentiments. The point is to try to develop the scope of our
-empathy in such a way that we can extend it to any form of life with the
-capacity to feel pain and experience happiness. It is a matter of recognizing
-living organisms as sentient, and therefore subject to pain and capable of
-happiness.
- ...Such a universal sentiment of compassion is very powerful, and there is
-no need to be able to identify, in specific terms, with every single living
-being in order for it to be effective.
- ...Given patience and time, it is within our power to develop this kind of
-universal compassion.
- -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, in "The Compassionate Life",
- edited by David Kittelstrom, sponsored by Richard Gere and the Gere
- Foundation
-~
-Position
- Different body postures open or compress particular energetic channels and
-influence the flow of subtle energy. We use this understanding to aid
-specific processes in the practice. The Tibetan tradition considers the
-negative emotions to be more closely associated with the primary channel on
-the right side of the body in men and on the left in women. When a man sleeps
-on his right side, the channel that carries mostly negative prana is forced a
-little closed and the left channel opens. Also the lung, the physical organ,
-on that side is a bit compressed so the opposite lung is a little more
-responsible for the breath. You are probably already familiar with effects
-from lying on your side: when you lie on your right side you find it easier to
-breathe through your left nostril. For men, we consider this position
-beneficial to the movement of the positive wisdom prana through the left
-channel. Women benefit from the reverse, opening the wisdom channel that is
-on their right side by sleeping on their left. This affects dreams in a
-positive fashion and makes the dream practice easier. Opening the flow of the
-wisdom prana is a provisional expedient, as ultimately we want the balanced
-prana to move into the central channel.
- Furthermore, by paying attention to posture, awareness is kept more stable
-during sleep. Where I come from, most people sleep on a three-foot by six-
-foot Tibetan carpet. If one moves too much, one falls out of bed. But that
-does not usually happen, because when one sleeps on something small, the
-position of the body is held in the sleeping mind throughout the night....
-Here, in the big beds of the West, the sleeper can rotate like the hands of a
-clock and not fall, but holding the position anyway will help maintain
-awareness.
- -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
- edited by Mark Dahlby, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The term emptiness does not carry here any connotation of void or of absolute
-nothingness. It should be understood as the naturally open and serene state
-of the mind. Thus, to affirm the emptiness of phenomena does not in any way
-mean that they do not exist in the way that the horn of a hare or skyflowers
-do not exist. Instead, emptiness refers to the insight that, at the ultimate
-level, both interior phenomena--sensations, perceptions and the "I"--and
-exterior phenomena--all the appearances of the phenomenal world--have no real
-existence, although they do appear in different forms. The Heart Sutra
-summarizes this as follows:
- Form is emptiness, emptiness is form,
- Emptiness is not other than form,
- Form is not other than emptiness.
- -- Jerome Edou in "Machig Labdron and the Foundations of Chod", published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Nonviolence does not mean that we remain indifferent to a problem. On the
-contrary, it is important to be fully engaged. However, we must behave in a
-way that does not benefit us alone. We must not harm the interests of others.
-Nonviolence therefore is not merely the absence of violence. It involves a
-sense of compassion and caring. It is almost a manifestation of compassion.
-I strongly believe that we must promote such a concept of nonviolence at the
-level of the family as well as at the national and international levels. Each
-individual has the ability to contribute to such compassionate nonviolence.
- How should we go about this? We can start with ourselves. We must try to
-develop greater perspective, looking at situations from all angles. Usually
-when we face problems, we look at them from our own point of view. We even
-sometimes deliberately ignore other aspects of a situation. This often leads
-to negative consequences. However, it is very important for us to have a
-broader perspective.
- We must come to realize that others are also part of our society. We can
-think of our society as a body, with arms and legs as parts of it. Of course,
-the arm is different from the leg; however, if something happens to the foot,
-the hand should reach down to help. Similarly, when something is wrong within
-our society, we must help.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
- Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato and
- Richard Gere
-~
- According to Highest Yoga Tantra, some persons attain Buddhahood in one
-lifetime, and because these persons are not born with a body adorned with the
-major and minor marks they must achieve such a body through the practice of
-deity yoga.
- Meditation on oneself as undifferentiable from a deity is the special
-cause... for attaining Buddhahood. If one meditated only on emptiness and
-did not cultivate any method--either that of the Perfection or that of the
-Mantra Vehicle--one would fall to the fruit of a Hinayana Foe Destroyer. In
-order to attain the definite goodness of the highest achievement, Buddhahood,
-deity yoga is needed. Also, ...one must view one's body clearly as a divine
-body and train in the pride of being a deity. Without deity yoga the Mantra
-path is impossible; deity yoga is the essence of Mantra.
- -- H.H. Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Tantra in Tibet",
- translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Often we see other sentient beings as hassles: "This mosquito is
-disturbing me. Those politicians are corrupt. Why can't my colleagues do
-their work correctly?" and so on. But when we see sentient beings as being
-more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel, our perspective completely
-changes. For example, when we look at a fly buzzing around, we train
-ourselves to think, "My enlightenment depends on that fly." This isn't
-fanciful thinking because, in fact, our enlightenment does depend on that fly.
-If that fly isn't included in our bodhicitta, then we don't have bodhicitta,
-and we won't receive the wonderful results of generating bodhicitta--the
-tremendous purification and creation of positive potential.
- Imagine training your mind so that when you look at every single living
-being, you think, "My enlightenment depends on that being. The drunk who just
-got on the bus--my enlightenment depends on him. The soldier in Iraq--my
-enlightenment depends on him. My brothers and sisters, the teller at the
-bank, the janitor at my workplace, the president of the United States, the
-suicide bombers in the Middle East, the slug in my garden, my eighth-grade
-boyfriend, the babysitter when I was a kid--my enlightenment depends on each
-of them." All sentient beings are actually that precious to us.
- -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, in "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The
- Yoga Method of Chenrezig", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- We think of ourselves as being the child of specific parents, as belonging
-to a certain gender and race, as a citizen of a specific nation, and as a
-member of a caste, class and community within that country, etc. Our
-identification with these transient reference points, be they racial,
-linguistic, cultural, conceptual, or gender-specific, can become lifelong love
-affairs, hate affairs, or guilt affairs. What Guru Rinpoche's birth
-symbolizes for me is the fact that, from the first moment, he recognized the
-unborn and undying nature of his mind, primordially pure awareness. He
-identified with that, rather than with his body, wherever it may have come
-from, be it a womb, a lotus, a stork, or a cabbage patch. Whatever physical,
-linguistic, or conceptual worlds he adopted, he wore as ephemeral ornaments on
-the infinite expanse of timeless awareness.
- ...Guru Rinpoche was not an individual who followed a spiritual path until
-illumination. He was an enlightened being who appeared in different guises
-entirely as a manifestation to help others, including the guise of an
-individual who followed the spiritual path.
- -- Ngawang Zangpo, in "Guru Rinpoche: His Life and Times", published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...if a person is experiencing some kind of mental dysfunction, it is
-frequently understood that the mind itself has become too withdrawn in upon
-itself, and that there is a corresponding physiological process involving the
-energies themselves, which are closely associated with consciousness, also
-entering into a dysfunctional state.
- So, in the Buddhist view, it can happen, for example, that one's mind will
-become depressed because of some environmental event. As a result of the mind
-becoming depressed, there is a chemical, maybe an electrochemical,
-transformation in the brain that has now occurred. The mental dysfunction
-will then be aggravated. When that happens, there is a further chemical
-response, which then avalanches upon itself.
- ...on occasion, without any special external event taking place, there can
-simply be a dysfunction or disruption in the balance of the elements within
-the body. In that event, the internal circumstances are the dominant,
-principal cause.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
- with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism," edited by Zara
- Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.
- -- Ben Sweetland
-~
-You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi
-~
- Enlightenment is not only... devoid of various types of contaminations,
-pollutions, suffering, and afflictive emotions... but is also free from
-various dualistic appearances. When you achieve such a state, you are
-unfettered from all elaborations in the form of subject-object duality and
-appearances of conventionality.
- You are free not because the subject-object duality or conventional
-appearances are objects of elimination in the sense that they are negative
-emotions. Rather, you are free because these elaborations cease to exist when
-you reach the state of enlightenment. In such a state, the mind of
-enlightenment or omniscience is such that it is totally merged with emptiness.
-To such a mind, no elaborations exist.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections and
- Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh
-~
-Guilt and Shame
- When we meditate, things from the past come up, and we have to work with
-them. We may remember times when we treated others horribly--hurting their
-feelings, deceiving them, repaying their kindness with spite, manipulating
-them, cheating them. While regret for these actions is appropriate and
-necessary to purify these karmas, we often fall into guilt and shame instead.
-Guilt and shame are obstacles to overcome on the path, because they keep us
-trapped in our self-centered melodrama entitled "How Bad I Am." Regret, on the
-other hand, realizes that we erred, leads us to purify, and motivates us to
-refrain from acting like that in the future.
- How do we counteract guilt and shame? One way is to recognize that the
-person who did that action no longer exists. You are different now. Is the
-person who did that action five years ago the same person you are now? If she
-were exactly the same person, you would still be doing the same action. The
-present "you" exists in a continuum from that person, but is not exactly the
-same as her. Look back at the person you were with compassion. You can
-understand the suffering and confusion she was experiencing that made her act
-in that way.
- -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga
- Method of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted,
-the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the
-voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil
-to triumph.
- -- Haile Selassie
-~
-If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever
-that search may lead us. The free mind is no barking dog to be tethered
-on a ten-foot chain.
- -- Adlai E. Stevenson
-~
-Our relationship with our practice must be based on reason and common sense.
-The principal subject to be learned is the nature of the two levels of reality
-[conventional and ultimate], the stages of which can be approached through a
-combination of hearing, contemplation and meditation. It is very important
-always to remember contemplation, which is the analysis and investigation of
-the teachings through the use of reason. The two truths are speaking about
-reality, not some intellectual fabrication. To investigate the teaching
-critically is fully encouraged in the same way that medical students are
-encouraged to apply their theories to real life and thus to witness their
-validity.... Time may flow on, but the essential nature of the deeper
-problems and mysteries that human beings encounter in the course of their
-lives remains the same. Contemplation of the teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni
-is merely contemplation of certain facets of reality, and it will cause to
-unfold within us a deeper understanding of ourselves, our minds, and the
-nature of our sense of being. As the teachings are merely pointing out key
-facts of life, facts that, if realized, cause one to evolve in wholesome
-directions, a critical investigation of them will only inspire trainees with
-confidence. Reason well from the beginning and then there will never be any
-need to look back with confusion and doubt.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Enlightenment", published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-b. Keeping bounteousness in mind
-
- Possessions are ephemeral and essenceless
- Know this and give them generously to monks,
- To brahmins, to the poor, and to your friends:
- Beyond there is no greater friend than gift.
-
-Having realized that possessions such as food are inconstant and fluctuate,
-that in changing and transforming they are devoid of essence, in order to make
-them meaningful try to use them properly, giving to those with good qualities
-(monks and brahmins), to those who suffer (the poor, the sick, and so forth),
-to those who help you (friends) and to those you venerate (spiritual teachers
-and parents). Even beyond the world there is no friend more sublime, more
-beneficial, than giving, because it gives rise directly and indirectly to
-ripened effects that are inexhaustible.
-
- -- Nagarjuna, "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur
- Rinpoche", translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- A goloptious full-up pot, too,
- And I don't know where it's got to,
- No, I don't know where it's gone--
- Well, its funny.
- -- A.A. Milne, "In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump"
-~
-With a determination to accomplish
-The highest welfare for all sentient beings
-Who surpass even a wish-granting jewel
-I will learn to hold them supremely dear.
-
- Never mind neglecting other sentient beings, you should take them as a
-treasure through which temporary and final aims can be achieved and should
-cherish them one-pointedly. Others should be considered more dear, more
-important than yourself. Initially, it is in dependence upon sentient
-beings--others--that you generate the altruistic aspiration to highest
-enlightenment. In the middle, it is in relation to sentient beings that you
-increase this good mind higher and higher and practice the deeds of the path
-in order to achieve enlightenment. Finally, in the end, it is for the sake of
-sentient beings that you achieve Buddhahood. Since sentient beings are the
-aim and basis of all of this marvelous development, they are more important
-than even a wish-granting jewel, and should always be treated with respect,
-kindness, and love.
-
- You might think, "My mind is so full of the afflictive emotions. How
-could I possibly do this?" However, the mind does what it is used to. What
-we are not used to, we find difficult, but with familiarity, previously
-difficult things become easy. Thus Shantideva's Engaging in the Bodhisattva
-Deeds says,
-
- "There is nothing which, with time, you cannot get used to."
-
- -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
- Clarity, and Insight," edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Eventually, through the power of stabilizing meditation in which the
-mind is set one-pointedly on its object of observation, an initial mental
-pliancy--a serviceability of mind--is generated. As a sign that mental
-pliancy is about to be generated, a tingly sensation is felt at the top of the
-head. This pleasant feeling is compared to that of a warm hand placed on top
-of the head after it has been shaved. When mental pliancy has been generated,
-a favorable wind, or energy, circulates in the body, engendering physical
-pliancy. Through this wind, or air, pervading the entire body, the
-unserviceability of the body such that it cannot be directed to virtuous
-activities in accordance with your wishes is removed. The generation of
-physical pliancy, in turn, engenders a bliss of physical pliancy, a sense of
-comfort throughout the body due to the power of meditative stabilization.
- The bliss of physical pliancy induces a bliss of mental pliancy, making
-the mind blissful. At first, this joyous mental bliss is a little too
-buoyant, but then gradually it becomes more steady; at this point, one attains
-an unfluctuating pliancy. This marks attainment of a fully qualified
-meditative stabilization of calm abiding.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Yoga
- Tantra: Paths to Magical Feats", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The more we generate an attitude of contentment in our lives, the happier
-we will be and the more open we will be to engage in genuine Dharma practice.
-Letting go of the eight worldly concerns brings mental peace right now.
- The defining characteristic of a thought or action being Dharma is whether
-or not we're attached to the happiness of this life. The eight worldly
-concerns are completely involved with attachment to the happiness of this
-life. How can we practice genuine Dharma when our self-centered mind is
-fixated on getting our own way and making everyone and everything around us
-suit our preferences and needs?
- That doesn't mean the happiness of this life is bad or wrong. The Buddha
-did not say that we should suffer in this life so that we'll get our reward in
-heaven. The objects we're attached to and have aversion for aren't the
-problem; there's nothing wrong with experiencing pleasure and happiness.
-Those aren't the issue. Rather, attachment to pleasant feelings and to the
-people, objects, and situations that cause them, and aversion to unpleasant
-ones--it is these emotions that create trouble. They make us unhappy and
-propel us to harm others in order to get what we want. The troublemakers of
-attachment and hostility are what we want to abandon, not people and things.
-There is nothing wrong with being happy. But when we're attached to it, we
-actually create more unhappiness for ourselves.
- -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-When engaging in hearing, it is important to mix the mind, to familiarize the
-mind, with what is being heard. The study of religion is not like learning
-about history. It must be mixed with your mental continuum; your mind should
-be suffused with it. A sutra says that the practices are like a mirror; your
-actions of body, speech, and mind are like a face to be seen in the mirror;
-and through the practices you should recognize faults and gradually get rid of
-them. As it is said in the oral transmission, "If there is enough space
-between yourself and the practices for someone else to walk through, then you
-are not implementing them properly."
- -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, in "Kindness,
- Clarity, and Insight", edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Question: What is the relationship of the mind and afflictive emotions?
-
-DL: The very entity of the mind, its nature of mere luminosity and knowing, is
-not polluted by defilements; they do not abide in the entity of the mind.
-Even when we generate afflictive emotions, the very entity or nature of the
-mind is still mere luminosity and knowing, and because of this we are able to
-remove the afflictive emotions. If you agitate the water in a pond, it
-becomes cloudy with mud; yet the very nature of the water itself is not dirty.
-When you allow it to become still again, the mud will settle, leaving the
-water pure. How are defilements removed? They are not removed by outside
-action, nor by leaving them as they are; they are removed by the power of
-antidotes, meditative antidotes.
- -- The Dalai Lama, "A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
- About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Every single sentient being wishes to be happy and free of suffering. By
-no means does Buddhism say this is wrong; rather, this is where we start from.
- The very root of this yearning for happiness, this yearning to be free of
-suffering, is the fundamental expression of the buddha-nature. If for the
-time being we turn our gaze away from the myriad ways that we can stray from
-the agenda--trying to find happiness by buying a more luxurious car, or a
-bigger house, or getting a better job--and just come back to the primary
-desire of wishing to be happy, we find at the very source of our yearning for
-happiness the buddha-nature wanting to realize itself. It's like a seed that
-wants to spring into the sunlight. Sometimes it gets terribly contorted, when
-we want to injure somebody else for the sake of our own happiness, but the
-fundamental yearning is something to be embraced.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Four Immeasurables: Cultivating a Boundless
- Heart", edited by Zara Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it
-by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.
- -- George S. Patton
-~
- When you meditate with concentration, there are three particular
-experiences that arise: bliss, clarity, and nonthought. Sometimes you feel
-great joy, sometimes your mind is very clear, and sometimes there is complete
-equanimity. To experience these you do not need to meditate for a long time,
-although for a beginner these experiences will not last long because of the
-limited ability of a beginner's meditation.
- The experience of meditative bliss is greater than ordinary worldly
-happiness. Sometimes when you are meditating, a feeling of blissfulness
-suddenly arises from the subtle state of your mind and pervades your entire
-body. This bliss is healthy and brings out your inner qualities. Some people
-use drugs to induce blissfulness and visions, but drugs are external supports
-that cannot bring lasting happiness. The bliss experienced in meditation can
-last for many days, according to your ability to meditate. When you
-experience this kind of bliss, on the outside you might look very poor, but
-inside you remain very joyful.
- The second main experience in meditation is clarity. Sometimes while
-meditating you can suddenly feel that your mind is very clear and bright.
-Even if you are meditating in the dark, you do not feel heavy or tired.
-Sometimes your body feels very light and your mind is very clear, and many
-kinds of reflections appear. Clarity brings great wisdom and the ability to
-read other people's minds, as well as to see your own past and future lives.
- The third main experience is nonthought, or a state of equanimity without
-distractions. Beginners can also experience this. Nonthought is more settled
-than the experiences of bliss and clarity. If you have thoughts, they
-suddenly dissolve and you can remain continuously in meditation. As your
-ability to meditate develops, your mind becomes more and more settled, so that
-you can meditate for one hour or one week or one month without being
-distracted by thoughts. You simply remain in the natural state for as long as
-you want.
- -- Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, in "Opening to Our
- Primordial Nature", edited by Ann Helm and Michael White, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...when you probe deeply you will find that no matter how high an
-existence a realm may be, even though it may be the highest state of
-existence, as long as it is in this cycle of existence the beings there are in
-the nature of sufferings, because they have the sufferings of pervasive
-conditioning and are therefore under the influence or command of contaminated
-actions and delusions. As long as one is not able to be free from such an
-influence, there is no place for permanent peace or happiness.
- Generally, the experiences that you normally regard as pleasurable and
-happy, such as having the physical comfort of good facilities and so forth, if
-they are examined at a deeper level, will be revealed to be changeable and
-therefore in the nature of suffering. They provide you with temporary
-satisfaction; because of that temporary satisfaction you regard them as
-experiences of happiness. But if you keep on pursuing them, they will again
-lead to the experience of suffering. Most of these pleasurable experiences
-are not really happiness in the true sense of the word, but only appear as
-pleasure and happiness in comparison to the obvious sufferings that you have.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, in "Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide
- to Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, edited by
- Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Once the conventional nature of the mind has been identified, then,
-through analysing its nature, finally we will gradually be able to identify
-the ultimate nature of the mind. If that is done, there is great progress
-unlike anything else.
- At the beginning we should meditate for half an hour. When we rise from
-the session and various good and bad objects appear, benefit and harm are
-manifestly experienced. Therefore, we should develop as much as we can the
-realisation that these phenomena do not exist objectively and are mere
-dependent-arisings of appearances, like illusions [in that they only seem to
-be inherently existent]. We should meditate in this way in four formal
-sessions: at sunrise, in the morning, afternoon, and evening.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
- Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Bodhichitta is the one practice we cannot do without. Even if we have been
-given the precious oral instructions on realizing the nature of mind, they
-will not be the sufficient cause for realization if we have not learned to
-generate Bodhichitta. The great Dzogchen yogi Patrul Rinpoche said,
- If we have only one thing, the precious Bodhichitta is enough.
- If we have nothing else, we must have the method of the precious
- Bodhichitta.
- We should learn to develop Bodhichitta in a twofold way: through our
-aspirations and through our actions. Aspiration Bodhichitta is our initial
-wish that all sentient beings be liberated from the vast ocean of samsara's
-suffering. Action Bodhichitta requires that we first generate aspiration
-Bodhichitta, and practice the Six Paramitas as the method to establish the two
-benefits of 1) attaining Buddhahood oneself to 2) be of ultimate benefit to
-others. The way to practice aspiration and action Bodhichitta was taught by
-the omniscient Patrul Rinpoche, who said,
- The instructions for aspiration [Bodhichitta] are to practice the
- Four Immeasurables;
- The instructions for action [Bodhichitta] are to practice the Paramitas.
- -- Anyen Rinpoche, "The Union of Dzogchen and Bodhichitta", translated by
- Allison Graboski, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- What are the techniques for heightening or lowering the mind? To heighten
-the mind, you think about something that enlivens it, but not an object that
-would generate desire. For instance, you could reflect on the value of
-developing the meditative stabilization of calm abiding or on the value of
-having attained a life as a human or on the value of having human
-intelligence. Through such reflection, your mind will gain courage, thereby
-causing its mode of apprehension to become heightened.
- If, despite such a technique, laxity is not cleared away, it is better to
-end the session and go to a place that is bright or that is high with a vast
-view where you can see a great distance. Or, expose yourself to fresh air, or
-throw cold water on your face. Then, return to the session.
- When the mind becomes too heightened and thus scattered, what will lower
-its mode of apprehension? As a technique to withdraw the mind inside, you
-should reflect on a topic that sobers the mind, such as the suffering of
-cyclic existence, or think "In the past I have been ruined by distraction, and
-again now I will be ruined by distraction. If I do not take care now, it will
-not be good." This will lower the mode of apprehension of the mind.
- Since this is the case, a person who is cultivating calm abiding needs to
-be in a state where such reflections will move the mind immediately.
-Therefore, prior to working at achieving calm abiding, it is necessary to have
-become convinced about many topics--such as those involved in the four
-establishments in mindfulness--through a considerable amount of analysis. In
-an actual session of cultivating calm abiding one is performing stabilizing
-meditation, not analytical meditation, but if one has engaged in considerable
-analysis of these topics previously, the force of the previous reflection
-remains with the mind and can be recalled. Thus, when you switch to such
-topics in order either to elevate or lower the mind, the mind will be
-immediately affected. In this way, if ascertainment has been generated
-previously, then reflecting on the value of meditative stabilization or the
-value of a human lifetime will immediately heighten the mind, and reflection
-on sobering topics such as the nature of the body or the ugliness of objects
-of desire will immediately lower its mode of apprehension.
- ...recognize when laxity and excitement arise and know the techniques for
-overcoming them.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
- Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- How is it that mistaken mind overwhelms the unmistaken mind, unmistaken
-reality? To give an example, during the day when the sun is shining one does
-not see any stars and thus one would think that there are no stars at all,
-that they just plain do not exist. Just so, afflictive emotions shine so
-brightly and are so powerful that it is as if unmistaken reality, unmistaken
-mind, does not exist at all. When you seek out this unmistaken mind from
-within, you come to understand that there is an unmistaken mind--a reality of
-the mind--that does not die, that does not scurry after pleasure and pain.
-This mind that does not follow after pleasure and pain has a mode of being
-that is emptiness--but not an emptiness in the sense of an empty house or an
-empty vessel; rather, it is endowed with the inconceivable self-effulgence of
-unmistaken reality, of pristine wisdom.
- When you search for this that is beyond mistaken mind, mistaken mind just
-stops; gradually like dawn there comes to be a time when pristine wisdom
-manifests a little. With the beginning of dawn there is not just darkness but
-some light, and so it is when the self-effulgence, the self-color, the self-
-nature of the pristine wisdom shows itself a little; one generates a suspicion
-that there is wisdom beyond mistaken mind. As Aryadeva says, "When you
-generate doubt thinking that there might be such a reality, cyclic existence
-is torn to tatters." How does cyclic existence come to be torn to tatters, or
-wrecked, made into a mess by doubt? For instance, if a table is wrecked,
-broken up, it cannot perform the function of a table; just so, when the self-
-effulgence of unmistaken pristine wisdom begins to dawn with this state of
-doubt, cyclic existence is wrecked and torn to tatters.
- -- Mi-pam-gya-tso, in "Fundamental Mind: The Nyingma View of the Great
- Completeness", practical commentary by Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay,
- translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- The Jewel in the Crown Sutra states, "Donning the armor of loving-
- kindness, while abiding in the state of great compassion, practice
- meditative stabilization that actualizes the emptiness possessing
- the best of all qualities. What is the emptiness possessing the
- best of all qualities? It is that which is not divorced from
- generosity, ethics, patience, effort, meditative stabilization,
- wisdom, or skillful means." Bodhisattvas must rely on virtuous
- practices like generosity as means to thoroughly ripen all sentient
- beings and in order to perfect the place, body, and manifold retinue.
- -- from "Stages of Meditation" by Kamalashila
-
-...Note that practice of generosity and the other perfections is essential.
-This is because the fully enlightened state of Buddhahood is produced by the
-realization of favorable causes and conditions. There is no causeless
-production and nothing is produced by contrary causes. A Bodhisattva has many
-wonderful advantages to help enhance the welfare of sentient beings; every
-virtue performed by such a noble being is very powerful and effective.
-Therefore, Bodhisattvas earnestly engage in the practice of the method aspects
-of the path, including the six perfections, in order to swiftly actualize the
-state of Buddhahood.
- -- The Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", translated by Venerable Geshe
- Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Of the three kayas, the Dharmakaya is linked to our mind, Sambhogakaya to
-our speech, or communicative principle, and the Nirmanakaya to our ordinary
-body.
- The process of the three blendings in brief is as follows.
- We experience the clear light of the waking state naturally during cIimax,
-and it can also be induced with yogic methods. Moreover, we naturally
-experience it at the moment of going to sleep, and at the moment of death.
-The principle here is that this clear light mind as experienced in each of the
-three occasions (waking, sleep and death) is the highest experience of our
-consciousness, and in it we dwell in a mental state of blissful, formless non-
-duality similar to that of the Dharmakaya wisdom of a buddha. Thus when we
-experience the clear light mind in any of these three occasions we should
-blend it with the Dharmakaya.
- The first movement from this clear light mind is likened to the
-Sambhogakaya experience. In the waking state this occurs in our meditation
-when we fall out of the clear light that is induced with yogic techniques and
-the conceptual mind is aroused. In sleep it occurs after the clear light of
-the moment of entering sleep passes and we begin to dream. At death it occurs
-when the clear light flash at the moment of death passes and we leave our body
-and enter the bardo realm.
- A buddha's Sambhogakaya is only visible to an arya, or saint, and not to
-an ordinary being; in the same way our thoughts, dreams, and bardo visions are
-not visible to ordinary beings but nonetheless are experiences of form. These
-subtle form experiences are to be linked to the natural realization of the
-illusory, blissful, and perfect nature of being; they are to be seen as an
-illusory theater made manifest for the benefit of the world. In other words,
-they are to be blended with the Sambhogakaya. This is the second set of three
-blendings.
- The third blending is that of blending rebirth with the Nirmanakaya.
-Rebirth from the bardo of the waking state occurs every time that we arise
-from a meditation session and once more go about our ordinary life; rebirth
-from the bardo of the sleep / dream state occurs when we wake up and once more
-enter the work-a-day world; and rebirth from the bardo of becoming, or death
-bardo, occurs when we complete the unwinding process of the afterlife state
-and once again are ready to enter into a new body.
- The basic principle underlying these three blendings is that what occurs
-to us at the time of death also occurs to us in miniature form at the time of
-going to sleep and can be induced in the waking state by means of the inner
-heat yogas.
- -- "Readings on the Six Yogas of Naropa," translated, edited and introduced
- by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-If you want to tell people the truth,
-make them laugh,
-otherwise they'll kill you.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-In the beginning there was nothing.
-God said, "Let there be light!"
-And there was light.
-There was still nothing,
-but you could see it a whole lot better.
- -- Ellen DeGeneres
-~
- Now, as [in the past], the concept of a transcendent god as creator has a
-powerful and inspiring impact on the lives of those who believe in it. The
-sense that their entire destiny lies in the hands of an all-powerful,
-omniscient and compassionate being leads them to try to understand the
-workings and key message of this transcendent being. Then, when they come to
-realise that this transcendent being embodies love and infinite compassion,
-they try to cultivate love and compassion towards their fellow beings as the
-qualities through which to express love for their creator. They also gain
-confidence and inspiration through a sense of intimacy or connectedness to
-this loving, transcendent being.
- Although, metaphysically speaking, Buddhists reject any notion of a
-transcendent creator or god, some individual Buddhists do relate to certain
-higher beings, such as the goddess Tara, as an independent and real being with
-power over their destiny. For these practitioners Tara is their sole refuge,
-their greatest object of veneration and their trusted guardian and protector.
-What this suggests is that the inclination to seek refuge in an external
-source is something deeply natural for us as human beings.
- But it is also clear that for other people the metaphysical concept of a
-transcendent being is unacceptable. Questions form in their minds, such as:
-who created the creator--in other words--where does the transcendent being
-come from? And how can we posit a true beginning? People with this type of
-mental disposition look elsewhere for explanations.
- -- The Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Due to misunderstanding each other's needs and concerns, miscommunication
-occurs on the international level as well [as the personal level]. In all
-these situations--personal and international--freeing ourselves from our
-narrow understanding of a situation by seeing it from the other's viewpoint is
-an effective remedy for anger. We can ask ourselves, "If I had grown up in
-that person's family, society, time in history, and cultural conditions, what
-would my needs and concerns be in this situation?"
- When we look at the situation from the other person's viewpoint, sometimes
-we see that she perceives it differently than we thought she did. Other
-times, we realize that we have little idea of how a situation appears to
-another person or what her needs and concerns are. Therefore, we need to ask
-her; and when she responds, we need to listen, without interrupting. It is
-all too easy, when someone explains her view to us, to correct her or tell her
-that she should not feel the way she does. This only inflames the other
-person, and convinces her, with good reason, that we don't understand.
-Rather, we need to listen from our heart to what she says. After she has
-fully expressed herself, we can share our perspectives, and generally, a
-productive discussion will ensue.
- -- Thubten Chodron, in "Working with Anger", published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- ...it is extremely important to look inward and try to promote the right
-kind of attitude, which is based on awareness of reality. A sense of caring
-for others is crucial. And it is actually the best way of caring for oneself.
-...the moment you think of others, this automatically opens our inner door--
-you can communicate with other people easily, without any difficulties. The
-moment you think just of yourself and disregard others, then because of your
-own attitude, you also get the feeling that other people also have a similar
-attitude toward you. That brings suspicion, fear. Result? You yourself lose
-inner calmness. Therefore, I usually say that although a certain kind of
-selfishness is basically right--self and the happiness of that self are our
-original right, and we have every right to overcome suffering--but selfishness
-that leads to no hesitation to harm another, to exploit another, that kind of
-selfishness is blind. Therefore, I sometimes jokingly describe it this way:
-if we are going to be selfish, we should be wisely selfish rather than
-foolishly selfish.
- I feel that the moment you adopt a sense of caring for others, that brings
-inner strength. Inner strength brings us inner tranquility, more self-
-confidence. Through these attitudes, even though your surroundings may not be
-friendly or may not be positive, still you can sustain peace of mind.
- -- "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates Discuss Human Rights,
- Conflict and Reconciliation", by the Dalai Lama and other Nobel
- Laureates, edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
-~
- If we do not uncover [our] problems--and I saw this in myself--we risk
-placing a veneer of spirituality over deeply buried emotional wounds from
-childhood that do not simply go away.
- ...When this happens there is greater potential for our spirituality to
-become simply another expression of our personal pathology. We can falsify
-the qualities valued in the path without realizing it. Renunciation can
-become another level of denial and avoidance; compassion can become a sickly
-sentimentality that has no substance to it. Our desire to help others can
-come from "compulsive caring," or a compulsion to sacrifice ourselves because
-we feel worthless. The Buddhist idea of emptiness can likewise be falsified
-by the desire to disappear psychologically and merge or lose ego boundaries.
-Lack of identity, formless vagueness, and absence of boundaries do not
-exemplify the Buddhist idea of emptiness. My own version of this
-misconception was to try to live an ideal of the pure and pious only to find
-it was a form of repression I could not ultimately sustain.
- At the heart of Buddhist practice is the search for a solution to our
-fundamental wounds. Healing the emotional damage we often carry within is
-truly the object of this practice. If we wish to resolve these problems, we
-need to be open and honest about their reality within us. Only when we do
-will any spiritual practice address what we need. The aim of Buddhist
-practice is not a spiritual transcendence that dissociates from our suffering.
-Nor is it the search for salvation in some form of external divine being that
-we hope will save us in our distress. As one of my teachers, Lama Thubten
-Yeshe, once said, "Buddhism is very practical; you just have to recognize that
-your mind is the cause of suffering. If you change your mind, you can find
-liberation." This message is very simple but by no means easy to follow. In
-order to do so, however, we must begin to recognize where we are
-psychologically wounded.
- -- Rob Preece, in "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of
- Individuation in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Direct Experience
- In the Dzogchen teachings, a teacher explains methods that you can apply
-for discovering that state. When you say that you are practicing or following
-Dzogchen teachings, it doesn't mean that you are reciting some prayers or
-mantras, or doing some visualization. It means that, following a teacher and
-using methods, you discover that state. When you have discovered that state,
-then you still need many kinds of methods for realizing it. Discovering the
-state of your real nature and realizing it are completely different things.
- Many people have the idea that when they have had some experience or
-discovery, they are enlightened; however, this discovery does not mean they
-are enlightened. The state of enlightenment means you have direct knowledge
-of what the state of rigpa is, and you are not just learning through
-intellectual study. When you follow a teaching in an intellectual way, you
-have many ideas at first--thinking, judging, and making analysis. You can
-follow or reject these ideas; but when you have many problems, you discover
-that perhaps this is not real knowledge. It is like following something
-blindly because you haven't had any direct experience. Direct introduction
-and discovering our real nature mean we have direct experience through our
-senses, and that through these experiences we discover our real nature.
- For example, if I show you an object, you can look at it and know its form
-and color. Now if I ask you to forget about it, you can't. If I ask you to
-change your idea about that object, you can't. Why? Because seeing that
-object is your direct experience. Discovering your real nature is similar to
-that.
- When you are studying in an intellectual way, you are following another
-person's idea. For example, you can believe your teacher today, but maybe
-what your teacher says will not be true for you tomorrow. You can always
-change your ideas. You have this problem because you have not discovered your
-state. This is the weak point of intellectual study.
- -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Dzogchen Teachings", edited by Jim Valby and
- Adriano Clemente, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Howard Cutler: "Have there been situations in your life that you've
-regretted?"
- Dalai Lama: "Oh, yes. Now for instance there was one older monk who lived
-as a hermit. He used to come to see me to receive teachings, although I think
-he was actually more accomplished than I and came to me as a sort of
-formality. Anyway, he came to me one day and asked me about doing a certain
-high-level esoteric practice. I remarked in a casual way that this would be a
-difficult practice and perhaps would be better undertaken by someone who was
-younger, that traditionally it was a practice that should be started in one's
-midteens. I later found out that the monk had killed himself in order to be
-reborn in a younger body to more effectively undertake the practice..."
- Surprised by this story, I remarked, "Oh, that's terrible! That must have
-been hard on you when you heard..." The Dalai Lama nodded sadly. "How did
-you deal with that feeling of regret? How did you eventually get rid of it?"
- The Dalai Lama silently considered for quite a while before replying, "I
-didn't get rid of it. It's still there. But even though that feeling of
-regret is still there, it isn't associated with a feeling of heaviness or a
-quality of pulling me back. It would not be helpful to anyone if I let that
-feeling of regret weigh me down, be simply a source of discouragement and
-depression with no purpose, or interfere with going on with my life to the
-best of my ability."
- At that moment, in a very visceral way, I was struck once again by the
-very real possibility of a human being's fully facing life's tragedies and
-responding emotionally, even with deep regret, but without indulging in
-excessive guilt or self-contempt. The possibility of a human being's wholly
-accepting herself or himself, complete with limitations, foibles, and lapses
-of judgment. The possibility of recognizing a bad situation for what it is
-and responding emotionally, but without overresponding. The Dalai Lama
-sincerely felt regret over the incident he described but carried his regret
-with dignity and grace. And while carrying this regret, he has not allowed it
-to weigh him down, choosing instead to move ahead and focus on helping others
-to the best of his ability.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., in "The Art of
- Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
-~
-Train yourself in three hard disciplines.
- These are the difficult practices of mindfulness, of expulsion and of
-'interrupting the flow.'
- As for the first of these, the difficult practice of mindfulness, it is
-necessary to recognize afflictive emotions as soon as they arise and it is
-hard, at first, to remain sufficiently aware to be able to do this. However,
-when negative emotions arise, we should identify them as anger, desire or
-stupidity. Even when emotions have been recognized, it is not easy to drive
-them out with the antidote. If, for instance, an uncontrollably strong
-emotion comes over us, so that we feel helplessly in its power, we should
-nevertheless confront it and question it. Where are its weapons? Where are
-its muscles? Where is its great army and its political strength? We will see
-that emotions are just insubstantial thoughts, by nature empty: they come from
-nowhere, they go nowhere, they remain nowhere. When we are able to repel our
-defiled emotions, there comes the difficult practice of 'interrupting the
-flow.' This means that, on the basis of the antidote described, defiled
-emotions are eliminated just like a bird flying through the air: no trace is
-left behind. These are practices in which we should really strive.
- -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, in "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the
- Seven-Point Mind Training", translated by The Padmakara Translation
- Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Howard Cutler: "...am I right in assuming that you would consider solitary
-meditation to be a productive activity? Would you consider to be productive
-our example of a monk who is a hermit, who has little contact with anybody
-else and spends his or her life just in meditation, trying to achieve
-liberation?"
- Dalai Lama: "Not necessarily. From my viewpoint, there can be both
-productive meditation and unproductive meditation."
- HC: "What's the difference?"
- DL: "[Some] practitioners and other kinds of meditators practice different
-techniques, some with closed eyes, sometimes open eyes, but the very nature of
-that meditation is to become thoughtless, in a state free of thoughts. But in
-a way, this is a kind of retreat, like they are running away from trouble.
-When they actually face trouble, carry on their daily life and face some real
-life problems, nothing has changed. Their attitudes and reactions remain the
-same. So that kind of meditation is just avoiding the problem, like going on
-a picnic, or taking a painkiller. It's not actually solving the problem.
-Some people may spend many years doing these practices, but their actual
-progress is zero. That's not productive meditation. Genuine progress occurs
-when the individual not only sees some results in achieving higher levels of
-meditative states but also when their meditation has at least some influence
-on how they interact with others, some impact from that meditation in their
-daily life--more patience, less irritation, more compassion. That's
-productive meditation. Something that can bring benefit to others in some
-way."
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
- Happiness at Work
-~
- As human beings, we are all the same. So there is no need to build some
-kind of artificial barrier between us. At least my own experience is that if
-you have this kind of attitude, there is no barrier. Whatever I feel, I can
-express; I can call you "my old friend". There is nothing to hide, and no
-need to say things in a way that is not straightforward. So this gives me a
-kind of space in my mind, with the result that I do not have to be suspicious
-of others all the time. And this really gives me inner satisfaction, and
-inner peace.
- So I call this feeling a "genuine realization of the oneness of the whole
-of humanity". We are all members of one human family. I think that this
-understanding is very important, especially now that the world is becoming
-smaller and smaller. In ancient times, even in a small village, people were
-able to exist more or less independently. There was not so much need for
-others' co-operation. These days, the economic structure has completely
-changed.... We are heavily dependent on one another, and also as a result of
-mass communication, the barriers of the past are greatly reduced. Today,
-because of the complexity of interdependence, every crisis on this planet is
-essentially related with every other, like a chain reaction. Consequently it
-is worthwhile taking every crisis as a global one. Here barriers such as
-"this nation" or "that nation", "this continent", or "that continent" are
-simply obstacles. Therefore today, for the future of the human race, it is
-more important than ever before that we develop a genuine sense of brotherhood
-and sisterhood. I usually call this a sense of "universal responsibility".
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the
- Great Perfection", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron
- (Chokyi Nyima), edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- ...several great Kagyu and Sakya masters... have expressed the stages [of
-sutra and tantra paths] in terms of the tradition known as "parting ourselves
-from the four forms of clinging."
- First we part from clinging to this life. Instead of total involvement
-with affairs of this life, we involve ourselves with future lives. We
-accomplish this by thinking about our precious human life with all its
-freedoms and endowments for spiritual growth, how we lose it because of death
-and impermanence, and then the karmic laws of behavioral cause and effect that
-shape our future lives. Next we part from clinging to future lives and
-involve ourselves, instead, in the quest for liberation. By thinking about
-all the suffering of uncontrollably recurring rebirth, or samsara, we generate
-sincere renunciation of it--the strong determination to be free and attain the
-total liberation that is nirvana.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, in "The Gelug/Kagyu
- Tradition of Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Being the Mirror
- When we say that we have knowledge, or that we have discovered our real
-nature and we are in this nature, that means that we are "being the mirror."
-You see, "being the mirror" or "looking in the mirror" are two completely
-different things. If we "are the mirror," then we have no concept of
-dualistic vision.
- If a reflection manifests in the mirror, why is it manifesting? There are
-two reasons. One is because the mirror has the capacity to manifest infinite
-reflections. This is the mirror's quality. If there is an object in front of
-the mirror, whose capacity it is to reflect, naturally a reflection will
-appear in the mirror. Furthermore, the mirror has no idea of checking or
-accepting the object it is reflecting. The mirror doesn't need any program
-for that. This is what is called its qualification, or infinite potentiality.
- In the same way, when we have infinite potentiality, but we are ignorant
-of our real nature, then we always conceive that "I am here" and "the object
-is there," "I am looking and seeing an object," and so on. We do not discover
-that we are like a mirror, and if we never discover this, then of course there
-is no way that we can function like the mirror. When you discover that you
-are like the mirror, then there is a possibility that you will be the mirror.
- When you are the mirror, then you have no problems with reflections--they
-can be big, small, nice, ugly, any kind. For you, the reflections are only a
-manifestation of your quality, which is like that of a mirror. When you have
-no problems with reflections, then you understand self-liberation. You are
-not changing or transforming something. You are only being in your real
-nature.
- -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, from "Dzogchen Teachings", edited by Jim Valby
- and Adriano Clemente, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- It is important to recognize the difference between an enlightened
-experience and the state of enlightenment. To penetrate the veil is to see
-the nature of reality for the first time. This enlightened experience in the
-Zen tradition might be called a satori. This is a powerful shift of insight
-that shakes our reality. No longer can we live with the delusion we may have
-once held. Our solidly held concepts about reality begin to crumble. Samsara
-shakes, as Lama Yeshe once put it. This experience may not be comfortable.
-To come so close to this existential threshold challenges our secure sense of
-identity and can be frightening. Indeed, as a Tibetan lama once said, this
-fear is a sign that we are close to the edge. We are beginning to recognize
-the lack of substance of our ego-identity. Our "wisdom eye" has opened to a
-new truth--an ultimate truth, as opposed to relative truth.
- When we penetrate the veil, however, the work is not yet done. We may
-have had an enlightened experience, but there is further to travel. As Gen
-Jhampa Wangdu once said while I was in retreat, it is not difficult to
-experience emptiness; the problem is holding it. For this insight to have its
-full effect, the mind needs to be able to sustain awareness for prolonged
-periods of time. Tibetan teachers will sometimes say we may hit the nail, but
-only with a quality of focused attention can we repeatedly do so. With the
-development of tranquil abiding, the veil can be cleared completely in the way
-the red ring of fire created by the incense burn[ing] slowly expands and
-consumes the entire film of tissue paper. The mind is gradually cleansed of
-the emotional turmoil and confusion that is generated by the misconceptions we
-have about reality.
- -- Rob Preece, in "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of
- Individuation in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...if we see others in trouble, although we cannot immediately take their
-suffering upon ourselves, we should make the wish to be able to relieve them
-from their misfortunes. Prayers like this will bear fruit eventually. Again,
-if others have very strong afflictive emotions, we should think, "May all
-their emotions be concentrated in me." With fervent conviction, we should
-persist in thinking like this until we have some sign or feeling that we have
-been able to take upon ourselves the suffering and emotions of others. This
-might take the form of an increase in our own emotions or of the actual
-experience of the suffering and pain of others.
- This is how to bring hardships onto the path in order to free ourselves
-from hopes and fears--hopes, for instance, that we will not get ill, or fears
-that we might do so. They will thus be pacified in the equal taste of
-happiness and suffering. Eventually, through the power of Bodhichitta, we
-will reach the point where we are free even from the hope of accomplishing
-Bodhichitta and the fear of not doing so. Therefore we should have love for
-our enemies and try as much as possible to avoid getting angry with them, or
-harbouring any negative thoughts towards them. We should also try as much as
-possible to overcome our biased attachment to family and relatives. If you
-bind a crooked tree to a large wooden stake, it will eventually grow straight.
-Up to now, our minds have always been crooked, thinking how we might trick and
-mislead people, but this [Bodhichitta] practice, as Geshe Langri Tangpa said,
-will make our minds straight and true.
- -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the
- Seven Point Mind Training", translated by the Padmakara Translation
- Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Q: ...what is the nature of the mindstream that reincarnates from lifetime to
-lifetime?
-
-A: ...If one understands the term "soul" as a continuum of individuality from
-moment to moment, from lifetime to lifetime, then one can say that Buddhism
-also accepts a concept of soul; there is a kind of continuum of consciousness.
-From that point of view, the debate on whether or not there is a soul becomes
-strictly semantic. However, in the Buddhist doctrine of selflessness, or "no
-soul" theory, the understanding is that there is no eternal, unchanging,
-abiding, permanent self called "soul." That is what is being denied in
-Buddhism.
-
-Buddhism does not deny the continuum of consciousness. Because of this, we
-find some Tibetan scholars, such as the Sakya master Rendawa, who accept that
-there is such a thing as self or soul, the "kangsak ki dak" (Tib. gang zag gi
-bdag). However, the same word, the "kangsak ki dak," the self, or person, or
-personal self, or identity, is at the same time denied by many other scholars.
-
-We find diverse opinions, even among Buddhist scholars, as to what exactly the
-nature of self is, what exactly that thing or entity is that continues from
-one moment to the next moment, from one lifetime to the next lifetime. Some
-try to locate it within the aggregates, the composite of body and mind. Some
-explain it in terms of a designation based on the body and mind composite, and
-so on.... One of the divisions of [the "Mind-Only"] school maintains there is
-a special continuum of consciousness called alayavijnana which is the
-fundamental consciousness.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist
- Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- In the Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path Je Tsongkhapa says that
-when we are training ourselves in any of the perfections, for instance in
-generosity, we should make sure that we practice all the other five
-perfections--in this case ethical discipline, patience, enthusiastic effort,
-concentration, and wisdom--and the six excellent factors. When we perform a
-generous action, ethical discipline will be included if we take care to
-refrain from doing anything unethical at the same time. In certain
-situations, for instance, we may be tempted to speak harshly or
-condescendingly as we give.
- Generosity gives rise to abundance, and by insuring that our practice is
-complete, we create the right environment to use these resources
-constructively. Sometimes when we give, people respond ungratefully. If we
-can resist getting upset, we are practicing patience. Giving not out of a
-sense of obligation or reluctantly nor with a wish to outdo others but with
-joy is the practice of enthusiastic effort. Directing our full attention to
-an act of generosity is concentration. Discerning and understanding what is
-appropriate to give and what is not, and remembering that the giver, the act
-of generosity, and the recipient are all interdependent and empty of inherent
-existence are the practice of wisdom. Including these different factors in
-our actions will bring many excellent results such as a good body and mind,
-the resources we need, a pleasant appearance, supportive companions, the
-ability to complete what we undertake, and the focus not to be distracted by
-the disturbing emotions and so forth. This is how to insure that we will
-enjoy many conducive conditions in a future human life. On the other hand,
-our miserliness or impatience now could make us face many difficult
-circumstances in the future.
- -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "How Karma Works: The Twelve Links of Dependent
- Arising", translated by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Shakyamuni Buddha, even when he was a trainee on the path, was solely
-concerned in both thought and action with others' welfare. Whenever he found
-an opportunity to work for others, no matter what difficulties he faced, he
-was never discouraged. He never hated obstacles and hardships encountered on
-the way. Instead, the difficult situations facilitated his being more
-courageous and determined to accomplish others' welfare. Just because he was
-so determined to work for others in the past, even as a trainee on the path,
-it is needless to say how much more it is so with him now as a completely
-enlightened person.
- As the saying goes, "A past life story of a teacher is an enlightening
-practice for posterity."
- -- "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries of His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV on
- the Jatakamala Garland of Birth Stories," translated by Tenzin Dorjee,
- edited by Dexter Roberts
-~
-When you get tired, it is appropriate to repeat mantra. However, for a
-beginner the main part of the meditation revolves around the six deities*,
-which should be cultivated carefully and leisurely. This is because clear
-appearance of oneself as a deity must be achieved for the sake of amassing the
-two collections of merit and wisdom, achieving firm meditative stabilisation,
-and transforming all physical and verbal actions into powerful aids for
-others' welfare. Hence, before repeating mantra, the yoga of non-dual
-profundity (realisation of emptiness) and manifestation (appearance as a
-deity) should be sustained, developing clarity in observing the divine form
-and in ascertaining its lack of inherent existence. When, having done this
-one-pointedly, you become tired, then for the sake of resting begin repeating
-mantra. ...Tsong-ka-pa also says that in the approximation phase meditation
-is chief, mantra repetition is secondary.
- * ultimate, sound, letter, form, seal, and sign
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity Yoga In
- Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-There isn't a single one of us who has never felt hostile and angry, so we
-know about the effects of anger. Does it make us feel better or worse? It
-stirs us up, makes us miserable and destroys our tranquillity. It is quite
-easy to recognize anger as a foe and to see how it harms us because its
-destructiveness is apparent. But we find it much harder and are also
-reluctant to acknowledge the harm done by attachment because it is a foe
-masquerading as a friend. When desire or attachment first arises, it feels
-quite pleasurable but eventually it lands us in trouble. It wants to possess
-what it has fabricated and we reach out for something which, in fact, does not
-exist. Failure to get what we want frustrates us and anger quickly follows.
-The third of the poisons, confusion or ignorance, simply stimulates desire and
-anger and lies at the root of all the disturbing emotions.
- -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "Eight Verses for Training the Mind", translated
- and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The Sevenfold Cause-and-Effect Method
- If we have been reborn time after time, it is evident that we have needed
-many mothers to give birth to us. ...the first cause bringing about
-bodhicitta is the recognition that all beings have been our mother.
- The love and kindness shown us by our mother in this life would be
-difficult to repay. She endured many sleepless nights to care for us when we
-were helpless infants. She fed us and would have willingly sacrificed
-everything, including her own life, to spare ours. As we contemplate her
-example of devoted love, we should consider that each and every being
-throughout existence has treated us this way. Each dog, cat, fish, fly, and
-human being has at some point in the beginningless past been our mother and
-shown us overwhelming love and kindness. Such a thought should bring about
-our appreciation. This is the second cause of bodhicitta.
- As we envision the present condition of all these beings, we begin to
-develop the desire to help them change their lot. This is the third cause,
-and out of it comes the fourth, a feeling of love cherishing all beings. This
-is an attraction toward all beings, similar to what a child feels upon seeing
-his or her mother. This leads us to compassion, which is the fifth cause of
-bodhicitta. Compassion is a wish to separate these suffering beings, our
-mothers of the past, from their miserable situation. At this point we also
-experience loving-kindness, a wish that all beings find happiness. As we
-progress through these stages of responsibility, we go from wishing that all
-sentient beings find happiness and freedom from suffering to personally
-assuming responsibility for helping them enter this state beyond misery. This
-is the final cause. As we scrutinize how best to help others, we are drawn to
-achieving the fully enlightened and omniscient state of Buddhahood.
- -- The Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life",
- edited by Nicholas Vreeland
-~
-Among the seven branches [qualities of Buddhahood]--complete enjoyment,
-union, great bliss, non-inherent existence, compassion, uninterrupted
-continuity, and non-cessation--three are found only in tantra--complete
-enjoyment, union, and great bliss--and the other four are common to both
-sutra and tantra, although non-inherent existence can also be put in the group
-specific to tantra when it is considered as the object ascertained by a bliss
-consciousness.... In Yoga Tantras the bliss arising from holding hands or
-embracing is used in the path; in Performance Tantras, from laughing; and in
-Action Tantras, from looking. The four tantras are similar in that they all
-use desire for the attributes of the desire realm on the path.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- How then does the mistaken idea, that things exist from their own side,
-operate? Whatever appears to the mind appears as if it existed truly from its
-own side. ...Now if the object existed as it appears to you, then, when you
-searched for it, you could actually find a real [object]. So, we must ask
-ourselves whether or not this object, when searched for, is to be found or
-not. If the object is not found when it is searched for, we must conclude
-that it does not exist from its own side, that when the label is applied to
-its basis, it is not so labeled because the basis somehow bears within it
-something which is the object. At this point, one must conclude that the
-object does not exist as it appears to, but then, one may wonder whether it
-exists at all.
- Things, however, are not utterly non-existent. They do exist nominally.
-So things do exist, but they do not exist from the side of the basis of the
-label. And hence, though they do exist, because they do not exist within the
-object itself, they must exist only as they are labeled by the subject (the
-conceptual mind, for example). There is no other way for the object to exist
-apart from the way it is posited by conceptual thought. This is then what we
-mean when we say that all phenomena are merely labeled by conceptual thought.
-However, things do not appear to us as if they were mere conceptually labeled
-entities. Instead, they appear as if they existed from their own side.
-Therefore, it is a mistake to think that things exist as they appear.
- -- The Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists", edited
- by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Meditation is hard work, but it is also the most rewarding thing we can do
-with our time. As we begin to see the mechanisms we previously took for
-granted and start to understand them, the knots inside our minds begin to
-loosen. We feel a tremendous sense of freedom, space and release inside us.
-As we begin to understand our warped thinking patterns and our neuroses, we
-see them directly. We begin to develop compassion for ourselves, for our pain
-and confusion. Now that we start to look with clarity, we can see the pain
-and confusion in the eyes of other people, and we naturally develop compassion
-for them. It doesn't matter how outwardly successful people may appear, we
-can see their pain when we look into their eyes. It is very rare to come
-across people whose eyes are truly sparkling with joy.
- -- Tenzin Palmo, "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical
- Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...recognizing that we have certain obligations, and recognizing at the
-same time that spiritual practice is the core of a meaningful life, what do we
-do? There really is an answer. It is not easy, but it is tremendously
-fruitful, and it keeps on opening and opening further: transform those actions
-that are already obligations by applying Dharma to them.
- Take eating, for instance. We have to do it two or three times a day, but
-we don't have to wolf down the food. There is no one who cannot sit and pause
-first for thirty seconds. Even fast-food is worth the thirty seconds it takes
-to recognize the immense number of beings who have provided us with this food.
-Pausing like this ties us into the community of life, at least on planet
-earth, as we recognize that we are indebted to others. We have received, and
-as we take the food, let us do it with the aspiration, "May this be returned.
-May I use my abilities to the fullest to serve those who have served me." And
-that includes everyone, directly or indirectly. The service may occur on a
-very mundane level, but insofar as we mature spiritually, our responsibility
-increases according to our abilities. Not because someone tells us, "Now you
-have to do this," but simply as we gain insight into the nature and sources of
-suffering and of contentment, then we have something all the more valuable to
-offer others.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
- Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The Paramita of Meditative Concentration
- It is said in the Teachings that without taking up the Paramita of
-Meditative Concentration, it would be impossible to realize the nature of
-mind. We should think of meditative concentration as the practice that brings
-stability to our minds, and creates the good conditions to practice unfocused
-meditation--in other words, resting in the uncontrived natural state.
- If we make a quick examination of our own mind, we can see the reason this
-kind of stability is so crucial. Although physics has observed light to be
-the fastest traveling phenomenon known to man, actually the speed at which our
-minds travel is even faster. We can circle the globe in a matter of seconds,
-and our minds generate doubts, emotions, and conceptual thoughts at a speed
-that defies that of all other phenomena. Because we lack basic mental
-stability, conceptual thoughts arise endlessly. So, if our goal is to realize
-the nature of mind, we first have to learn to still our minds, and free
-ourselves from distraction. The method for quieting the mind is called
-"meditative concentration." Once we have gained some initial mind stability,
-it is even more important that we continue our training so that this stability
-will increase. Without such stability, it is impossible for us to
-successfully learn to abide in the uncontrived view.
- -- Anyen Rinpoche, "The Union of Dzogchen and Bodhichitta", translated
- by Allison Graboski, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-5. Your present naked awareness
-
-How amazing!
-
-Your present, naked awareness--
-Unspoiled by thoughts of past, present, or future,
-Not fettered by mind grasping to so-called "meditation"
-Nor falling into a pervasive blankness of so-called "non-meditation"--
-The natural state nakedly sustained,
-Is the practice of Great Perfection.
-
-Regardless of what thoughts arise during that practice,
-To reject negative ones or foster positive ones is unnecessary.
-Mere recognition liberates them in their own ground.
-Take this liberation upon arising as the path's key point.
-
-Destroy whatever meditative experiences arise, and relax.
-A tantric practitioner without fixation is deeply content.
-You've reached your goal of contentment right now.
-What is the use of numerous enumerations of Buddha's teachings
-When you discover Buddha Kuntu Zangpo within yourself?
-Keep the meaning of these words close to your heart.
- -- Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart
- Advice", translated by Ron Garry, a Tsadra Foundation Series book
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The Buddhist view is that in the external world there are some elements
-that are material, and some that are nonmaterial. And the fundamental
-substance, the stuff from which the material universe arises, is known as
-space particles. A portion of space is quantized, to use a modern term; it is
-particulate, not continuous. Before the formation of the physical universe as
-we know it, there was only space, but it was quantized. And it was from the
-quanta, or particles, in space that the other elements arose. This accounts
-for the physical universe.
- But what brought about that process? How did it happen? It is believed
-that there existed other conditions, or other influences, which were
-nonmaterial, and these were of the nature of awareness. The actions of
-sentient beings in the preceding universe somehow modify, or influence, the
-formation of the natural universe.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
- with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
- Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...meditation on emptiness begins with gaining a sense of the inherent
-existence of which phenomena are empty, for without understanding what is
-negated, you cannot understand its absence, emptiness.
- ...Through carefully watching how you conceive your self, or "I," to be
-inherently established, you will determine that the "I" appears to be self-
-instituting without depending on the collection of the mental and physical
-aggregates, which are its basis of designation, or without depending on any of
-them individually, even though the "I" appears with those aggregates. Proper
-identification of this appearance is the first essential toward realizing
-selflessness--ascertaining the object of negation.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra:
- Paths to Magical Feats", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- At the moment the world's spiritual traditions have greatly degenerated.
-It is very important in such times that the practitioners themselves make
-especially strong efforts to gain realization. To permit the lineages of
-transmission to disappear is to allow the world to plunge into darkness. The
-great Vasubandhu wrote, "Buddha, who is like the eye of the world, is no
-longer to be seen. His great successors, who realized the most profound
-teachings, also have passed away. Who equals them?" It might be asked, who
-is there today to equal the master Vasubandhu? Who practices as well as did
-Milarepa? Such people are rare. We should remember that everything but
-Dharma is useless at death, and instead of wasting our lives on meaningless
-activities, we should blend our mindstreams with the teachings and with
-practice. Doing so benefits us as individuals and benefits the world by
-strengthening its spiritual basis.
- Each of us has to be able to feel the pride that we ourselves can reach
-perfection, we ourselves can attain enlightenment. When even one person
-indulges in spiritual practice, it gives encouragement to the guardian spirits
-of the land, and to the celestial deities who have sworn to uphold goodness.
-These forces then have the ability to release waves of beneficial effects upon
-humanity. Thus our practice has many direct and indirect benefits. ...If we
-practice the teachings and live the ways of Dharma, all the natural forces of
-goodness will be behind us.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
- by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Karmic potentials give rise to a broad array of impulses that affect our
-lives. Collective karmic potentials from previous actions of a huge number of
-beings--including ourselves--give rise, for example, to the impulse for a
-universe to evolve with specific environments and life forms into which we and
-these beings subsequently take rebirth. These collective potentials also give
-rise to the impulses that drive the physical and biological laws that govern
-that universe--ranging from the weather patterns of its planets to the life-
-cycle habits of each species on them. They also account for the impulses
-behind the instinctive daily behavior characteristic of each life form.
- -- Alexander Berzin, "Taking the Kalachakra Initiation", published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- Once the body, channels, and wind are balanced, the next step is to keep
-your mind in the natural state through meditation. By simply maintaining the
-mind as it is, without adding or subtracting anything, one will reach the
-inner nature, which is unchanging and indestructible.
- The instructions for this type of meditation are very simple. One begins
-by sitting with good posture on a cushion, because it is important to stay
-straight. Then, one simply maintains the natural clarity of the mind, without
-analyzing one's experiences or being disturbed by thoughts. In the dzogchen
-style of meditation, there is actually nothing to do except relax in the
-mind's nature of clarity and emptiness. Inner awareness is different than
-external awareness; it is called clear-light emptiness. It is helpful to use
-the sky as an analogy for the true nature of the mind--when you let your mind
-mingle with the open space of the sky, you do not need any particular focus.
-Simply maintain the mind naturally, without discrimination or judgments, and
-experience its nature as being spacious as the sky.
- -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
- "Opening the Door to Our Primordial Nature", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Three things in human life are important.
-The first is to be kind.
-The second is to be kind.
-And the third is to be kind.
- -- Henry James
-~
- Question: A person, particularly in the West, must have the foundation of
-humility, honesty and an ethical way of life. Once one has this foundation,
-what else does Your Holiness suggest that one cultivate in one's life, if
-there is the foundation of virtue, ethics and humility?
- DL: The next thing to be cultivated is mental stabilization. Ethics is a
-method to control oneself--it is a defensive action. Our actual enemy, you
-see, is within ourselves. The afflicted emotions (pride, anger, jealousy) are
-our real enemies. These are the real trouble makers, and they are to be found
-within ourselves. The actual practice of religion consists of fighting
-against these inner enemies.
- As in any war, first we must have a defensive action, and in our spiritual
-fight against the negative emotions, ethics is our defense. Knowing that at
-first one is not fully prepared for offensive action, we first resort to
-defensive action and that means ethics. But once one has prepared one's
-defenses, and has become somewhat accustomed to ethics, then one must launch
-one's offensive. Here our main weapon is wisdom. This weapon of wisdom is
-like a bullet, or maybe even a rocket, and the rocket launcher is mental
-stabilization or calm abiding. In brief, once you have a basis in morality or
-ethics, the next step is to train in mental stabilization and eventually in
-wisdom.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology
- of Writings", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Forword by Sen.
- Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- 4. The power of abandonment. In this practice what is being abandoned is
-self-grasping. We are reminded again that since beginningless time beyond all
-imagination, self-grasping has lain at the very core of all mental distortions
-and afflictions. It has brought us to unfavorable rebirths and is responsible
-for all the undesirable circumstances that we encounter. It is self-
-centeredness that obstructs realization and prevents us from deriving the full
-benefit from our spiritual practice. Recognize when self-grasping manifests
-in daily life. It is important to notice it especially at times of passion,
-when we are aroused or irritated, and try not to succumb to it for even a
-moment.
- To be free of self-centeredness continuously for a whole year may be
-difficult, but [rejecting it for] a moment is easy. ...the more of these
-moments we can saturate with the cherishing of others, the more we are molding
-ourselves into the bodhisattvas that we will become.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
- Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- As a friend, my request and wish is that... you try to promote a sense of
-brotherhood and sisterhood. We must promote compassion and love; this is our
-real duty. Government has too much business to have time for these things.
-As private persons we have more time to think along these lines--how to make a
-contribution to human society by promoting the development of compassion and a
-real sense of community.
- ...If someone who easily gets angry tries to control his or her anger, in
-time it can be controlled. The same is true for a selfish person; first that
-person must realize the faults of a selfish motivation and the benefit in
-being less selfish. Having realized this, one trains in it, trying to control
-the bad side and develop the good. As time goes by, such practice can be
-effective. This is the only alternative.
- Without love, human society is in a very difficult state; without love,
-in the future we will face tremendous problems. Love is the center of human
-life.
- -- His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness, Clarity & Insight", published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Love and Attachment
-
-People often wonder how to reconcile the Buddha's teachings on non-attachment
-with those on love. How can we love others without being attached to them?
-Non-attachment is a balanced state of mind in which we cease overestimating
-others' qualities. By having a more accurate view of others, our unrealistic
-expectations fall away, as does our clinging. This leaves us open to loving
-others for who they are, instead of for what they do for us. Our hearts can
-open to care for everyone impartially, wishing everyone to be happy simply
-because he or she is a living being. The feeling of warmth that was
-previously reserved for a select few can now be expanded to a great number
-of people.
- -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-According to some scientists, emotion is not necessarily negative. Emotion
-is a very strong feeling. While some emotions are destructive, others are
-constructive. In a meeting with scientists, we concluded that there are
-emotions even in the Buddha's mind. There is a strong sense of caring and
-compassion and also the realization of emptiness. In the beginning, there is
-just a vague feeling of emptiness. At that level, there is no emotion, but
-once you become more familiar with it, then that feeling increases. At a
-certain level, the realization of emptiness also becomes a kind of emotion.
-Therefore, in the practice of developing wisdom and loving-kindness
-/ compassion, you strengthen these inner qualities and then reach a state
-where you have an upsurge of feeling called emotion. We can clearly see
-this link between intellect and emotions. Thus, the brain and heart can go
-side by side. I think this is the Buddhist approach.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections and
- Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh
-~
-Both mindfulness and discriminative alertness are needed in responding to
-sensory input of the three types--attractive, unattractive and neutral.
-Once again, in this tradition mindfulness does not mean simply to witness.
-It is a more discriminative kind of thing. You are asking yourself, "What
-is my response?" and then actively responding by applying the antidotes to
-attachment and hostility. The word mindfulness is a little bit different in
-different contexts. Here, Mindfulness refers to the mental faculty of being
-able to maintain continuity of awareness of an object. Vigilance is concerned
-with the quality of mind, watching to see, for example, if the mind is veering
-off to other objects.
- -- Gen Lamrimpa (Ven. Jampal Tenzin, "Calming the Mind: Tibetan Buddhist
- Teachings on Cultivating Meditative Quiescence", translated by B. Alan
- Wallace, edited by Hart Sprager, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- When we say that the ignorant mind is perverse or wrong, we are talking
-about the way it misconceives reality. Now the pertinent questions are: What
-is reality? How is this mind mistaken about reality? And in what way does
-the mind wrongly apprehend reality? Reality or emptiness of true existence is
-something that can be established logically. There are sound, or perfect,
-reasons to prove the emptiness of inherent existence, and we can gain
-conviction in these reasons. On the other hand, there is no logical way to
-prove true existence. True existence is what appears to an ordinary,
-untrained consciousness. But when it comes under logical scrutiny, true
-existence cannot be found. Even in our everyday life we often find
-contradictions between the way certain things appear and their actual mode of
-existence; that is, the way things actually exist is different from the way
-they appear to exist.
- ...Our perception of impermanent things like mountain ranges and houses
-does not conform to their actual mode of existence. Some of these things have
-existed for many centuries, even thousands of years. And our minds perceive
-them in just that way--as lasting and permanent, impervious to momentary
-change. Yet when we examine these objects on an atomic level, they
-disintegrate every moment; they undergo momentary change. Science also
-describes a similar pattern of change. These objects appear solid, stable,
-and lasting, but in their true nature, they constantly change, not keeping
-still even for a moment.
- -- The Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Lobsang
- Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-If there is someone who always harms us, and we discover that this person
-lives in our own house, we think, "This is too much!" Once we figure out
-that he is causing all our hardships, we kick him out; we do not see it as a
-laughing matter at all. Here, it is worse: we have been wandering in the six
-realms of cyclic existence since beginningless time, undergoing great pain and
-confusion. What is the main cause of all this? Self-centeredness and its
-basis, self-grasping ignorance. These two are right inside us, in our own
-mindstream. How can we continue to tolerate that? It is just too much! We
-definitely must evict these sources of harm. When we know the antidotes to
-them, we will use them, just as we would go to any length to evict a
-troublemaker from our home. With strong determination, we will find out what
-harms self-centeredness and self-grasping and then go ahead and destroy them.
- -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
- Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
- Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of
-policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.
- -- Edward Abbey
-~
-There are many types of meditative stabilisation, but let us explain calm
-abiding (samatha) here. The nature of calm abiding is the one-pointed abiding
-on any object without distraction of a mind conjoined with a bliss of physical
-and mental pliancy. If it is supplemented with taking refuge, it is a
-Buddhist practice; and if it is supplemented with an aspiration to highest
-enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, it is a Mahayana practice.
-Its merits are that, if one has achieved calm abiding, one's mind and body are
-pervaded by joy and bliss; one can--through the power of its mental and
-physical pliancy--set the mind on any virtuous object one chooses; and many
-special qualities such as clairvoyance and emanations are attained.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
- Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-45
- Apart from the perfection of wisdom,
- All virtuous practices such as
- The perfection of giving are described
- As skillful means by the Victorious Ones.
-
-The first five perfections--giving, ethical discipline, patience, enthusiastic
-effort and concentration--as well as meditation on impermanence, on the
-connection between actions and their effects and the cultivation of
-compassion, love and the altruistic intention are all skillful means. In fact
-all positive practices which do not constitute the cultivation of wisdom fall
-into the category of skillful means.
-
-46
- Whoever, under the influence of familiarity
- With skillful means, cultivates wisdom
- Will quickly attain enlightenment--
- Not just by meditating on selflessness.
-
-When stability in practices which develop skillful means has been gained, the
-Bodhisattva meditates on the selflessness of persons and other phenomena and
-thereby overcomes clinging to their true existence. This leads swiftly to
-enlightenment. If we confine our efforts only to understanding reality, our
-understanding lacks the power to destroy all the obstructions that prevent
-omniscience and we may remain locked in a state of solitary peace.
-Cultivation of skillful means prevents this and adds such power to our
-understanding of reality that, like a blazing fire, it consumes all
-obstructions.
-
- -- "Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment", commentary by Geshe Sonam
- Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-As I grow to understand life less and less,
-I learn to love it more and more.
- -- Jules Renard
-~
-The environment where you are doing the meditation should be properly cleaned.
-While cleaning, you should cultivate the motivation that since you are engaged
-in the task of accumulating great stores of merit by inviting the hosts of
-buddhas and bodhisattvas to this environment, it is important to have a clean
-place. You should see that all the external dirt and dust around you is
-basically a manifestation of the faults and stains within your own mind. You
-should see that the most important aim is to purge these stains and faults
-from within your mind. Therefore, as you cleanse the environment, think that
-you are also purifying your mind. Develop the very strong thought that by
-cleaning this place you are inviting the host of buddhas and bodhisattvas who
-are the most supreme merit field, and that you will subsequently engage in a
-path that will enable you to purge your mind of the stains of delusions.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, "Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide to
- Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, edited by
- Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The entire environment we perceive around us arises, in part, in
-dependence upon our sense faculties. The environment we experience does not
-truly exist "out there." Sight is dependent upon visual faculties, hearing
-is dependent upon auditory faculties, and tactile sensations depend on nerve
-endings. Psychologically, all that we experience is dependent upon ourselves.
-We do not experience anything purely objectively. The arising and perceiving
-of experience is co-emergent between ourselves and the world around us. Yet,
-the deep belief persists that the world really exists "out there" now and eons
-before we were born.
- The Buddhist hypothesis extends beyond the psychological. The Buddhist
-hypothesis is this: that which is perceived arises in dependence upon the
-perception of it. Things are empty of independent, inherent existence. What
-appears to exist "out there" is empty of objective existence from its own
-side. This does not mean that nothing exists apart from our perceptions.
-Rather, it means that by probing the nature of existence of anything we
-experience perceptually or conceptually, we find that nothing exists by its
-own independent nature. Another way of phrasing this is that appearance
-extends all the way down to the root and there is nothing beyond the
-appearances. Appearances extend down to quarks; nothing is there purely
-objectively and nothing is there purely subjectively. This is the Buddhist
-hypothesis.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Seven-Point Mind-
- Training" , edited by Lynn Quirolo, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- I consider it very important for religion to have an influence on
-politicians. Politicians need religion much more than pious people who have
-withdrawn from the world need it. There is a constant increase in the
-scandals in politics and business that can be traced back to the lack of self-
-discipline on the part of the responsible parties. In India, the minister-
-president of West Bengal once said to me with what he considered a humble
-attitude that he was a politician and not a religious person. I responded to
-him: politicians need religion more than anyone else.
- When hermits in solitude are bad persons, the result is that they harm
-themselves alone and no one else. But when such influential people as
-politicians are full of bad intentions, they can bring misfortune to many.
-This is why religion, as continuous work on our inner maturity, is important
-for political rulers.
- A politician must have moral principles. I am convinced of this. Seen in
-this light, politics and religion belong together. In the United States,
-church and state may be separate, but when the president takes office, he
-makes a vow in the name of God with his hand on the Bible. This means that
-God should be the witness that the president will conscientiously fulfill his
-official duties.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Felizitas Von Schonborn, "Path of Wisdom,
- Path of Peace: A Personal Conversation", Foreword by Wei Jingsheng
-~
-...many people, critical of Dzogchen, question why we need to practice at all
-if, as according to Dzogchen, the primordial state is already the enlightened
-state. If our true nature is already Buddhahood, what is the need to
-cultivate enlightenment? We cannot side-step these criticisms since,
-according to Dzogchen, Buddhahood is indeed our natural state; we do not
-create it, but simply discover it through our meditation. But if we simply
-agree with our critics, this would mean there is no need to practice. These
-are important things to think about. We must answer that although the natural
-state of the mind is primordially pure, there are two ways of being pure.
-Defilements, or obscurations, are not in the nature of the mind (sems nyid)
-but in the moving mind (sems), so they can be purified. It is as in the
-Tibetan story of the old beggar woman who slept on a pillow of gold every
-night: she was rich, but since she did not appreciate the value of gold, she
-thought she was poor. In the same way, the primordial purity of our mind is
-of no use to us if we are not aware of it and do not integrate it with our
-moving mind. If we realize our innate purity but only integrate with it from
-time to time, we are not totally realized. Being in total integration all the
-time is final realization. But many people prefer thinking and speaking about
-integration to actualizing it.
- -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of
- Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet", Foreword by H.H. the
- Dalai Lama, edited by Andrew Lukianowicz, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-External disarmament is very, very important. Already, there is some
-movement. My dream is that one day the whole world will be demilitarized, but
-we cannot achieve this overnight. Also, we cannot achieve it without a
-proper, systematic plan; however, it is important to make the target clear.
-Even though it may take one hundred years, or fifty years, that doesn't
-matter. Establish a clear idea or clear target; then try to achieve it step
-by step. As a first step, we have already started with the elimination of
-antipersonnel mines and biological weapons. Also, we are already reducing
-nuclear weapons; eventually, there should be a total ban on nuclear weapons.
-This is now foreseeable; the idea of its possibility is approaching. These
-are great, hopeful signs.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates
- Discuss Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", edited by Jeffrey
- Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Bare awareness is not easy to develop and maintain because of the mind's
-disposition to be constantly preoccupied by thoughts. We easily lose
-attention because our mind is so busy. When we do, our emotional life can
-creep up on us and take us over. Without mindfulness, the capacity to
-maintain attention, disidentification is very difficult, and bare awareness
-even more so. Through meditation it is possible to cultivate a quiet,
-unintrusive awareness that greatly strengthens our capacity to remain with our
-feelings. We simply allow their presence without judging them, or needing to
-make them different.
- The early stage of meditation focuses attention and cultivates
-mindfulness. Mindfulness is our capacity to watch and remain conscious as
-emotions, feelings, and thoughts arise. We may begin in meditation by
-observing the breath and gradually quietening the mind from the constant
-discursive chatter that interrupts our attention. In time a quality of bare
-awareness is established free from the conceptual confusion that discriminates
-and evaluates what arises and parcels it up in conceptual boxes of good or
-bad. Furthermore, this quiet awareness does not become pulled into the
-contents of mental activity and drown in their confusion.
- -- Rob Preece, "The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra", Foreword by Stephen
- Batchelor, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- In the realm of matter, one and the same object can serve as a cause of
-happiness for some living beings, and a cause of suffering for others.
-Certain plants, for example, function as medicine for some creatures, but for
-other species they can be poisonous. From the point of view of the object
-itself there is no difference, but because of the physical constitution and
-the material state of the particular living being, that single self-same
-object can affect them in different ways. Then, in the sphere of our own
-experiences, the same holds true. A certain individual may appear to some as
-very friendly, kind and gentle, and so gives them feelings of happiness and
-pleasure. Yet to others that same person can appear harmful and wicked, and
-so cause them discomfort and unhappiness.
- What this kind of example points to is that, although external matter
-may act as a cause for our experience of pain and pleasure, the principal
-cause that determines whether we experience happiness or suffering lies
-within. This is the reason why, when Buddha identified the origin of
-suffering, he pointed within and not outside, because he knew that the
-principal causes of our suffering are our own negative emotions and the
-actions they drive us to do.
- -- H.H. The Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
- Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron,
- Foreword by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-When you have many excuses not to do your work, ask yourself what guarantee
-you have of another chance to do what needs to be done. Time lost is lost for
-good. No matter how much you promise to improve, no matter what good
-intentions you have for making it up, the time is gone for good. Feeling
-sorry about the situation will not bring it back. You can never buy back that
-precious piece of time. You may think, "Well, that piece of time has passed,
-but I still have a long stretch of time left." No, you do not! What guarantee
-is there that you will have another piece of time like this one? Wake up and
-stop the excuses; they never made sense before and do not make sense now.
-Laziness and procrastination have never worked in a sound and helpful way. It
-is only sound and helpful to get things moving.
- -- Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, "Dharma Paths", translated by Ngodup Burkhar
- and Chojor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- Any sense of conceit or self-importance gets in the way of cultivating the
-genuine altruistic intention, and the most effective remedy against this is
-the cultivation of humility.
- I can tell you a more recent story to illustrate this point. The great
-nineteenth-century Tibetan Dzokchen meditator Dza Patrul Rinpoche always
-maintained a demeanour of true humility. At one time, when he was giving a
-series of teachings to a large crowd of students, he experienced a forceful
-yearning for solitude. So one day he quietly left his residence and
-disappeared, dressed like an ordinary pilgrim and carrying a walking staff and
-very little else. When he reached a nomadic camp he sought shelter for a few
-days with one of the families. While he was staying with them, his hostess
-asked him to read some texts and, since he looked just like an ordinary
-pilgrim, in return for his food and lodging she asked him to help with the
-household chores, which included the disposal of the contents of her chamber
-pot.
- One day, while he was away from the camp attending to this task, some of
-his well-dressed monk students came looking for him. When his hostess heard
-their description of him, she suddenly realised this was the same person she
-had asked to throw away the contents of her chamber pot. (It is said she was
-so embarrassed that she just ran away!) Such was the humility of this great
-teacher, who had many thousands of students.
- ...great practitioners of the altruistic intention also possess a
-tremendous courage grounded in real inner strength.... This combination of a
-total lack of conceit yet possessing great depth of courage is what is
-required in a true practitioner of bodhicitta, the altruistic mind of
-awakening.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Rejoicing in the actions of others is the major antidote to jealousy. When
-we admire the virtuous deeds of ourselves and of others, a great increase of
-merit is created. Jealousy is very harmful, and must be destroyed by
-rejoicing. If we rejoice in the virtue of someone whose understanding is less
-than our own, we gain greater merit than that person. If we rejoice in the
-merit of someone with understanding equal to ours, we gain equal merit. If we
-rejoice in the realization or virtue of someone more highly realized than we
-are, we accumulate some fraction of the merit that they do. We must rejoice
-in virtue because we have taken bodhisattva vows. If other beings practice
-well it helps us; therefore we should rejoice in their positive actions. This
-is the easiest way to accumulate merit with little hardship. With consistent
-effort the practice of rejoicing becomes very powerful and is greatly praised
-by many masters.
- -- Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, "Chod on the Ganden Tradition: the Oral
- Instructions of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche", edited by David Molk, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint,"
-then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
- -- Vincent Van Gogh
-~
- ...there are various factors that contribute to attaining that level of
-joy and happiness which we conventionally also recognize as sources of
-happiness, such as good physical health, ...the wealth that we accumulate,
-...and a circle of friends we trust and with whom we can relate emotionally.
- Now all of these are, in reality, sources of happiness, but in order for
-one to be able to fully utilize them with the goal of enjoying a happy and
-fulfilled life, one's state of mind is crucial. If one harbors hateful
-thoughts within, or strong or intense anger somewhere deep down, then it ruins
-one's health, so it destroys one of the factors. Even if one has wonderful
-possessions, when one is in an intense moment of anger or hatred, one feels
-like throwing them--breaking them or throwing them away. So there is no
-guarantee that wealth alone can give one the joy or fulfillment that one
-seeks. Similarly, when one is in an intense state of anger or hatred, even
-a very close friend appears somehow "frosty," cold and distant, or quite
-annoying.
- What this indicates is that our state of mind is crucial in determining
-whether or not we gain joy and happiness. So leaving aside the perspective of
-Dharma practice, even in worldly terms, in terms of our enjoying a happy day-
-to-day existence, the greater the level of calmness of our mind, the greater
-our peace of mind, and the greater our ability to enjoy a happy and joyful
-life.
- -- The Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist
- Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
-Question: Is there a buildup of awareness that happens by the practice of
- recognizing or looking for your own basic nature so that, over time, it
- dispels the fear of these emotions?
-
-Rinpoche: Yes, awareness is developed through the discipline of meditation.
- Beginning with shamatha meditation, we develop lots of awareness and
- mindfulness on the path. Then, in Mahamudra and Dzogchen, we emphasize a
- different aspect of mindfulness and awareness. Mindfulness and awareness
- come from the discipline of meditation, which continues in our everyday
- life. Therefore, formal sitting practice is very important for us. For
- that reason, many teachers tell us to sit at least 10-15 minutes every day.
- That helps us to generate this continuity of awareness in our everyday life.
- There is no easy solution for manifesting awareness or mindfulness in our
- everyday life without some discipline in practice. The only problem is
- that when a student hears a teacher say that they must sit every day,
- that's the time students usually begin to change their guru!
-
- -- Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of
- Samantabhadra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-We ordinary individuals share the characteristic of having our attempts to
-gain happiness thwarted by our own destructive self-centeredness. It is
-unsuitable to keep holding onto the self-centered attitude while ignoring
-others. If two friends find themselves floundering in a muddy swamp they
-should not ridicule each other, but combine their energies to get out. Both
-ourselves and others are in the same position of wanting happiness and not
-wanting suffering, but we are entangled in a web of ignorance that prevents us
-from achieving those goals. Far from regarding it as an "every man for
-himself" situation, we should meditate upon the equality of self and others
-and the need to be helpful to other beings.
- -- Ven. Lobsang Gyatso, "Bodhicitta: Cultivating the Compassionate Mind of
- Enlightenment", translated by Ven. Sherab Gyatso, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-Dalai Lama: "In the traditional [Tibetan] society, most people automatically
-did the types of work their families did--nomads, farmers, merchants, and so
-on. But some people still engaged in work that was not in keeping with the
-principle of nonharm, because there are butchers, metal smiths who make
-swords, and so on. But these kinds of work were also generally hereditary."
-
-Howard Cutler: "Speaking of work and the implementation of the concept of
-nonharm, ...you mentioned that there was a rule in Tibet that any new
-invention had to guarantee that it was beneficial or at least not harmful for
-at least seven generations."
-
-DL: "...there do seem to be certain practices and policies that successive
-Tibetan governments adopted in Tibet that reflect putting into practice
-certain Buddhist ideals, such as the Buddhist principle of respecting the
-natural world, particularly the animal world. For example, all the
-communities living near the Yamdrok Lake used to rely heavily on fishing in
-the past. Recently I heard about a policy that was adopted during the Fifth
-Dalai Lama's time where they were discouraged from fishing, and in order to
-compensate them, some other communities would band together and provide them
-an equivalent value in grain, so that they would be compensated against their
-loss. Similarly, in the area near Mount Kailash, around Lake Manasarovar
-during a particular season, a lot of waterfowl migrate there. They lay their
-eggs on the shores and apparently there was a government policy that during
-the egg-laying season, they would appoint people to watch over the eggs to
-make sure they were safe. Of course, there might be individuals who in
-addition to taking the salary probably ate some of the eggs as well. These
-things happen. But overall there is this kind of attitude of nonharm. "So,
-even though in Tibet, people didn't always follow the principle of nonharm in
-their work ...this principle was still deeply ingrained in the people. "In
-general, I think this could be applied in the West. Although not everybody
-has options about the work that they do, at least I think it is good to give
-serious thought to the kind of work one does, and the impact it has on others.
-I think it is best to choose work that does not cause harm to others, that
-does not exploit or deceive others, either directly or indirectly. I think
-that's the best way."
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art
- of Happiness at Work"
-~
- If we are feeling very nervous all the time, the first step toward doing
-something to remedy the situation is to take ourselves and the quality of our
-life seriously. Suppose we are walking down the street and we step on a bug
-and partially crush but have not actually killed it. If we continue walking
-and ignore the bug's experience of its leg being crushed or severed, we do so
-because we do not take the insect and its life seriously. We have no respect
-for it. If we treat ourselves no better than we do a bug and ignore our
-innermost pains and anguish, that is most unfortunate.
- Taking ourselves seriously means actually looking at how we are
-experiencing our life and, if there is something unsatisfactory about it,
-admitting it to ourselves. Our tension and stress do not go away by denying
-them or avoiding taking an honest look. And admitting that something is amiss
-is not the same as complaining about it and feeling sorry for ourselves. Nor
-does it imply that something is fundamentally wrong with us and we are guilty
-of being a bad person because we are nervous. Being objective, not
-melodramatic, and remaining non-judgmental are essential for any healing,
-spiritual process.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu
- Tradition of Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Wouldn't life be boring without attachment?
-
- No. In fact it's attachment that makes us restless and prevents us from
-enjoying things. For example, suppose we're attached to chocolate cake. Even
-while we're eating it, we're not tasting it and enjoying it completely. We're
-usually either criticizing ourselves for eating something fattening, comparing
-the taste of this chocolate cake to other cakes we've eaten in the past, or
-planning how to get another piece. In any case, we're not really experiencing
-the chocolate cake in the present.
- On the other hand, without attachment, we can think clearly about whether
-we want to eat the cake, and if we decide to, we can eat it peacefully,
-tasting and enjoying every bite without craving for more or being dissatisfied
-because it isn't as good as we expected. As we diminish our attachment, life
-becomes more interesting because we're able to open up to what's happening in
-each moment.
- -- Thubten Chodron, "Buddhism for Beginners", published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-My Grandmother is over eighty and still doesn't need glasses.
-Drinks right out of the bottle.
- -- Henny Youngman
-~
-We are bits of stellar matter that got cold by accident,
-bits of a star gone wrong.
- -- Sir Arthur Eddington
-~
-Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned. -- Milton Friedman
-~
-I have the worst memory ever so no matter who comes up to me--
-they're just, like, "I can't believe you don't remember me!"
-I'm like, "Oh Dad I'm sorry!"
- -- Ellen DeGeneres
-~
-Question: When a practitioner of the Great Vehicle vows not to enter into
-nirvana until all beings are liberated, how is it possible to fulfill this
-vow?
-
-Answer: Three modes of generating an altruistic intention to become
-enlightened are described--like a king, like a boatman, and like a shepherd.
-In the first, that like a king, one first seeks to attain a high state after
-which help can be given to others. In the second, like a boatman, one seeks
-to cross the river of suffering together with others. In the third, like a
-shepherd, one seeks to relieve the flock of suffering beings from pain first,
-oneself following afterward. These are indications of the style of the
-altruistic motivation for becoming enlightened; in actual fact, there is no
-way that a Bodhisattva either would want to or could delay achieving full
-enlightenment. As much as the motivation to help others increases, so much
-closer does one approach Buddhahood.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard",
- translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- A bodhisattva is someone who says from the depth of his or her heart, "I
-want to be liberated and find ways to overcome all the problems of the world.
-I want to help all my fellow beings to do likewise. I long to attain the
-highest state of everlasting peace and happiness, in which all suffering has
-ceased, and I want to do so for myself and for all sentient beings."
-According to the Buddha's teaching, anyone who makes this firm and heartfelt
-commitment is a bodhisattva. We become bodhisattvas from the moment we have
-this vast and open heart, called bodhichitta, the mind bent on bringing
-lasting happiness to all sentient beings.
- Buddhist literature defines three types of bodhisattvas: the kinglike
-bodhisattva, the captainlike bodhisattva, and the shepherdlike bodhisattva. A
-kinglike bodhisattva is like a good king who first wants everything luxurious
-for himself, like a big palace, a large entourage, a beautiful queen, and so
-on. But once his happiness has been achieved, he also wants to help and
-support his subjects as much as possible. Accordingly, a kinglike bodhisattva
-has the motivation, "First, I want to free myself from samsara and attain
-perfect enlightenment. As soon as I have reached buddhahood, I will help all
-other sentient beings to become buddhas as well."
- A captainlike bodhisattva would say, "I would like to become a buddha, and
-I will take all other sentient beings along with me so that we reach
-enlightenment together." This is just as the captain of a ship crosses the
-sea, he takes his passengers with him, and they reach the far shore
-simultaneously.
- A shepherdlike bodhisattva is inspired by thinking, "I want to help all
-sentient beings to reach enlightenment and see the truth. Only when this is
-achieved and samsara is emptied will I become a buddha myself." In actual
-fact it may not happen this way, but anyone who has this motivation is called
-a "shepherdlike bodhisattva." In the old days, sheep were not kept in fenced
-pastures, and the shepherds had to bring them down from the mountains to
-protect them from wolves. They would follow behind the sheep, guiding them
-into their pen and lock them in. A shepherd would take care of his sheep
-first, and only then would he go home and eat.
- The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara developed this shepherdlike motivation and
-is therefore considered to be the most courageous and compassionate of beings.
-He vowed, "I will not attain complete enlightenment until I have led all
-sentient beings to liberation without leaving a single one behind."
- -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three
- Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The practice of compassion begins at home. We have our parents, our
-children, and our brothers and sisters, who perhaps irritate us the most, and
-we begin our practice of loving-kindness and compassion with them. Then
-gradually we extend our compassion out into our greater community, our
-country, neighbouring countries, the world, and finally to all sentient beings
-equally without exception.
- Extending compassion in this way makes it evident that it is not very easy
-to instantly have compassion for "all sentient beings." Theoretically it may
-be comfortable to have compassion for "all sentient beings," but through our
-practice we realize that "all sentient beings" is a collection of individuals.
-When we actually try to generate compassion for each and every individual, it
-becomes much more challenging. But if we cannot work with one individual,
-then how can we work with all sentient beings? Therefore it is important for
-us to reflect more practically, to work with compassion for individuals and
-then extend that compassion further.
- -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Trainings in Compassion", translated by the
- Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-It wouldn't be bad if you didn't have statues, but it has become indispensable
-to have Buddhist texts which deal with the structured path to train our mind.
-If you have Buddhist texts, read them for yourselves and to friends who visit.
-That way you can help others to understand Buddhist ideas. For instance, it
-is interesting to read Milarepa's life story and songs. We find in them many
-enlightening lessons. Buddha's image alone will not purify us of karmic
-obscuration.... It is very important to study the scriptures. They are not
-to be just stacked up on the altar. They must be cultivated in our mind.
-...[we] take great interest in having the symbolic representations of Buddha's
-body, speech and mind. I feel it is more important to acquire and read
-scriptures, the symbolic representations of his speech. You can pay homage to
-them, you can make offerings to them; above all, you should study them.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the Dalai
- Lama XIV on the Jatakamala", translated by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by
- Dexter Roberts, Snow Lion Publications
-~
-From the Buddhist point of view, being in a depressed state, in a state of
-discouragement, is seen as a kind of extreme that can clearly be an obstacle
-to taking the steps necessary to accomplish one's goals. A state of self-
-hatred is even far more extreme than simply being discouraged, and this can be
-very, very dangerous. For those engaged in Buddhist practice, the antidote to
-self-hatred would be to reflect upon the fact that all beings, including
-oneself, have Buddha Nature--the seed or potential for perfection, full
-Enlightenment--no matter how weak or poor or deprived one's present situation
-may be. So those people involved in Buddhist practice who suffer from self-
-hatred or self-loathing should avoid contemplating the suffering nature of
-existence or the underlying unsatisfactory nature of existence, and instead
-they should concentrate more on the positive aspects of one's existence, such
-as appreciating the tremendous potential that lies within oneself as a human
-being. And by reflecting upon these opportunities and potentials, they will
-be able to increase their sense of worth and confidence in themselves.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
- Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
-~
-An instruction that matches examples and their meanings to show how the
-absolute nature permeates everything. (*SG)
-
-These various examples give a general idea of the absolute nature. (*DK)
-
-...there are four examples and their meanings. Take the example of a
-Sugata's body: whichever way one looks at it, it is beautiful. (*Z)
-
-Similarly, everything a realized being does, since it is permeated with the
-realization of the unborn nature, is bliss, for he does not have ordinary
-attachment and aversion. (*Z & SG)
-
-Whether one looks at a Sugata's face or any other part of his body, one never
-feels one has looked enough. It is an example of ultimate beauty. Similarly,
-those for whom everything is backed by the realization of the unborn nature no
-longer have ordinary attachment and aversion, and such persons can therefore
-act like enlightened beings: whatever they do is bliss. Since they have fully
-realized the absolute nature, there is no question of telling them, "This is
-the right thing to do; that is something you should not do." They have no
-concepts or limits, so they can act as they wish. Everything they do will be
-nothing but bliss. (DK)
-
-* Note:
- Z: Zurchungpa's root text
- DK: Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche's commentary
- SG: Shechen Gyaltsap's notes
-
- -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Zurchungpa's Testament: A Commentary on
- Zurchung Sherab Trakpa's Eighty Chapters of Personal Advice", translated
- by the Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
-nothing is going to get better. It's not.
- -- The Lorax, Doctor Seuss
-~
-We do what we must, and call it by the best names. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-These days an income is something you can't live without--or within.
- -- Tom Wilson
-~
-Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize
-until you have tried to make it precise.
- -- Bertrand Russell
-~
-The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.
- -- Flannery O'Connor
-~
-The initial period of deity yoga is called prior approximation because one is
-accustoming to a deity through becoming closer and closer to its state,
-whereupon the deity grants the feat, either directly or in the sense of
-bestowing a capacity to the mind. Actually effecting the achievement of feats
-is done by way of carrying out prescribed burnt offerings or repetition of
-mantra, etc., after the approximation has been completed. These feats are
-then used for the welfare of others in the third stage, which involves
-activities of (1) pacification such as overcoming plague or relieving others
-of demons, (2) increase of lifespan, intelligence, wealth, and so forth, (3)
-control of resources, persons harmful to others' welfare, etc., and (4)
-ferocity, such as expelling or confusing harmful beings.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity Yoga
- in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The bodhisattva, as the personification of individuation, discovers a unique
-capacity to awaken his or her potential to work for the welfare of others in
-whichever way most suits his or her individual disposition. When I consider
-my own teachers, one thing I particularly value is their capacity to be
-authentically themselves. They each have their unique personality and quality
-that is a genuine expression of their individuality. There is no
-contradiction between our Western need to be individuals and the Buddhist
-path. Buddhism does not demand that we become clones of some ideal. Rather,
-it asks us to respond to who we are and awaken our full potential, expressing
-it within our particular individual capacity. My Tibetan teachers have
-supremely individualistic personalities, something I love and value deeply.
-They respond to me as an individual with my own personality, which they would
-never ask me to relinquish. The fact that they were each on their own unique
-journey within the Buddhist path was, for me, a sublime example of the
-bodhisattva as an individuated person who has truly responded to the inner
-call to awaken.
- -- Rob Preece, "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of Individuation
- in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The view is to believe in and understand the buddha nature, the essence of all
-the buddhas. If one knows the buddha nature, then that is to know the
-unchanging essence which is free from any limitation, the original primordial
-nature of the mind as it is. This is not like a light bulb that suddenly
-comes on or something that is newly acquired. It is the nature as it has
-always been and always will be: primordially perfect. To recognize the buddha
-nature is the view. To fail to recognize the buddha nature is to deviate into
-confusion. If you recognize your buddha nature, this is the same as having an
-audience with all the buddhas. You will meet face to face with all your root
-teachers.
- -- Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
- translated by B. Alan Wallace and Sangye Khandro, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- ...when we ask, what is the substantial cause of the material universe way
-back in the early history of the universe, we trace it back to the space
-particles which transform into the elements of this manifest universe. And
-then we can ask whether those space particles have an ultimate beginning. The
-answer is no. They are beginningless. Where other philosophical systems
-maintain that the original cause was God, Buddha suggested the alternative
-that there aren't any ultimate causes. The world is beginningless. Then the
-question would be: Why is it beginningless? And the answer is, it is just
-nature. There is no reason. Matter is just matter.
- Now we have a problem: What accounts for the evolution of the universe as
-we know it? What accounts for the loose particles in space forming into the
-universe that is apparent to us? Why did it go through orderly processes of
-change? Buddhists would say there is a condition which makes it possible, and
-we speak of that condition as the awareness of sentient beings.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
- the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand,
- Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-Q: Certain associates can say things to me that spark an aggressive reaction.
-Why is it so easy to spark this feeling of negativity if there is not an
-accumulation of energy behind it?
-
-A: This is because of your pattern of clinging to the idea that you should
-have all the good things, and nothing that bothers you should ever happen, as
-I explained earlier. This is wishful thinking, because the nature of the
-world is not like that at all. The ego game you have planned is itself the
-explanation for how easily your anger is sparked. Because you have planned
-such a delicate, impossible game, and there are many things that can happen,
-anything that jeopardizes the plan of your ego upsets you. It is not an
-accumulation of energy but the pattern of clinging that is at fault.
-
- -- Venerable Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, "Dharma Paths", translated by Ngodup
- Burkhar and Chojor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- Suppose... you try to convert someone from another religion to the
-Buddhist religion, and you argue with them trying to convince them of the
-inferiority of their position. And suppose you do not succeed, suppose they
-do not become Buddhist. On the one hand, you have failed in your task, and on
-the other hand, you may have weakened the trust they have in their own
-religion, so that they may come to doubt their own faith. What have you
-accomplished by all this? It is of no use. When we come into contact with
-the followers of different religions, we should not argue. Instead, we should
-advise them to follow their own beliefs as sincerely and as truthfully as
-possible. For if they do so, they will no doubt reap certain benefits. Of
-this there is no doubt. Even in the immediate future, they will be able to
-achieve more happiness and more satisfaction.
- ...When I meet the followers of different religions, I always praise them,
-for it is enough, it is sufficient, that they are following the moral
-teachings that are emphasized in every religion. It is enough, as I mentioned
-earlier, that they are trying to become better human beings. This in itself
-is very good and worthy of praise.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
- edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Only a Buddha has extinguished all faults and gained all attainments.
-Therefore, one should mentally go for refuge to a Buddha, praise him with
-speech, and respect him physically. One should enter the teaching of such a
-being.
- A Buddha's abandonment of defects is of three types: good, complete, and
-irreversible. Good abandonment involves overcoming obstructions through their
-antidotes, not just through withdrawing from those activities. Complete
-abandonment is not trifling, forsaking only some afflictions or just the
-manifest afflictions, but forsaking all obstructions. Irreversible
-abandonment overcomes the seeds of afflictions and other obstructions in such
-a way that defects will never arise again, even when conditions favourable to
-them are present.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-In commenting on the first instruction spoken by Manjushri, we considered the
-question of attachment to this lifetime and the faults that come from this
-attachment. However, the question of attachment goes deeper. It is not just
-a matter of giving up attachment to this life's rewards but of losing our
-taste and affinity for the whole of worldly existence. This is why it is
-necessary to contemplate and meditate upon the faults of conditioned
-existence. Otherwise, we may imagine that samsara possesses any manner of
-attractive qualities. Pondering the shortcomings of samsara should bring
-forth in us a tangible sense of disgust, as we are confronted with our own
-misguided pursuit of worldly ends.
- -- Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, "Parting from the Four Attachments: Jetsun
- Drakpa Gyaltsen's Song of Experience on Mind Training and the View",
- commentary translated by Thubten Choedak, Root Text and Lineage Prayer
- translated by H.H. Sakya Trizin and Jay Goldberg, compiled and edited
- by John Deweese, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Another problem we face today is the gap between rich and poor. In this
-great country of America, your forefathers established the concepts of
-democracy, freedom, liberty, equality, and equal opportunity for every
-citizen. These are provided for by your wonderful Constitution. However, the
-number of billionaires in this country is increasing while the poor remain
-poor, in some cases getting even poorer. This is very unfortunate. On the
-global level as well, we see rich nations and poor ones. This is also very
-unfortunate. It is not just morally wrong, but practically it is a source of
-unrest and trouble that will eventually find its way to our door.
- ...one of my elder brothers, who is no longer alive, would tell me of his
-experiences living in America. He lived a humble life and told me of the
-troubles, the fears, the killings, theft, and rape that people endured. These
-are, I think, the result of economic inequality in society. It is only
-natural that difficulties arise if we must fight day by day in order to
-survive while another human being, equal to us, is effortlessly living a
-luxurious life. This is an unhealthy situation; as a result, even the
-wealthy--the billionaires and millionaires--remain in constant anxiety. I
-therefore think that this huge gap between rich and poor is very unfortunate.
- ...So, for those of you who are poor, those who come from difficult
-situations, I strongly urge you to work hard, with self-confidence, to make
-use of your opportunities. The richer people should be more caring toward the
-poorer ones, and the poor should make every effort, with self-confidence.
- -- The Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life",
- edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato and Richard Gere
-~
-Not to be busy
- Tibetans say that once upon a time all the yaks that live in Tibet were
-living in India as water buffalo. It was very, very hot in India so some of
-them decided if they were to keep walking to the north they would get to a
-place that would be nice and cool. So they climbed up in the mountains, and
-as they were climbing their hair started to grow. Because of this the water
-buffalo in India often turn their head and look out expectantly and they are
-waiting for their brothers who have wandered off. In a similar way at one
-time all the buffalo of samsara and nirvana were living together and one day
-some of them wandered off and came into samsara. They keep looking around to
-see who else is there and where the other half is, because the basic quality
-of our ordinary sense of self is that it is very lonely. Something is missing
-in our lives and we don't quite know what it is, but we keep looking and
-looking to find this missing part. We can look for it in terms of
-possessions, we can look for it in terms of the form of our body, trying to
-change it through dieting or hair style or whatever. You can look in terms of
-friends. Anything. And this keeps us very, very busy. Sometimes the
-busyness can be very exhausting, but when we stop then we feel lonely. So we
-get busy again. Dharma is very helpful here if you want distraction because
-there are many kinds of ways to be busy in the dharma. You can focus on
-having lots of dharma possessions. You can focus on learning the text by
-heart, on the mantras and mudras, on serving the tsog, on doing meditations.
-There is always something to be busy with.
- In Tibet many, many people practiced dharma but not so many seem to get
-enlightened. There are many kinds of dharma and if we practice in a way that
-doesn't focus on the essential point but on secondary and tertiary levels it
-is easy to get lost. It is really important, given that we have limited time,
-to focus on what is essential. Many people when they get a plate of food will
-eat the things they don't like so much first and leave the special thing to
-the end. But when when we apply this to life we can make a big mistake. The
-time for deep practice is now. You can learn all about Padmasambhava and what
-his clothes mean and what his hair style means but if you don't know the
-nature of your own mind then knowledge about Padmasambhava is just some more
-concepts.
- -- "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje entitled
- 'The Mirror of Clear Meaning' ", with commentary by James Low, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Linguistics is arguably the most hotly contested property in the academic
-realm. It is soaked with the blood of poets, theologians, philosophers,
-philologists, psychologists, biologists, anthropologists, and neurologists,
-along with whatever blood can be got out of grammarians.
- -- Russ Rymer
-~
-What is undistracted calm abiding? It is meditative absorption free of the
-six types of distraction. What are these six?
-
- (1) Inherent distraction refers to the eye consciousness and the other
-four collections of consciousness. Because they are naturally directed
-outward, they [cause one to] emerge from meditative absorption.
- (2) External distraction refers to a mental consciousness that reaches out
-towards or engages objects.
- (3) Internal distraction concerns dullness and agitation, as well as
-savoring one's meditative absorption.
- (4) The distraction of marks occurs when, trusting in meditative
-absorption, one apprehends marks of it and becomes attached.
- (5) Distraction brought about by negative tendencies is when directing the
-mind involves the apprehending of an ego. This is said to refer to the mental
-act of pridefully believing oneself to be superior to others, or [simply any
-mental act] that involves apprehending an "I".
- (6) The distraction of directing the mind occurs when one is caught up in
-the mindset of, and directs the mind in the style of, the Lesser Vehicle.
-
-The undistracted calm abiding that is determined by the elimination of
-those six is the unique calm abiding of the Great Vehicle. This is a state of
-one-pointed inner rest, a flawless calm abiding. In it, there is no
-apprehension of marks, as is the case when inner absorption alone is believed
-to bring liberation. Neither does it involve the ego apprehension that occurs
-in the concentrations of non-Buddhists. Further, one does not direct the mind
-as one would when cultivating the supports for the inferior paths [to
-liberation]. This is how the wise should understand the calm abiding of the
-Great Vehicle.
- -- "Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's 'Madhyantavibhaga' with commentaries
- by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham", translated by the Dharmachakra
- Translation Committee, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Calm abiding is predominantly stabilizing meditation, in which the mind is
-kept on a single object, rather than analytical meditation, in which a topic
-such as impermanence or emptiness is analyzed with reasoning. The purpose of
-developing calm abiding is that, since a mind that is scattered to external
-objects is relatively powerless, the mind needs to be concentrated in order to
-become powerful. If you do not have concentration in which the mind is
-unfluctuatingly stable and clear, the faculty of wisdom cannot know its
-object, just as it is, in all its subtleties. Therefore, it is necessary to
-have a highly focused mind.
- ...In order to set the mind steadily on an object of observation, it is
-necessary initially to use an object of observation suited to counteracting
-your own predominant afflictive emotion, since its force remains with your
-mind now and can easily interrupt any attempt to concentrate the mind.
-Therefore, Buddha described many types of objects for purifying behavior:
- + For someone whose predominant afflictive emotion is desire, ugliness is
-a helpful object of meditation. Here, "ugliness" does not necessarily refer
-to distorted forms; the very nature of our body--composed of blood, flesh,
-bone, and so forth--might seem superficially to be very beautiful with a good
-color, solid and yet soft to touch, but when it is investigated, you see that
-its essence is quite different--substances like bone, blood, urine, feces,
-and so forth.
- + For someone who has predominantly engaged in hatred, the object of
-meditation is love.
- + For someone who was predominantly sunk in obscuration, the meditation is
-on the twelve links of the dependent-arising of cyclic existence because
-contemplating its complexity promotes intelligence.
- + For someone whose predominant afflictive emotion is pride, the
-meditation could be on the divisions of the constituents because, when
-meditating on the many divisions, you get to the point where you realize that
-there are many things you do not know, thereby lessening an inflated sense of
-yourself.
- + Those dominated by conceptuality can observe the exhalation and
-inhalation of the breath because, by tying the mind to the breath,
-discursiveness diminishes.
- A particularly helpful object for all personality types is a Buddha body,
-since concentration on a Buddha's body causes your mind to mix with virtuous
-qualities. No matter what the object is, this is not a case of meditating
-within, looking at an external object with your eyes, but of causing an image
-of it to appear to the mental consciousness.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
- to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-...an understanding of the doctrine of emptiness is fundamental to tantric
-practice. Every sadhana begins with, is structured around, and ends with
-meditation upon emptiness. To practice Vajrayana without the wisdom of
-emptiness can be very dangerous. For example, a main tantric technique is the
-cultivation of a subtle divine pride, a confidence that one is an enlightened
-tantric deity, the Lord of the Mandala. One's mind is the Wisdom Body of a
-Buddha, one's speech is the Beatific Body, one's form is the Perfect Emanation
-Body, and the world and its inhabitants are seen as a mandala inhabited by the
-various forms of tantric deities. Thus we have to utterly change our sense of
-"I." To do so involves the subject of emptiness. To practice the yoga of
-divine pride without an understanding of emptiness will not only be useless,
-but could lead to identity problems and other undesirable psychological
-effects. Therefore it is said that although the Vajrayana is a quick path
-when correctly practiced on the proper spiritual basis, it is dangerous for
-the spiritually immature. This type of danger area is one of the reasons why
-the Vajrayana must be practiced under the supervision of a qualified vajra
-acharya.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
- by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Self-discipline brings us into relationship with one of the six
-perfections of the bodhisattva, that of enthusiastic perseverance, which
-implies the willingness to engage in a process with effort and enthusiasm over
-a prolonged period. No material or spiritual qualities are gained without
-some degree of effort. Perseverance enables the practitioner to carry on and
-trust in the process, even when it feels hopeless. It makes it possible to
-face difficulties and obstacles in the path with confidence and courage,
-rather than giving up because it feels too hard. Self-discipline helps us
-remain in the vessel and not run away.
- My Tibetan retreat guide described the maintenance of self-discipline over
-time like keeping a pot heating on a stove. If we continually remove it from
-the heat the pot never boils. Similarly he felt that when someone enters into
-the discipline of retreat, it should be maintained as rigorously as possible.
-In doing so the alchemical vessel will be maintained, and the "cooking" can
-take place. Transformation only occurs when the vessel is maintained in this
-way.
- -- Rob Preece, "The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra", foreword by Stephen
- Batchelor, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Installation programs are where programming
-and the IT department meet... and fight.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Compassion without attachment is possible. Therefore, we need to clarify the
-distinctions between compassion and attachment. True compassion is not just
-an emotional response but a firm commitment founded on reason. Because of
-this firm foundation, a truly compassionate attitude toward others does not
-change even if they behave negatively. Genuine compassion is based not on our
-own projections and expectations, but rather on the needs of the other:
-irrespective of whether another person is a close friend or an enemy, as long
-as that person wishes for peace and happiness and wishes to overcome
-suffering, then on that basis we develop genuine concern for their problem.
-This is genuine compassion. For a Buddhist practitioner, the goal is to
-develop this genuine compassion, this genuine wish for the well-being of
-another, in fact for every living being throughout the universe.
- -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
-~
- Buddha traveled and taught widely for some forty-five years after his
-enlightenment, and his audiences were diverse. Even though India at the time
-was a highly literate society, nothing of what he said was written down during
-his lifetime. Instead, various individuals were entrusted with memorizing the
-gist of each discourse. The work of transcribing his words took place only
-with the passage of generations.
- Tibetans believe that this reluctance on the part of the Buddha and his
-immediate followers to commit the enlightenment teachings to paper, and
-instead to preserve them as oral traditions, was a purposeful strategy gauged
-to maintain the maximum fluidity and living power of the enlightenment
-experience. It only became necessary to write things down when the darkness
-of the changing times threatened the very survival of the legacy. An oral
-tradition becomes lost to history should its holders pass away without first
-passing on their lineages.
- This intended fluidity, and the according safeguard against the
-establishment of an "enlightenment dogma" is perhaps best demonstrated by a
-verse that the Buddha himself said shortly before his death:
- Do not accept any of my words on faith,
- Believing them just because I said them.
- Be like an analyst buying gold, who cuts, burns,
- And critically examines his product for authenticity.
- Only accept what passes the test
- By proving useful and beneficial in your life.
- This simple statement empowered future generations of Buddhist teachers to
-accept and reject at will anything said by Buddha himself as well by his early
-disciples. If something that was said by them did not pass the test of
-personal analysis, one could simply discard it as being limited in application
-to particular times, people, or situations, and therefore as only contextually
-valid.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lamas on Tantra", translated, edited and
- introduced by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Many places have been totally changed through the use of police force and
-the power of guns--the Soviet Union, China, Burma, the Philippines, many
-communist countries, countries in Africa and South America. But eventually,
-you see, the power of guns and the power of the will of ordinary human beings
-will change places. I am always telling people that our century is very
-important historically for the planet. There is a big competition between
-world peace and world war, between the force of mind and the force of
-materialism, between democracy and totalitarianism. And now within this
-century, the force of peace is gaining the upper hand. Still, of course, the
-material force is very strong, but there is a kind of dissatisfaction about
-materialism and a realization or feeling that something is missing.
- ...entering the twenty-first century, I think the basic concerns are human
-values and the value of truth. These things have more value, more weight now.
- -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
- About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword by
- Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-An inexpressible, self-arisen expanse
-Without the names "samsara" and "nirvana."
-
- Here, "self-arisen" means the primordial state. It is not something we
-can fully express with words or concepts. It's beyond words or concepts. The
-nature of all is not biased; it is not restricted to one or another. The
-nature of all exists in one identical state. That ground, that nature, does
-not have any name such as samsara or nirvana. That is the foundation, that is
-the ground. It is beyond samsara and nirvana. Not knowing the ground means
-wandering in samsara. If you recognize this ground, if you truly experience
-this ground, buddhahood is attained. That is the fruition. That is the
-result of our practice and our path.
- ...The ground, that fundamental state of simplicity, is the origin of all
-elaborations. This pure basic state is like a simple artist's canvas. We
-paint different images on this canvas. We can paint the image of a buddha,
-and it becomes very pure, beautiful, and inspiring to look at. We can also
-paint a devil on the same canvas, which can create our fundamental suffering,
-our basic pain. However, the basis of both is the same simple state of canvas
-that is completely pure and totally free from the images we project on it. It
-is totally free, whether that image is a buddha or a devil. That is the
-origin.
- -- The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of
- Samantabhadra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.
- -- Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh
-~
-Setting a Specific Intention for Our Practice
- We should think about how we can make the best use of our practice so that
-we get the most out of it in the short time we have in this life. We do not
-have the leisure of wasting our time here by delaying the benefits of our
-practice. We have to use these situations as effectively as we can.
- Before you begin any practice, first think very carefully about your
-motivation. When we are engaged in the threefold process of study,
-contemplation and meditation, we should be very specific, very clear about why
-we are doing it. We should remind ourselves, "I am doing this to transcend my
-negative emotions and my ego-clinging." This is a general example of a
-specific intention. However, to be more precise, we need to consider the
-unique make-up of our own individual kleshas [intense states of suffering, and
-ignorance]. Once we have identified our strongest emotion, then we can focus
-on the practices that will alleviate it. We begin with whichever emotion is
-strongest for us and then we move on to the next strongest, followed by the
-next, and so on.
- It is important for us to prioritize our practice in this way. We have
-to keep our intention very clear in all three phases--in our study, in our
-contemplation and in our meditation. During shamatha or other practices, when
-thoughts come up, we recall that our purpose is to overcome our disturbing
-emotions and kleshas. We have to have a sense of willpower or determination
-in our minds. In order for the remedy to work, we must tell ourselves, "Yes,
-I am going to transcend this anger. I am going to work with it." Otherwise,
-if we do not have a clear idea, if we simply sit there with an indefinite or
-vague intention, then the effect also will be vague. We may have sat for one
-hour and although that time will not have been wasted, because it was not
-directed in an intentional way, the experience will not be so sharp, to the
-point or effective.
- -- Dzogchen Ponlop, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- ...particularly in Buddhism while we practice we must use the brain as
-well as the heart. On the ethical side, we must practice the quality of a
-good and warm heart; also, since Buddhism is very much involved in reasoning
-and logic--the wisdom side--intelligence is important. Thus, a combination of
-mind and heart is needed. Without knowledge, without fully utilized
-intelligence, you cannot reach the depths of the Buddhist doctrine; it is
-difficult to achieve concrete or fully qualified wisdom. There may be
-exceptions, but this is the general rule.
- It is necessary to have a combination of hearing, thinking, and
-meditating. The Kadampa teacher Dromton ('brom ston pa, 1004-1064) said,
-"When I engage in hearing, I also make effort at thinking and meditating.
-When I engage in thinking, I also search out more hearing and engage in
-meditation. And when I meditate, I don't give up hearing and don't give up
-thinking." He said, "I am a balanced Kadampa," meaning that he maintained a
-balance of hearing, thinking, and meditating.
- -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness, Clarity,
- and Insight", edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by
- Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-If through listening to this explanation of the Seven Point Mind Training we
-come to recognise how important Bodhichitta is, this will be an infallible
-cause of our enlightenment. Of all the eighty four thousand different
-sections of the doctrine, the precious Bodhichitta is the very essence. By
-hearing the words of such a teaching, it is impossible even for demons, whose
-nature it is to kill and to do harm, not to have positive thoughts! Kham, a
-region in East Tibet, was haunted in the past by many ghosts and evil spirits,
-and this was one of the reasons why Patrul Rinpoche used to explain the
-Bodhicharyavatara continually to his disciples. Before long, there were no
-more ghosts--or at least, no one came to any more harm. Such is the hidden
-power of Bodhichitta!
- --Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the Seven
- Point Mind Training", translated by the Padmakara Translation Group,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Sometimes we face certain situations where, although we have done
-something good for others, we may not be able to reap the consequences within
-this lifetime. When we are talking about the law of causality, we are not
-limiting its operation to the confines of this life alone, but rather are
-taking into account both this lifetime and the future. Occasionally people
-who do not have a proper knowledge of karmic law say that such and such a
-person is very kind and religious and so forth, but he always has problems,
-whereas so and so is very deceptive and negative, frequently indulging in
-negative actions, but always seems very successful. Such people may think
-that there is no karmic law at all. There are others who go to the other
-extreme and become superstitious, thinking that when someone experiences
-illness, it is all due to harmful spirits.... It is also possible for very
-negative people to experience their positive karma ripening immaturely due to
-the very strong force of negative actions, and thus to exhaust the potentials
-of their virtuous actions. They experience a relative success in this life,
-while others who are very serious practitioners, as a result of the force of
-their practices, bring upon this lifetime the consequences of karmic actions
-which might have otherwise thrown them into rebirth in lower realms of
-existence in the future. As a result, they experience more problems and
-illnesses in this life.
- Just resolving not to indulge in a negative action is not enough. It
-should be accompanied by the understanding that it is for your own benefit and
-sake that you must live with awareness of the law of karma: if you have
-accumulated the causes, you will have to face the consequences; if you desire
-a particular effect, you can work to produce its causes; and if you do not
-desire a certain consequence, you can avoid engaging in actions that will
-bring it about. You should reflect upon the law of causality as follows: that
-there is a definite relation between causes and effects; that actions not
-committed will never produce an effect; and that once committed, actions will
-never lose their potentiality simply through the passage of time. So, if you
-wish to enjoy desirable fruits, you should work for the accumulation of the
-appropriate causes, and if you want to avoid undesirable consequences, you
-should not accumulate their causes.... [Karma] is a natural law like any
-other natural law.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, "Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide to
- Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, edited by
- Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Generally speaking, there are two forms of meditation on emptiness. One
-is the space-like meditation on emptiness, which is characterised by the total
-absence or negation of inherent existence. The other is called the illusion-
-like meditation on emptiness. The space-like meditation must come first,
-because without the realisation of the total absence of inherent existence,
-the illusion-like perception or understanding will not occur.
- For the illusion-like understanding of all phenomena to occur, there needs
-to be a composite of both the perception or appearance and the negation, so
-that when we perceive the world and engage with it we can view all things and
-events as resembling illusions. We will recognise that although things appear
-to us, they are devoid of objective, independent, intrinsic existence. This
-is how the illusion-like understanding arises. The author of the "Eight
-Verses for Training the Mind" indicates the experiential result when he
-writes: "May I, recognising all things as illusion, devoid of clinging, be
-released from bondage."
- When we speak of cultivating the illusion-like understanding of the nature
-of reality, we need to bear in mind the different interpretations of the term
-'illusion-like'.... For example, the Buddhist realist schools explain the
-nature of reality to be illusion-like in the sense that, although we tend to
-perceive things as having permanence, in reality they are changing moment by
-moment and it is this that gives them an illusion-like character.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Actually, we are all part of the community of humanity. If humanity is
-happy, has a successful life, a happy future, automatically, I will benefit.
-If humanity suffers, I too will suffer. Humanity is like one body, and we are
-part of that body. Once you realize this, once you cultivate this kind of
-attitude, you can bring about a change in your way of thinking. A sense of
-caring, commitment, discipline, oneness with humanity--these are very relevant
-in today's world. I call this secular ethics, and this is the first level to
-counter negative emotions.
- The second level in this connection is taught by all major religious
-traditions, whether Christian or Muslim or Jewish or Hindu. They all carry
-the message of love, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment, and
-discipline. These are countermeasures for negative emotions. When anger is
-about to surface, when hatred is about to flare up, think of tolerance. It is
-important to stop any mental dissatisfaction when we feel it because it leads
-to anger and hatred.
- Patience is the countermeasure for mental dissatisfaction. Greed and its
-self-centeredness bring unhappiness, and also destruction of the environment,
-exploitation of others, and increases the gap between the rich and the poor.
-The countermeasure is contentment. So practicing contentment is useful in our
-daily lives.
- ...All religious traditions talk about methods of compassion and
-forgiveness. If we accept religion, we should take the religious methods
-seriously and sincerely and use them in our daily lives. Then, a meaningful
-life can develop.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections and
- Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh
-~
- Actually, if we look around, people whom we don't like and people who harm
-us are in the minority. Let's say we're at work, at a social gathering, or at
-a Dharma center with thirty people. How many of them do we really dislike?
-We may have problems with a few people here and there, but we manage to stay
-in a room together, don't we? It's not like we despise them and they hate us.
-The number of people we can't stand in this world is actually very small.
-These people are rare. To practice patience we need the people that we don't
-like. We can't practice patience with our friends or with people who are kind
-to us. Finding people that we don't like or who threaten us is not so easy.
-So, when we finally find them, they are a precious treasure! They are rare to
-find. When we meet them, we can think, "Fantastic, I get to practice patience
-now."
- They say that high-level bodhisattvas pray to meet disgusting,
-uncooperative people because they want to practice patience. Of course, when
-you really want to meet obnoxious people, they don't show up! Why don't they
-turn up for high-level bodhisattvas? Because high-level bodhisattvas don't
-have any anger. We could be sitting in a room with many people whom we
-consider unbearable, but high-level bodhisattvas don't see them that way at
-all. To them, these people appear lovable. Bodhisattvas have such a hard
-time finding detestable people, whereas we come across them so easily! So,
-when we find people whom we don't like, feel threatened by, or find
-despicable, we should recognize that there aren't so many of them around.
-Therefore, we should cherish them and take the opportunity to practice
-patience with them.
- -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga
- Method of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right.
- -- Henry Ford
-~
-...to have greater self-awareness or understanding means to have a better
-grasp of reality. Now, the opposite of reality is to project onto yourself
-qualities that are not there, ascribe to yourself characteristics in contrast
-to what is actually the case. For example, when you have a distorted view of
-yourself, such as through excessive pride or arrogance, because of these
-states of mind, you have an exaggerated sense of your qualities and personal
-abilities. Your view of your own abilities goes far beyond your actual
-abilities. On the other hand, when you have low self-esteem, then you
-underestimate your actual qualities and abilities. You belittle yourself, you
-put yourself down. This leads to a complete loss of faith in yourself. So
-excess--both in terms of exaggeration and devaluation--are equally
-destructive. lt is by addressing these obstacles and by constantly examining
-your personal character, qualities, and abilities, that you can learn to have
-greater self-understanding. This is the way to become more self-aware.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
- Happiness at Work"
-~
-Phowa is a practice which should be done repeatedly, all through our lives so
-that we can do it naturally and purposefully at the time of death. I have
-heard a story about a Tibetan who was dying and his family called the lama to
-be with him. The lama sat beside him and told him to think only of his root
-guru and forget everything else. He said, "I can't recall my guru, I can only
-think of a sizzling sausage being warmed in the ashes of a fire." The lama was
-very skillful: "That is excellent!" he said. "Dewachen, the paradise of the
-Amitaba Buddha, is full of sausages; they grow on every tree. You only have
-to open your mouth and you will have all the sausages you want. The color of
-Amitaba is like the embers of a fire, so think of him and you will go to his
-realm." It is said that the man went straight to the pure land of Dewachen.
- -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", edited by B.M. Shaughnessy, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-"Yogis should at all times avoid fish, meat, and so forth,
-should eat with moderation, and avoid foods that are not
-conducive to health." --Kamalashila
-
- Meditators need to be physically healthy. Therefore, proper diet is
-essential. On the other hand, their minds should be clear and strong and this
-will also contribute to physical health. For these reasons, it is recommended
-that they give up eating fish, meat, garlic, onions, etc. Appropriate food
-should be eaten in moderation, for indigestion can cause havoc with
-meditation. What's more, those who overeat can hardly stay awake.
- ...If a vegetarian diet does not result in protein deficiency, it is a
-wholesome way of living. Even if you cannot be a strict vegetarian, at least
-moderating the amount of meat you eat is beneficial. Within the southern
-schools of Buddhism eating meat is not strictly prohibited, but the meat of
-certain animals, such as those that are not cloven-hoofed or those that have
-been slaughtered specifically for your consumption, is forbidden. This means
-that meat bought casually in the market is acceptable.... However, certain
-scriptures... strictly prohibit eating meat at all times, whereas other
-scriptures... seem to permit it.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
- translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
- Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-It would be wrong to say, as some do, that if we don't recite prayers while
-being aware of their meaning and merely repeat the words mindlessly, it has no
-benefit whatsoever--like prayer flags flapping in the wind. However, there
-are indeed differences in the level of benefits and blessings derived from
-prayers according to the way we recite them. Therefore, keeping this in mind,
-at the beginning of the practice, generate bodhicitta. During the main
-practice, some will use an object of concentration and some will practice
-without an object of concentration; each person should do what is best
-according to their level. At the end, one should dedicate the merit in a way
-that is pure from the three conceptual spheres to the best of one's ability.
-The most important and essential thing in making [prayer] meaningful is to
-depend on those three stages of practice--generation of bodhicitta, the main
-practice and dedication of merit. All must do the complete three stages of
-practice.
- -- Chatral Rinpoche, "Compassionate Action", edited, introduced, and
- annotated by Zach Larson, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- "When the thought of the internal
- And the external as 'I' and 'mine'
- Has perished, grasping ceases
- And through that cessation birth ceases.
-
- When actions and afflictions cease, there is liberation;
- They arise from false conceptions, these arise
- From the elaborations [of false views on inherent
- Existence]; elaborations cease in emptiness."
- -- Nagarjuna
-
-Inherent existence has never been validly known to exist; therefore, it is
-impossible for there to be any phenomenon that exists through its own power.
-Since it is experienced that mere dependent-arisings, which are in fact empty
-of inherent existence, do cause all forms of help and harm, these are
-established as existent. Thus, mere dependent-arisings do exist. Therefore,
-all phenomena exist in the manner of appearing as varieties of dependent-
-arisings. They appear this way without passing beyond the sphere or condition
-of having just this nature of being utterly non-inherently existent.
-Therefore, all phenomena have two entities: one entity that is its superficial
-mode of appearance and one entity that is its deep mode of being. These two
-are called respectively conventional truths and ultimate truths.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
- Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The cloistered environment stands in stark contrast to the uncontrolled
-environment of everyday active life in the modern world. When I was a
-graduate student living in a family housing unit at Stanford University, I
-meditated early in the morning. At about 7:00 outside our window, a group of
-little girls would begin shrieking and driving their plastic tractors and
-tricycles across the bricks. I was meditating and these girls were disturbing
-my peace. I got to feeling pretty sorry for myself so I phoned my lama,
-Gyatrul Rinpoche, and asked for advice. He gave me a one-liner, "Just view
-it." This was not just Rinpoche's way of telling me to quit whining, but a
-reminder of the more encompassing teaching to embrace obstacles in practice.
-And carry on. We can't always control our environment, but we can embrace it,
-the good, the bad, and the loud, and integrate it into Dharma practice.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
- Mind-Training", edited by Lynn Quirolo, published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-He who throws mud only loses ground. -- Fat Albert (Bill Cosby)
-~
-Grow old along with me!
-The best is yet to be.
- -- Robert Browning
-~
-It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out;
-it's the grain of sand in your shoe.
- -- Anonymous
-~
-If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic,
-we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world. One
-might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the
-mathematics of probability.
- -- Vannevar Bush
-~
-I have a rock garden. Last week three of them died. --Richard Diran
-~
-Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history
-that man can never learn anything from history.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-America believes in education: the average professor earns more
-money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
- -- Evan Esar
-~
-We are more ready to try the untried
-when what we do is inconsequential.
-Hence the fact that many inventions
-had their birth as toys.
- -- Eric Hoffer
-~
-Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion,
-for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
- -- Bertrand Russell
-~
-Man is most nearly himself when he achieves
-the seriousness of a child at play.
- -- Heraclitus
-~
- If we have been reborn time after time, it is evident that we have needed
-many mothers to give birth to us.... the first cause bringing about
-bodhicitta is the recognition that all beings have been our mother.
- The love and kindness shown us by our mother in this life would be
-difficult to repay. She endured many sleepless nights to care for us when we
-were helpless infants. She fed us and would have willingly sacrificed
-everything, including her own life, to spare ours. As we contemplate her
-example of devoted love, we should consider that each and every being
-throughout existence has treated us this way. Each dog, cat, fish, fly, and
-human being has at some point in the beginningless past been our mother and
-shown us overwhelming love and kindness. Such a thought should bring about
-our appreciation.
- ...if all other sentient beings who have been kind to us since
-beginningless time are suffering, how can we devote ourselves to pursuing
-merely our own happiness? To seek our own happiness in spite of the suffering
-others are experiencing is tragically unfortunate. Therefore, it is clear
-that we must try to free all sentient beings from suffering.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
- Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato and
- Richard Gere
-~
-3.2.4 The way in which experiences dawn through practicing [Mahamudra]
-
-In beginners, this is similar to water [gushing down] a gorge.
-In between, it is the gentle flow of the river Ganga.
-Finally, all waters meet like a mother and her child. -- Tilopa
-
- The meditative equipoise of beginners entails intense movement of
-thoughts, similar to water gushing down a narrow gorge. The reason for this
-is as follows. Though there is some slight resting in equipoise, thoughts
-proliferate. Right at that point, through the remedy of alertness and by
-considering that you like resting in meditative concentration and dislike not
-resting in it, you rest in meditative equipoise again. Through such an
-approach, your mind becomes somewhat uplifted.
- The meditative equipoise of those who have attained a little bit more
-stability than that and are of middling faculties is similar to the gentle
-flow of the river Ganga. The reason is as follows. Even if some thoughts
-come up, a little here and there, their own face is immediately recognized, so
-that the movement of thoughts does not run wild. Without various notions that
-chase after these [subtle thoughts] or any physical and mental effort, all
-thoughts that come up will dawn slowly. There is also no need to make great
-effort in [applying] their remedies. Rather, these happen naturally or of
-their own accord.
- Finally, in the meditative equipoise of those with highest faculties,
-neither thoughts to be relinquished arise nor is there any need to newly
-create some remedial wisdom, because there is nothing to be relinquished.
-Since existence and peace have become one taste, mother and child luminosity
-blend, or, expanse and wisdom have become indifferentiable. Once the
-tributary waters and the ocean have become one taste, like a mother and her
-child meeting, they cannot be disturbed.
- -- The Fifth Shamarpa Goncho Yenla, "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith
- Instructions", translated and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The theory of interdependence allows us to develop a wider perspective.
-With wider mind, there is less attachment to destructive emotions like anger,
-therefore more forgiveness. In today's world, every nation is heavily
-interdependent, interconnected. Under these circumstances, destroying your
-enemy--your neighbor--means destroying yourself in the long run. You need
-your neighbor. More prosperity in your neighbor, you'll get the benefit.
- Now, we're not talking about the complete removal of feelings like anger,
-attachment, or pride. Just reduction. Interdependence is important because
-it is not a mere concept; it can actually help reduce the suffering caused by
-these destructive emotions.
- We can say the theory of interdependence is an understanding of reality.
-We understand that our future depends on global well-being. Having this
-viewpoint reduces narrow-mindedness. With narrow mind, one is more likely to
-develop attachment, hatred. I think this is the best thing about the theory
-of interdependence--it is an explanation of the law of nature. It affects
-profoundly, for example, the environment.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, "The Wisdom of Forgiveness:
- Intimate Conversations and Journeys"
-~
-The Suffering of Change
- Feelings of suffering change into those of happiness. Feelings of
-happiness change into suffering. Both arise in dependence upon internal and
-external causes which change. For example, we see food as pleasurable, but if
-we eat too much, then it causes suffering. When we are young, we see our
-bodies as a source of pleasure. As we become older, the same body becomes a
-source of suffering.
- Just as a wave is always changing, so the nature of suffering is always to
-change. It may be experienced as pleasure or as suffering, but it arises from
-the same source. Pleasure arises from suffering. Seeing pleasure as
-happiness constitutes suffering.
- ...Pain and pleasure are of the same nature. Although they look different
-at different times, they both arise from the same sea of delusion and karmic
-action. Pleasure or pain, one or the other, arises and then falls back into
-the ocean. Thus we can conclude that pleasure and pain within the ocean of
-samsara are basically suffering, and dissolve into suffering.
- This becomes evident in the wide variety of sudden changes of experience
-depicted in films. Love and hatred, happiness and family strife, peace and
-war, follow each other in rapid succession. The continuous change, although
-exaggerated in films, is characteristic of life in general.
- -- Ven. Gen Lobsang Gyatso, "The Four Noble Truths", translated by Ven.
- Sherab Gyatso, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- We feel money and power can bring happiness and solve problems, but they
-are not definite causes of those desired states. If that were so, it would
-follow that those who have wealth would necessarily have happiness, and those
-who do not have wealth would always experience suffering. Money and power
-facilitate, but it is clear that they are not the primary causes of, happiness
-and solving our problems. It is justified for us to make material and
-financial development for building our nation and providing shelter, etc. for
-ourselves; we need to do that. But we also need to seek inner development.
-As we can see, there are many people who have wealth and power who remain
-unhappy, due to which their health declines, and they are always taking
-medicines. On the other hand, we find people who live like beggars but who
-always remain peaceful and happy.
- Therefore, in our daily life a certain way of thinking makes us happy, and
-a certain way of thinking makes us unhappy. In other words, there are certain
-states of mind which bring us problems, and they can be removed; we need to
-make an effort in that direction. Likewise, there are certain states of mind
-that bring us peace and happiness, and we need to cultivate and enhance them.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama XIV, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries", the
- Jatakamala translated by Tenzin Dorjee edited by Dexter Roberts
-~
-Focusing the Mind on the Deity
-
- Those with superior mental capacity should refine their ability by
-practicing the development stage without any sense of clinging or fixation.
-In this approach, the appearance of the deity and its ornaments are visualized
-in such a way that they are totally complete, vivid, and distinct from the
-very beginning. This is the form of great wisdom, the union of development
-and completion. Beyond being an identifiable entity with a precise nature, it
-appears clearly yet is devoid of any essence. In other words, clarity and
-emptiness are indivisible. Like the reflection of the moon in a lake, its
-very nature is to appear in a distinct manner, down to the pupils of the eyes,
-while in reality it is empty.
- Those with moderate mental capacity should begin their meditation with a
-sudden recollection of the deity's complete appearance. The next step is to
-meditate on the clear appearance of the head, and, once this is stable, to
-then meditate progressively on the right arm, left arm, torso, right and left
-legs, and finally on the complete form of the deity and its seat. Training in
-the development stage of illusory clear appearance keeps one from straying
-into the view of nihilism. When one grows weary of this, the practitioner
-should recollect purity and refine his or her ability in the essence of this
-process, the vajra-like absorption. This key point keeps one from straying
-into the belief in permanence.
- For beginners with less mental capacity, it may be difficult to visualize
-in either of these ways. When not yet familiar with this process, one's
-ability should be refined using a permanent form. Take a consecrated and
-well-formed representation of the yidam deity, such as a painting or clay
-statue made by a skilled artisan, and place it before you. Without
-intentionally meditating, look directly at it from top to bottom without
-blinking. This is referred to as the auxiliary practice of setting
-mindfulness into motion. At first, the agitated movement of conditioned
-thought patterns will be experienced. This is the experience of movement,
-which is said to be "like water cascading off a cliff."
- -- Jigme Lingpa, Patrul Rinpoche, and Getse Mahapandita, "Deity, Mantra,
- and Wisdom: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra",
- translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, fore. by Trulshik
- Rinpoche, fore. by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- The reason why we find so much discussion of epistemology, or how to
-define something as a valid cognition, in Buddhist writings is because all our
-problems, suffering and confusion derive from a misconceived way of perceiving
-things. This explains why it is so important for a practitioner to determine
-whether a cognitive event is a misconception or true knowledge. For it is
-only by generating insight which sees through delusion that we can become
-liberated.
- Even in our own experience we can see how our state of mind passes through
-different stages, eventually leading to a state of true knowledge. For
-instance, our initial attitude or standpoint on any given topic might be a
-very hardened misconception, thinking and grasping at a totally mistaken
-notion. But when that strong grasping at the wrong notion is countered with
-reasoning, it can then turn into a kind of lingering doubt, an uncertainty
-where we wonder: "Maybe it is the case, but then again maybe it is not". That
-would represent a second stage. When further exposed to reason or evidence,
-this doubt of ours can turn into an assumption, tending towards the right
-decision. However, it is still just a presumption, just a belief. When that
-belief is yet further exposed to reason and reflection, eventually we could
-arrive at what is called 'inference generated through a reasoning process'.
-Yet that inference remains conceptual, and it is not a direct knowledge of the
-object. Finally, when we have developed this inference and constantly
-familiarized ourselves with it, it could turn into an intuitive and direct
-realization--a direct experience of the event. So we can see through our own
-experience how our mind, as a result of being exposed to reason and
-reflection, goes through different stages, eventually leading to a direct
-experience of a phenomenon or event.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
- Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, foreword by
- Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-Not recognizing their own face, but letting them run wild, one thought leads
-to many kinds of [other] thoughts. If you fall into letting this continue,
-you wander around in confusion. Through directly looking at the face of
-whatever thought that comes up at the very start [of a potential train of
-thought], without being able to stand its own ground, just like a rainbow
-fading away in space, this thought vanishes into emptiness. Since you arrive
-at such within the previous experience of stillness, if you become familiar
-with it, the stream of confusion is severed through thoughts coming to rest on
-their own and vanishing on their own. Hence, if you know how to sustain this,
-even if you regard movement as a flaw and [try to] stop it, you need neither
-stop it nor [apply] any other remedy for the movement of thoughts. Rather, by
-sustaining the state of realizing their own essence, you realize the essential
-point that all the various appearances of happiness and suffering emerge from
-the mind and dissolve back into the mind. Through this, you realize the
-essential point that all of cyclic existence and nirvana is produced by the
-mind, the mind resting naturally settled without being affected by thoughts
-about the three times.
- -- "Straight From the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions", translated and
- introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-It's a dangerous business going out your front door. -- JRR Tolkien
-~
-The only way to entertain some folks is to listen to them. -- Kin Hubbard
-~
-Never face facts; if you do,
-you'll never get up in the morning.
- -- Marlo Thomas
-~
-I hate television.
-I hate it as much as I hate peanuts.
-But I can't stop eating peanuts.
- -- Orson Welles
-~
-One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a human. -- Goethe
-~
-The opposite of talking isn't listening.
-The opposite of talking is waiting.
- -- Fran Lebowitz
-~
-Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal
-with the intent of throwing it at someone else;
-you are the one who gets burned.
- -- Shakyamuni Buddha
-~
-Question: Western religions use the term "God", and Buddhism does not. Could
-emptiness or nirvana be considered God? If the afflictive obstruction that is
-the conception of inherent existence is eliminated, does one realize that
-everything is God?
-
-Dalai Lama: If God is interpreted as an ultimate reality or truth, then
-selflessness may be considered as God and even as a creator in the sense that
-within the nature of emptiness things appear and disappear. In this sense,
-emptiness is the basis of everything; because of emptiness, things can change,
-and things can appear and disappear. Thus, voidness--emptiness,
-selflessness--is this kind of basis.
-
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
- Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Immeasurable Joy
-
- Because such love and compassion have not arisen in their mindstreams,
-people don't understand that all sentient beings are their kind mothers. They
-hold on to them as friends or foes, and the power of bad karmic action causes
-them to experience the immeasurable suffering of cyclic existence. "Wouldn't
-it be a joy if I could carry the suffering of those mothers, and if all beings
-could have all of my happiness and virtue? In order to establish these
-mothers in happiness, what a joy it would be if, until cyclic existence is
-empty, their suffering and the cause and effect of suffering, their sins and
-the cause and effect of sins, would all ripen in me and these mothers would
-become abundantly happy. I give my body, enjoyments, power, prestige, and
-roots of virtue in all times for the sake of these mothers. I won't pursue my
-own peace and happiness for even a moment. I will work for the welfare of
-beings without regard for life or limb. These mothers must have the entire
-range of happiness and the causes of happiness." With that thought, meditate
-on joy.
- "Furthermore, I will not shrink away from the specific harm done to
-sentient beings, or any kind of sickness, suffering, misfortune, enemies, and
-obstructions that happen to me for their sakes. What a joy if all the
-suffering of beings ripened in me, so that I would have that kind of
-suffering. And even a greater joy when those suffering beings are free of
-suffering and dwell in exceptional happiness."
- Generate an extraordinary attitude with that thinking. It is important
-that such joy does not stray into any kind of bias. And if you know it all to
-be like a dream or an illusion, free of fixation to true existence, it is
-called immeasurable joy.
- -- "Machik's Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chod (Dharma)",
- translated and edited by Sarah Harding, a Tsadra Foundation Series
- book published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Curiosity is the very basis of education
-and if you tell me curiosity killed the cat
-I say only that the cat died nobly.
- -- Arnold Edinborough
-~
-Knowledge will forever govern ignorance
-and a people who mean to be their own governors
-must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives...
- -- James Madison
-~
-Question: What should you say to a loved one who is talking about a third
-person with hatred or anger? On the one hand, you want to show compassion for
-the feelings being experienced by the loved one. On the other hand, you don't
-want to reinforce or lend approval to that hatred. What might one say?
-
-Dalai Lama: Here I would like to tell a story. Once there was a Kadampa
-master called Gampowa who had many responsibilities. One day he complained to
-the Kadampa master Dromtonpa that he had hardly any time for his meditation or
-for his Dharma practice. So Dromtonpa responded by agreeing with him, "Yes,
-that's right. I don't have any time either." Then once an immediate affinity
-was established, Dromtonpa skillfully said, "But, you know what I am doing is
-for the service of the Dharma. Therefore, I feel satisfied." Similarly, if
-you find one of your beloved ones speaking against someone out of anger or
-hatred, maybe your initial reaction should be one of agreement and sympathy.
-Then once you have gained the person's confidence, you can say, "But...."
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
- Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...if you have not purified ordinary appearances into emptiness, how could
-you possibly meditate on the mandala circle? The fact that all phenomena are
-emptiness, that samsara and nirvana are inseparable, is the very reason we are
-able to actualize this by meditating on the mandala circle. In other words,
-emptiness is the basis for the development stage. As it is said, "For the one
-to whom emptiness is possible, anything is possible." If all phenomena were
-not empty and ordinary appearances were truly present, development stage
-meditation would be impossible, as the following quotation points out: "Even
-though one might empower wheat to be rice, rice won't actually appear."
-However, even if all phenomena are realized to be empty in this way, without
-the momentum of great compassion you will not be able to manifest the
-rupakayas to benefit others. This is similar to the listeners and solitary
-buddhas, who enter into a state of cessation and do not benefit others with
-rupakaya emanations.
- Once one understands this point, it will be like the following saying:
-"All these phenomena are like an illusion and birth is like taking a stroll
-in a park...." Said differently, one will no longer dwell in existence, while
-through compassion, one will not get caught up in a state of peace either.
-This is the great, universal path of the offspring of the victorious ones.
-For all these reasons, making sure the three absorptions are not isolated from
-one another is a vitally important point.
- -- Jigme Lingpa, Patrul Rinpoche, and Getse Mahapandita, "Deity, Mantra,
- and Wisdom: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra",
- translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, fore. by Trulshik
- Rinpoche, fore. by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
- We can experience things without confusion and without being tense. Even
-the most disturbed, nervous person has moments of clarity and calmness--even
-if only when he or she is peacefully asleep and dreaming pleasant or innocuous
-dreams. This demonstrates that confusion and tension are not integral parts
-of the nature of mind. Thus confusion can be removed. Not only can it be
-removed, but since confusion cannot be validated and can be totally replaced
-by understanding, which can be verified, confusion can be eliminated forever.
-Thus it is possible for a total absence of confusion to exist. Furthermore,
-since confusion limits mind from using its full potentials, once confusion is
-gone, a utilization of all potentials can also exist. Therefore, since we all
-have a mind, and all minds have the same nature of being able to experience
-whatever exists, we can all realize and experience the definitive Three
-Precious Gems.
- Thus, if we aim to remove our confusion and realize our potentials as
-indicated by the Buddhas, their achievement, their teachings, what they have
-built up along the path and those who are progressing along it, we are
-traveling through life with a safe, reliable and positive direction. Taking
-refuge, then, means to put this realistic, safe direction in our life.
-Without it, our practice of mahamudra either has no direction and leads
-nowhere, or an unsound direction leading to more confusion and trouble. In
-addition, the further we travel in this safe direction through the mahamudra
-techniques--in other words, the more we realize the nature of mind and its
-relation to reality--the more confident we become in the soundness of this
-direction and our ability to reach its goal. The stronger our confidence, the
-further we progress along the path.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
- Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The Rolling Stones have a song that goes,
- "Wild horses couldn't drag me away.
- Wild, wild horses, we'll ride them some day."
-That is the level that we have to reach, where wild horses cannot drag us
-away from the present moment of awareness. Once we have reached that level of
-training, then even in the bardos of death we will be able to guide our mind
-steadily past all difficulties toward awakening, toward freedom from samsara.
- There is another well-known image; it compares our wild minds to a mad
-elephant in a china shop. When untamed, this elephant can very easily destroy
-many things in the shop, and even the shop itself. With one move, the
-elephant can destroy a wall; and with another move, another wall. In only
-four moves, this elephant can destroy the whole structure. In the same way,
-if our minds are not tamed, they can easily destroy our whole collection of
-virtue--all the merit and wisdom we have accumulated through the
-accomplishment of countless positive deeds.
- Vipashyana meditation is the process of taming and training our minds.
-How do we do it? We catch our minds with shamatha and we train them with
-vipashyana. Then we ride our minds with mindfulness while remaining aware of
-the greater environment. Following these methods, we will reach our goal
-quite quickly--especially when we remember the thought of impermanence, which
-works like a whip.
- -- Dzogchen Ponlop, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-With or without religion, you would have good people doing
-good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good
-people to do evil things, that takes religion.
- -- Steven Weinberg
-~
-Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.
- -- Mahatma Gandhi
-~
-I was born not knowing and have had only a little
-time to change that here and there.
- -- Richard Feynman
-~
-As for me, except for an occasional heart attack,
-I feel as young as I ever did.
- -- Robert Benchley
-~
- It is possible to understand the Buddhist teachings as a method of
-psychological healing, comparable to psychotherapy, that teaches us how we can
-master destructive forces like anger, envy, and greed. Human beings seem to
-be a bundle of different qualities and psychological processes. We should
-attentively examine our qualities and be alertly aware of our experiences in
-order to recognize what we truly feel and think. At the same time, the
-personality of human beings is not seen as a unified whole. According to
-these teachings, the heart of consciousness is composed of various elements,
-the five types of attachment, or skandhas: body, sensations, perceptions,
-instinctual forces, and consciousness.
- These inner forces impart the false concept of an ego-consciousness. The
-basic problem of emotional disorders therefore lies in a false concept of
-identity. This I-blindness should therefore be abolished through self-
-study.... The goal is not self-realization but selflessness.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Felizitas Von Schonborn, "Path of
- Wisdom, Path of Peace", foreword by Wei Jingsheng
-~
-Life would be unbearable if everything stayed the same because human beings
-find situations that are fixed and predictable very hard to tolerate. Even in
-small matters, we become uneasy if we feel there is no end in sight. I know
-of couples who live harmoniously together for ten years then marry and are
-divorced within a year. As soon as they feel bound to each other for the rest
-of their lives, they begin to fight. Impermanence removes our reasons for
-quarrelling with each other. Arguments only break out if we imagine that our
-relationships are endless. When we appreciate that our time with our
-families, partners, and friends may be shorter than we think, we get on better
-with each other. Awareness of impermanence gives us extraordinary inner
-strength and resilience.
- -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", edited by B.M. Shaughnessy, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there.
- -- Josh Billings
-~
- The ability to look at events from different perspectives can be very
-helpful. Then, practicing this, one can use certain experiences, certain
-tragedies, to develop a calmness of mind. One must realize that every
-phenomenon, every event, has different aspects. Everything is of a relative
-nature. For example, in my own case, I lost my country. From that viewpoint,
-it is very tragic--and there are even worse things. There's a lot of
-destruction happening in our country. That's a very negative thing. But if I
-look at the same event from another angle, I realize that as a refugee, I have
-another perspective. As a refugee there is no need for formalities, ceremony,
-protocol. If everything were status quo, if things were okay, then on a lot
-of occasions you merely go through the motions; you pretend. But when you are
-passing through desperate situations, there's no time to pretend. So from
-that angle, this tragic experience has been very useful to me. Also, being a
-refugee creates a lot of new opportunities for meeting with many people.
-People from different religious traditions, from different walks of life,
-those whom I may not have met had I remained in my country. So in that sense
-it's been very, very useful.
- It seems that often when problems arise, our outlook becomes narrow. All
-of our attention may be focused on worrying about the problem, and we may have
-a sense that we're the only one that is going through such difficulties. This
-can lead to a kind of self-absorption that can make the problem seem very
-intense. When this happens, I think that seeing things from a wider
-perspective can definitely help--realizing, for instance, that there are many
-other people who have gone through similar experiences, and even worse
-experiences. This practice of shifting perspective can even be helpful in
-certain illnesses or when in pain. At the time the pain arises it is of
-course often very difficult, at that moment, to do formal meditation practices
-to calm the mind. But if you can make comparisons, view your situation from a
-different perspective, somehow something happens. If you only look at that
-one event, then it appears bigger and bigger. If you focus too closely, too
-intensely, on a problem when it occurs, it appears uncontrollable. But if you
-compare that event with some other greater event, look at the same problem
-from a distance, then it appears smaller and less overwhelming.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
- Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
-~
-Three Forms of Compassion
-
- Chandrakirti explained three types of compassion: compassion aimed at
-suffering, aimed at phenomena, and unaimed. With the first, we look at
-animate beings in light of their suffering and develop the wish for them to be
-free from both that suffering and its causes. One source of their suffering
-is their unawareness that they even have any problems, let alone their not
-knowing the causes of their problems. For example, our friend becomes upset
-at the slightest thing that goes wrong and sees this as normal. He or she
-does not understand that hypersensitivity is to blame and that something can
-be done to remedy this. When we see this sad situation, our compassion for
-our friend becomes even stronger.
- Compassion aimed at phenomena looks at beings in light of their moment-to-
-moment changes. With it, we wish others to be free of suffering and its
-causes based on the understanding that these both are impermanent. We also
-see that others are unaware of this fact and so, when depressed, for example,
-they make their sufferings worse by imagining that they will last forever.
-Realizing this further enhances compassion for them.
- Unaimed compassion looks at beings in terms of their voidness. It has the
-same wish as the other two forms, but is based on not identifying others
-concretely with their suffering. Seeing that others do not have this insight
-and that consequently they identify themselves with their problems intensifies
-our compassion for them even more.
- -- Alexander Berzin, "Developing Balanced Sensitivity: Practical Buddhist
- Exercises for Daily Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Don't be confused; the point of Scrum and XP and other agile methodologies is
-the same point behind any management technique of the past 100 years--squeeze
-every drop of work out of your workers until they are empty husks and can be
-thrown away. If you're a programmer and you think Scrum is going to "empower"
-you, you could not be more mistaken. Management will hide behind the
-principles of Scrum when it suits them and then still do whatever they want
-otherwise. When it's pointed out to them that they're violating the agile
-principles, they will simply claim that this is how the system is tailored
-for our company's "needs" and that we shouldn't blindly follow it. But if you
-need to break with an agile practice, oh no, the process is *God* and we must
-follow it to the exact letter.
- -- John Nesmith
-~
- I always believe that each individual human being has some kind of
-responsibility for humanity as a whole....
- Through my own profession, I try my best to contribute as much as I can.
-This proceeds without my being concerned whether another person agrees with
-my philosophy or not. Some people may be very much against my belief, my
-philosophy, but I feel all right. So long as I see that a human being suffers
-or has needs, I shall contribute as much as I can to contribute to their
-benefit.
- -- Dalai Lama XIV, "Consciousness at the Crossroads", edited by Zara
- Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-A Song on Impermanence
-
-With this spouse and these near and dear ones you desire to live together,
-Inseparable for all times, but there is no doubt that you will be separated.
-
-From this excellent home you would like to be inseparable forever
-And take root in it, but you will surely depart.
-
-From this happiness, well-being, and wealth you want to be inseparable forever
-So you can relish them, but it is certain you will lose them.
-
-From this supreme human body with its freedoms and riches you wish to be
- inseparable
-And own it until the end of times, but there is no way that you won't die.
-
-From this really great teacher you yearn to be inseparable
-And listen to the dharma for all eternity, but there is no question that you
- will be separated.
-
-From these good friends you wish to be inseparable forever
-So you can hang out together, but it's a sure thing that you will be parted.
-
-Therefore, from today on, don your armor of vigor--
-The time has come to travel to the land of inseparable great bliss.
-You friends who have developed weariness from the depths of your hearts,
-I, a dharma-beggar, request you to do so.
-
- -- The Omniscient Longchen Rabjam, "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith
- Instructions", translated and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The wisdom that realizes emptiness, that has gained insight into the
-nature of reality, is of varying kinds, depending upon the level of subtlety
-of the consciousness perceiving the emptiness. In general, there are rough
-levels of consciousness, more subtle levels, and then the innermost subtle
-level of consciousness. It is the uncommon characteristic of Tantric practice
-that through it one can evoke this most subtle consciousness at will and put
-it to use in a most effective way. For example, when emptiness is realized by
-this subtlest level of mind, it is more powerful, having a much greater effect
-on the personality.
- In order to activate or make use of the more subtle levels of
-consciousness, it is necessary to block the rougher levels--the rougher or
-grosser levels must cease. It is through specifically Tantric practices, such
-as the meditations on the chakras and the channels, that one can control and
-temporarily abandon the rougher levels of consciousness. When these become
-suppressed, the subtler levels of consciousness become active. And it is
-through the use of the subtlest level of consciousness that the most powerful
-spiritual realizations can come about. Hence, it is through the Tantric
-practice involving the most subtle consciousness that the goal of
-enlightenment can most quickly be realized.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
- edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-By building up good habits of the mind in meditation, our behavior in daily
-life gradually changes. Our anger decreases, we are better able to make
-decisions, and we become less dissatisfied and restless. These results of
-meditation can be experienced now. But we should always try to have a broader
-and more encompassing motivation to meditate than just our own present
-happiness. If we generate the motivation to meditate in order to make
-preparation for future lives, to attain liberation from the cycle of
-constantly recurring problems, or to reach the state of full enlightenment for
-the benefit of all beings, then naturally our minds will also be peaceful now.
-In addition, we'll be able to attain those high and noble goals.
- -- Thubten Chodron, "Buddhism for Beginners", published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- ...all four tantra sets make use of deity yoga, the special tantric means
-for amassing the collections of merit and wisdom quickly. Highest Yoga Tantra
-has, in addition, techniques for generating subtler minds that realise
-emptiness and for using the winds or currents of energy that are the mounts of
-these subtler minds as the substantial cause of an actual divine body.
-Through this enhancement of the wisdom consciousness the obstructions to
-omniscience are quickly removed and Buddhahood is attained.
- In the three lower tantras--Action, Performance, and Yoga--deity yoga is
-used to bring about the speedy achievement of many common feats and to come
-directly under the care of Buddhas and high Bodhisattvas, receiving their
-blessings, and so forth. This is done through a threefold process known as
-prior approximation, effecting the achievement of feats, and using the feats
-in the performance of activities for the welfare of others.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity Yoga in
- Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-If you are able to think about the meaning of cyclic existence in general and
-human life in particular, then it is possible to discipline the mind through
-religious practice which is the process of becoming peaceful and anxiety-free.
-Otherwise, if too much emphasis is put on the sufferings of the hells and the
-imminence of death, there is a chance of falling into paralysing fear. There
-is a story in Tibet about an abbot of a monastery who went to give a
-discourse. A fellow asked the abbot's servant where the abbot had gone, and
-the servant said, "He has gone to frighten old men and women." If you fulfil
-the value of a human lifetime through engaging in religious practice, then
-there is no point in worrying about death.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-...if a fire which consumes
-One house moves to another,
-It is right to throw out anything
-Like straw which could ignite.
-
-Likewise anything to which the mind
-Is attached ignites the fire of anger.
-Fearing our merit will be consumed,
-It should be discarded at once.
-
- If a house is on fire and the fire is spreading, we need to clear away straw,
-wood or anything else which is highly flammable and could cause a conflagration
-that would consume our entire home and property. Similarly, one way to prevent
-desire and attachment is to avoid contact with the objects that stimulate it.
-If anything comes between us and what we desire or if the thing to which we're
-attached is harmed or threatened, we instantly feel angry. This destroys the
-positive energy we've created.
- Another way is not to avoid the objects but to contemplate their unappealing
-aspects, because desire results from focusing only on their attractive side.
-The third way is to contemplate their lack of true existence, since desire and
-clinging are based on seeing them as very real and objectively existent.
-Whichever technique we employ, the aim is to prevent desire and attachment,
-since they bring many other problems.
- -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas",
- translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Usually when we breathe, we breathe in and, as soon as we have finished
-breathing in, we immediately start breathing out. And as soon as we have
-finished breathing out, we start breathing in again. There is never any space
-or gap in between the in-breath and the out-breath. Now, many different ways
-of focusing the mind on the breathing have been taught.... There are
-basically six methods taught in the abhidharma. But here we have something
-different from any of those. This is called gentle threefold breathing. It
-is called gentle because there is no particular attempt to manipulate the
-breathing, except that instead of breathing in and then immediately breathing
-out, after breathing in, you wait before you breathe out...here the duration
-of the inhalation, of the retention, and of the exhalation should all be
-equal, three equal periods within each complete breath.
- In doing this, some people combine the phases of the breath with the
-mental repetition of the three mantra syllables: OM AH HUM (HUNG)--OM
-coordinated with the in-breath, AH with the retention of the breath, and HUM
-(HUNG) with the out-breath. But what is most important here is simply to
-recollect, as they occur, the inhalation, retention, and exhalation, so that,
-while you are inhaling, you are aware that you are doing so; while you are
-retaining the breath, you are aware that you are doing so; and while you are
-exhaling, you are aware that you are doing so. In the beginning, it is
-recommended that beginners start with doing, for example, twenty-one of these
-breaths as a series, and it is important to practice with enough mindfulness
-so that, while you breathe in, and so forth, you maintain an awareness of what
-part of the breathing process you are in.
- -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "The Ninth Karmapa's Ocean of Definitive
- Meaning", edited, introduced and annotated by Lama Tashi Namgyal,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Life is fragile, like the dew hanging delicately on the grass, crystal
-drops that will be carried away on the first morning breeze.
- -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
-~
- ...though the emptiness of an impure phenomenon and the emptiness of a
-pure phenomenon are the same, there is a difference. What is the difference?
-The continuum of an impure substratum will later cease, not existing in
-Buddhahood, whereas a pure substratum's continuum of similar type will exist
-right through Buddhahood. Since the deity as whom you are imaginatively
-meditating yourself is a divine figure that exists in the state of Buddhahood
-when all defilements have been abandoned, this substratum is, for your
-imagination, pure.
- Hence, it is important when doing deity yoga to put great effort into:
- * working at realizing emptiness as much as you can,
- * then imagining that the wisdom realizing emptiness appears itself
- as a compassionately directed divine body with a face, arms, and
- so forth,
- * and then taking this divine figure as the substratum and
- continuously meditating on its emptiness.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
- to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-...when you explain or hear the teachings, if your mind and the teachings
-remain separate, then whatever is explained will be inconsequential. Hence,
-listen in such a way that you determine how these teachings apply to your
-mind. For example, when you want to find out whether or not there is some
-smudge, dirt, or whatever, on your face, you look in a mirror and then remove
-whatever is there. Similarly, when you listen to the teachings, your faults
-such as misconduct and attachment appear in the mirror of the teachings. At
-that time, you regret that your mind has become like this, and you then work
-to clear away those faults and establish good qualities. Hence, you must
-train in the teachings.
- --Tsong-kha-pa, "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to
- Enlightenment: The Lamrim Chenmo", translated by the Lamrim Chenmo
- Translation Committee, Joshua Cutler, Editor in Chief, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- if god exists, then god doesn't need me to believe in god. it will not
-harm god if i do not believe, because god's existence is not dependent on
-my belief. god could contact me directly if god existed and actually cared
-what i believed, thus i see no reason to believe in god until then. since
-i don't need to believe in god, this frees me from wasting any mental
-effort *believing* when that belief will not create god if god doesn't
-exist, and when my disbelief will not destroy god if god does exist.
-i can't change the state of god's existence one way or the other--i have
-realized this limitation in my capabilities.
- instead, god needs to believe in me. it's my existence that presumably
-requires god's participation in some way, if god does exist. but regardless
-of any effort to placate a deity, i feel that i need to be the kind of person
-who is worth believing in, by god or by anyone else. my seeking perfection
-should not come from fear of an ignored and needy deity. i must build the
-best moral and ethical system that i can come up with for myself in this life.
-it is my own self-control and my behavior towards others that is the final
-word on whether i am worth believing in.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-Sometimes doing nothing is doing something.
- -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
-~
-Enjoy now, another now is coming.
- -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
-~
-Less pain, more gain.
- -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
-~
-The pause is a part of the walk.
- -- Sir Thomas Dewar
-~
-Go ahead, look around.
- -- Sir Thomas Dewar
-~
-You better wait for the unexpected.
- -- Sir Thomas Dewar
-~
-Making a mistake is also an achievement.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-Leave for tomorrow what you can't do today.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-The further you are from a problem, the smaller it gets.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-If you think you know it all, you are missing something.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-Proper rules are not written.
- -- Sir Thomas Dewar
-~
-Sometimes a step forward needs a step back.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-If you get to the top on your own, who'll take the picture?
- -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar, aka Lord Dewar
-~
-When a man says his word is as his bond--get his bond.
- -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar, aka Lord Dewar
-~
-Never invest in a going concern until you know which way it is going.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-The quality of the article should be its greatest achievement.
- -- Sir Thomas Dewar
-~
-If you do not advertise, you fossilize.
- -- Sir Thomas Dewar
-~
-Yesterday's success belongs to yesterday.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-In charity there is no excess.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-The greatest mistake you can make is to be
-continually fearing you will make one.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-Life is a one-way street and you're not coming back.
- -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
-~
-Fish stimulates the brain, but fishing stimulates the imagination.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-Respectability is the state of never being caught
-doing anything which gives you pleasure.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-Of two evils, choose the more interesting.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-There is no traffic congestion on the straight and narrow path.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-We have a great regard for old age when it is bottled.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-A philosopher is a man who can look at an empty glass with a smile.
- -- Sir Thomas Dewar
-~
-A teetotaller is one who suffers from thirst instead of enjoying it.
- -- Sir Thomas Dewar
-~
-Experience is what you get when you're looking for something else.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-Ability without enthusiasm is like a rifle without a bullet.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-You can send a boy to college but you can't make him think.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-If we are here to help others, I often wonder what the others are here for.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-Don't question your wife's judgment; look who she married.
- -- Lord Dewar
-~
-I pray for all of us, oppressor and friend, that together we may succeed in
-building a better world through human understanding and love, and that in
-doing so we may reduce the pain and suffering of all sentient beings.
- -- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech,
- Oslo, December 1989, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
- Mary Craig
-~
-Benefiting living beings is my main practice, and I would like to give a brief
-introduction to the three qualities that are its basis: pure love, compassion,
-and bodhichitta, the awakened mind. Pure love is the desire that all living
-beings have happiness and its causes. Compassion is the desire that living
-beings be free of suffering and its causes, such as unwholesome actions.
-Bodhichitta is the desire that all living beings be free of suffering and that
-we will be able to place them on the unsurpassed level of awakening, or
-buddhahood.
- -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art, and Teachings of the 17th Gyalwa
- Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
-How can we eliminate the deepest source of all unsatisfactory experience?
-Only by cultivating certain qualities within our mindstream. Unless we
-possess high spiritual qualifications, there is no doubt that the events life
-throws upon us will give rise to frustration, emotional turmoil, and other
-distorted states of consciousness. These imperfect states of mind in turn
-give rise to imperfect activities, and the seeds of suffering are ever planted
-in a steady flow. On the other hand, when the mind can dwell in the wisdom
-that knows the ultimate mode of being, one is able to destroy the deepest root
-of distortion, negative karma and sorrow.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", translated and
- edited by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-It is important to realize that there is nobody else who can wake us up and
-save us from samsara. There is no such thing in Buddhism. That may be
-Buddhism's biggest drawback, and at the same time its greatest advantage.
-This view shows us that there is nobody else in control of our lives, our
-experiences, our freedom or our bondage. Who is responsible? Who is in
-control? It is us. We are in control. We can bind ourselves further in
-samsara or we can free ourselves from it right now. It is all up to us. We
-are the ones who have to keep looking at our thoughts, looking for the nature
-of our mind. There is no guru, deity, buddha or bodhisattva out there to look
-for it for us. Although they would happily do this, it would not help us; it
-would only help them. We have to do it for ourselves. That is the key point.
- -- Dzogchen Ponlop, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-...mistakenly apprehending inherent existence in all phenomena
-serves as the root of all other delusions...
-
- The opponent force powerful enough to eliminate the delusions should be a
-wisdom which combines calm abiding and special insight. In order to cultivate
-an advanced meditative stabilization that is free of both subtle mental
-sinking and mental excitement, first of all there should be a basis: the
-practice of morality, an abstaining from negative actions. Therefore, the
-path leading to liberation is comprised of the three higher trainings: the
-training of morality as the foundation, the training of meditative
-stabilization as the complementing factor, and the actual path which is the
-training of wisdom. By enhancing the practice of wisdom and by developing it
-to its fullest extent, you will be able to eliminate totally the delusions,
-particularly ignorance which misapprehends the mode of being of phenomena.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- There is considerable ongoing debate regarding the traditional view of the
-guru-disciple relationship, which asserts that seeing the guru as Buddha,
-impeccable and without failings, is vital to ripen the disciple's potential to
-attain the fruits of the path. This is reinforced by the admonition that to
-see faults in one's own guru will result in karmic downfalls and future
-suffering for the disciple. Any faults in the teacher should be seen as the
-disciple's aberrations projected outside. The tantric teachings insist this
-pure view should be held at all times to protect the disciple from accruing
-negative karma.
- However, underlying this is also the need to preserve the integrity,
-authority, and status of the teacher. This leads to a great deal of confusion
-when students begin to see evident flaws in teachers, and it would be folly to
-explain them away as the students' impure perception. Consequently it has
-become necessary to cultivate a less dogmatic, more pragmatic view. A teacher
-may not be a perfect carrier of the projection, but this does not contradict
-the tantric view that essentially the guru, an inner phenomenon projected
-outside, is Buddha.
- If we literalize this principle of the teacher as the embodiment of
-perfection, we are in danger of blinding ourselves to the reality that most
-teachers are human, and therefore not perfect. An individual can have deep
-insights into the nature of reality and still have human failings, a shadow
-that has not been fully eradicated. According to the teachings on the Ten
-Grounds or Stages of the Bodhisattva, until the final ground is reached, there
-are still subtle obscurations to full enlightenment that can manifest in
-flawed behavior. Believing without question that the outer guru is Buddha
-also traps the teacher in an unrealistic, unconscious position. The Dalai
-Lama has commented that too much deference harms the teacher, because we never
-challenge him or her.
- When disciples become devoted to teachers, considerable power and
-authority is entrusted to them. While a teacher's role is to support and
-empower disciples to discover their own potential, sometimes this does not
-happen. Some teachers become caught in the powerful position they have been
-endowed with and are unaware of their own desire for power and authority.
-They may begin to enjoy their power too much and take advantage of it for
-their own needs. This keeps their disciples disempowered, and ultimately does
-not allow growth and individual responsibility to emerge. Teachers may be
-unconsciously afraid to empower their disciples and allow them to gain a sense
-of their own authority and autonomy. They may try to hold on to their
-disciples, when to genuinely empower them could lead to their leaving to
-engage in their own journey.
- --Rob Preece, "The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra", foreword by Stephen
- Batchelor, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Attachment increases desire, without producing any satisfaction. There
-are two types of desire, unreasonable and reasonable. The first is an
-affliction founded on ignorance, but the second is not. To live, you need
-resources; therefore, desire for sufficient material things is appropriate.
-Such feelings as, "This is good; I want this. This is useful," are not
-afflictions. It is also desirable to achieve altruism, wisdom, and
-liberation. This kind of desire is suitable; indeed, all human development
-comes out of desire, and these aspirations do not have to be an affliction.
- ...when you have attachment to material things, it is best to desist from
-those very activities that promote more attachment. Satisfaction is helpful
-when it comes to material things, but not with respect to spiritual practice.
-Objects to which we become attached are something to be discarded, whereas
-spiritual progress is something to be adopted--it can be developed
-limitlessly, even in old age.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love", translated and edited by
- Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
- Some people find it helpful to set a determination of a reasonable period
-of time during which they will sit in meditation without moving. If you do
-this, do not make it into a contest in which you grit your teeth in pain just
-to say that you sat without moving for a certain length of time. That isn't
-conducive for focusing with wisdom on the object of meditation. On the other
-hand, avoid moving whenever you feel the slightest bit of restlessness or
-discomfort. Doing that isn't conducive for developing concentration either.
-Rather, note when there is the urge to move but don't move. Observe the
-sensation: Is it really pain or is it simply restless energy in the body?
-Learn to differentiate between these two. Learn, also, to differentiate
-between pain and discomfort. Watch and study both of those when they arise in
-your field of experience.
- In general, when attachment, anger, jealousy, or other distracting
-emotions arise, observe them without getting involved in their stories.
-Experience the feeling, rather than repeat the story to yourself again and
-again. Be aware of what it feels like in your body when you are angry,
-jealous, arrogant, or clingy. Be aware of the feeling tone in your mind when
-one of these emotions is present. Observe how the feeling changes, never
-remaining the same.
- ...It is important to avoid criticizing yourself when your mind is
-distracted or dull. Do not fall into discouraging thoughts or self-hatred
-because these are unproductive and are to be abandoned on the path. Remember
-that internal transformation takes time and rejoice in your opportunity to
-learn and practice the Dharma. "Slowly, slowly," as Lama Thubten Yeshe used
-to say. Learn to be satisfied with what you are able to do now while you
-aspire to improve in the future.
- -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path",
- foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these
-minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden.
-But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm
-that plays havoc with the garden.
- -- Shakyamuni Buddha
-~
-You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by it.
- -- Shakyamuni Buddha
-~
-Buddhists take a vow of morality in the context of first taking refuge--in
-Buddha, in the states of realization, and in the spiritual community. Refuge
-is the foundation for the practice of morality. Buddha teaches us how to find
-refuge from suffering and limitation, but the chief refuge, or source of
-protection, is found in the states of realization achieved through practicing
-morality, concentrated meditation, and wisdom. ...A lama from the Drukpa
-Kagyu tradition and I were very close. We met frequently and always used to
-joke, teasing each other back and forth. On one occasion I asked him about
-his spiritual experience. He told me that when he was young, he was staying
-with his lama who had him perform the preliminary practice of making a hundred
-thousand prostrations to the Buddha, the doctrine, and the spiritual
-community. Early in the morning and late in the evening he had to make
-prostrations on a low platform the length of his body. His lama was
-meditating in the dark in the next room; so to trick him into thinking he was
-making prostrations he would tap with his knuckles on the prostration
-platform. Years later, after his lama passed away, he was taking a meditation
-retreat in a cave, during which he recalled his lama's great kindness over
-years of training him, and he wept and wept. He almost fainted, but then
-experienced the clear light, which he continuously practiced. Subsequently,
-after successful meditations he occasionally would remember past lives in
-vivid reflections before him.
- --His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
- Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- http://www.snowlionpub.com/search.php?isbn=HOPRPA
-~
- A practitioner needs faith, or trust.... Guru Rinpoche said that we
-should meditate in the same way that a sparrow enters a nest. A sparrow
-spends some time investigating whether or not it is safe to enter. Once his
-examination is over, he then enters unhesitatingly. That's a wonderful
-metaphor for practice. First clear up all your doubts about your technique,
-then throw yourself into the technique with no separation or self-
-consciousness. Of course, it's easy to say, but that is the direction toward
-which we should be moving.
- Another necessary quality is determination. It's easy to gear oneself up
-for counting mantras or prostrations. For some, physical discipline is also
-easy. But the determination of the meditator is different. We must be
-determined to strive to purify our obscurations until they're completely
-gone--in other words, until our buddha-nature unobstructedly shines through.
-When we sit, we decide to do our best not to be swayed by our negativity. We
-should cultivate this attitude at the beginning of our session. Otherwise, no
-matter how much we practice, we will daydream a lot and our meditation will
-always be wishy-washy. I know this from experience--I may do my session of
-meditation, but it is tepid. Why? I don't have that inner strength to remain
-unmoved by the arising of the various mental contents.
- -- Bruce Newman, "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism", published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-This is the way of peace:
- "Overcome evil with good,
- falsehood with truth, and
- hatred with love."
- -- Peace Pilgrim
-~
-The seeing of Truth cannot be dualistic (a "thing" seen). It cannot be seen
-by a see-er, or via a see-er. There can only be a seeing which itself is
-Truth. "All Else is Bondage; Non-Volitional Living"
- -- Wei Wu Wei
-~
-An economist is a surgeon with an excellent scalpel and a rough-edged lancet,
-who operates beautifully on the dead and tortures the living.
- -- Nicholas Chamfort
-~
-A joke's a very serious thing.
- -- Charles Churchill
-~
-You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.
- -- Ray Bradbury
-~
- The five subtler aggregates* will eventually be transformed into the
-Buddhas of the five lineages. They are now as if accompanied by mental
-defilements. When the defilements are removed, these factors do not become
-any coarser or subtler; their nature remains, but [when they] become separated
-from the faults of mental pollution, they become the Buddhas of the five
-lineages. So if you ask whether the Buddhas of the five lineages are present
-now in our continuums, these factors are currently bound by faults, and since
-there cannot be a Buddha who has a fault, they are not Buddhas. One is not
-yet fully enlightened, but that which is going to become a Buddha is present;
-therefore, these factors presently existent in our continuums are Buddha seeds
-and are called the Buddha nature, or the essence of the One Gone Thus
-(Tathagatagarbha).
- * The five consituents that are included within a person's continuum--earth,
- water, fire, wind, and space--that will be purified into the five Buddha
- lineages [the exalted manifestations of these constituents].
- -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
- Clarity, and Insight", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...an inherently existent "I" appears to us, but instead of assenting to
-that appearance and holding it to be true, we analyze how the "I" actually
-exists.
- At those times in our life when there's a very solid feeling of "I," it's
-helpful to examine how that "I" appears. I remember the first time I stayed
-out all night in college and my mother didn't know. I came home the next day
-with this feeling that "I" really existed: "I did this and my mother doesn't
-know!" The feeling of "I" was just enormous, incredibly solid, because I did
-something I wasn't supposed to do.
- Examine how that "I" appears, that big "I," especially when you have a
-strong emotion. Get familiar with that sense of "I." When somebody criticizes
-us or accuses us of doing something that we didn't do, this feeling comes up
-very quickly. Usually, we're focused not on the feeling of "I," but on
-attacking the other person or escaping from him. But if we can step back,
-it's an incredible opportunity to study the feeling of "I." The person who
-irritates us the most can be our best Dharma asset, because he gives us an
-opportunity to look at this sense of "I."
- -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga
- Method of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-One time when I was giving an exposition on Nagarjuna's "Fundamentals of the
-Middle Way," which deals explicitly with the topic of emptiness, one student
-who did not have a prior background of learning in great treatises made a
-comment to another colleague. He said: 'Today's teaching was a little
-strange. His Holiness began with the presentation of the Buddha's path and
-built up the edifice one layer at a time. Then, all of a sudden, he started
-talking about emptiness and the absence of inherent existence, so that this
-whole edifice he had spent much time building was completely dismantled.'
-He couldn't really see the point. There is that danger. However, if we
-understand the importance of the need to generate wisdom into emptiness as a
-means of bringing about the cessation of the afflictions, particularly
-fundamental ignorance, then we recognise the value of deepening our
-realisation of emptiness. Also, as Dharmakirti points out, emotions such as
-loving kindness and compassion cannot directly challenge fundamental
-ignorance. It is only by cultivating insight into no-self that we can
-directly overcome our fundamental ignorance.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Having committed yourself to certain practices, be steadfast and never
-transgress the promises you have made. Let go of everything that could tempt
-you to do so and devote yourself entirely and single-mindedly to the
-accomplishment of your aims. For six years the Buddha did not waver from his
-practice of the meditative stabilization known as "Pervading Space." This
-meditation focuses on the fundamental nature of phenomena, which is present
-wherever there is space. Everywhere throughout space there are suffering
-living beings on whom this meditation also focuses with the compassionate wish
-to relieve their suffering and the loving wish to give them happiness. Thus
-it combines essential wisdom and skillful means.
- -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path: An Oral
- Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-If you're not scared or angry at the thought of a human brain being controlled
-remotely, then it could be this prototype of mine is finally starting to work.
- -- John Alejandro King
-~
-Only fools are positive. -- Moe Howard
-~
-Just once, I wish we would encounter an alien menace
-that wasn't immune to bullets.
- -- Unknown
-~
-We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by
-selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a
-shadow that never leaves them.
- -- Buddha
-~
-If you find a good companion, who is following the same spiritual
-path, travel together, overcoming obstacles as they arise.
- -- Buddha
-~
-Man is harder than rock and more fragile than an egg.
- -- Yugoslav Proverb
-~
-That in man which cannot be domesticated is not his evil but his goodness.
- -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
-~
-Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is.
- -- Albert Camus
-~
-A human being: an ingenious assembly of portable plumbing.
- -- Christopher Morley, Human Being
-~
-The universe may have a purpose, but nothing we know suggests that, if so,
-this purpose has any similarity to ours.
- -- Bertrand Russell
-~
-Ocean: A body of water occupying two-thirds of a
-world made for man--who has no gills.
- -- Ambrose Bierce
-~
-Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone and more fragile than a rose.
- -- Turkish Proverb
-~
-Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it.
- -- John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday
-~
-In nature a repulsive caterpillar turns into a lovely butterfly. But with
-humans it is the other way around: a lovely butterfly turns into a repulsive
-caterpillar.
- -- Anton Chekhov
-~
-Man is an intelligence in servitude to his organs.
- -- Aldous Huxley
-~
-We are perverse creatures and never satisfied.
- -- Nan Fairbrother
-~
-Modern man is the missing link between apes and human beings.
- -- Author Unknown
-~
-Human consciousness arose but a minute before midnight on the geological
-clock. Yet we mayflies try to bend an ancient world to our purposes, ignorant
-perhaps of the messages buried in its long history. Let us hope that we are
-still in the early morning of our April day.
- -- Stephen Jay Gould, "Our Allotted Lifetimes," The Panda's Thumb, 1980
-~
-Such is the human race, often it seems a pity
-that Noah... didn't miss the boat.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-There are too many people, and too few human beings.
- -- Robert Zend
-~
-It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human race proved to be
-nothing more than the story of an ape playing with a box of matches on a
-petrol dump.
- -- David Ormsby Gore
-~
-Only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge,
-virtue, and abiding love.
- -- George Bernard Shaw
-~
-The disastrous history of our species indicates the futility of all attempts
-at a diagnosis which do not take into account the possibility that homo
-sapiens is a victim of one of evolution's countless mistakes.
- -- Arthur Koestler, Janus: A Summing Up
-~
-Men! The only animal in the world to fear.
- -- D.H. Lawrence
-~
-The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race.
- -- Don Marquis
-~
-Man embraces in his makeup all the natural orders;
-he's a squid, a mollusk, a sucker and a buzzard;
-sometimes he's a cerebrate.
- -- Martin H. Fischer
-~
-Men are cruel, but Man is kind.
- -- Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, 1916
-~
-Humanity is on the march, earth itself is left behind.
- -- David Ehrenfeld, The Arrogance of Humanism, 1978
-~
-Human nature, if healthy, demands excitement; and if it does not obtain its
-thrilling excitement in the right way, it will seek it in the wrong. God
-never makes bloodless stoics; He makes no passionless saints.
- -- Oswald Chambers
-~
-Cabbage: a familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as
-large and wise as a man's head.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
-~
-Monkeys are superior to men in this:
-When a monkey looks into a mirror, he sees a monkey.
- -- Malcolm de Chazal
-~
-It is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing.
- -- Mariane Moore, "A Grave," Collected Poems, 1951
-~
-The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that
-procession but carrying a banner.
- -- Mark Twain, "Reflections on Being the Delight of God."
-~
-Adam ate the apple, and our teeth still ache.
- -- Hungarian Proverb
-~
-Why was man created on the last day? So that he can be told, when pride
-possesses him: God created the gnat before thee.
- -- The Talmud
-~
-Man--a creature made at the end of the week's work when God was tired.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated His ability.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-O poor mortals, how ye make this earth bitter for each other.
- -- Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution, vol. I, book II, chapter 1
-~
-God pulled an all-nighter on the sixth day.
- -- Author Unknown
-~
-Zoo: An excellent place to study the habits of human beings.
- -- Evan Esar
-~
-The progress of evolution from President Washington to
-President Grant [is] alone enough to upset Darwin.
- -- Henry Adams, Education, 1907
-~
-Man--a being in search of meaning. -- Plato
-~
-Ultimately, aren't we all just talking monkeys with an attitude problem?
- -- "Uncle" Ben, as seen on quotes-r-us.org
-~
-The more humanity advances, the more it is degraded.
- -- Gustave Flaubert
-~
-Nothing feebler does earth nurture than man,
-Of all things breathing and moving.
- -- Homer, Odyssey
-~
-Everyone is as God made him, and often a good deal worse.
- -- Miguel de Cervantes
-~
-Man is a strange animal, he doesn't like to read the handwriting
-on the wall until his back is up against it.
- -- Adlai Stevenson
-~
-It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-God doesn't measure His bounty, but oh how we do!
- -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
-~
-The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary;
-men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.
- -- Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, 1911
-~
-The human race is governed by its imagination.
- -- Napoleon
-~
-Man uses his intelligence less in the care of his own species than he does in
-his care of anything else he owns or governs.
- -- Abraham Meyerson
-~
-Human beings cling to their delicious tyrannies and to their exquisite
-nonsense, till death stares them in the face.
- -- Sydney Smith
-~
-Why should man expect his prayer for mercy to be heard by What is above him
-when he shows no mercy to what is under him?
- -- Pierre Troubetzkoy
-~
-The small percentage of dogs that bite people is monumental proof that the dog
-is the most benign, forgiving creature on earth.
- -- W.R. Koehler, The Koehler Method of Dog Training
-~
-Man was created a little lower than the angels,
-and has been getting lower ever since.
- -- Josh Billings
-~
-We have no choice but to be guilty.
-God is unthinkable if we are innocent.
- -- Archibald MacLeish, JB, 1958
-~
-Human beings invent just as many ways to sabotage their lives
-as to improve them.
- -- Mark Goulston, Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating
- Behavior, 1996
-~
-As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a
-man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.
- -- Samuel Johnson
-~
-What is man's greatest bane? His brother man alone.
- -- Bias of Priene, Maxims
-~
-Acedia is not in every dictionary; just in every heart.
- -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
-~
-The study of crime begins with the knowledge of oneself.
- -- Henry Miller, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, 1945
-~
-Is man a savage at heart, skinned o'er with fragile Manners? Or is savagery
-but a faint taint in the natural man's gentility, which erupts now and again
-like pimples on an angel's arse?
- -- John Barth, The Sot-Weed Factor, 1960
-~
-God has given a great deal to man, but man would like something from man.
- -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
-~
-I was surprised just now at seeing a cobweb around a knocker;
-for it was not on the door of heaven.
- -- Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth,
- by Two Brothers, 1827
-~
-I sometimes think of what future historians will say of us.
-A single sentence will suffice for modern man:
-He fornicated and read the papers.
- -- Albert Camus
-~
-Man, when he is merely what he seems to be, is almost nothing.
- -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
-~
-Give a man secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it
-into a garden; give him nine years' lease of a garden, and he will
-convert it into a desert.
- -- Arthur Young, Travels in France, 1792
-~
-Our behavior is human with a sliver of animal,
-our souls animal with a sliver of human.
- -- Carrie Latet
-~
-Occident: The part of the world lying west (or east) of the Orient.
-It is largely inhabited by Christians, a powerful subtribe of the
-Hypocrites, whose principal industries are murder and cheating, which
-they are pleased to call "war" and "commerce." These, also, are the
-principal industries of the Orient.
- -- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
-~
-Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal
-that is struck with the difference between what things are and what
-they ought to be.
- -- William Hazlitt, The English Comic Writers, 1819
-~
-Nature is neutral. Man has wrested from nature the power to make the world a
-desert or to make the deserts bloom. There is no evil in the atom; only in
-men's souls.
- -- Adlai Stevenson
-~
-A simple and irrefutable argument to knock creationism on its ass: (1) Humans
-are a mistake--subproof: opposable thumbs and enlarged brain capacity are the
-combined number one factor in the increasingly speedy destruction of planet
-Earth. (2) God doesn't make mistakes. (3) Therefore, God couldn't have
-created people.
- -- Cassus Garrulitas
-~
-Man talks about everything, and he talks about everything as though the
-understanding of everything were all inside him.
- -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
-~
-My dog is usually pleased with what I do, because she is not infected
-with the concept of what I "should" be doing.
- -- Lonzo Idolswine
-~
-Man will do many things to get himself loved;
-he will do all things to get himself envied.
- -- Mark Twain, Following the Equator, 1897
-~
-We are all parasites; we humans, the greatest.
- -- Martin H. Fischer
-~
-Suppose some mathematical creature from the moon were to reckon up the human
-body; he would at once see that the essential thing about it was that it was
-duplicate. A man is two men, he on the right exactly resembling him on the
-left. Having noted that there was an arm on the right and one on the left, a
-leg on the right and one on the left, he might go further and still find on
-each side the same number of fingers, the same number of toes, twin eyes, twin
-ears, twin nostrils, and even twin lobes of the brain. At last he would take
-it as a law; and then, where he found a heart on one side, would deduce that
-there was another heart on the other. And just then, where he most felt he
-was right, he would be wrong.
- -- Gilbert Keith Chesterton, "The Paradoxes of Christianity," Orthodoxy
-~
-It is the nature of mortals to kick a fallen man.
- -- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
-~
-God is less careful than General Motors, for He floods the world
-with factory rejects.
- -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
-~
-Man's highest merit always is, as much as possible, to rule external
-circumstances and as little as possible to let himself be ruled by them.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-So there he is at last. Man on the moon. The poor magnificent bungler! He
-can't even get to the office without undergoing the agonies of the damned, but
-give him a little metal, a few chemicals, some wire and twenty or thirty
-billion dollars and vroom! there he is, up on a rock a quarter of a million
-miles up in the sky.
- -- Russell Baker, New York Times, 21 July 1969
-~
-Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is
-a problem which he has to solve.
- -- Erich Fromm, Man for Himself, 1947
-~
-When freedom from want and freedom from fear are achieved,
-man's remains will be in rigor mortis.
- -- Martin H. Fischer
-~
-Man is nature's sole mistake.
- -- W.S. Gilbert
-~
-The average man's judgment is so poor, he runs a risk every time he uses it.
- -- E.W. Howe
-~
-Man--a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal.
- -- Alexander Hamilton
-~
-We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all
-his noble qualities, still bears in his bodily frame the indelible
-stamp of his lowly origin.
- -- Charles Darwin, Descent of Man, 1871
-~
-We're animals. We're born like every other mammal and we live our
-whole lives around disguised animal thoughts.
- -- Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams
-~
-Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not
-depend on us. We are not the only experiment.
- -- R. Buckminister Fuller
-~
-Be a good animal, true to your animal instincts.
- -- David Herbert Lawrence, White Peacock, 1911
-~
-The question is this: Is man an ape or an angel?
-I am on the side of the angels.
- -- Benjamin Disraeli
-~
-I viewed my fellow man not as a fallen angel, but as a risen ape.
- -- Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape
-~
-Man desired concord; but nature knows better what is good for his species; she
-desires discord. Man wants to live easy and content; but nature compels him
-to leave ease... and throw himself into roils and labors.
- -- Immanuel Kant, Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan
- Purpose, 1787
-~
-The thief and the murderer follow nature just as much as the philanthropist.
- -- T.H. Huxley, "Evolution and Ethics," 1893
-~
-Many people believe that they are attracted by God, or by Nature,
-when they are only repelled by man.
- -- William Ralph Inge
-~
-People are like birds: on the wing, all beautiful;
-up close, all beady little eyes.
- -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
-~
-Evolution is individual--devolution is collective.
- -- Martin H. Fischer
-~
-I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-
-contain'd. I stand and look at them long and long. They do not sweat and
-whine about their condition.... Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented
-with the mania of owning things, not one kneels to another, nor to his kind
-that lived thousands of years ago, not one is respectable or unhappy over the
-whole earth.
- -- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
-~
-As long as people believe in absurdities
-they will continue to commit atrocities.
- -- Voltaire
-~
-I demand of you, and of the whole world, that you show me
-a generic character... by which to distinguish between Man and Ape.
-I myself most assuredly know of none.
- -- Carl Linnaeus, 1788
-~
-In creating the human brain, evolution has wildly overshot the mark.
- -- Arthur Koestler
-~
-Evolution: that last step was a doozy!
- -- Astrid Alauda
-~
-We have a world for each one, but we do not have a world for all.
- -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
-~
-Evolution: one small step for man, one giant leap backward for mankind.
- -- The Quote Garden
-~
-I do not value any view of the universe into which man and the institutions of
-man enter very largely and absorb much of the attention. Man is but the place
-where I stand, and the prospect hence is infinite.
- -- Henry David Thoreau, journal, 2 April 1852
-~
-Nature does not deceive us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
- -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762
-~
-It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
- -- Niccolo Machiavelli
-~
-Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees
-that it is old enough to know better.
- -- Author Unknown
-~
-Question: How can one work with deep fears most effectively?
-
-DL: There are quite a number of methods. The first is to think about actions
-and their effects. Usually when something bad happens, we say, "Oh, very
-unlucky," and when something good happens, we say, "Oh, very lucky." Actually,
-these two words, lucky and unlucky, are insufficient. There must be some
-reason. Because of a reason, a certain time became lucky or unlucky, but
-usually we do not go beyond lucky or unlucky. The reason, according to the
-Buddhist explanation, is our past karma, our actions.
-
-One way to work with deep fears is to think that the fear comes as a result of
-your own actions in the past. Further, if you have fear of some pain or
-suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it.
-If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything,
-then there is also no need to worry.
-
-Another technique is to investigate who is becoming afraid. Examine the
-nature of your self. Where is this I? Who is I? What is the nature of I?
-Is there an I besides my physical body and my consciousness? This may help.
-
-Also, someone who is engaging in the Bodhisattva practices seeks to take
-others' suffering onto himself or herself. When you have fear, you can think,
-"Others have fear similar to this; may I take to myself all of their fears."
-Even though you are opening yourself to greater suffering, taking greater
-suffering to yourself, your fear lessens.
- -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
- About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword
- by Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Object of Negation
-
- When a subject is analyzed, the object to be negated is determined to be
-either an appearance or something imagined. It is not logical, [however,] to
-negate momentary appearances, because reasonings cannot negate them. To take
-an example: for people with eye diseases, the appearances of floaters [bits of
-optical debris], double moons, and the like do not stop as long as their
-eyesight is impaired. Similarly, as long as beings are not free from
-unafflicted ignorance, illusionlike appearances [manifesting] to the six modes
-of consciousness do not stop.
- It is not necessary to negate [appearances], because our mistakes do not
-come from appearances: they arise from fixating on those [appearances]. This
-is the case because if we do not fixate on appearances, we are not bound--we
-are like a magician who, having conjured up a young woman, has no attachment
-towards her. [On the other hand, if,] like naive beings attached to an
-illusory young woman, we fixate intensely [on appearances], our karma and
-mental afflictions will increase.
- To intentionally negate appearances would be wrong because, if they were
-negated, emptiness would come to mean the [absolute] nonexistence of things.
-Another reason this would be a mistake is that yogins and yoginis meditating
-on emptiness would fall into the extreme of nihilism since they would be
-applying their minds to a negation that [equals] the [absolute] nonexistence
-of everything.
- Thus, [Madhyamikas] set out to negate only what is imagined, because that
-is what can be negated. Like a rope mistaken for a snake, what is imagined
-does not conform to facts: it is simply the mind's fixations.
- -- Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six, Part Three:
- Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy", translated by Elizabeth M. Callahan,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Even though Mac Users may be only 10% of the market,
-always remember that we are the top 10%.
- -- Douglas Adams
-~
-While I don't claim to be a great programmer, I try to imitate one. An
-important trait of the great ones is constructive laziness. They know that
-you get an A not for effort but for results.
- -- Eric S. Raymond
-~
-We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the
-complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is
-not true.
- -- Robert Wilensky
-~
-C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when
-you do, it blows away your whole leg.
- -- Bjarne Stroustrup
-~
-The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether
-submarines can swim.
- -- Edsger Dijkstra
-~
-Consistently separating words by spaces became a general custom about the
-tenth century A.D., and lasted until about 1957, when FORTRAN abandoned the
-practice.
- -- Sun FORTRAN Reference Manual
-~
-UNIX was never designed to keep people from doing stupid things, because that
-policy would also keep them from doing clever things.
- -- Doug Gwyn
-~
-Anyone who slaps a "this page is best viewed with Browser X" label on a Web
-page appears to be yearning for the bad old days, before the Web, when you had
-very little chance of reading a document written on another computer, another
-word processor, or another network.
- -- Tim Berners-Lee
-~
-If you were plowing a field, which would you rather use?
-Two strong oxen or 1024 chickens?
- -- Seymour Cray
-~
-The competent programmer is fully aware of the strictly limited size of his
-own skull; therefore he approaches the programming task in full humility; and
-among other things he avoids clever tricks like the plague.
- -- Edsger Dijkstra
-~
-A programming language is a tool that has profound influence
-on our thinking habits.
- -- Edsger Dijkstra
-~
-The Answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything is
-forty-two.
- -- Deep Thought, 2nd greatest Computer in the Universe of Time and Space
-~
-If Windows is the solution, can we please have the problem back?
- -- unknown
-~
-This is a fascinating property: Writing texts in programming languages can not
-only be as creative as poetry, the creations more than in poetry, belong to
-the real world as soon as run through the machine.
- -- Heinz Zemanek
-~
-Any problem in computer science can be solved with another layer of
-indirection. But that usually will create another problem.
- -- Davin Wheeler
-~
-Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. -- Edsger Dijkstra
-~
-It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have
-had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally
-mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.
- -- Edsger Dijkstra
-~
-Good artists copy. Great artists steal. -- Pablo Picasso
-~
-I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order I may learn how to do it.
- -- Pablo Picasso
-~
-Serious people have few ideas. People with ideas are never serious.
- -- Paul Valery
-~
-Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-The debt is like a crazy aunt we keep down in the basement. All the neighbors
-know she's down there, but nobody wants to talk about her.
- -- Ross Perot
-~
-Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
- -- Mark Twain
-~
-Where true religion has prevented one crime, false religions have afforded a
-pretext for a thousand.
- -- Charles Caleb Colton
-~
-Whatever limits us, we call Fate. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher regard
-those who think alike than those who think differently.
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think
-laughable.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-It often takes more courage to change ones opinion than to keep it.
- -- Willy Brandt
-~
-Let's be grateful for those who give us happiness; they are the charming
-gardeners who make our soul bloom.
- -- Marcel Proust
-~
-It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-There are only two forces that unite men--fear and interest.
- -- Napoleon Bonaparte
-~
-If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their
-own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have
-a paradise in a few years.
- -- Bertrand Russel
-~
-The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense.
- -- Tom Clancy
-~
-If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward,
-then we are a sorry lot indeed.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-Your character must be above suspicion and
-you must be truthful and self controlled.
- -- Mahatma Gandhi
-~
-Either you live or you are consequential. -- Erich Kaestner
-~
-Pedaled curd gets wide--not strong. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-Do not follow where the path may lead.
-Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
- -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-She wore too much rouge last night and not quite enough clothes. Thats always
-a sign of despair in a woman.
- -- Oscar Wilde
-~
-Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
- -- Mahatma Gandhi
-~
-First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you
-win.
- -- Mahatma Gandhi
-~
-Wherever it has been established that it is shameful to be involved with
-sexual relationships with men, that is due to evil on the part of the rulers,
-and to cowardice on the part of the governed.
- -- Plato
-~
-We want to be poets of our life--first of all in the smallest
-most everyday matters.
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-Without music, life would be an error. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-Joseph LaGrange believed that a mathematician has not thoroughly understood
-his own work till he has made it so clear that he can go out and explain it
-effectively to the first man he meets on the street.
- -- E. T. Bell
-~
-There is no such thing as an inevitable war. If war comes it will be from
-failure of human wisdom.
- -- Andres Bonar Law
-~
-Perfect nonviolence is the highest bravery. -- Mahatma Gandhi
-~
-There never was a good war or a bad peace. -- Benjamin Franklin
-~
-There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing
-good in war. Except its ending.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only
-temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
- -- Mahatma Gandhi
-~
-An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. -- Mahatma Gandhi
-~
-Trust no one in whom the desire to punish is strong. -- Fyodor Dostoevsky
-~
-If we steal thoughts from the moderns, it will be cried down as plagiarism; if
-from the ancients, it will be cried up as erudition.
- -- Charles Caleb Colton
-~
-The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.
- -- Emile Zola
-~
-Ability is nothing without opportunity. -- Napoleon Bonaparte
-~
-Never work just for money or for power.
-They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night.
- -- Marian Wright Edelman
-~
-Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their
-pleasure takes joy, even as though it were his own.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power,
-and magic in it.
- -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-~
-Censorship cannot eliminate evil, it can only kill freedom. -- unknown
-~
-Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong.
- -- John G. Riefenbaker
-~
-People demand freedom of speech to make up for
-the freedom of thought which they avoid.
- -- Soren Aabye Kierkegaard
-~
-Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the
-fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
- -- Jim Morrison
-~
-If you are a phenomenologist, you can talk about this cocktail and make
-philosophy out of it.
- -- Raymond Aron
-~
-I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance.
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-I would not know what the spirit of a philosopher might wish more
-to be than a good dancer.
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-Faith means not wanting to know what is true. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen.
- -- Francois, Duc de la Rochefoucauld
-~
-This war, like the next war, is a war to end war. -- David Lloyd George
-~
-How good bad music and bad reasons sound when one marches against an enemy!
- -- Friedrich Nietzsche
-~
-When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them.
- -- Rodney Dangerfield
-~
- When your mind is trained in self-discipline, even if you are surrounded
-by hostile forces, your peace of mind will hardly be disturbed. On the other
-hand, if your mind is undisciplined, your mental peace and calm can easily be
-disrupted by your own negative thoughts and emotions. The real enemy is
-within, not outside. Usually we define our enemy as a person, an external
-agent, whom we believe is causing harm to us or to someone we hold dear. But
-such an enemy is dependent on many conditions and is impermanent. One moment,
-the person may act as an enemy; at yet another moment, he or she may become
-your best friend. This is a truth that we often experience in our own lives.
-But negative thoughts and emotions, the inner enemy, will always remain the
-enemy. They are your enemy today, they have been your enemy in the past, and
-they will remain your enemy in the future as long as they reside within your
-mind.
- This inner enemy is extremely dangerous. The destructive potential of an
-external enemy is limited when compared to that of its inner counterpart....
-In a time when every country is a potential target for the nuclear weapons of
-others, human beings still continue to develop defense systems of greater and
-greater sophistication. I do not know if it will ever be possible to create a
-defense system capable of guaranteeing worldwide protection against all
-external forces of destruction. However, one thing is certain: as long as
-those destructive internal enemies of anger and hatred are left to themselves
-unchallenged, the threat of physical annihilation will always loom over us.
-In fact, the destructive power of an external enemy ultimately derives from
-the power of these internal forces. The inner enemy is the trigger that
-unleashes the destructive power of the external enemy.
- Shantideva tells us that as long as these inner enemies remain secure
-within, there is great danger. Shantideva goes on to say that even if
-everyone in the world were to stand up against you as your enemies and harm
-you, as long as your own mind was disciplined and calm, they would not be able
-to disturb your peace. Yet a single instance of delusion arising in your mind
-has the power to disturb that peace and inner stability.
- -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Compassionate Life"
-~
-(Each day before breakfast the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, Thubten
-Chodron, gives a morning motivation for residents and guests. We were moved
-by these inspiring words, and hope you will be, too.)
-
-Morning Motivation
-
- Let's recall our motivation in the morning and think that today, the most
-important thing I have to do is to guard my body, speech and mind so that I
-don't harm anybody through what I do with my body, through what I say, or even
-through what I think. That's the most important thing, more important than
-anything else today.
- The second most important thing is, as much as possible, to be of benefit
-to others. Thoroughly cultivate that as your motivation simply for being
-alive today. Our purpose for being alive isn't just to keep this body alive,
-to eat and sleep, and have pleasure. We have a higher purpose, a higher
-meaning: to really work for the benefit of living beings. If the purpose of
-our life is simply to keep the body alive and have pleasure, then at the end
-of life, we have nothing to show for it. The body dies and all the pleasures,
-like last night's dream, have gone. But if we work for a higher motivation, a
-higher purpose, to really do what's beneficial for all living beings, then
-there's happiness and benefit now.
- At the end of the life, the benefit that we've given to others continues,
-as do all the imprints of the attitude of kindness, the attitude of care
-towards others. All the imprints of having generated that positive mind go on
-with us into the next life. So even at the time of death, that kind heart
-brings incredible benefit and carries through into the next life.
- And then let's also generate a third motivation--a really long-term
-motivation--to become fully enlightened. In other words, to have the wisdom,
-compassion, and skill so that in the long term, we'll be able to be of the
-greatest benefit to all living beings, even being able to lead them on the
-path to enlightenment. That's our really long-term purpose.
- As we change and develop a kind heart, that influences every single living
-being we encounter in a positive way. Then, through the influence on them, it
-spreads out to all the people they know. So, just spending one day with a
-positive, long-term motivation may seem like a small thing, but when we think
-of the ripple effect it has now, and the benefit it has in future lives and
-for progressing along the path to liberation and enlightenment, we see that
-even one day spent with this motivation of kindness, directly and indirectly
-benefiting sentient beings, has tremendous outcomes--many, many good results.
- -- Thubten Chodron, who is the author of many books, including her latest
- work, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path", published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...We can't blame one individual for what happens in our world. I think
-we should blame our entire society. Society produces our leaders and
-politicians, and if we try to develop a more compassionate and affectionate
-society, we will have human beings with a more peaceful nature. Leaders,
-politicians, and businesspeople coming from such a society would offer hope
-for a better world. Our long-term responsibility--everyone's responsibility,
-whether they are believers or nonbelievers--is to find ways to promote a
-peaceful and compassionate society.
- I think one way is quite simple. Each individual must try to ensure peace
-and compassion in his [or her] family. Put together ten peaceful,
-compassionate homes, or one hundred, and that's a community. The children in
-such a society would receive affection in their family and in their schools
-from the educators concerned. We might have one or two setbacks, but
-generally I think we could develop a sensible society. Sensible here means a
-sense of community, a sense of responsibility, and a sense of commitment.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections
- and Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- We can see that there are many ways in which we actively contribute to our
-own experience of mental unrest and suffering. Although, in general, mental
-and emotional afflictions themselves can come naturally, often it is our own
-reinforcement of those negative emotions that makes them so much worse. For
-instance when we have anger or hatred towards a person, there is less
-likelihood of its developing to a very intense degree if we leave it
-unattended. However, if we think about the projected injustices done to us,
-the ways in which we have been unfairly treated, and we keep on thinking about
-them over and over, then that feeds the hatred. It makes the hatred very
-powerful and intense. Of course, the same can apply to when we have an
-attachment towards a particular person; we can feed that by thinking about how
-beautiful he or she is, and as we keep thinking about the projected qualities
-that we see in the person, the attachment becomes more and more intense. But
-this shows how through constant familiarity and thinking, we ourselves can
-make our emotions more intense and powerful.
- We also often add to our pain and suffering by being overly sensitive,
-overreacting to minor things, and sometimes taking things too personally. We
-tend to take small things too seriously and blow them up out of proportion,
-while at the same time we often remain indifferent to the really important
-things, those things which have profound effects on our lives and long-term
-consequences and implications.
- So I think that to a large extent, whether you suffer depends on how you
-respond to a given situation.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
- Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
-~
- Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and
-courage. Realization doesn't grow within a timid or weak state of mind--it
-blossoms in the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless.
-When we see the true nature of reality, there's nothing hidden, nothing left
-to fear. At last we're seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.
- Our habitual patterns can only be removed by understanding the great
-emptiness aspect of true nature, that which is named the Mother of all the
-buddhas. Emptiness is freedom; emptiness is great opportunity. It is
-pervasive and all phenomena arise from it. As the great master Jigme Lingpa
-said, "The entire universe is the mandala of the dakini." The Mother's mandala
-is all phenomena, the display of the wisdom dakini.
- Without this ultimate great emptiness, the Mother of the buddhas, the
-universe would be without movement, development, or change. Because of this
-great emptiness state of the Mother, we see phenomena continually arising.
-Each display arises, transforms, and radiates, fulfilling its purpose and then
-dissolving back into its original state. This dramatic dance of energy is the
-activity, ability, or mandala of the wisdom dakini. Thus, the combination of
-the great emptiness or openness state, together with the activities of love
-and compassion, is both the ultimate Mother and the ultimate wisdom dakini.
- -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
- "Tara's Enlightened Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one
- Praises to Tara' ", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Just as your innermost wish is to be free from suffering and to abide in
-happiness, so too is it the aspiration of all other beings. But, they, like
-you, encounter sufferings and problems in their lives, and often their
-difficulties are much worse than your own. Examine your capacity to help
-them. At this time your ability to help them is quite limited, but if you
-reduce your own ignorance, anger, attachment, and other faults, and increase
-your good qualities such as generosity, patience, loving-kindness, compassion,
-and wisdom, you will be of greater benefit. If you become fully enlightened,
-you will be of the greatest possible benefit to all beings. Thus generate the
-altruistic intention to become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient
-beings most effectively.
- -- Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path",
- foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...at Bodh Gaya, [Shakyamuni] displayed the ways of becoming fully
-enlightened. Then in stages he turned the three renowned wheels of doctrine.
- In the first period, at Varanasi, Buddha turned the wheel of doctrine that
-is based on the four noble truths; he did this mainly in consideration of
-those having the lineage of Hearers (Sravaka). In the middle period, at
-Grdhrakuta, he set forth the middle wheel of doctrine, which is based on the
-mode of non-inherent existence of all phenomena; he did this mainly in
-consideration of trainees of sharp faculties who bear the Mahayana lineage.
-In the final period, at Vaisali, he set forth the final wheel [which is based
-on discriminating between those phenomena that do and those that do not truly
-exist]; he did this mainly in consideration of trainees of middling and lower
-faculties who bear the Mahayana lineage. The teacher Buddha also appeared in
-the body of Vajradhara, setting forth tantric doctrines.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
- Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-There are different levels of faith. First, clear faith refers to the joy and
-clarity and change in our perceptions that we experience when we hear about
-the qualities of the Three Jewels and the lives of the Buddha and the great
-teachers. Longing faith is experienced when we think about the latter and are
-filled with a great desire to know more about their qualities and to acquire
-these ourselves. Confident faith comes through practicing the Dharma, when we
-acquire complete confidence in the truth of the teachings and the
-enlightenment of the Buddha. Finally, when faith has become so much a part of
-ourselves that even if our lives were at risk we could never give it up, it
-has become irreversible faith.
- -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "The Excellent Path to Enlightenment",
- translated by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- ...when seeking work, or if you already have a job, it is important to
-keep in mind that a human being isn't meant to be some kind of machine
-designed only for production. No. Human life isn't just for work, like [a
-socialistic] vision where everyone's purpose is just to work for the state,
-and there is no individual freedom, where the state even arranges the person's
-vacations and everything is planned out for the individual. That is not a
-full human life. Individuality is very important for a full human life, and
-then accordingly some leisure time, a bit of holiday, and time spent with
-family or friends. That is the means to a complete form of life.... If your
-life becomes only a medium of production, then many of the good human values
-and characteristics will be lost--then you will not, you cannot, become a
-complete person.
- So if you're looking for work and have a choice of a job, choose a job
-that allows the opportunity for some creativity, and for spending time with
-your family. Even if it means less pay, personally I think it is better to
-choose work that is less demanding, that gives you greater freedom, more time
-to be with your family, or to do other activities, read, engage in cultural
-activities, or just play. I think that's best.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The
- Art of Happiness at Work"
-~
- Our painful experiences have brought the five poisons* right into our
-world. Our heavy sense of being a separate person has led to an anxiety about
-our safety in the world. This leads us to aversion and attachment, as we long
-to predict and control our relation with the environment. From this all the
-other fixed and defensive positions arise. And so the world that we encounter
-is covered over and suffused with many subtle moods of hopes and fears,
-doubts, jealousies, pride. So even here on a dharma retreat, as we look
-around the room, we have a complex sense of whose faces we can look at, and
-who we might have to look away from. This is not at all a neutral place. The
-force of projections, interpretations and impulsive reactions keeps us busy in
-trying to stay ahead of the game....
- However in dzogchen we are trying to get to the essential point where
-nirvana and samsara separate. This is like a great weed killer: If you spray
-it once all the weeds, all the confusion, all the pain and suffering will
-vanish. You don't need to pluck out each weed by itself. Believing that you
-are a bad person is very unhelpful for the practice of dzogchen. Also
-believing that you are a good person is not very helpful in the practice of
-dzogchen. You are not a person! Resting in the unborn state we are a pure
-awareness free of the least defilement. When you give up your ego identity,
-your samsara citizenship, you tear up your identity card and all the problems
-and sins and police records linked to that identity vanish immediately.
- * Five poisons (dug nga)--the five poisonous mental afflictions are
- desire, aggression, ignorance, pride, and jealousy. (Penetrating Wisdom)
- -- "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje Entitled 'The
- Mirror of Clear Meaning' ", with commentary by James Low, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-And just as men depend upon
-A boat for traversing the sea,
-So does the mental body need
-The matter-body for occurrence.
-And as the boat depends upon
-The men for traversing the sea,
-So does the matter-body need
-The mental body for occurrence.
-Depending each upon the other
-The boat and men go on the sea.
-And so do mind and matter both
-Depend the one upon the other.
- -- Visuddhimagga (XVIII, 36)
-~
- There is a Buddhist practice in which one imagines giving joy and the
-source of all joy to other people, thereby removing all their suffering.
-Though of course we cannot change their situation, I do feel that in some
-cases, through a genuine sense of caring and compassion, through our sharing
-in their plight, our attitude can help alleviate their suffering, if only
-mentally. However, the main point of this practice is to increase our inner
-strength and courage.
- I have chosen a few lines that I feel would be acceptable to people of all
-faiths, and even to those with no spiritual belief. When reading these lines,
-if you are a religious practitioner, you can reflect upon the divine form that
-you worship. Then, while reciting these verses, make the commitment to
-enhance your spiritual values. If you are not religious, you can reflect upon
-the fact that, fundamentally, all beings are equal to you in their wish for
-happiness and their desire to overcome suffering. Recognizing this, you make
-a pledge to develop a good heart. It is most important that we have a warm
-heart. As long as we are part of human society, it is very important to be a
-kind, warm-hearted person.
- May the poor find wealth,
- Those weak with sorrow find joy.
- May the forlorn find new hope,
- Constant happiness and prosperity.
-
- May the frightened cease to be afraid,
- And those bound be free.
- May the weak find power,
- And may their hearts join in friendship.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
- Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato
- and Richard Gere
-~
- Although there are as many categories of emptiness* as there are types of
-phenomena, when you realize the emptiness of one specific phenomenon, you also
-realize the emptiness of all phenomena. The ultimate nature, or emptiness, of
-all phenomena is of equal taste and of the same undifferentiable nature. Even
-though the nature of emptiness of all phenomena is the same, and all the
-different aspects of phenomena, such as whether they are good or bad, or the
-way they change, arise from the sphere of emptiness, you should understand
-that emptiness cannot be found apart from the subject or the object.
- Emptiness refers to an object's being free of intrinsic existence. Things
-depend on causes and conditions. This very dependence on causes and
-conditions signifies that phenomena lack independent, or intrinsic, existence.
-It also demonstrates how all the diverse aspects of things that we experience
-arise because they are by nature empty. When we talk about emptiness, we are
-not dealing with those different aspects, we are dealing with phenomena's
-ultimate reality.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", trans. by Ven. Geshe
- Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The Treasure Discoverers
- Most of the influential terma [hidden treasures or teachings] were
-purportedly secreted by Padmasambhava or his immediate disciples, and specific
-instructions were also laid down for each terma at the time of its
-concealment. The theory behind this system is that certain teachings would be
-especially effective at particular points in the future, and so they were
-hidden in a "time release" system which assured that at the appropriate time a
-terton would locate the teaching and disseminate it. When Padmasambhava hid
-these treasures, he prophesied the circumstances for the discovery of each
-terma and the terton who would find it. He predicted that there would be
-three "grand" tertons, eight "great" ones, twenty-one "powerful" ones, one
-hundred eight "intermediate," and one thousand "subsidiary" tertons. Most of
-these were to be recognized as emanations of Padmasambhava or his chief
-disciples.
- ...Many hidden treasures still remain undiscovered, awaiting the proper
-time for their dissemination. They continue to reinvigorate the Nyingma
-tradition, and a number have been incorporated into other lineages. The
-institution of terma serves as a link with the past of the tradition, a link
-that periodically revitalizes the present and points the way to the future.
-The system reflects the Mahayana ideal of skill in means, the ability to adapt
-teachings to changing circumstances.
- -- John Powers, "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- Practicing compassion will bring about the recognition of emptiness* as
-the true nature of the mind. When you practice virtuous actions of love and
-compassion on the relative level, you spontaneously realize the profound
-nature of emptiness, which is the absolute level. In turn, if you focus your
-meditation practice on emptiness, then your loving-kindness and compassion
-will spontaneously grow.
- These two natures, the absolute and the relative, are not opposites; they
-always arise together. They have the same nature; they are inseparable like a
-fire and its heat or the sun and its light. Compassion and emptiness are not
-like two sides of a coin. Emptiness and compassion are not two separate
-elements joined together; they are always coexistent.
- In Buddhism, emptiness does not mean the absence of apparent existence.
-Emptiness is not like a black hole or darkness, or like an empty house or an
-empty bottle. Emptiness is fullness and openness and flexibility. Because of
-emptiness it is possible for phenomena to function, for beings to see and
-hear, and for things to move and change. It is called emptiness because when
-we examine things we cannot find anything that substantially and solidly
-exists. There is nothing that has a truly existent nature. Everything we
-perceive appears through ever-changing causes and conditions, without an
-independent, solid basis. Although from a relative perspective things appear,
-they arise from emptiness and they dissolve into emptiness. All appearances
-are like water bubbles or the reflection of the moon in water.
- -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
- "Opening to our Primordial Nature", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-[Preceding story: Before reaching enlightenment, the Buddha was born as Prince
-Visvantara, who, despite facing many challenges and adversity, brought all of
-his heart and courage to bear against a single enemy--human suffering.]
-
-In giving we not only find wealth while in cyclic existence but we achieve the
-zenith of prosperity in supreme enlightenment. Therefore we all have to
-practice giving. A Bodhisattva's giving is not just overcoming miserliness
-and being generous to others; a pure wish to give is cultivated, and through
-developing more and more intimacy with it, such giving is enhanced infinitely.
-Therefore it is essential to have the firm mind of enlightenment rooted in
-great love and compassion and, from the depths of one's heart, to either give
-one's body, wealth and virtues literally to sentient beings as infinite as
-space, or to dedicate one's body, wealth and virtues for them while striving
-in all possible ways to enhance the wish to give infinitely. As mentioned in
-Engaging in Bodhisattva Activities and in The Precious Garland, we should
-literally give material help to the poor and needy, give teaching to others,
-and give protection to them, even the small insects, as much as we can. In
-the case of things which we are not able to part with, we should cultivate the
-wish to give them away and develop more and more intimacy with that wish.
- -- "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the Dalai Lama XIV on the
- Jatakamala", translated by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by Dexter Roberts
-~
- Mad yogins are known in virtually every tradition in Tibet, but most often
-in the Nyingma and Kagyu lineages, and also in the Shije (Pacification) and
-Chod traditions. The Nyingma, Kagyu, and Chod traditions are the three with
-which Tangtong Gyalpo had the closest ties. One of the texts in Tangtong's
-Oral Transmission, a collection of teachings originally passed down from
-Tangtong, quotes the great yogini Machik Labdron's statement concerning proper
-yogic conduct following realization. In response to a question by one of her
-sons, Machik recommended that a practitioner act like a child with unfeigned
-spontaneity, like a lunatic with no regard for what is conventionally
-acceptable, like a leper with no attachment to his or her own physical health,
-and like a wild animal wandering in isolated and rough terrain.
- ...Guru Padmasambhava himself prophesied that Tangtong Gyalpo would care
-for living beings by means of unpredictable actions. Tangtong's unusual
-conduct began to manifest at an early age, and resembled traits noted in the
-lives of other mad yogins. He was first called insane by his father and the
-members of his village when, as a child, he subdued a malicious spirit
-responsible for an epidemic. Several other early incidents are mentioned in
-the biographies. When he went to take scholastic examinations at the renowned
-monastery of Sakya he earned the nickname Tsondru Nyonpa (Crazy Tsondru)
-because of his disinterest in explaining the scriptural definitions of the
-highest states of realization. He preferred to spend his time absorbed in
-actually experiencing these states. When he was later practicing deliberate
-behavior secretly in a vast and empty wasteland, the dakinis gave him five
-names indicating his high realization, one of which was Lungtong Nyonpa
-(Madman of the Empty Valley).
- -- Cyrus Stearns, "King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge
- Builder Tangtong Gyalpo", a Tsadra Foundation book, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...In the Buddhist teachings, when we search for the causes of suffering,
-we find what is called 'the truth of the origin of suffering', namely that
-negative actions--karma--and the negative emotions that induce such actions
-are the causes of suffering.
- Talking about causes, if we take a step further and investigate more
-deeply, we find that the cause alone is not sufficient for bringing about the
-results. Causes themselves have to come in contact with co-operative
-circumstances or conditions. For instance, say we search for a material or
-substantial cause for this plant, we will find that it has a continuity
-stretching back into beginningless time.
- There are certain Buddhist texts that speak of space particles, existing
-before the evolution of this present universe. According to these texts, the
-space particles serve as the material and substantial cause for matter, such
-as this plant. Now if the essential and substantial cause for matter is
-traced to these space particles, which are all the same, how do we account for
-the diversity that we see in the material world? It is here that the question
-of conditions and circumstances comes into play. When these substantial
-causes come in contact with different circumstances and conditions, they give
-rise to different effects, that is, different kinds of matter. So we find
-that the cause alone is not sufficient for bringing about a result. What is
-required is an aggregation of many different conditions and circumstances.
- Although you can find certain differences among the Buddhist philosophical
-schools about how the universe came into being, the basic common question
-addressed is how the two fundamental principles--external matter and internal
-mind or consciousness--although distinct, affect one another. External causes
-and conditions are responsible for certain of our experiences of happiness and
-suffering. Yet we find that it is principally our own feelings, our thoughts
-and our emotions, that really determine whether we are going to suffer or be
-happy.
- -- H.H. The Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
- Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword
- by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- Right now many of us wish for liberation, yet sometimes we cannot keep
-ourselves from creating the causes for cyclic existence. When we understand
-true suffering well, our wish for liberation will become firm. At present our
-resolve to reach liberation is not firm because we think of suffering, but not
-deeply. The deluded attitude believing that the unsatisfactoriness of change
-is true happiness easily arises in us because we are not yet deeply convinced
-that all happiness in cyclic existence is contaminated and is in fact only a
-variety of suffering. To remedy this, we should meditate on true suffering
-more often and explore its meaning deeply. Then our wish for liberation will
-become firm.
- We consider many things--clothes, food, good health, nice possessions,
-financial security, the higher rebirths--as true happiness. As a result, we
-are attached to them and create more causes for suffering in cyclic existence
-in order to gain them. Thinking that the human birth is something marvelous,
-we work at creating the causes that propel us toward it. In fact all we are
-doing is creating the cause for yet another rebirth in cyclic existence,
-together with all the problems that such a rebirth involves.
- If we understand that by its nature, cyclic existence is unsatisfactory,
-we will have a deep aversion to it. If we do not have a deep aversion to it,
-we will not be determined to be free, and therefore will not be able to
-destroy our self-grasping ignorance, which is the root of cyclic existence.
-In that case, we will not be able to attain liberation. However, when we
-deeply feel the extent to which we suffer in cyclic existence, we will
-automatically want to abandon the true origin of suffering, attain the true
-cessation, and meditate on the true path. Having realized true suffering, we
-will easily realize the other three of the four noble truths. Thus it is
-said: suffering is to be known. The origin is to be abandoned. The cessation
-is to be attained. The path is to be practiced. The determination to be free
-is the wish for ourselves to be free of cyclic existence. When we wish others
-to be free, that is compassion.
- -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage:
- An Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
- Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Mantras are invocations to buddhas... prayers, or a combination of these.
-Tantric practitioners repeat them in order to forge karmic connections between
-themselves and meditational deities and to effect cognitive restructuring
-through internalizing the divine attributes that the mantra represents. A
-person who wishes to develop greater compassion, for instance, might recite
-the mantra of Avalokitesvara, who embodies this quality: om mani padme hum...
-[a] mantra [that] is well known to Tibetans. It represents for them the
-perfect compassion of Avalokitesvara, who they believe has taken a special
-interest in the spiritual welfare of the Tibetan people. He epitomizes
-universal compassion that is unsullied by any trace of negative emotions or
-mental afflictions.
- Among ordinary beings there are, of course, many acts of compassion, but
-these are generally tinged by self-interest, pride, or desire for recognition.
-Avalokitesvara's compassion, by contrast, is completely free from all
-afflictions and is so vast that it encompasses all sentient beings without
-exception and without distinction. People who wish to develop such a
-perspective recite Avalokitesvara's mantra over and over, meditating on its
-significance, and in so doing they try to restructure their minds in
-accordance with the cultivation of his exalted qualities. According to the
-Dalai Lama,
- 'mani'... symbolizes the factors of method--the altruistic intention to
-become enlightened, compassion, and love. Just as a jewel is capable of
-removing poverty, so the altruistic mind of enlightenment is capable of
-removing the poverty, or difficulties, of cyclic existence and of solitary
-peace.... The two syllables, 'padme'... symbolize wisdom. Just as a lotus
-grows forth from mud but is not sullied by the faults of mud, so wisdom is
-capable of putting you in a situation of non-contradiction whereas there would
-be contradiction if you did not have wisdom.... Purity must be achieved by an
-indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable
-'hum', which indicates indivisibility.... Thus the six syllables, 'om mani
-padme hum', mean that in dependence on a path which is an indivisible union of
-method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into
-the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.
- -- John Powers, "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- "Now let's look at ultimate reality," the Dalai Lama said, pointing a
-little finger to his mug. "What exactly is it? We're seeing color, shape.
-But if we take away shape, color, material, what is mug? Where is the mug?
-This mug is a combination of particles: atoms, electrons, quarks. But each
-particle is not 'mug.' The same can be said about the four elements, the
-world, everything. The Buddha. We cannot find the Buddha. So that's the
-ultimate reality. If we're not satisfied with conventional reality, if we go
-deep down and try to find the real thing, we ultimately won't find it."
- Thus, the Dalai Lama was saying, the mug is empty. The term "mug" is
-merely a label, something we use to describe everyday reality. But each mug
-comes into existence because of a complex web of causes and conditions. It
-does not exist independently. It cannot come into being by itself, of its own
-volition.
- For example: suppose I decide to make a black mug. To do this, I mix
-black clay and water, shape it to my liking, and fire the resulting mixture in
-an oven. Clay plus water turns into a mug because of my actions. But it
-exists because of the myriad different ways that atoms and molecules interact.
-And what about me, the creator of the black mug? If my parents had never met,
-the black mug might never have existed.
- Therefore the mug does not exist independently. It comes into being only
-through a complex web of relationships. In the Dalai Lama's own words, and
-this is the key concept in his worldview, the mug is "dependently originated."
-It came to be a mug because of a host of different factors, not under its own
-steam. It is empty. "Empty" is shorthand for "empty of intrinsic, inherent
-existence." Or to put it another way, empty is another word for
-interdependent.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, "The Wisdom of
- Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys"
-~
- Buddha teaches that one should not practice extremes.... As Nagarjuna's
-"Precious Garland of Advice" says,
- Practice is not done
- By mortifying the body,
- Since you have not forsaken injuring others
- And are not helping others.
- When you disregard the basic needs of the body, you harm the many sentient
-organisms that live within the body. You should also avoid the opposite
-extreme of living in great luxury. It is possible to make use of good food,
-clothing, residence, and furnishings without producing afflictive emotions
-such as attachment, pride, and arrogance. The crucial point is the control of
-internal factors such as lust and attachment; external factors are not in and
-of themselves good or bad. It is not suitable if attachment increases toward
-even mediocre food, clothing, and so forth.
- Contentment is the key. If you have contentment with material things, you
-are truly rich. Without it, even if you are a billionaire, you will not have
-happiness. You will always feel hungry and want more and more and more,
-making you not rich but poor. If you seek contentment externally, it will
-never happen. Your desire will never be fulfilled. Our texts speak of a king
-who gained control over the world, at which point he began thinking about
-taking over the lands of the gods. In the end his good qualities were
-destroyed by pride. Contentment is necessary for happiness, so try to be
-satisfied with adequate food, clothing, and shelter.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
- Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
-There is another way of speaking about the two types of meditation. In this
-case, they are differentiated into 1) meditation that perceives the object and
-2) meditation in which our mind is transformed into a specific affective
-state. An example of the former is meditating on impermanence and emptiness.
-These are subtle objects that we must use analytical meditation to perceive.
-An example of the latter is meditation on the four immeasurables
-(brahmaviharas)--love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Here we are not
-trying to perceive a subtle object, but are practicing to transform our minds
-into those mental states. For example, everyone admires the quality of love,
-but we cannot just say, "I should love everyone," and expect our deepest
-feelings to change. First, we must free our minds from the gross obstacles of
-attachment to friends, hostility to people who threaten or harm us, and apathy
-towards strangers. On this basis, we then train our mind to recognize the
-kindness of others, which arouses in us a natural wish to reciprocate and
-share our kindness with them. After this we meditate on love and cultivate a
-genuine wish for all sentient beings to have happiness and its causes.
-Initially that feeling will arise in us but will not be stable. Anger may
-still flash into our mind making our good feelings towards others disappear.
-We need to cultivate love continuously and do so with a focused mind. The
-greater our concentration, the more stable and penetrative the experience
-will be.
- -- Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path",
- foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...for the Christian practitioner, the Creator and the acceptance of the
-Creator as almighty, is a very important factor within that tradition in order
-to develop self-discipline, compassion, or forgiveness and to increase them in
-one's intimate relationship with God. That's something very essential. In
-addition, when God is seen as absolute and almighty, the concept that
-everything is relative becomes a little bit difficult. However, if one's
-understanding of God is in terms of an ultimate nature of reality or ultimate
-truth, then it is possible to have a kind of unified approach.
- ...As to one's personal religion, I think this must be based on one's own
-mental disposition.... Generally speaking, I think it is better to practice
-according to your own traditional background, and certainly you can use some
-of the Buddhist techniques. Without accepting rebirth theory or the
-complicated philosophy, simply use certain techniques to increase your power
-of patience and compassion, forgiveness, and things like that.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
- Buddhist Perspective", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
-When we compare two ancient spiritual traditions like Buddhism and
-Christianity, what we see is a striking similarity between the narratives of
-the founding masters: in the case of Christianity, Jesus Christ, and in the
-case of Buddhism, the Buddha. I see a very important parallel: in the very
-lives of the [founders] the essence of their teachings is demonstrated. For
-example... the essence of the Buddha's teaching is embodied in the Four Noble
-Truths: the truth of suffering, the truth of the origin of suffering, the
-truth of the cessation of suffering, and the truth of the path leading to this
-cessation. These Four Noble Truths are very explicitly and clearly
-exemplified in the life of... the Buddha himself. I feel [it] is the same
-with the life of Christ. If you look at the life of Jesus, you will see all
-the essential practices and teachings of Christianity exemplified. And in the
-lives of both Jesus Christ and the Buddha, it is only through hardship,
-dedication and commitment, and by standing firm on one's principles that one
-can grow spiritually and attain liberation. That seems to be a central and
-common message.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited
- by Mary Craig
-~
- With the achievement of quiescence, the attention is drawn inwards and is
-maintained continuously, single-pointedly upon its object. Tsongkhapa
-emphasizes that genuine quiescence is necessarily preceded by an experience of
-an extraordinary degree of mental and physical pliancy, which entails an
-unprecedented sense of mental and physical fitness and buoyancy.
- In the state of meditative equipoise, only the aspects of awareness,
-clarity, and joy of the mind appear, and all one's other sense faculties
-remain dormant. Thus, while one's consciousness seems as if it has become
-indivisible with space, one lacks any sensation of having a body; and when
-rising from that state, it seems as if one's body is suddenly coming into
-being. When genuine quiescence is achieved, one's attention can effortlessly
-be maintained for hours, even days, on end, with no interference by either
-laxity or excitation.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, "Balancing the Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach
- to Refining Attention", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- In Mahayana Buddhism, when one takes the bodhisattva vow, one pledges to
-work tirelessly in this life and all future lives to awaken oneself and purify
-oneself in order to help all other beings attain freedom from suffering
-through spiritual enlightenment. One vows to help beings whenever possible,
-and a profound way of doing this is to give a being the gift of life through
-an act of kindness. This can take the form of helping an animal in danger
-cross the road to safety before being struck by a vehicle or freeing an animal
-that is in captivity before it is killed by buying it from the captor and
-letting it roam free. If one is in a position to help save another's life--
-whether a human or an animal--one must practice fearless kindness to help the
-other being in danger.
- In Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed that due to the countless incarnations
-all beings have undergone throughout time, at one point or another any given
-living creature has been one's mother in a past life. Therefore, it is viewed
-as an obligation to repay the kindness of those who are referred to as "mother
-sentient beings." If your own mother in this life were in danger, you would
-certainly do whatever you could to save her life. Similarly, dedicated
-holders of the bodhisattva vow feel this kind of urgency to save the lives of
-all "mother sentient beings."
- -- Chatral Rinpoche, "Compassionate Action", edited, introduced and
- annotated by Zach Larson, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- In the frenzy of modern life we lose sight of the real value of humanity.
-People become the sum total of what they produce. Human beings act like
-machines whose function is to make money. This is absolutely wrong. The
-purpose of making money is the happiness of humankind, not the other way
-around. Humans are not for money, money is for humans. We need enough to
-live, so money is necessary, but we also need to realize that if there is too
-much attachment to wealth, it does not help at all. As the saints of India
-and Tibet tell us, the wealthier one becomes, the more suffering one endures.
- ...Eating, working, and making money are meaningless in themselves.
-However, even a small act of compassion grants meaning and purpose to our
-lives.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life",
- translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
-Unlike the Lesser Vehicle tenet systems, which teach only a selflessness of
-persons, the Great Vehicle tenet systems teach that the most profound reality,
-the most subtle and important type of selflessness, is a selflessness, or
-emptiness, that is a quality of all phenomena. They hold that the bodhisattva
-trains in altruistically motivated meditation on the emptiness of all
-phenomena, thus preparing for the omniscience of buddhahood. Some Great
-Vehicle systems maintain that Lesser Vehicle practitioners do not realize the
-profound emptiness of phenomena at all and are therefore unable to overcome
-the obstructions to omniscience. However, the highest system, the Middle Way
-Consequence system, holds that persons on Lesser Vehicle paths do realize
-emptiness, but are unable to achieve omniscience on their paths because their
-wisdom is not empowered by association with altruism and altruistically
-motivated actions of giving, ethics, patience, etc.
- -- Guy Newland, "Appearance and Reality: The Two Truths in the Four
- Buddhist Tenet Systems", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Selflessness in Context: Ultimate Bodhichitta
- Let us return for a moment to the beginning of [the Heart] Sutra where the
-Buddha enters into the meditative absorption called "appearance of the
-profound" and Avalokiteshvara beholds the practice of the profound perfection
-of wisdom. Generally speaking, the expression "appearance of the profound"
-refers to the bodhisattva deeds, which are encompassed in the practice of the
-six perfections. Here, however, the expression refers particularly to the
-perfection of wisdom, known in Sanskrit as prajnaparamita. What the text
-means by "perfection of wisdom" is a direct, unmediated realization of
-emptiness that is also called "ultimate bodhichitta." This is not the direct
-realization of emptiness alone; rather it is this direct realization in union
-with bodhichitta--the aspiration to become a buddha in order to free all
-beings. This union of wisdom and method constitutes the first bhumi, or level
-of bodhisattva attainment.
- The importance of this altruistic aspiration cannot be overstated.
-Bodhichitta is not only important as a motivating factor at the beginning of
-practice, it is also important as a complementary and a reinforcing factor
-during every stage of the path. The bodhichitta aspiration is twofold,
-comprised both of the wish to help others and of the wish to become
-enlightened so that one's assistance will be supremely effective.
- --from Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom
-Teachings by H.H. the Dalai Lama, translated & edited by Thupten Jinpa
-~
-From "The Prayer Requested by Namke Nyingbo" by Padmasambhava
-
-All these things of the outer environment and the beings therein
-That come into sight as the objects of your eyes like this,
-They may appear, but leave them in the sphere free from clinging to a self.
-Since they are pure of perceiver and perceived, they are the luminous-empty
- body of the deity.
-I pray to the guru in whom attachment is self-liberated,
-I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
-
-All these sounds, taken as pleasant or unpleasant,
-That resound as the objects of your ears like this,
-Leave them in the sphere of inconceivable, empty resonance.
-Empty resonance, unborn and unceasing, is the Victor's speech.
-I pray to the words of the Victor that resound and yet are empty,
-I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
-
-However these thoughts of afflictions' five poisons,
-Which stir as objects in your mind like this, may appear,
-Do not mess around with them through a mind that rushes ahead into the future
- or lingers in the past.
-Through leaving their movement in its own place, they uncoil as the
- dharmakaya.
-I pray to the guru whose awareness is self-liberated,
-I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
-
-Grant your blessings that the mind stream of someone like me is liberated
- Through the compassion of the Tathagatas of the three times,
-So that objects, appearing as if perceived outside, become pure,
-That my very mind, perceiving as if inside, becomes liberated,
-And that, in between, luminosity will recognize its own face.
-
- -- "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions", translated and
- introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Some people feel that although it may be right to curb feelings of intense
-hatred which can cause us to be violent and even to kill, we are in danger of
-losing our independence when we restrain our emotions and discipline the mind.
-Actually, the opposite is true. Like their counterparts of love and
-compassion, anger and the afflictive emotions can never be used up. They
-have, rather, a propensity to increase, like a river flooding in summer when
-the snow melts, so that far from being free, our minds are enslaved and
-rendered helpless by them. When we indulge our negative thoughts and
-feelings, inevitably we become accustomed to them. As a result, gradually we
-become more prone to them and more controlled by them. And we become
-habituated to exploding in the face of displeasing circumstances.
- Inner peace, which is the principal characteristic of happiness, and anger
-cannot coexist without undermining one another. Indeed, negative thoughts and
-emotions undermine the very causes of peace and happiness. In fact, when we
-think properly, it is totally illogical to seek happiness if we do nothing to
-restrain angry, spiteful, and malicious thoughts and emotions. Consider that
-when we become angry, we often use harsh words. Harsh words can destroy
-friendship. Since happiness arises in the context of our relationships with
-others, if we destroy friendships, we undermine one of the very conditions of
-happiness itself.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Ethics for the New Millennium", edited by
- Alexander Norman, translated by Dr. Thupten Jinpa
-~
-Two Senses of Self
-
- Psychologists talk about people who are co-dependent because they don't
-have a sense of self. What psychologists mean when they say a person has no
-sense of self is very different from what the Buddha meant by no-self or
-selflessness. People with psychological problems actually have a very strong
-sense of self in the Buddhist sense, although they may not in the
-psychological sense of the word. Psychologically, they don't see themselves
-as efficacious individuals in the world, but they still have a very strong
-sense of "I": "I am worthless." When somebody criticizes them, they don't
-like it. They get into co-dependent relationships to protect or to please
-this "I." When they fall into self-pity, their sense of an inherently
-existent "I" is very strong. Thus they still have self-grasping even though
-they lack a psychologically healthy sense of self.
- Buddhism recognizes two kinds of sense of self. There's one sense of self
-that is healthy and necessary to be efficacious on the path. The object of
-this sense of self is the conventionally existent "I." The other sense of
-self grasps at an inherently existent self that never has and never will
-exist. Within Buddhism, when we talk about realizing emptiness, we're
-negating the false self, this self that appears inherently existent to us.
- -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of
- Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- Question: If a person views the self and other phenomena as being empty of
-any inherent existence, is it then, in that state, possible for them to take
-any animate or inanimate phenomenon as their object, and through the power of
-imputation or words, enable that object to actually take on a manifesting role
-with the qualities which we view objects to have?
-
- His Holiness: This is an instance of not properly understanding the
-meaning of "lack of inherent existence." If we think that "emptiness" means
-things cannot function, then, with an improper understanding of the view of
-emptiness, one will have fallen into nihilism. So, because one has failed to
-reconcile emptiness and the fact that things work, this view is incorrect.
-That is why it is said that the meaning of emptiness is to be understood in
-terms of dependent arising.
- Now, since the meaning of emptiness is to be explained in terms of
-dependent arising, we can only explain something as arising dependently if
-there is a basis, that is, some thing that is dependent. Hence, such a basis
-must exist. We see then that when we speak of dependent arising, we are
-indicating that things work. Dependent arising proves that things have no
-inherent existence, through the fact that things work in dependence on each
-other. The fact that things work and the fact that they do so in dependence,
-one on the other, eliminates the possibility of their being independent. This
-in turn precludes the possibility of inherent existence, since, to inherently
-exist means to be independent. Hence, the understanding of emptiness, of the
-the emptiness of a kind of inherent existence that is independent, boils down
-to understanding dependent arising.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
- edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the most profound and commonly
-practiced teachings are those of the Vajrayana. Within this powerful system
-of skillful means, the supreme view and most potent methods are found in the
-teachings and practices of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection. These instructions
-are regarded as the pinnacle of the teachings and as the most direct path to
-realizing the nature of mind and the reality of the world.
- The instructions of the Dzogchen lineage are used to directly point out
-the nature of mind and bring the experience of enlightenment into our ordinary
-life. These teachings are known as "pith instructions," the pure,
-quintessential knowledge that cuts through all confusion and gets straight to
-the point. There is a saying, "Don't beat around the bush," meaning, "Get to
-the point." That is Dzogchen.
- In many ways, these teachings go beyond scripture and the formality of
-spiritual techniques. These two do have their place, since it is important to
-study scripture and meditate in a step-by-step manner. Yet, at some point we
-also must connect directly with the nature of mind. We have to strike the
-crucial point, the enlightened state, and leap directly into experiencing and
-realizing the true nature of our mind.
- -- The Third Dzogchen Rinpoche, "Great Perfection: Outer and Inner
- Preliminaries", trans. by Cortland Dahl, intro. by Dzogchen Ponlop,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Dzogchen teaches that practice conducted with contriving, rough, fleeting
-minds cannot bring enlightenment. Only practice with the deep awareness of
-non-contriving rigpa--pure awareness--can bring us to the state of a Buddha.
-We can understand this in the same way as we do the statement that practice of
-the yoga class of tantras and below cannot bring us enlightenment by itself.
-The ultimate, deepest reason why it cannot is that the pathways of practice of
-these levels of teaching cannot by themselves make manifest the deep awareness
-of subtlest clear light mind. Without the manifestation of the deep awareness
-of clear light mind, we do not have the perpetrating causes for an
-enlightening body and enlightening mind of a Buddha--causes that are in the
-same uncommon category of phenomena as a Buddha's body and mind. Therefore,
-no matter how much we practice with pathway minds of yoga tantra and below, we
-are never able to attain to enlightenment on their basis alone.
- ...when we make clear light mind of deep awareness prominent or enhanced
-through techniques presented in the anuttarayoga tantra texts, and then
-transform it into the nature of being a pathway mind, only then do we have
-what can actualize an enlightening body and enlightening mind of a Buddha.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
- Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Whenever you consider there is bliss, and the objective conditions for
-bliss occur, if you fall under the control of that by becoming arrogant or
-conceited, then that will fester as an obstruction to the spiritual path.
-Rather than thinking about what has caused this happiness, which most probably
-is the accumulation of merit or the removal of obscurations, as soon as the
-bliss occurs, you think, "That's my nature." Based on that, you become
-arrogant or lazy, thinking, "Well, I've accomplished it." This is the
-greatest obstacle to the spiritual path. This is what creates the realms
-of deva-gods. Oftentimes it is said that people can handle only a little bit
-of felicity, but they can handle a lot of adversity. This is because
-happiness on the spiritual path is the most difficult thing to handle. Once
-it arises, that's where the path stops.
- This does not mean that it is necessary to give it all up. Giving up
-happiness is not the practice. The main point is not to become mesmerized by
-happiness as the end result. You realize that, "Ah, now, the good quality of
-this is that I am fortunate, and this is another result of the great fortune
-of the path and the result of the accumulation of merit and wholesome deeds.
-Even more than ever, I will carry on with the work at hand to achieve
-liberation from cyclic existence." So with more diligence and more courage,
-you continue listening to teachings, contemplating, meditating, and
-appreciating this precious human rebirth.
- -- Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
- translated by Sangye Khandro and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- As to what might be the mechanism through which karma plays a causal role
-in the evolution of sentience, I find helpful some of the explanations given
-in the Vajrayana traditions, often referred to by modern writers as esoteric
-Buddhism. According to the Guhyasamaja tantra, a principal tradition within
-Vajrayana Buddhism, at the most fundamental level, no absolute division can be
-made between mind and matter. Matter in its subtlest form is prana, a vital
-energy which is inseparable from consciousness. These two are different
-aspects of an indivisible reality. Prana is the aspect of mobility, dynamism,
-and cohesion, while consciousness is the aspect of cognition and the capacity
-for reflective thinking. So according to the Guhyasamaja tantra, when a world
-system comes into being, we are witnessing the play of this energy and
-consciousness reality.
- ...Despite the success of the Darwinian narrative, I do not believe that
-all the elements of the story are in place. To begin with, although Darwin's
-theory gives a coherent account of the development of life on this planet and
-the various principles underlying it, such as natural selection, I am not
-persuaded that it answers the fundamental question of the origin of life.
-Darwin himself, I gather, did not see this as an issue. Furthermore, there
-appears to be a certain circularity in the notion of "survival of the
-fittest." The theory of natural selection maintains that, of the random
-mutations that occur in the genes of a given species, those that promote the
-greatest chance of survival are most likely to succeed. However, the only
-way this hypothesis can be verified is to observe the characteristics of
-those mutations that have survived. So in a sense, we are stating simply
-this: "Because these genetic mutations have survived, they are the ones that
-had the greatest chance of survival."
- From the Buddhist perspective, the idea of these mutations being purely
-random events is deeply unsatisfying for a theory that purports to explain the
-origin of life. ...One empirical problem in Darwinism's focus on the
-competitive survival of individuals, which is defined in terms of an
-organism's struggle for individual reproductive success, has consistently been
-how to explain altruism, whether in the sense of collaborative behavior, such
-as food sharing or conflict resolution among animals like chimpanzees or acts
-of self-sacrifice. There are many examples, not only among human beings but
-among other species as well, of individuals who put themselves in danger to
-save others.
- ...From the scientific view, the theory of karma may be a metaphysical
-assumption--but it is no more so than the assumption that all of life is
-material and originated out of pure chance.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Universe in a Single Atom: Convergence of
- Science and Spirituality"
-~
- Praising others should be part of our daily life and a component of our
-Dharma practice. Imagine what our life would be like if we trained our minds
-to dwell on others' talents and good attributes. We would feel much happier
-and so would they! We would get along better with others, and our families,
-work environments, and living situations would be much more harmonious. We
-plants the seeds from such positive actions on our mindstream, creating the
-cause for harmonious relationships and success in our spiritual and temporal
-aims.
- An interesting experiment is to try to say something nice to or about
-someone every day for a month. Try it. It makes us much more aware of what
-we say and why. It encourages us to change our perspective so that we notice
-others' good qualities. Doing so also improves our relationships
-tremendously.
- A few years ago, I gave this as a homework assignment at a Dharma class,
-encouraging people to try to praise even someone they didn't like very much.
-The next week I asked the students how they did. One man said that the first
-day he had to make something up in order to speak positively to a fellow
-colleague. But after that, the man was so much nicer to him that it was easy
-to see his good qualities and speak about them!
- -- Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. -- Unknown
-~
-To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.
- --Unknown
-~
-He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.
- -- Benjamin Franklin
-~
- If, after having performed a virtuous action and accumulated its potency,
-that potency remained without degenerating until its fruit issued forth in
-either this or a future life, it would not be so fragile. But that is not the
-case. Rather, the generation of a strong nonvirtuous state of mind, such as
-anger, overpowers the capacity of a virtuously established potency so that it
-cannot issue forth, much like scorching a seed. Conversely, the generation of
-a strong virtuous attitude overpowers potencies established by nonvirtues,
-making them unable to issue their effects. Thus it is necessary not only to
-achieve many powerful constructive causes but also to avoid contrary forces
-that would cause those beneficial causes to degenerate.
- The good actions required for accumulating these causes, or potencies,
-arise from a tamed mind, whereas bad actions arise from an untamed mind.
-Common beings like us have been accustomed to an untamed mind since
-beginningless time. Given this predisposition, we can conclude that actions
-performed with an untamed mind are more powerful for us and actions performed
-with a tamed mind are weaker. It is important to appreciate that this
-excellent life support of a human body that we now possess is a wholesome
-result of many powerful good actions from a tamed mind in the past. It was
-very difficult to gain, and, since it is very rare, you must take care to use
-it well, making sure that it is not wasted.
- ...If this human endowment, so difficult to attain, were stable and
-permanent--not prone to deterioration--there would be time later to make use
-of it. However, this life-support system is fragile and easily disintegrates
-from many external and internal causes. Aryadeva's "Four Hundred Stanzas on
-the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas" says that once the body depends on the four
-elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, which themselves oppose each other,
-physical happiness is just an occasional balance of these elements, not an
-enduring harmony.
- ...So this human body is a precious endowment, potent and yet fragile.
-Simply by virtue of being alive, you are at a very important juncture, and
-carry a great responsibility. Powerful good can be achieved for yourself and
-others, so becoming distracted by the minor affairs of this lifetime would be
-a tremendous waste. You should make wishes to use this lifetime in this body
-effectively and make petitions to your guru, the three refuges, and other
-sources of help. In doing so, urge yourself on from the inside and seek
-assistance from the outside.....
- In sum, since this human body, which supports your life, is beneficial,
-was difficult to gain, and easily disintegrates, you should use it for your
-benefit and that of others. Benefits come from a tamed mind: When your mind
-is peaceful, relaxed, and happy, external pleasures such as good food,
-clothing, and conversation make things even better, but their absence does not
-overpower you. If your mind is not peaceful and tamed, no matter how
-marvelous the external circumstances are, you will be burdened by frights,
-hopes, and fears. With a tamed mind, you will enjoy wealth or poverty, health
-or sickness, you can even die happily. With a tamed mind, having many friends
-is wonderful, but if you have no friends, it is all right, too. The root of
-your own happiness and welfare rests with a peaceful and tamed mind.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well
- and Dying Consciously", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
-~
- One of the reasons there is a need to adopt a strong countermeasure
-against someone who harms you is that, if you let it pass, there is a danger
-of that person becoming habituated to extremely negative actions, which in the
-long run will cause that person's own downfall and is very destructive for the
-individual himself or herself. Therefore a strong countermeasure, taken out
-of compassion or a sense of concern for the other, is necessary. When you are
-motivated by that realization, then there is a sense of concern as part of
-your motive for taking that strong measure.
- ...One of the reasons why there is some ground to feel compassionate
-toward a perpetrator of crime or an aggressor is that the aggressor, because
-he or she is perpetrating a crime, is at the causal stage, accumulating the
-causes and conditions that later lead to undesirable consequences. So, from
-that point of view, there is enough ground to feel compassionate toward the
-aggressor.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
- Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- What do you think would be the chief obstacle in recognizing that each
-individual person has been kind to you? In my case, I was afraid of having to
-return the kindness, because then I'd be under the control of these people. I
-didn't want to do what my parents wanted me to do, although they gave me a lot
-of slack--I left college after my first year, went to the woods of Vermont,
-went to Tahiti, all on my own with whatever cash I earned. I didn't fit into
-the upper-middle-class community where we lived. I didn't want their control;
-the lifestyle they were pushing on me was completely unappealing. Therefore,
-I refused to recognize their kindness.
- However, assuming a debt with respect to every sentient being differs
-greatly from having a debt to a few. In this meditation, you start with
-friends, then neutral persons, and then enemies and contemplate: "I will
-return the debt of kindness that I have with this person through helping her
-or him achieve happiness." It is easy to determine that the response to all
-sentient beings' kindness cannot be to do everything they want, since, with so
-many people, what they want from you would be at cross-purposes. You cannot
-even do everything your mother of this lifetime wants you to do, though you
-know her advice is, for the most part, motivated by kindness....
- Those who help us--our parents, for instance--often attain power over us
-for that very reason: "Do as I say because I have helped you." Thus, for some,
-it becomes almost a mental habit to refuse to recognize those who have helped
-us, because they otherwise would attain some power over us. Still, we know we
-should return their many kindnesses. That is one reason why the practice of
-reflecting, "This person has helped me in many intimate ways and thus I must
-do something in return," gets to be uncomfortable, but when it is extended to
-more and more beings, we have to find a way of intending to return their
-kindness without coming under their misguided influence.
- ...one cannot do everything all those sentient beings want. There are so
-many of them, and they want such contradictory things. Besides, to fulfill
-what they temporarily want may not be the best way to help them. The greatest
-of all ways to return their kindness is to help them become free from all
-suffering and to assist in the process of becoming liberated from cyclic
-existence and attaining the bliss of Buddhahood. It is important to realize
-here in the step of developing an intention to return others' kindness that
-acknowledging a debt does not mean that you must do what they say. Otherwise,
-you might hold back from the truth of their attentive care.
- --Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
- with Others", foreword by the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- ...Nagarjuna's Fundamental Treatise says, "That which arises dependently
-we explain as emptiness. This [emptiness] is dependent designation; this is
-the middle way." His Refutation of Objections says, "I bow down to the
-Buddha, the unequaled, supreme teacher, who taught that emptiness, dependent
-arising, and the middle way hold a single meaning."
- For Tsong-kha-pa, the compatibility of emptiness and dependent arising is
-the very heart of the Madhyamaka view and the key to the path. Dependent
-arising means that things come into being in dependence upon causes and
-conditions. Understanding dependent arising correctly refutes the idea that
-things exist in and of themselves--because they must depend on other things.
-In the same moment, it also refutes the nihilist extreme--because it shows
-that things do arise, they do come into existence, and they affect one
-another. Thus, Tsong-kha-pa advises that if you think that you may have found
-the profound view of emptiness, you should check to see if you have negated
-too much. Can this "emptiness" you have discovered be reconciled with the
-mere existence of things that arise interdependently? If not, then you are
-certainly mistaken.
- ...The point is that one cannot become a buddha without both compassionate
-action and nondual wisdom--and one cannot have these two types of path without
-both of the two truths, conventional and ultimate. If only emptiness existed
-and there were, in fact, no conventional truths, then there would be no living
-beings, no suffering to relieve; thus there would be no compassionate action;
-and thus there would be no buddhahood. Therefore, maintaining the
-compatibility of the two truths--the compatibility of emptiness and dependent
-arising--is crucial to the whole of the Dharma.
- -- Guy Newland, "Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-kha-pa's
- Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path", published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-Anything that can be done chemically can be done by other means.
- -- William S. Burroughs
-~
- ...let us discuss true sources of suffering. The fact that sufferings are
-not always produced but are produced in some places at some times and cease at
-some times and in some places indicates that they are caused. Logically, it
-can be said that sufferings are caused because of being produced occasionally.
-If sufferings were produced causelessly, either they would never exist or they
-would always exist.
- Since sufferings are caused, one needs to look into what their causes are.
-In the Buddhist systems, the causes are explained to be contaminated actions
-and afflictive emotions....
- For instance, if I had an angry feeling, this could serve as a motivating
-force that would lead to a harsh attitude, harsh speech, and harsh physical
-gestures. Since the anger that serves as the motivating factor is a
-defIlement--an afflictive emotion--the physical and verbal actions done
-through that motivating force are negative karmas, negative actions. Through
-them, the atmosphere immediately changes into one of tension. Right away, I
-might not feel the effects of those actions, perhaps even feeling that I had
-gained a victory over someone, even shouting, "I have won." However, later I
-will feel very sorry and shy, deep down experiencing a guilty conscience.
-Similarly, those around me would immediately lose their tranquility and peace.
-These are painful results of actions impelled by a bad motivation. This is
-the law of karma--motivation, action, result.
- Conversely, a good, open, sincere motivation such as compassion with a
-deep respect for others impels verbal and physical actions that immediately
-create a peaceful, harmonious, enjoyable atmosphere. Due to that, I feel
-happy and calm, enjoying that atmosphere, and others around me also enjoy the
-same. Therefore, bad motivation creates problems, suffering, and pain,
-whereas good motivation creates happiness and peacefulness--something good.
- This is the general explanation. On a deeper level, right at the time of
-an action, predisposing potencies are instilled in the consciousness. The
-performance of an action establishes a predisposing potency in the mind that,
-in the future, will serve as the causal condition for one's experiencing a
-good or bad effect.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
- Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-(Each day before breakfast the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, Thubten
-Chodron, gives a morning motivation for residents and guests. Below is a
-teaching given during March 2008.)
-
-Quiet Place
-
- Have you ever had this experience? You walk outside, and all of a sudden
-the silence strikes you--it's in such sharp contrast to the chatter that's
-going on in the mind.
- We live in a very quiet place. We walk outside and it's pretty quiet--a
-few birds chirping, sun shining. Then suddenly the chatter in the mind stops
-because we see that it's just chatter. It's in such stark contrast to the
-silence that's outside.
- We want to learn to notice that chatter before we even have to walk
-outside. And we want to be able to find that quiet place inside ourselves and
-keep it with us, so that even when we're in a place where there is a lot of
-noise, the mind can be quiet.
- All that mental chatter is basically negative conceptualization. If we
-were thinking about emptiness or developing compassion with that kind of
-mental activity, fine! Continue that outside, inside, everywhere. But most
-of the time what's going on is, "I like this. I don't like this. I want
-this. I don't want that. Why does this person do this? Why don't they do
-that?" That kind of mental activity makes the mind quite stressful as well
-as accumulates negative karma and wastes a great deal of time.
- As soon as we can catch it and be aware of what's going on in our mind,
-and come back to that silent space inside, the more peaceful we'll be. Our
-lives will be more productive in terms of having the Dharma grow in our
-hearts, and we'll be more focused in whatever daily activities we're doing.
-We won't be quite so distracted.
- -- Thubten Chodron, author of numerous books, including Buddhism for
- Beginners; Taming the Mind; Open Heart, Clear Mind; and Working
- with Anger
-~
- ...if people have compassion, naturally that's something they can count
-on; even if they have economic problems and their fortune declines, they still
-have something to share with fellow human beings. World economies are always
-so tenuous and we are subject to so many losses in life, but a compassionate
-attitude is something that we can always carry with us.
- ...Of course, in attempting to explain to someone the importance of
-compassion, in some cases, you might be dealing with a very hardened,
-individualistic, and selfish person, someone concerned only with her or his
-own interests. And it is even possible that there are people who may not have
-the capacity to empathize with even someone whom they love or who may be close
-to them. But even to such people, it is still possible to present the
-importance of compassion and love on the grounds that it's the best way to
-fulfill their self-interests. They wish to have good health, live a longer
-life, and have peace of mind, happiness, and joy. And if these are things
-that they desire, I've heard that there is scientific evidence that these
-things can be enhanced by feelings of love and compassion.
- ...educating someone about these facts and scientific studies could
-certainly encourage some people to cultivate a more compassionate state of
-mind. But I think that, even aside from scientific studies, there are other
-arguments that people could understand and appreciate from their own practical
-or direct everyday experience. For example, you could point out that lack of
-compassion leads to a certain ruthlessness. There are many examples
-indicating that at some level deep down, ruthless people generally suffer from
-a kind of unhappiness and discontent, people like Stalin and Hitler. Such
-people suffer from a kind of nagging sense of insecurity and fear. Even when
-they are sleeping I think that sense of fear remains... these people lack
-something that you can find in a more compassionate person--a sense of
-freedom, a sense of abandonment, so when you sleep you can relax and let go.
-Ruthless people never have that experience. Something is always gripping
-them; there is some kind of hold on them, and they aren't able to experience
-that feeling of letting go, that sense of freedom.
- ...There are always different degrees of benefit that one might receive
-from practicing various methods and techniques, depending on one's particular
-circumstances.... First, through learning, thoroughly understanding the value
-of compassion--this gives you a feeling of conviction and determination.
-Then, employing methods to enhance empathy, such as using your imagination,
-your creativity, to visualize yourself in another's situation. And certain
-exercises or practices that you can undertake, such as Tong-Len, serve to
-strengthen your compassion. But I think it's important to remember that these
-techniques... were developed to help as many as possible, at least some
-portion of the human population. But it was never expected that these
-techniques could help 100 percent of people, the entire human population.
- ...the main point really, if we are talking about various methods to
-develop compassion, the important thing is that people make a sincere effort
-to develop their capacity for compassion. If they make their best efforts to
-be kinder, to cultivate compassion and make the world a better place, then at
-the end of the day they can say, "At least I've done my best!"
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
- Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
-~
- In ascertaining luminous clarity at the time of the path, the general
-technique is to rest evenly in the very essence of luminous clarity. Telopa
-said:
-
- Rest relaxed within the uncontrived native state;
- Bonds are released and freedom is sure.
-
- This and other such instructions are expressed unanimously by the mighty
-adepts. Accordingly, with the body in the seven-point posture of meditative
-stability, the mind rests without support, relaxed and uncontrived. This will
-create the unerring yogic direct perception of emptiness. This is the
-ultimate esoteric instruction of the completion phase found in the profound
-tantras. The reason is that once the vital points of the vajra body, which is
-the support, are bound, the mind, eyes, and energy currents remain in a state
-of nonthought. Because of the special interconnection between body and mind,
-the movement in the right and left channels is stopped and immobilized within
-the central channel, causing the direct experience of mahamudra, emptiness
-with aspects.
- Therefore the luminous mind, which is the supported, is realized as empty
-appearance arising as the mahamudra of forms of emptiness. This, again,
-depends on the dissolution of the energy currents of the right and left
-channels in the central channel, the supreme support. There is no more
-profound method for affecting this dissolution than resting the mind once it
-is uncontrived and relaxed. Therefore, in all the esoteric instructions of
-highest tantra, this is called "the esoteric instruction of withdrawal" in the
-presentations.
- -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight, Part
- Four: Esoteric Instructions, A Detailed Presentation of the Process of
- Meditation in Vajrayana", trans. and annot. by Sarah Harding, foreword
- by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
- -- Mahatma Gandhi
-~
-Dignity does not consist in a silk dress. -- A saying from the Orient
-~
- To solve the problems humanity is facing, we need to organize meetings of
-scholars, educators, social workers, neuroscientists, physicians, and experts
-from all fields to discuss the positive and negative sides of what we have
-done thus far, as well as what needs to be introduced and what needs to be
-changed in our educational system. Proper environment plays a crucial role in
-the healthy growth of a child. All problems, including terrorism, can be
-overcome through education, particularly by introducing concern for all others
-at the preschool level.
- Living in society, we must share the suffering of our fellow citizens and
-practice compassion and tolerance not only toward our loved ones but also
-toward our enemies. This is the test of our moral strength. We must set an
-example by our own practice. We must live by the same high standards of
-integrity we seek to convey to others. The ultimate purpose is to serve and
-benfit the world.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are",
- translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
-~
- "When Tibet was still free, we cultivated our natural isolation,
-mistakenly thinking that we could prolong our peace and security that way.
-Consequently, we paid little attention to the changes taking place in the
-world outside. Later, we learned the hard way that in the international
-arena, as well as at home, freedom is something to be shared and enjoyed in
-the company of others, not kept to yourself." Budapest, 1994
- "I believe that Tibet will be free only when its people become strong, and
-hatred is not strength. It is a weakness. The Lord Buddha was not being
-religious, in the popular sense of the term, when he said that hatred does not
-cease by hatred. Rather, he was being practical. Any achievement attained
-through hatred [can only invite] trouble sooner or later." Statement, 10 March
-1971
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama" compiled and edited by
- Mary Craig
-~
- Persons from orally oriented cultures, writes Ong, tend to project their
-sensibilities, to see them expressed in the world around them. More widely
-literate cultures create persons who tend to withdraw for insight into their
-own personal psyches. Orally oriented peoples may thus be more inclined than
-persons in print-dominated cultures to set their feelings or experiences in
-the space around them, including the invisible spirits presumed to occupy that
-space, and less likely to project these feelings and experiences onto
-individual persons. In Tibet lineages or sects are the most likely targets of
-negative projections. Western print-oriented persons are more likely to
-project their feelings onto other individuals, especially people in
-significant relationships with them. Unlike Tibet, or the premodern West, the
-contemporary West tends to identify the mind as the exclusive locus of ideas,
-feelings, and values. With this localization, the mind becomes "psychic" in a
-new sense, distinct from bodily soma and from the larger world.
- This very different configuration of personhood affects the way Westerners
-are likely to understand the Great Bliss Queen practice. For example, there
-is a tendency among Westerners for "visualization" to be a more disembodied
-practice than it is for Tibetans. The point in imagining oneself as the Great
-Bliss Queen is not just to replace one visual image of oneself with another,
-as if observing a changing scene in a movie theater, but to experience a
-physical as well as mental shift from deep inside the body.
- -- Anne Carolyn Klein, "Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists,
- and the Art of the Self", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...when you recognize how kind someone has been to you, you are using an
-ordinary worldly attitude to help keep you from responses of hatred. For
-instance, if someone gave me a grant with a blank check to form a team of
-translators of Tibetan thought, I would be more than extremely pleased. Now
-if the person who gave me the money came by someday and gave me a hard time, I
-would feel a measure of restraint due to reflecting on the person's kindness.
-I would seek other means to work things out with the person. When you reflect
-how kind every person has been, there is that restraint to the point where,
-believe it or not, trained Buddhists will look at a fly or an ant walking
-across the table and think, "This is someone who bore me in her womb in a
-former lifetime, who took care of me."
- If you watch how mothers take precautions for a child in the womb, it is
-clear that they do a great deal to help it. They eat nourishing foods and
-avoid harmful substances like coffee, alcohol, nicotine, and drugs. If you
-reflect on how such a mother takes care of the child in the womb and extend
-this reflection to all sentient beings, I think that because your field of
-awareness is no longer just a few sentient beings but is gradually expanding
-to more and more, you can reflect on the mother's kindness without doing it
-merely because you were helped. The staggering debt deflates your sense of
-exaggerated importance. The boil is pricked.
- -- Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
- with Others", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-He that can have patience can have what he will. -- Benjamin Franklin
-~
-One generation plants the trees, and another gets the shade.
- -- Chinese proverb
-~
-Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad. -- Diogenes the Cynic
-~
-Fashion is something that goes in one year and out the other. -- Unknown
-~
-I'm a born-again atheist. -- Gore Vidal
-~
- Buddha's teachings on non-manifest phenomena, such as the extremely subtle
-presentations of actions and their effect--which are very hidden phenomena--
-cannot be proved with reasoning. How then can they be verified?
- There is no need to verify manifest phenomena through reasoning because
-they appear directly to the senses. The slightly hidden, however, can be
-proved with reasoning that generates inferential understanding, and since
-emptiness is very profound but only slightly hidden, it is accessible to
-reasoning.
- ...very hidden phenomena cannot be proved with reasoning, and it seems
-that Buddha can say whatever he likes. However, through our own experience we
-can confirm Buddha's teachings on more important topics such as emptiness, the
-altruistic mind of enlightenment, love, and compassion, for no matter who
-analyses--Buddhist or non-Buddhist--or how much one analyses, if the person is
-not biased through desire or hatred, these teachings can bear analysis and
-serve as powerful sources of thought. When you see that Buddha does not err
-with regard to these more important phenomena, you can accept his other
-presentations.
- ...The process of cyclic existence and the eradication of it can be proved
-by the reasoning that establishes the misconception of inherent existence as
-its root cause and establishes the wisdom cognising emptiness as its antidote.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in
- Tibet", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Meditation on [or cultivation of] the six deities is like faith or love
-meditation in that the mind is being generated into the entity of the object
-meditated. When faith or love are meditated, those two are not the object
-observed but the entity into which the consciousness is being generated.
-Meditation on impermanence or emptiness, on the other hand, means to take
-these as the object and meditate on them. Thus, there are two types of
-meditation--of a subjective aspect and on an objective aspect. Meditation on
-the six deities is the former, for first one generates a wisdom consciousness
-knowing the sameness in suchness of oneself and the deity--the ultimate--and
-then causes it to appear as the sounds, letters, and finally the form of the
-deity.
- --His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins,
- "Deity Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- Once we realize emptiness, all phenomena are included within this reality,
-which is not separate from the cause and effect of karma and which is free of
-mental constructs. On this ultimate level of realization, it is possible to
-state that there is no wholesome or unwholesome action. When we have realized
-the nature of all phenomena, negative actions naturally subside and positive
-ones are spontaneously accomplished. Until this time, however, we would be
-slipping into nihilism if we said that the phenomena of relative truth, such
-as positive and negative actions or karma, do not exist.
- Just knowing this authentic view, however, is not enough. For others to
-be able to experience it, we must also know the scriptures and reasonings so
-that we can teach. Without the support of this knowledge, it will be
-difficult for others to trust what we say, and so Milarepa speaks of scripture
-and reasoning as an adornment to realization.
-
- Dissolving thoughts into the dharmakaya--
- Is this not meditation naturally arising?
- Join it with experience
- To make it beautifully adorned.
-
- One way to understand meditation is to see it as a practice of working
-with the many thoughts that arise in our mind. With realization they arise as
-mere appearances of the dharmakaya, the natural arising of mind's essential
-nature. Being clear about this true nature of thought is called "attaining
-the level of natural arising." At this point, there is no difference in any
-thought that may arise, because we see the nature of each thought to be
-emptiness, arising as the dharmakaya. Meditation could be defined as
-realizing the dharmakaya of the Buddha.
- -- Michele Martin, "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art & Teachings of the
- 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Who is the supreme friend
- always helpful in times of need?
- Mindfulness of the spiritual instructions
- learned through study and contemplation.
- -- The Seventh Dalai Lama
-
- Ordinary friends desert us when we fall on hard times or become an
-inconvenience in their lives. Others simply disappear into their own
-destinies. Even our spiritual teachers eventually die and leave us behind.
- Our practice of the Dharma, however, that has been cultivated by means of
-study, contemplation and meditation, is the one sure anchor that keeps our
-ship stable when the seas become choppy. In fact, the more difficult the
-situation we encounter, the more helpful it is to us.
- When the Buddha had become very old and was preparing to pass away,
-several of his disciples were overcome with grief. They asked him, "What
-will we do after you are gone?" He replied, "Whenever you rely upon my
-teachings, at that time I am there with you."
- The Second Dalai Lama wrote, "When we know how to rely on the Dharma, we
-are able to be happy in every situation. Where could one find a more
-trustworthy and reliable friend?"
- -- Glenn H. Mullin, "Gems of Wisdom from the Seventh Dalai Lama",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- I always believe that each individual human being has some kind of
-responsibility for humanity as a whole. Particularly, I always believe that
-as scientists, you have a special responsibility. Besides your own
-profession, you have a basic motivation to serve humanity, to try to produce
-better, happier human beings. Whether we understand consciousness or not, we
-must produce warm-hearted persons. That is important. I want to express
-that. Whenever I meet scientists, I always have to say this.
- Through my own profession, I try my best to contribute as much as I can.
-This proceeds without my being concerned whether another person agrees with my
-philosophy or not. Some people may be very much against my belief, my
-philosophy, but I feel alright. So long as I see that a human being suffers
-or has needs, I shall contribute as much as I can to contribute to their
-benefit. Scientists and medically qualified people can contribute especially.
-That's different; that's a particular context. A human being needs to be
-cared for according to your professional calling. You can contribute; that's
-your shared professional responsibility
- -- H. H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
- with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
- Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...while walking in a park the body may be in the park while the mind is
-off working in the office, or at home, or talking to a distant friend, or
-making a list of groceries. That means the mind has disconnected from the
-body. Instead, when looking at a flower, really look at it. Be fully
-present. With the help of the flower, bring the mind back to the park.
-Appreciation for sensory experience reconnects mind and body. When the
-experience of the flower is felt throughout the body, a healing occurs; this
-can be the same when seeing a tree, smelling smoke, feeling the cloth of your
-shirt, hearing a bird call, or tasting an apple. Train yourself to vividly
-experience sensory objects without judgment. Try completely to be the eye
-with form, the nose with smell, the ear with sound, and so on. Try to be
-complete in experience while remaining in just the bare awareness of the
-sensory object.
- When this ability is developed, reactions will still occur. Upon seeing
-the flower, judgements about its beauty will arise, or a smell may be judged
-to be foul. Even so, with practice the connection to the pure sensory
-experience can be maintained rather than continuing to become lost in the
-mind's distraction. Being distracted by a cloud of concepts is a habit and it
-can be replaced with a new habit: using bodily sensual experience to bring us
-to presence, to connect us to the beauty of the world, to the vivid and
-nourishing experience of life that lies under our distractions. This is the
-underpinning of successful dream yoga.
- -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
- edited by Mark Dahlby, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- To succeed in practicing any form of tantra, it is necessary first to
-train in developing the altruistic intention to become enlightened. Dzong-
-ka-ba says that this needs to be done "in accordance with the quintessential
-instructions," these being found in his Great Exposition of the Stages of the
-Path to Enlightenment. Specifically, such an altruistic intention is
-generated by way of the seven cause and effect quintessential instructions or
-the equalizing and switching of self and other. To do those, it is necessary
-to identify what liberation is and to develop an awareness seeking liberation,
-for which it is necessary to reflect on the three types of suffering and
-develop an intention to turn away from over-emphasizing the appearances of
-this life and then to turn away from over-emphasizing the appearances of
-future lives, developing an intention to leave such cyclic existence entirely,
-whereupon it is possible to reflect on how others suffer and develop
-compassion. Done continuously over a long period of time, at best one should
-develop a fully qualified altruistic intention to become enlightened, and at
-least one should develop such an intention from the depths of the heart.
- With such altruism as your basic motivation it is possible to receive
-initiation and take the pledges that lay out a type of behavior conducive to
-enlightenment.
- ...nowadays some people look on the practice of religion as if it were
-something that causes them to lose their freedom. Opposite to this, rules
-[for controlling counter-productive ill-deeds and overcoming afflictive
-emotions] are for the sake of utilizing your freedom to develop the limitless
-qualities of Buddhahood, in the quest for which you should never be satisfied.
-Toward material things, which necessarily have a limit, it is best to be
-satisfied with what you have, but with regard to the limitless development of
-spiritual qualities, you should never be satisfied with a mere portion, but
-continually seek higher development. The rules themselves make your mind
-conducive to such progress, so there is no reason to be uptight about them.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra:
- Paths to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The practice of Dzogchen may begin with doing fixation on an object, in
-order to calm one's thoughts. Then one relaxes the fixation, dissolving the
-dependence on the object, and one fixes one's gaze in open space. Then, when
-one succeeds in making the calm state stable, it is important to work with the
-movement of one's thoughts and one's energy, integrating this movement with
-the presence of contemplation. At this point one is ready to apply
-contemplation in one's daily life. The system of practice just described is
-characteristic of the Series of the Nature of the Mind, but that is not to say
-that in Dzogchen one must necessarily begin with fixation and meditation on a
-calm state. In the Series of Primordial Space, and the Series of Secret
-Instructions, for example, one enters directly into the practice of
-contemplation. Particularly in the former, there are very precise
-instructions on how to find the pure state of contemplation. In the latter,
-on the other hand, the explanations are mainly concerned with how one
-continues in contemplation in all circumstances.
- The practice of contemplation is concisely explained in the line that
-reads, "but vision nevertheless manifests: all is good." Even if the
-condition of "what is" cannot be grasped with the mind, the whole
-manifestation of the primordial state, including our karmic vision, does
-nevertheless exist. All the various aspects of forms, colours, and so on,
-continue to arise without interruption. When we find ourselves in
-contemplation, this doesn't mean that our impure vision just disappears
-and pure vision manifests instead. If we have a physical body, there is a
-karmic cause for that, so there would be no sense in trying to abandon or
-deny the situation we find ourselves in. We just need to be aware of it.
-If we have a vision of the material, physical level of existence, which is
-the cause of so very many problems, we need to understand that this vision
-is only the gross aspect of the colours, which are the essence of the elements.
- -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State", edited by
- Adriano Clemente, translated by John Shane, published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.
- -- Malayan Proverb
-~
- A tantric yogi who has gained control of the subtle energies of the body
-and the subtle levels of consciousness will have control over the inner and
-outer elements and consequently can transform his or her ordinary samsaric
-form into a joyous rainbow body. But until we can do this, we have to accept
-the fact that our physical basis is a magnet attracting every kind of
-discomfort and pain.
- ...This samsaric body keeps us running all of our lives. We have to run
-to fulfill its endless needs, to keep it away from things that may harm it,
-and to protect it from anything unpleasant. We have to give it pleasure and
-comfort. We become ordained, and at first this is very satisfactory; but soon
-our body makes it so difficult for us that we think our practice would be less
-disturbed if we were to live as a layperson. So we give up and return to
-ordinary life; but then we end up with a family to support, leaving us with no
-time or energy for meditation. We have the pressing tasks of feeding,
-clothing, and sheltering our children, and of arranging their education and so
-forth. Our lives are spent alternating between work and worry, with
-occasional short periods of pleasure, and then we have to die; but even this
-we cannot do in peace, for, when we lie down to die, our last thoughts are
-worried ones concerning the family we are leaving behind. Such is the nature
-of worldly existence.
- ...To care for our old people--these ones who have given us our body, our
-life, and our culture--is a sacred duty of humanity. But most humans act more
-like animals than people, and often we see old people who have been abandoned
-by their families. Family units were very strong in Tibet, and old people
-were usually cared for directly by relatives. The national care for the old
-that we see in the West is something very good, a healthy sign, although
-perhaps here the spiritual and psychological basis is somewhat lacking.
- The suffering of old age is something we all must face, unless we die
-prematurely. There is nothing we can do about it. Gone will be that false
-sense of personal ability and strength that made us so proud when we were
-young. Instead, helpers or friends will bathe us, dress us, spoonfeed us, and
-have to take us to the toilet. Rather than live under the delusion of
-permanence, we should engage in spiritual training so that we can enter old
-age at least with the grace of wisdom.
- ...So we can see that this body indeed causes us much grief in this life
-and, sadly, in their quest to satisfy its many needs, most people just collect
-an endless stream of negative karmic instincts that will lead them to lower
-rebirths in the future. These are the sufferings of the human world.
- ...The important point here is to become aware of the third type of
-suffering, the subtle suffering that pervades all imperfect existence, the
-all-pervading misery concomitant with having a perishable, samsaric base....
-[All are] enmeshed in suffering because the nature of their body and mind is
-bound with compulsive cyclic processes. Until we develop the wisdom that is
-able to free the mind from these compelling forces, there is no doubt that we
-shall experience suffering throughout our lives, and that we shall continue to
-wander endlessly in the wheel of birth, life, death, and rebirth where the
-presence of misery can always be felt.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
- by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Observing the Mind Itself
-
- The primary meditative technique of great perfection is remaining in the
-state of pure awareness. This is accomplished by calming the mind and then
-abiding in comprehension of its basic clear light nature. The meditative
-practice involves being cognizant of the arising and passing away of feelings,
-emotions, sensations, etc., but understanding them within the context of pure
-awareness. The more one does this, the more one realizes that all phenomena
-arise from mind and remerge into it. They are of the nature of pure awareness
-and are a projection of luminosity and emptiness. Through cultivating this
-understanding, mental phenomena of their own accord begin to subside, allowing
-the clear light nature of mind to become manifest. They appear as reflections
-on the surface of a mirror and are perceived as illusory, ephemeral, and
-nonsubstantial.
- Those who succeed in this practice attain a state of radical freedom:
-there are no boundaries, no presuppositions, and no habits on which to rely.
-One perceives things as they are in their naked reality. Ordinary beings view
-phenomena through a lens clouded by concepts and preconceptions, and most of
-the world is overlooked or ignored. The mind of the great perfection adept,
-however, is unbounded, and everything is possible. For many beginners, this
-prospect is profoundly disquieting, because since beginningless time we have
-been constricted by rules, laws, assumptions, and previous actions. One who
-is awakened, however, transcends all such limitations; there is no ground on
-which to stand, no limits, nothing that must be done, and no prohibitions.
-This awareness is bottomless, unfathomable, immeasurable, permeated by joy,
-unboundedness, and exhilaration. One is utterly free, and one's state of mind
-is as expansive as space. Those who attain this level of awareness also
-transcend physicality and manifest the "rainbow body" ('ja lus), a form
-comprising pure light that cannot decay, which has no physical aspects, and
-which is coterminous with the nature of mind.
- -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Traditions are group efforts to keep the unexpected from happening.
- -- Barbara Tober
-~
-In a democracy it's your vote that counts;
-in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.
- -- Mogens Jallberg
-~
-You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. -- Indira Gandhi
-~
-Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent.
- -- Langston Coleman
-~
-Every child is an artist. The problem is how to
-remain an artist once he grows up.
- -- Pablo Picasso
-~
- Among Tibetans, at least traditionally, the economic conditions are such
-that this nine-to-five daily employment isn't really an important part of
-[working life]. In Tibet, either you are a farmer or a nomad or a merchant.
-The work is seasonal.... During the season they work very hard, and when they
-finish they come back and don't have any employment.
- ...in modern society, and particularly in industrialized nations, the
-issue of unemployment is a very difficult situation. There are no easy
-answers. One has no choice but to try to cope, and make one's best effort to
-find new work. There is just no other solution.
- However, the basic attitude of the individual plays a very significant
-role, and can make a big difference in how someone responds. While we may not
-have control over our situation, our attitude is something that we have some
-control over. So first, what we need to realize is that uncertainty and
-change are very much a part of the modern economy, particularly with regard to
-employment. That is a serious problem, but a fact that we have to accept.
-There is no guarantee that there will be a job tomorrow if you are working
-today. So, if we understand this ahead of time, it may change how we respond
-when that happens. Then we won't feel so surprised, as if we are singled out.
-We understand that the loss of a job has many factors, the result of many
-causes and conditions. We will understand that, in many cases, it may even
-have roots in global economic issues. This way, we won't become so upset by
-taking it personally, or looking around us for someone to blame for our
-problems. This alone may help reduce our mental agitation. Of course, here
-we are talking about unemployment due to some wider causes or layoffs, not due
-to being fired because of one's own incompetence.
- So there might be different ways in which individuals will respond to the
-challenges of change. What is important is to acknowledge this fact and try
-to work out how best to cope with the immediate problem itself. For example,
-if you need employment as a means of your livelihood and if you become
-unemployed, then all your efforts should be put into looking for new
-employment so that your livelihood will be secure. But there are two
-different responses. One person may feel demoralized and become sort of
-paralyzed, thinking, There is no hope, I lost my job, what am I supposed to
-do? But another individual in the same situation might look at it as an
-opportunity to make some changes. As a challenge. So that is the more
-positive way, the more proactive way of dealing with this problem. But of
-course it is not easy.
- There may also be other ways that might help at least reduce the mental
-anxiety of dealing with the situation, so that a person can use all their
-mental energy to find new work. For Buddhists, there are certain thought
-processes and considerations that help--for example, the belief in karma
-[one's actions] and ultimately taking responsibility for one's own karma.
-Although this kind of mental attitude may not have any effect in physically
-resolving the situation, at least it will help ease the individual from the
-psychological effect of losing the job, and so on. And of course, believers
-in other religious systems can also take some consolation in their own
-beliefs.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D.,
- "The Art of Happiness at Work"
-~
- Compassion and love are not man-made. Ideology is man-made, but
-compassion and love are produced by nature. It is important to recognize
-natural qualities, especially when we face a problem and fail to find a
-solution. For example... in religious business, sometimes even due to
-religion, we create a problem. If we try to solve that problem using
-religious methods, it is quite certain that we will not succeed. So I feel
-that when we face those kinds of problems, it is important to return to our
-basic human quality. Then I think we will find that solutions come easier.
-Therefore, I usually say that the best way to solve human problems is with
-human understanding.
- It is very important to recognize the basic nature of humanity and the
-value of human qualities. Whether one is educated or uneducated, rich or
-poor, or belongs to this nation or that nation, this religion or that
-religion, this ideology or that ideology, is secondary and doesn't matter.
-When we return to this basis, all people are the same. Then we can truly say
-the words brother, sister; then they are not just nice words--they have some
-meaning. That kind of motivation automatically builds the practice of
-kindness. This gives us inner strength.
- ...Next, let us talk about the human being as a social animal. Even if we
-do not like other people, we have to live together. Natural law is such that
-even bees and other animals have to live together in cooperation. I am
-attracted to bees because I like honey--it is really delicious. Their product
-is something that we cannot produce, very beautiful, isn't it? I exploit them
-too much, I think. Even these insects have certain responsibilities, they
-work together very nicely. They have no constitution, they have no law, no
-police, nothing, but they work together effectively. This is because of
-nature. Similarly, each part of a flower is not arranged by humans but by
-nature. The force of nature is something remarkable. We human beings, we
-have constitutions, we have law, we have a police force, we have religion, we
-have many things. But in actual practice, I think that we are behind those
-small insects.
- Sometimes civilization brings good progress, but we become too involved
-with this progress and neglect or forget about our basic nature. Every
-development in human society should take place on the basis of the foundation
-of the human nature. If we lose that basic foundation, there is no point in
-such developments taking place.
- -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
- About the Dalai Lama" compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword by
- Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Emphasizing neither renunciation nor transformation, though incorporating
-both into its preparatory practices, the Great Completeness provides a
-method know as "self-liberation" (rang 'grol), sometimes described as
-"liberation in its own spot" (rang sar 'grol). Liberation takes place in the
-situation just as it is, because one's mind and all things are, despite
-powerful appearances to the contrary, primordially pure. If one has not yet
-made this essential discovery, the Great Bliss Queen ritual can prepare one
-for it. If one is familiar with the Great Completeness perspective, one
-performs the visualization and recitation of the Great Bliss Queen ritual
-entirely within an experience of innate awareness. In either case, the ritual
-encompasses the three nondualisms already discussed.
- One way of accessing the primordial purity so important to the Great
-Completeness tradition is a practice known as "pure vision." This involves
-visualizing companions, family, surroundings, and so forth as creations of
-light, the habitat of an enlightened being. From the viewpoint of the Great
-Completeness, such pure vision is not an imaginative overlay, but a move
-toward understanding things as they are. As Khetsun Sangpo taught it, this
-practice allows you to understand that apparently ordinary things and persons
-have "been [primordially pure] from the beginning" so that "you are
-identifying their own proper nature. Your senses normally misrepresent what
-is there, but through this visualization you can come closer to what actually
-exists." In short, by identifying one's body, companions, and world with
-those of the Great Bliss Queen, one develops the ability to discover what has
-always been there. This being so, there is no need to renounce or change
-anything, only to see it more completely. This is the Great Completeness
-tradition's special mix of ontological and cognitive nondualisms. Unlike the
-tantric traditions, in which it is necessary to cease the coarse sense and
-mental consciousness in order for the most subtle mind of clear light to
-appear, the Dalai Lama observes that "in the Old [Nyingma] Translation School
-of the Great Completeness it is possible to be introduced to the clear light
-without the cessation of the six operative consciousnesses." Hence the
-possibility of "discovering" what is already in our midst. Such discovery
-reveals a spontaneous presence (yon dan hlun gyis grub ba) of collateral
-qualities such as clarity and spontaneous responsiveness. Thus, comments
-Longchen Rabjam, "primordially pure primordial wisdom is free in the face of
-thought and the primordial wisdom, with a nature of spontaneity, abides as
-primordial radiance, and profound clarity."
- -- Anne Carolyn Klein, "Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists,
- and the Art of the Self", by published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Why is it that meeting our yidam deity directly and receiving the deity's
-blessing are so important? If we are studying texts and wish to become great
-scholars, there are an inconceivable number of the Buddha's teachings along
-with the treatises that comment on them. All these have to be studied
-diligently so that we can come to a basic understanding of their meaning;
-beyond this, it is extremely difficult to enter into the more subtle levels.
-In all of this practice and study, it is our own mind that is central.
-Without a great blessing or without awakening the generative power of previous
-habitual patterns, it will be extremely difficult to realize primordial
-wisdom.
- Lord Maitreya stated that bodhisattvas abiding on the various levels are
-not able to attain omniscience immediately, and he also affirmed that we do
-not need to become expert in all five traditional Buddhist sciences. Among
-these are all classifications of the inner science that deals with the mind.
-In the practice of the Secret Mantrayana, it is said that as long as objects
-continue to arise in our minds, so long will the classifications of the Secret
-Mantrayana last. As long as we have not realized the simultaneity of concepts
-and liberation, as long as we have not been blessed with the knowledge that
-knowing the nature of one phenomenon liberates us into knowing the nature of
-all, we need to train from lifetime to lifetime in the many aspects of the
-teachings. If we try to become expert in all five sciences or try to know all
-the objects of knowledge, our training will be endless. For these reasons, it
-is extremely important to seek accomplishments and blessings from the yidam
-deity, for through the blessing of the deity, our positive habitual patterns
-from the past will be awakened and the doubts that cloud our minds will be
-cleared away.
- -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth
- Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje" by Michele Martin, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- Verse 6
- When someone whom I have helped
- Or in whom I have placed great hopes
- Mistreats me in extremely hurtful ways
- May I regard him still as my precious teacher.
- -- Shantideva, "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life"
-
- According to worldly norms of human behaviour, when we help someone and
-place great trust in them and they mistreat us in return, it is seen as
-reasonable to be angry with them because we have been hurt. However,
-practitioners of bodhicitta must not give in to this type of conventional
-thinking. Instead, we should learn to view such people in a special way, as
-objects for our practice of forbearance and loving kindness. We must in fact
-recognise these people as our spiritual teachers.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Advanced meditators develop the ability to create environments of their
-own choosing, and they are able to transcend the sufferings that seem so real
-to ordinary beings who are bound by mundane conceptions. According to Tsong
-Khapa, for one who attains advanced levels of meditation, painful cognitions
-no longer occur, no matter what external experiences one encounters. All of
-one's cognitions are a union of bliss and emptiness. One recognizes that
-nothing is inherently what it appears to be. Whatever occurs is perceived by
-one's unshakably blissful consciousness as the sport of luminosity and
-emptiness, and so,
-
- "for a Bodhisattva who has attained the meditative stabilisation of
- bliss pervading all phenomena, only a feeling of pleasure arises with
- respect to all objects; pain and neutrality do not occur, even though
- [pieces from his body] the size of a small coin are cut or even though
- his body is crushed by elephants, only a discrimination of bliss is
- maintained."
- -- Tsong-ka-pa on Ratnarakshita's Commentary
-
- Tantric texts stress that such bodhisattvas are not creating a delusional
-system in order to hide from the harsher aspects of reality. Rather, they are
-transforming reality, making it conform to an ideal archetype. Since all
-phenomena are empty of inherent existence, they have no fixed nature. No one
-ever apprehends an object as it is in its true nature, because there is no
-such nature. Even if phenomena had fixed essences, we would still never be
-able to perceive them, since all we ever experience are our cognitions of
-objects, which are overlaid with conceptions about them. All our perceptions
-are ideas about things, and not real things. These ideas are also empty,
-arising from nothingness and immediately dissolving again into nothingness,
-leaving nothing behind. Tantric adepts develop the ability to reconstitute
-"reality," which is completely malleable for those who train in yogas
-involving blissful consciousnesses realizing emptiness. The sense of bliss
-pervades all their cognitions, and their understanding of emptiness allows
-them to generate minds that are manifestations of bliss and emptiness.
- -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Beware the flatterer; he feeds you with an empty spoon. -- Cosino DeGregrio
-~
-Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict
-the man before the dollar.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of
-labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is
-the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
- For those of you who are not able to devote all your time to meditation,
-there is nevertheless the possibility of engaging in practice in a serious
-way. For example, the students at the monastic universities in South India
-can, with some effort, do meditations during the prayers. When you recite the
-prayers, you can mentally do the contemplation. The lifestyle and daily
-routine at these monasteries have been structured by the great masters of the
-past in a way that is most conducive to individual practice as well as to the
-flourishing of the dharma.
- If you find that your mind is in a very fluctuating emotional state--
-displaying anger, hatred, attachment and so forth--then you should first try
-to calm down that state of strong emotion. This should be done by first
-transforming it into a neutral state of mind, because there is no way that one
-can switch directly from a negative state of mind to a positive one.
-Therefore, you should first reduce the force of these emotions and
-fluctuations and try to bring about some sort of calmness, using any means--
-such as taking a stroll or concentrating on the inhalation and exhalation of
-the breath--that will enable you to forget what you are immediately feeling.
-This will help you to reduce the force of strong emotion, thereby giving you
-the calmness necessary for the practice of dharma. Like a white piece of
-cloth which could be dyed any color that you desire, such a neutral state of
-mind could then be transformed into a virtuous state of mind.
- You could also engage in the preliminary practices of performing 100,000
-prostrations, recitations of the Vajrasattva mantra, and so forth. When you
-undertake these practices, you should do them properly, not being only
-concerned about the number. Many great masters of the past of all traditions
-have emphasized the importance of these preliminary practices--they will
-enable you to have a very firm start. If through them you can acquire a
-fertile mind, then when the seed of meditation is planted, it will readily
-bear the fruits of realizations.
- Having successfully neutralized the emotional fluctuations within your
-mind and having restored a reasonable degree of calmness, engage in the
-practice of taking refuge and generating the altruistic aspiration to attain
-full enlightenment. Taking refuge in the Three Jewels is the factor that
-distinguishes one's practice from that of an erroneous path, and the
-generation of the altruistic mind makes it superior to the paths aiming at
-individual liberation.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...if you consider just the subtlest mind and the wind or energy that
-serves as its mount, the mere factor of luminosity and knowing of the subtlest
-mind itself as well as the energy associated with it are what will be
-transformed into the mind and body of a Buddha. This is the mind that will
-turn into an omniscient consciousness--a Buddha's mind; it is this mind which
-will be transformed, not some other mind coming from the outside. In other
-words, the Buddha nature is inherent; it is not imported from somewhere else.
- This is true because the very entity of the mind, its nature of mere
-luminosity and knowing, is not polluted by defilements; they do not abide in
-the entity of the mind. Even when we generate afflictive emotions, the very
-entity or nature of the mind is still mere luminosity and knowing, and because
-of this we are able to remove the afflictive emotions.
- -- H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
- Clarity, and Insight", edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The recognition that worldly attainments just do not provide enduring
-happiness, and that we need to work on the internals, rather than the
-externals, is an important motivation. It is also the basis of achieving
-nirvana, often represented by the lotus flower. It is no accident that most
-statues of Buddha have him sitting on cushions resting on a lotus flower--the
-symbol of renunciation.
- But what if we achieve nirvana? What if, through extreme diligence, we
-attain its supreme peace and happiness? Would that be enough, or is there a
-more profound level of motivation still?
- Some years ago a number of tourists were kidnapped by terrorists in the
-Philippines, and held hostage in the jungle for many months. Finally they
-were released in small groups. I will never forget the reaction of one
-hostage who was interviewed at the airport on his way home to join his wife,
-who had been freed just days earlier.
- You would think that after months of extreme privation and the constant
-threat of uncertainty and death, returning safely to one's wife, home, and
-family would be a cause for joyful celebration. But the hostage, while
-relieved, could only think of the group of hostages he'd left behind. Those
-who, in the preceding months, had been his fellow prisoners, whom he now knew
-better than anyone else, and with whom in several cases, he had formed unique
-and profound bonds of attachment. His overriding concern was to ensure that
-those still being held captive would be safely released to experience the same
-freedom he had now. Only then would he really be able to celebrate.
- -- David Michie, "Buddhism for Beginners: Finding Happiness in an Uncertain
- World", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The term "meditation" carries with it a burden of trendy, pseudo-mystical
-connotations. The biggest mistake people make is to think that they will "get
-something" out of meditation. It would be more accurate to think they will be
-getting rid of something. Awareness practice undermines our unwitting
-subjugation to hypermentation. It cuts through the cascade of thoughts and
-feelings that distract us from the present moment where life actually happens.
-The inner newsreel, with its imagined or distorted dramas, becomes less urgent
-and seductive. The unexamined hopes and fears that have thrown us into
-automatic or reflexive behavior lose their power to toss us about. What we
-get rid of, initially, is a great deal of compelling noise with no point or
-real substance to it. Even by becoming aware of its nature we de-reify it,
-render it less solid and intractable.
- ...How can we sort out our neuroses when the mind is a wild, chaotic mess
-of fragmented thought? How can we work with our anger when we experience it
-as a deluge of highly charged, urgent impulses, all mixed in with fleeting
-bits of narrative, physical sensations, whispers of memory, rushes of fear,
-and the visceral press to act? We can't. Every beginning meditator discovers
-very quickly that the mind has a mind of its own. No beginner sits down,
-says, "Peace! Be still!" and accomplishes enlightenment. It's enough at the
-start just to see, discover, and acknowledge the chatter. That, in itself, is
-a great step towards self-awareness. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche taught that the
-awareness of our confusion is the first step towards clarity.
- Over time, we can learn to just take note of whatever arises without being
-pushed and pulled emotionally. We can sit still and not respond reflexively
-to our hypermentation. We can allow ourselves to rest, to gently release
-thoughts, to find a quiet space apart from the discursive jumble. We can
-choose to be simply and quietly aware. In these quiet moments, experiences
-arise much more clearly and distinctly. Only then can we discover the source
-of our suffering and our anger.
- I once attended a conference between a highly esteemed Tibetan lama,
-Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and a group of psychiatrists. Someone asked
-Rinpoche: "What is meditation?" Rinpoche looked playfully puzzled, pretended
-not to understand, and after a brief consultation with his translator,
-answered: "Meditation? Meditation? I don't know what that means. We have
-another word for it which means 'paying attention to.' " Whatever the style,
-to meditate is to pay attention.
- -- Ron Leifer, M.D., "Vinegar into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and
- Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence", published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- ...practice must be carried out in terms of one's own thought. If one
-knows how to bring the teachings into one's own thought, all physical and
-verbal deeds can be made to accord with practice. If one does not know how to
-bring them into one's own thought, even though one might meditate, recite
-scriptures, or spend one's life in a temple, it will not help; thought is
-therefore important for practice. Thus, taking refuge in the Three Jewels
-(Buddha, his Doctrine and the Spiritual Community), taking into account the
-relationship between actions and their effects, and generating an attitude of
-helping others, are most important.
-
- Formerly in Tibet there was a famous lama called Drom. One day Drom saw a
-man walking around a reliquary. 'Walking around a reliquary is good,' he
-said. 'Practice is even better.' The man thought, 'Then, reading a holy book
-would be good.' He did so, and one day while he was reading, Drom saw him and
-said, 'Reading a holy book is good; practice is even better.'
-
- The man thought, 'This also does not seem to be sufficient. Now if I do
-some meditation, that will certainly be practice.' Drom saw him in meditation
-and said, 'Meditation is good; practice is even better.' The man was amazed
-and asked, 'How does one practise?' Drom answered, 'Do not be attached to this
-life; cause your mind to become the practices.' Dram said this because
-practice depends on thought.
-
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
- Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Dampa said, "If these practitioners want buddhahood, they must reverse their
-present behavior!"
-
-[Kunga] asked, "What is wrong with their present behavior?"
-
-He said:
-
- They practice thinking that what are in actuality obstacles are
-attainments!
- They meet the liberating path, but doubting and striving, they part from
-it!
- Doubting if they should refrain from their ill-omened actions, they
-suffer!
- The speech of those without experience has become Dharma--supposedly the
-view.
- Kunga is never parted from his prayers for the three village girls!
- Now, draw your own conclusions!
-
-...
-
-Dampa said:
-
- When I see people clinging to illusions as real, compassion arises with a
-force.
- If one considers the sufferings of the six realms in terms of oneself, one
-has no time to remain ordinary.
- When one sees that the characteristic of samsara is suffering, a mind
-wanting nothing whatsoever is born!
- When one sees the various bases as rootless, self-grasping is not born!
- When impermanence is born in the mind, faith and perseverance will come
-together!
- Those who grasp at permanence will not destroy persistent grasping at
-things as real!
- Kunga! Internalize truthlessness and throw the kitchen sauce into the
-water!
- -- Lion of Siddhas: The Life and Teachings of Padampa Sangye, translated
- by David Molk, with Lama Tsering Wangdu Rinpoche, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
-Books have the same enemies as people:
-fire, humidity, animals, weather, and their own content.
- -- Paul Valery
-~
- In Buddhism there are basically two types of practices: Sutra and
-Tantra.... The special purpose of Tantra is to provide a faster path so that
-qualified practitioners can be of service to others more quickly. In Tantra
-the power of imagination is harnessed to meditation in a practice called deity
-yoga. In this practice you imagine 1) replacing your mind as it ordinarily
-appears, full of troubling emotions, with a mind of pure wisdom motivated by
-compassion; 2) substituting your body as it ordinarily appears (composed of
-flesh, blood, and bone) with a body fashioned from compassionately motivated
-wisdom; 3) developing a sense of a pure self that depends on purely appearing
-mind and body in an ideal environment, fully engaged in helping others. As
-this distinctive practice of Tantra calls for visualizing yourself with a
-Buddha's body, activities, resources, and surroundings, it is called "taking
-imagination as the spiritual path."
- Let us consider a qualm about this practice. You are considering yourself
-to have Buddha qualities which you presently do not have. Is this, then, a
-correct type of meditative consciousness? Yes. Your mind is involved in
-understanding reality, out of which you are appearing as a deity. Therefore,
-your mind, from this viewpoint, is correct. Also, you are purposely imagining
-yourself as having a divine body even if you do not presently possess one.
-This is an imaginative meditation; you are not convinced from the depths that
-you actually have pure mind, body, and selfhood. Rather, based in clear
-imagination of ideal body and mind, you are cultivating the sense of being a
-deity, compassionately helping others.
- ...to engage in Tantra at any level demands a powerful intention to become
-enlightened for the sake of others, and a feeling that this needs to be done
-very quickly.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
- Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
-Why do we want to be wise and compassionate? If it's because we would simply
-like to be wise and compassionate, we are off course, because the "I" cannot
-attain wisdom and compassion. Wisdom and compassion can only be revealed once
-the "I" has disappeared. When we reach this level, we will be able to benefit
-others. In the meantime, it is the blind leading the blind. All true
-religions seek to gain access to that level of consciousness which is not ego-
-bound. In Buddhism, it is called the unconditioned, the unborn, the
-deathless. You can call it anything you like. You can call it atman. You
-can call it anatman. You can call it God. The fact is, there is a subtle
-level of consciousness which is the core of our being, and it is beyond our
-ordinary conditioned state of mind. We can all experience this. Some people
-experience it through service, others through devotion. Some even think they
-can experience it through analysis and intellectual discipline. Buddhists
-usually try to access it through meditation. That's what we are doing.
-Breaking through to the unconditioned in order to help others break through to
-the unconditioned. But we have to start where we are, from right here. We
-start with these minds, these bodies, these problems, these weaknesses, and
-these strengths.
- -- Venerable Tenzin Palmo, "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings
- on Practical Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Over the last few days I have been meeting scientists, mainly specialists
-on the brain, as well as psychologists and psychotherapists.... The majority
-of them agreed... that the key cause of the mental unrest and depression so
-prevalent today... is lack of sympathy and affection.
- I think you might find the following story quite interesting. A few weeks
-ago I met someone whose mind, I was told, is severely disturbed. At the
-beginning, I used all of my reasoning to encourage him, explaining that, as a
-human being, there was no need for him to be discouraged, because we have such
-a good human brain and intelligence. I pointed out how, with determination,
-we can solve all our human problems and overcome all obstacles, and so there
-is no reason to worry or be discouraged or depressed. Personally, I always
-find this kind of reasoning is quite effective, but this time it failed. He
-was not impressed by this line of thinking. On the contrary, instead of
-showing any appreciation, he developed a rather contrary attitude. After
-listening to what I had to say, he became even more agitated, and asked me,
-"Why are you concerned about my problem? How do I know if your attitude is
-sincere or not?" I felt really sad. I was quite moved as well, and as I was
-explaining something or other, my hand reached out and caressed his arm. It
-was a natural gesture, a sincere expression of how I felt. Gradually, his
-mood altered; I could see his face beginning to change, and finally a smile
-began to appear. Then as I gained confidence, I increased that expression of
-affection. At last a big smile spread right across his face.
- I told him, "Please consider me as an old friend. Any time, you can come
-to see me. Whatever I can do to help you, I am ready to do. I am at your
-service." When I said this, then his mood, it was clear, became very happy
-and joyful. The following day he came to see me again. When he arrived, he
-already had a happy air about him, but nevertheless he was trying to pretend
-otherwise and was not smiling. Anyway, what this incident really gave me was
-another confirmation of how powerful genuine compassion, love, or altruism can
-be, to affect other people's minds. And how they can remove fear and
-suspicion, and alleviate feelings of insecurity and mistrust.
- So I always consider compassion as the key, not only for achieving and
-maintaining our own mental calmness, stability and happiness, but also as
-something extraordinarily useful for creating a healthy human society. By
-that I mean a happier and less harmful human society. Therefore--whether it
-be in individual cases, on a family level, a national level, or an
-international level--altruism, love and compassion are the basis for success,
-for happiness, and for a happy environment.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
- Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron,
- Foreword by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-According to Tibetan Buddhism, ordinary beings are born into life situations
-in which they are destined to suffer and die. This is the result of former
-contaminated actions and afflictions, which have been accumulated since
-beginningless time. Because of this process, physical and mental afflictions
-are deeply rooted in sentient beings, and so it is generally considered
-necessary to prepare oneself for tantric practice by engaging in the
-"preliminary practices," or ngondro (sngon 'gro, purvagama), in order to begin
-to reverse one's negative conditioning. These practices combine physical
-movements with visualization in order to transform the mind from one that is
-fixated on mundane concerns and desires into one that is primarily oriented
-toward religious practice for the benefit of others. Some teachers consider
-these preparatory trainings to be so essential to successful tantric practice
-that they will not give tantric initiations to those who have not completed
-them, and even teachers who are willing to waive them generally stress their
-importance. The preliminary practices are: (1) taking refuge; (2)
-prostration; (3) Vajrasattva meditation; (4) mandala offering; and (5) guru
-yoga.
- -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- [It] is quite clear to me is that the moment you think only of yourself,
-the focus of your whole reality narrows, and because of this narrow focus,
-uncomfortable things can appear huge and bring you fear and discomfort and a
-sense of feeling overwhelmed by misery. The moment you think of others with a
-sense of caring, however, your view widens. Within that wider perspective,
-your own problems appear to be of little significance, and this makes a big
-difference.
- If you have a sense of caring for others, you will manifest a kind of
-inner strength in spite of your own difficulties and problems. With this
-strength, your own problems will seem less significant and bothersome to you.
-By going beyond your own problems and taking care of others, you gain inner
-strength, self-confidence, courage, and a greater sense of calm. This is a
-clear example of how one's way of thinking can really make a difference.
- One's own self-interest and wishes are fulfilled as a byproduct of
-actually working for other sentient beings. As the well-known fifteenth-
-century master Tsongkhapa points out in his Great Exposition of the Path to
-Enlightenment, "The more the practitioner engages in activities and thoughts
-that are focused and directed toward the fulfillment of others' well-being,
-the fulfillment or realization of his or her own aspiration will come as a
-byproduct without having to make a separate effort." Some of you may have
-actually heard me remark, which I do quite often, that in some sense the
-bodhisattvas, the compassionate practitioners of the Buddhist path, are
-"wisely selfish" people, whereas people like us are the "foolishly selfish."
-We think of ourselves and disregard others, and the result is that we always
-remain unhappy and have a miserable time.
- ...we find that kindness and a good heart form the underlying foundation
-for our success in this life, our progress on the spiritual path, and our
-fulfillment of our ultimate aspiration, the attainment of full enlightenment.
-Hence, compassion and a good heart are not only important at the beginning but
-also in the middle and at the end. Their necessity and value are not limited
-to any specific time, place, society, or culture.
- Thus, we not only need compassion and human affection to survive, but they
-are the ultimate sources of success in life. Selfish ways of thinking not
-only harm others, they prevent the very happiness we ourselves desire. The
-time has come to think more wisely, hasn't it? This is my belief.
- -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Compassionate Life"
-~
- ...all apparent phenomena are nothing but delusion and there is, moreover,
-no freedom from delusion to be achieved by dispelling delusion. Delusion is,
-by its own essence, completely pure and, hence, enlightened. All phenomena
-are, in this way, primordially, fully, and completely enlightened. Phenomena
-appearing as various attributes are, therefore, indeed the mandala of vajra
-body, speech, and mind. They are like the Buddhas of the three times, never
-transcending the essence of complete purity. Sentient beings and Buddhas are
-not differentiated in terms of their essence. Just like distinct causes and
-results appearing in a dream, they are nothing but perceptions of individual
-minds brought forth by the power of imputation.
- Here the issue might be raised, "although the scriptures do teach this,
-there is no certainty whether it is to be taken at face value or requires
-interpretation. Therefore the essential purity of phenomena may well be
-established, but it is unreasonable to say that precisely the nature of that
-which appears as subjects with attributes is primordially enlightened. For,
-if it were that way, thorough affliction and samsara would be entirely absent.
-There can't be a reasoning that establishes such a philosophy." The
-conceptual mind that takes objects that appear in the experience of sentient
-beings as valid is, since beginningless time, deluded. It accepts or negates
-with reference to the way things appear to it. With such dialectics it is,
-indeed, not possible to establish the vast and profound meaning. Nevertheless,
-since the nature of phenomena is inconceivable, it is not the case that there
-is no way to realize it by means of discriminating knowledge. Thus it is not
-in any way a mistake if one, rather than that, is inclined to approach simply
-by faith, regarding the scriptures and oral instructions as valid. One will
-then gain access through trust.
- One may object, "Well, if one cannot prove [the primordial mandala] with
-reasoning, one cannot gain access to it either." We can prove it as follows:
-That phenomena are fully enlightened as the mandala of vajra body, speech, and
-mind is proven with the reasoning of the intrinsic nature. Just as it is
-stated in a sutra, "Form is empty by nature. Why is that? It is so because
-that is its nature." All phenomena are pure by their intrinsic nature and,
-therefore, there is not a single phenomenon that is impure. This is the
-intrinsic nature of phenomena. Complete purity is, therefore, also the
-intrinsic nature of body, speech, and mind, and their complete purity is
-enlightenment. Therefore, body, speech, and mind, distinguished by their
-complete purity, are inseparable, free from mental constructs, and perfectly
-pervasive. One must in this way understand them to be the mandala of vajra
-body, speech, and mind.
- -- Heidi I. Koppl, "Establishing Appearances as Divine: Rongzom
- Chozang on Reasoning, Madhyamaka, and Purity", published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Because spirits can be positive or negative in relation to humans, it is
-wise to be careful with practices that connect the practitioner to a spirit.
-It is currently popular for people to take drum journeys in their imaginations
-and to look for guardian spirits and power animals and so on. Although
-usually this is beneficial, or at least harmless, there really are beings with
-whom the rare individual will connect. Not all of them are beings anyone
-should want to connect with. There seems to be little regard for who the
-being is; this can be a dangerous practice. People are much more careful
-about choosing a business partner or a roommate than they seem to be about
-choosing a non-physical being for a guide or guardian.
- -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Healing with Form, Energy and Light:
- The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra and Dzogchen",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...reflect upon the negative consequences of our strong attachment to
-friends and hostility toward enemies. Our feelings for a friend or a loved
-one sometimes blind us to certain of his or her aspects. We project a quality
-of absolute desirability, absolute infallibility, upon that person. Then,
-when we see something contrary to our projections, we are stunned. We swing
-from the extreme of love and desire to disappointment, repulsion, and
-sometimes even anger. Even that sense of inner contentment and satisfaction
-in a relationship with someone we love can lead to disappointment,
-frustration, and hatred. Though strong emotions, like those of romantic love
-or righteous hatred, may feel profoundly compelling, their pleasure is
-fleeting. From a Buddhist point of view, it is far better not to be in the
-grip of such emotions in the first place.
- What are the repercussions of becoming overpowered by intense dislike?
-The Tibetan word for hatred, shedang, suggests hostility from the depth of
-one's heart. There is a certain irrationality in responding to injustice or
-harm with hostility. Our hatred has no physical effect on our enemies; it
-does not harm them. Rather, it is we who suffer the ill consequences of such
-overwhelming bitterness. It eats us from within. With anger we slowly begin
-to lose our appetite. We cannot sleep at night and often end up just rolling
-back and forth, back and forth, all night long. It affects us profoundly,
-while our enemies continue along, blissfully unaware of the state we have been
-reduced to.
- Free of hatred or anger, we can respond to actions committed against us
-far more effectively. If we approach things with a cool head, we see the
-problem more clearly and judge the best way to address it. For example, if a
-child is doing something that could be dangerous to himself or others, such as
-playing with matches, we can discipline him. When we behave in such a
-forthright manner, there is a far greater chance that our actions will hit the
-mark. The child will respond not to our anger but to our sense of urgency and
-concern.
- This is how we come to see that our true enemy is actually within us. It
-is our selfishness, our attachment, and our anger that harm us. Our perceived
-enemy's ability to inflict harm on us is really quite limited. If someone
-challenges us and we can muster the inner discipline to resist retaliating, it
-is possible that no matter what the person has done, those actions do not
-disturb us.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in
- Everyday Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla
- Rato and Richard Gere
-~
- "All phenomena should be understood as lacking an end and a middle, just
- as the mind does not have an end or a middle. With the knowledge that the
- mind is without an end or a middle, no identity of the mind is perceived.
- What is thoroughly realized by the mind, too, is realized as being empty.
- By realizing that, the very identity, which is established as the aspect
- of the mind, like the identity of physical form, and so forth, is also
- ultimately not perceived. In this way, when the person does not ultimately
- see the identity of all phenomena through wisdom, he will not analyze
- whether physical form is permanent or impermanent, empty or not empty,
- contaminated or not contaminated, produced or non-produced, and existent
- or non-existent. Just as physical form is not examined, similarly feeling,
- recognition, compositional factors, and consciousness are not examined.
- When the object does not exist, its characteristics also cannot exist.
- So how can they be examined?"
- -- Stages of Meditation by Kamalashila
-
-The above passage deals with ultimate reality; its meaning is that in the
-ultimate sense the object of imputation is not findable. In this context we
-find in the Heart Sutra phrases like: "There is no physical form, no sound, no
-smell, no taste, and no object of touch." The mind, too, is not findable in
-the ultimate sense. Since in the ultimate sense such things are non-existent,
-there is no point examining whether they are permanent or impermanent.
-Ultimately all phenomena, including the aggregates and so forth, are devoid of
-true existence. Within the notion of ultimate reality, things are devoid of
-true existence. In the same way, suchness, which is an attribute of
-phenomena, is also devoid of true existence. This is important. Even when we
-understand that phenomena like physical form and so forth are devoid of true
-existence, there is a danger of thinking that ultimate reality may have true
-existence.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
- translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
- Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- We usually discriminate strongly between someone who intends to harm us
-and someone who doesn't. We think, "That's all right; he didn't mean it"; or
-the person who has harmed us can say, "Why do you blame me so much? I didn't
-mean to." But we get really angry when we know people mean to harm us. How
-could we possibly see such people as intimate, close, dear--as dear as our
-best of friends?
- If you can retain a little compassion when people harm you
-unintentionally, you have made progress. But if you retain it when someone
-intends to harm you, you are really successful. It's not that you think,
-"This person is marvelous; she's trying to rob me," but you don't take these
-facts as reasons for hating the person. You recognize the intention and put
-your wallet in your front pocket. You take such measures, but the conditions
-that prompted them no longer serve as reasons for hatred. Our wish to love
-everyone and the actual attitudes we have under pressure are in constant
-conflict. That's just the way we are. We've been wandering in cyclic
-existence since beginningless time, because of desire and hatred, and it's
-going to take a lot of familiarization to change this. Be relaxed about it.
-Don't put pressure on yourself, thinking things like, "Oh, I'm a scumbag
-because I hate so deeply." Rather, try this attitude: "I have to admit it.
-As much as my ideals say I should love so-and-so--or at least be neutral--I
-have to face the fact that I don't." Go easy on yourself.
- -- Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
- with Others", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Many types of valid consciousnesses derive from basic, natural, and
-obvious perception. All of us have an innate "I," although if we try to
-locate this "I," we get into a lot of difficulties. This sense of "I" gives
-us a well-founded aspiration to happiness and a wish not to suffer.
- There are different levels of happiness and different kinds of suffering.
-Material things usually correspond to physical happiness, whereas spiritual
-development corresponds to mental happiness. Since our "I" has these two
-aspects--physical and mental--we need an inseparable combination of material
-progress and internal, or spiritual, progress. Balancing these is crucial to
-utilizing material progress and inner development for the good of human
-society.
- Big schemes for world development arise from this wish to gain happiness
-and relieve suffering. But there are higher levels of happiness beyond these
-worldly forms, in which one seeks something longer-term, not just confined to
-this lifetime. Just as we need a long-range perspective that protects the
-environment, we need an internal long-range perspective that extends to future
-lifetimes.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of
- Loving Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
- 128.
- Desire is painful because of not getting,
- Anger is painful through lack of might,
- And confusion through not understanding.
- Because of this, these are not recognized.
-
- Desire produces suffering when one does not encounter what one badly
-wants. Anger produces suffering when one lacks might to crush the strong.
-Confusion* induces suffering when one fails to understand a subtle matter
-thoroughly. The inability to recognize these forms of suffering when one is
-overwhelmed by desire and so forth is great suffering indeed. Therefore,
-persevere in getting rid of the disturbing emotions. It is like a poor man's
-son who suffered because he wanted a queen.
- A certain poor man wanted a queen, but kings keep their queens heavily
-guarded, and because he could not get her, his desire made him suffer. He
-felt anger toward the king for guarding his queens well, and since he could
-not do the slightest harm to the king, he suffered acutely on account of his
-anger. Blinded by desire and anger his confusion grew, and unable to
-understand the situation properly, he was tormented by the suffering it caused
-him.
-
-* confusion's function is to feed desire and anger.
-
- -- "Aryadeva's Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way: with Commentary by
- Gyel-tsap by Aryadeva and Gyeltsap, additional commentary by Geshe Sonam
- Rinchen", translated by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Never hope more than you work. -- Rita Mae Brown
-~
-To lead the people, walk behind them. -- Lao Tzu
-~
- To consider those things which are existent, there are many phenomena
-which are produced only occasionally. For example, certain plants grow only
-during certain seasons, not all the time. That shows that they have been
-produced by their causes and conditions. On the other hand, certain phenomena
-exist permanently. Those are the two types of phenomena. In the case of
-phenomena which arise only occasionally for a certain period of time then
-cease to exist, their production is evidence used to prove their dependence on
-their causes and conditions. But permanent phenomena are not dependent on
-causes and conditions. Generally speaking, almost all phenomena which are
-beneficial or harmful to us belong to the category of the occasional, the
-dependent--the impermanent. Even our mind, which is to be disciplined and
-subdued, belongs to that category.
- Within the kind of phenomena which are existent, we can talk about
-different types: those which are animate and those which are inanimate; those
-with form and those formless; visible and invisible; audible and inaudible.
-And there are phenomena which definitely exist but can be experienced only by
-our mind, not our sense perceptions; in other words, we can talk about two
-types of phenomena, external matter and internal consciousness. When we talk
-about subduing mind, we refer to internal consciousness, that which has
-clarity and cognitive power and is capable of experiencing objects. Although
-our mind has arisen depending upon its causes and conditions, we need to find
-out to what extent it can be transformed, for it is through the transformation
-of our mind that we can subdue it. The way of transformation is to pacify the
-mind's faults and to cultivate and enhance its good qualities. Although there
-are certain phenomena which, having arisen from their causes and conditions,
-remain as they are and cannot be changed by any means, there are others,
-including our mind, which can be. To establish that kind of distinction, the
-reasons provided in the Lam-rim section on analytical meditation to generate
-special insight are especially important and useful.
- -- "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries", H.H. the Dalai Lama XIV on the
- Jatakamala translated by Tenzin Dorjee edited by Dexter Roberts
-~
-Whatever appears, nothing has moved from the absolute nature.
-
-Decide that nothing is extraneous to the absolute nature, taking the
-example of gold jewelry.
- Once we know how to remain in the absolute nature, the manifold thoughts
-that arise in the mind are no different from gold jewelry. One can make all
-sorts of things out of gold, such as earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, but
-although they have a variety of different shapes, they are all made of gold.
-Likewise, if we are able to not move from the absolute nature, however many
-thoughts we might have, they never depart from the recognition of the absolute
-nature. A yogi for whom this is the case never departs from that realization,
-whatever he does with his body, speech, and mind. All his actions arise as
-the outer display or ornament of wisdom. All the signs one would expect from
-meditating on a deity come spontaneously without him actually doing any formal
-practice. The result of mantra recitation is obtained without his having to
-do a large number of recitations. In this way everything is included in the
-recognition that nothing is ever extraneous to the absolute nature.
- In that state one does not become excited at pleasant events or depressed
-by unpleasant ones.
- -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Zurchungpa's Testament: A Commentary on
- Zurchung Sherab Trakpa's 'Eighty Chapters of Personal Advice'", based
- on Shechen Gyaltsap's Annotated Edition, translated by the Padmakara
- Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-crashola in second life:
-due to having been in a vehicle which crossed into forbidden land and got
-taken away, my avatar was left in an indeterminate and very unhealthy state.
-i was unable to move, deep underground, and i saw this object off down to
-my left, so i clicked on it and picked 'edit'. i realized as i was doing
-it, that this was my disembodied hair, which had flown off for some reason.
-once i clicked edit, *crunch*, no more second life.
-~
-It makes no sense to brood anxiously on the harmful actions we have committed
-in the past to the point where we become paralyzed. They are done, it is
-over. If the person is a believer in God, the appropriate action is to find
-some means of reconciliation with Him. So far as Buddhist practice is
-concerned, there are various rites and practices for purification. When the
-individual has no religious beliefs, however, it is surely a matter of
-acknowledging and accepting any negative feelings we may have in relation to
-our misdeeds and developing a sense of sorrow and regret for them. But then,
-rather than stopping at mere sorrow and regret, it is important to use this as
-the basis for resolve, for a deep-seated commitment never again to harm others
-and to direct our actions all the more determinedly to the benefit of others.
-The act of disclosure, or confession, of our negative actions to another--
-especially to someone we really respect and trust--will be found to be very
-helpful in this. We are quite wrong if we merely acknowledge the gravity of
-our actions inwardly and then, instead of confronting our feelings, give up
-all hope and do nothing. This only compounds the error. Above all, we should
-remember that as long as we retain the capacity of concern for others, the
-potential for transformation remains.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Ethics for the New Millennium"
-~
- According to Buddhism, compassion is an aspiration, a state of mind,
-wanting others to be free from suffering. It's not passive--it's not empathy
-alone--but rather an empathetic altruism that actively strives to free others
-from suffering. Genuine compassion must have both wisdom and lovingkindness.
-That is to say, one must understand the nature of the suffering from which we
-wish to free others (this is wisdom), and one must experience deep intimacy
-and empathy with other sentient beings (this is lovingkindness). Let's
-examine these two elements.
- The suffering from which we wish to liberate other sentient beings,
-according to Buddha's teachings, has three levels. The first level includes
-the obvious physical and mental sensations of pain and discomfort that we can
-all easily identify as suffering. This kind of suffering is primarily at the
-sensory level--unpleasant or painful sensations and feelings. The great
-Tibetan master Panchen Losang Chokyi Gyaltsan, tutor to the fifth Dalai Lama,
-reminds us that even animals seek to avoid physical suffering and pain.
- The second level of suffering is the suffering of change. Although
-certain experiences or sensations may seem pleasurable and desirable now,
-inherent within them is the potential for culminating in an unsatisfactory
-experience. Another way of saying this is that experiences do not last
-forever; desirable experiences will eventually be replaced by a neutral
-experience or an undesirable experience. If it were not the case that
-desirable experiences are of the nature of change, then, once having a happy
-experience, we would remain happy forever! In fact, if desirability were
-intrinsic to an experience, then the longer we remained in contact with it,
-the happier we would become. However, this is not the case. In fact, often,
-the more we pursue these experiences, the greater our level of
-disillusionment, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness becomes.
- ...But the third level of suffering is the most significant--the pervasive
-suffering of conditioning. This refers to the very fact of our unenlightened
-existence, the fact that we are ruled by negative emotions and their
-underlying root cause, namely our own fundamental ignorance of the nature of
-reality. Buddhism asserts that as long as we are under the control of this
-fundamental ignorance, we are suffering; this unenlightened existence is
-suffering by its very nature.
- If we are to cultivate the deepest wisdom, we must understand suffering at
-its deepest, most pervasive level. In turn, freedom from that level of
-suffering is true nirvana, true liberation, the true state of cessation.
-Freedom from the first level of suffering alone--merely being free of
-unpleasant physical and psychological experiences--is not true cessation of
-suffering. Freedom from the second level is again not true cessation.
-However, freedom from the third level of suffering--being completely free from
-the very source of suffering--that is genuine cessation, genuine liberation.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart
- of Wisdom Teachings", translated & edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa
-~
- The only conclusion that can legitimately be reached is that the self is a
-fiction, a mere label superimposed onto the aggregates, a concept created and
-reified by the mind but lacking any substantial reality. This reasoning
-process alone does not eliminate the idea, however; it merely weakens it.
-Because it is so deeply ingrained, the idea of self is only eliminated through
-repeated meditation on the reasonings of no-self, which enable the yogin to
-become progressively more familiar with the understanding that no self or
-essence exists. The Dalai Lama concludes that "when such a realization is
-maintained and reinforced through constant meditation and familiarization, you
-will be able to develop it into an intuitive or direct experience." (From Path
-to Bliss.)
- Many Westerners reject this notion, contending that it would be a sort of
-cognitive suicide. The idea that the self (which is assumed even by people
-who reject religions that propound the idea) does not exist is profoundly
-disturbing to many non-Buddhists, but in Buddhist thought the denial of self
-is not seen as constituting a loss, but rather is viewed as a profoundly
-liberating insight. Since the innate idea of self implies an autonomous,
-unchanging essence, if such a thing were in fact the core of one's being, it
-would mean that change would be impossible, and one would be stuck being just
-what one is right now. Because there is no such self, however, we are open
-toward the future. One's nature is never fixed and determined, and so through
-engaging in Buddhist practice one can exert control over the process of change
-and progress in wisdom, compassion, patience, and other good qualities. One
-can even become a buddha, a fully awakened being who is completely liberated
-from all the frailties, sufferings, and limitations of ordinary beings. But
-this is only possible because there is no permanent and static self, no soul
-that exists self-sufficiently, separated from the ongoing process of change.
- -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- I often encounter people in and our of my office who seem to be lost in
-thought. I sometimes ask them what they are thinking about. They are usually
-startled by the question. They look at me blankly and are often surprised to
-hear themselves admit with embarrassment that they don't know or can't say.
-Or they describe one small, fleeting fragment of disconnected thought. The
-"normal" human state of mind is constant, incessant thinking--an enigmatically
-linked stream of consciousness, sensations, memories, feelings, desires,
-fears, and chatter. And at the center of the narrative, the star of the show
-is always--ME! This is why the first leg of the journey requires courage. To
-become familiar with the chaotic, egotistical, and often nonsensical narrative
-of our own mind stream is disconcerting and painful. To discover directly
-that we are literally "lost in thought" can be frightening. But this is where
-we are and where we must begin.
- It's consoling to remember that everyone is neurotic, each one of us. The
-"normal" mind suffers from a complex of conflicting desires and aversions.
-The best we can do is to become aware of our neuroses, to become wiser in our
-thinking and our conduct of life. In my experience, meditation is the most
-direct and efficient method for developing self-awareness. Self-awareness is
-not a steady state because experience is not a steady state. Through the
-practice of meditation, we can learn to watch our ever-fluctuating mental
-processes from a more detached, aerial perspective. Without necessarily
-understanding ourselves in some intellectual way, we can directly discover how
-the mind works. The mind has its causes and effects, its motivations and
-intentions, and its awareness and evaluation of their possible consequences.
- -- Ron Leifer, M.D., "Vinegar Into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and
- Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence", published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- "The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow,
-"is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow
-old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to
-the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world
-about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the
-sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then--to learn. Learn
-why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can
-never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust,
-and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what
-a lot of things there are to learn."
- -- T. H. White, "The Once and Future King"
-~
- In Chapter 4 we looked at the when and where of meditation. Whatever
-works best for you, given your personal circumstances and temperament, the
-important thing is to do it regularly, preferably every day.
- I would also recommend that you keep the session to a length of time that
-feels comfortable. This is because in the early stages of meditation it's
-easy to become discouraged and have thoughts along the lines of: "This might
-work for other people, but I don't have the right personality/mind/lifestyle/
-partner for meditation." Or: "I've been doing this for six months and my
-concentration is no better than when I started." With thoughts like these, you
-may start to resent the time you spend meditating and consider giving up.
- Much better to keep your practice light and easy to begin with; short
-sessions, and concentrated attention, especially towards the end of your
-practice so that you "finish like a winner" and feel encouraged for the next
-day. Better to end a short session thinking you could have gone on longer
-than keep glancing at your watch with the thought that has passed through the
-mind of every meditator at some stage--"My watch must have stopped. It's been
-longer than two minutes--surely?!"
- Having reviewed the meditation practices outlined in the previous chapter,
-you may decide you quite like the sound of several of them. On what basis
-should they be practiced? My own preference is to have a simple calendar of
-activity so that, for example, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are breath-
-counting days; Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are visualization days; and
-Sundays are for whatever I'm in the mood to do.
- On this point, I once asked a high-ranking Tibetan lama which of a number
-of meditation practices I should focus on. He gave me an indulgent smile and
-said simply, "Whichever you enjoy the most." D'oh!
- -- David Michie, "Hurry Up and Meditate: Your Starter Kit for Inner Peace
- and Better Health", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-"Always be sustained by cheerfulness."
-
- The effectiveness of our practice can be measured by looking at our mood.
-If we are in better spirits, the practice is working. We can take heart
-because we have a purpose, to exchange whatever sadness we meet for joy. The
-smallest personal damage can be put to use to dissolve great suffering and do
-away with negativity. If there is a way, we try to stop unfortunate things
-from happening, but when unhappy events occur we meet them optimistically. We
-never let negativity discourage us or injure our ability to help.
- Setting out on any adventure demands determination. We may have to toil
-and struggle with setbacks along the way but the trials we face are short-
-lived. We can endure them because we have a great end in mind: to benefit all
-sentient beings. Remaining good-natured and enthusiastic shows that our
-efforts are succeeding. Being cheerful is the sign of a good practitioner.
- -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", edited by B.M. Shaughnessy, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Once we take ourselves and the quality of our life seriously, and
-acknowledge the difficulties we may be experiencing, the next step is to have
-confidence that (1) it is possible to overcome them, (2) there is a way to
-accomplish this, and (3) we are capable of achieving it [Buddha-nature]. This
-bring us to the topics of refuge and Buddha-nature.
- Taking refuge is not a passive act of placing ourselves in the hands of a
-higher power that will do everything for us, as the English word "refuge"
-might imply. It is an active process of putting a safe, reliable and positive
-direction in our life. That direction is indicated by the Buddhas, the Dharma
-and the Sangha--the Three Precious Gems. They are precious in the sense that
-they are both rare and valuable....
- In short, the definitive level of the Three Precious Gems of Buddha,
-Dharma and Sangha presents the goal we would like to achieve. Their
-interpretable level indicates what we rely on, externally, to bring ourselves
-there. But we also have internal factors that we need to rely on as well.
-These refer to our Buddha-nature.
- We are capable of eliminating our problems and achieving the definitive
-Three Precious Gems because everyone has Buddha-nature, namely the various
-factors or working materials that make it possible. Of all our natural
-resources, the most important is mind. We all have a mind which, in its
-nature, is unhampered by anything from experiencing whatever exists. No
-matter what happens--no matter how confused, stressed or unhappy we may be--we
-experience it. Even death is something that we experience when it occurs.
-Therefore, because we have a mind that allows us to experience whatever
-exists, we have the basic resource that allows us to experience a total
-absence of confusion and a utilization of all possible good qualities for
-helping others--provided that such a total absence and utilization actually
-exist. In other words, if we can establish that it is possible for these two
-things to exist--and that they are not just objects of nice but totally
-unrealistic wishes--we can be confident that we are capable of attaining them,
-simply because we have a mind.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition
- of Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Actually, we Buddhists are supposed to save all sentient beings, but
-practically speaking, this may be too broad a notion for most people. In any
-case, we must at least think in terms of helping all human beings. This is
-very important. Even if we cannot think in terms of sentient beings
-inhabiting different worlds, we should nonetheless think in terms of the human
-beings on our own planet. To do this is to take a practical approach to the
-problem. It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our
-daily lives. If we find we cannot help another, the least we can do is to
-desist from harming them. We must not cheat others or lie to them. We must
-be honest human beings, sincere human beings.
- On a very practical level, such attitudes are things which we need.
-Whether one is a believer, a religious person, or not, is another matter.
-Simply as an inhabitant of the world, as a member of the human family, we need
-this kind of attitude. It is through such an attitude that real and lasting
-world peace and harmony can be achieved. Through harmony, friendship, and
-respecting one another, we can solve many problems in the right way, without
-difficulties.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
- edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-We may have all come on different ships, but we're all in the same boat now.
- -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
-~
-...Maitreya, in his text the Sublime Continuum, gives three reasons on the
-basis of which one can conclude that the essence of Buddhahood permeates the
-minds of all sentient beings. First, he says that the Buddha's activities
-radiate in the heart of all sentient beings. Now this can be understood in
-two different ways: one is that we can understand that in every sentient being
-there is a seed of virtue, and one could see the seed of virtue as an act of
-the completely enlightened, compassionate Buddha. But one could also see it
-in deeper terms, that is, that all sentient beings possess the potential for
-perfection. Therefore, there is a kind of perfected being inherent within all
-sentient beings, radiating. So one can understand it in these ways. Second,
-so far as the ultimate nature of reality is concerned, there is total equality
-between the samsaric state and nirvana. Third, we all possess a mind which
-lacks intrinsic reality and independent existence, which allows us to then
-remove the negativities and delusory states that obscure it. For these three
-reasons, Maitreya concludes that all sentient beings possess the essence of
-Buddhahood.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
- Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...Compassion diminishes fright about your own pain and increases inner
-strength. It gives you a sense of empowerment, of being able to accomplish
-your tasks. It lends encouragement.
- Let me give you a small example. Recently, when I was in Bodh Gaya, I
-fell ill from a chronic intestinal infection. On the way to the hospital, the
-pain in my abdomen was severe, and I was sweating a great deal. The car was
-passing through the area of Vulture Peak (Buddha taught here) where the
-villagers are extremely poor. In general, Bihar State is poor, but that
-particular area is even more so. I did not even see children going to or
-coming from school. Just poverty. And sickness. I have a very clear memory
-of a small boy with polio, who had rusty metal braces on his legs and metal
-crutches up to his armpits. It was obvious that he had no one to look after
-him. I was very moved. A little later on, there was an old man at a tea
-stop, wearing only a dirty piece of cloth, fallen to the ground, left to lie
-there with no one to take care of him.
- Later, at the hospital, my thoughts kept circling on what I had seen,
-reflecting on how sad it was that here I had people to take care of me but
-those poor people had no one. That is where my thoughts went, rather than to
-my own suffering. Though sweat was pouring out of my body, my concern was
-elsewhere.
- In this way, though my body underwent a lot of pain that prevented sleep
-(a hole had opened in my intestinal wall), my mind did not suffer any fear or
-discomfort. It would only have made the situation worse if I had concentrated
-on my own problems. This is an example from my small experience of how an
-attitude of compassion helps even oneself, suppressing some degree of physical
-pain and keeping away mental distress, despite the fact that others might not
-be directly helped.
- Compassion strengthens your outlook, and with that courage you are more
-relaxed. When your perspective includes the suffering of limitless beings,
-your own suffering looks comparatively small.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living
- Well and Dying Consciously", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- Ph.D.
-~
- ...blissful light, with a Chenrezig on the tip of each ray, streams out of
-you and touches each and every sentient being--those whom you like, those whom
-you don't, and those you don't know. When this glowing light touches each
-sentient being, it performs two functions: it purifies them of their
-negativities, and it inspires them to realize all the stages of the path to
-enlightenment. We may start imagining the light touching the beings in the
-room and gradually spreading out to those in the area, the country, the
-continent, the world, and the universe. Or we can start with our friends and
-family, then radiate light to strangers, and finally to those who have harmed
-us or of whom we're afraid. Or, we can first radiate light to human beings,
-then animals, hungry ghosts, hell beings, demi-gods, and gods. We can use our
-creativity and imagination when doing this visualization. Each meditation
-session can have a different emphasis.
- It's very easy to love sentient beings in a general way. But it's more
-effective to be specific in our visualizations. Send light to the guy who cut
-you off on the highway. Send light to the IRS employee who questioned your
-tax return. Send light to the terrorist who thinks that killing others in the
-name of God will cause him to be reborn in heaven. Send light to government
-leaders who think that bombing others solves problems. Send light to your
-teenager who leaves his room a mess and gets mad when you comment on it. Send
-light to specific people you know and care about, people who are having
-problems, strangers, and people you don't like. Send it to hospitals, the
-Middle East, the inner cities, and Beverly Hills. There's suffering
-everywhere. The light frees sentient beings from their suffering.
- -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method
- of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- In Tibetan drenpa means "mindfulness," and sheshin means "awareness."
-Drenpa also means "mindfulness and memory." It means that one is mindful of
-what one is doing and remembers what one has to do whether one is meditating,
-whether one has lost the power of concentration, and so on. Mindfulness is
-like a causal condition and awareness is like the result. If one has very
-concentrated mindfulness, one immediately notices a thought arising and this
-becomes awareness, which becomes sheshin, and one knows what is occurring.
-Normally, one does not know what is in one's mind or what one is thinking, so
-there is no awareness. But if one has mindfulness, then it is said to the
-extent that mindfulness brings mental stability, one has awareness. So when
-one has mindfulness, it is through one's awareness of what is happening.
- At this level of pacification we become aware of the negative qualities of
-distraction. Santideva explains this by saying that when the mind is
-distracted, it is between the fangs of the wild animal of the kleshas
-[emotional obscurations], and from mental distractions come all the
-difficulties and mental hardships of this and future lives. Being in a state
-of distraction will increase the negative qualities of the mind more and more.
-However, being aware of the negative qualities motivates us to meditate.
- -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "The Practice of Tranquillity and Insight:
- A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation", translated by Peter Roberts,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Developing a flexible approach to living is not only instrumental in
-helping us cope with everyday problems--it also becomes the cornerstone for a
-key element of a happy life: balance.
- Settling comfortably into his chair one morning, the Dalai Lama explained
-the value of leading a balanced life.
- "A balanced and skillful approach to life, taking care to avoid
-extremes, becomes a very important factor in conducting one's everyday
-existence. It is important in all aspects of life. For instance, in planting
-a sapling of a plant or a tree, at its very early stage you have to be very
-skillful and gentle. Too much moisture will destroy it, too much sunlight
-will destroy it. Too little will also destroy it. So what you need is a very
-balanced environment where the sapling can have a healthy growth. Or, for a
-person's physical health, too much or too little of any one thing can have
-destructive effects. For example, too much protein I think is bad, and too
-little is bad.
- "This gentle and skillful approach, taking care to avoid extremes,
-applies to healthy mental and emotional growth as well."
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
- Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
-~
- ...Idle talk is usually considered a destructive action because it wastes
-our time. But if our friend is depressed and can't listen to wise advice, we
-can joke, tell silly stories, and use small talk to lighten his mood. Because
-our motivation is kind, our joking and chatting are positive.
- Laughing and having a good time aren't in opposition to Dharma. The more
-we leave behind attachment, anger, jealousy, and pride, the more we'll enjoy
-whatever we're doing. Our hearts will open to others and we can laugh and
-smile with ease. The holy beings I've been fortunate to meet have a wonderful
-sense of humor and are very friendly.
- In Buddhist groups, it's important for people to get to know each other
-and have a sense of fellowship. We can share experiences with our Dharma
-friends and encourage each other on the path. Buddhism isn't an isolated
-path, and it's important for Buddhists to cultivate group unity and
-companionship.
- It's not beneficial to retreat inside ourselves, thinking, "Every time I
-talk to someone I'm motivated by attachment. Therefore I'll concentrate on
-meditation and chanting and won't socialize with others." One of the
-fundamental principles of Buddhism is care and compassion for others.
-Although at times we may need to distance ourselves from others in order to
-settle our own minds, whenever possible we should actively develop genuine
-love for others. To do this, we must be aware of what's happening in others'
-lives, care about them as we do ourselves, and offer help whenever possible.
-Our ability to act with love develops with time and practice, and it has to be
-balanced with our need for private contemplation.
- -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-Young men and young women may work systematically six days in the week and
-rise fresh in the morning, but let them attend modern dances for only a few
-hours each evening and see what happens. The Waltz, Polka, Gallop and other
-dances of the same kind will be disastrous in their effects to both sexes.
-Health and vigor will vanish like the dew before the sun. It is not the
-extraordinary exercise which harms the dancer, but rather the coming into
-close contact with the opposite sex. It is the fury of lust craving
-incessantly for more pleasure that undermines the soul, the body, the sinews
-and nerves. Experience and statistics show beyond doubt that passionate
-excessive dancing girls can hardly reach twenty-five years of age and men
-thirty-one. Even if they reached that age they will in most instances be
-broken in health physically and morally. This is the claim of prominent
-physicians in this country.
- -- Quote from a 1910 periodical.
-~
-Why I Can't Go Out With You: I'd LOVE to, but...
- -- I'm trying to see how long I can go without saying yes.
- -- I'm attending the opening of my garage door.
- -- The monsters haven't turned blue yet, and I have to eat more dots.
- -- I'm converting my calendar watch from Julian to Gregorian.
- -- I have to fulfill my potential.
- -- I don't want to leave my comfort zone.
- -- It's too close to the turn of the century.
- -- I have to bleach my hare.
- -- I'm worried about my vertical hold knob.
- -- I left my body in my other clothes.
-~
- I remember most vividly my first lesson on epistemology as a child, when I
-had to memorize the dictum "The definition of the mental is that which is
-luminous and knowing." Drawing on earlier Indian sources, Tibetan thinkers
-defined consciousness. It was years later that I realized just how
-complicated is the philosophical problem hidden behind this simple
-formulation. Today when I see nine-year-old monks confidently citing this
-definition of consciousness on the debating floor, which is such a central
-part of Tibetan monastic education, I smile.
- These two features--luminosity, or clarity, and knowing, or cognizance--
-have come to characterize "the mental" in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist thought.
-Clarity here refers to the ability of mental states to reveal or reflect.
-Knowing, by contrast, refers to mental states' faculty to perceive or
-apprehend what appears. All phenomena possessed of these qualities count as
-mental. These features are difficult to conceptualize, but then we are
-dealing with phenomena that are subjective and internal rather than material
-objects that may be measured in spatiotemporal terms. Perhaps it is because
-of these difficulties--the limits of language in dealing with the subjective--
-that many of the early Buddhist texts explain the nature of consciousness in
-terms of metaphors such as light, or a flowing river. As the primary feature
-of light is to illuminate, so consciousness is said to illuminate its objects.
-Just as in light there is no categorical distinction between the illumination
-and that which illuminates, so in consciousness there is no real difference
-between the process of knowing or cognition and that which knows or cognizes.
-In consciousness, as in light, there is a quality of illumination.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Universe in a Single Atom: Convergence
- of Science and Spirituality"
-~
- False conceptions are exaggerated modes of thought that do not accord with
-the facts. Even if an object--an event, a person, or any other phenomenon--
-has a slightly favorable aspect, once the object is mistakenly seen as
-existing totally from its own side, true and real, mental projection
-exaggerates its goodness beyond what it actually is, resulting in lust. The
-same happens with anger and hatred; this time a negative factor is
-exaggerated, making the object seem to be a hundred percent negative, the
-result being deep disturbance. Recently, a psychotherapist told me that when
-we generate anger, ninety percent of the ugliness of the object of our anger
-is due to our own exaggeration. This is very much in conformity with the
-Buddhist idea of how afflictive emotions arise.
- At the point when anger and lust are generated, reality is not seen;
-rather, an unreal mental projection of extreme badness or extreme goodness is
-seen, evoking twisted, unrealistic actions. All of this can be avoided by
-seeing the fuller picture revealed by paying attention to the dependent-
-arising of phenomena, the nexus of causes and conditions from which they arise
-and in which they exist.
- Looked at this way, the disadvantages of afflictive emotions are obvious.
-If you want to be able to perceive the actual situation, you have to quit
-voluntarily submitting to afflictive emotions, because in each and every
-field, they obstruct perception of the facts.....
- Love and compassion also involve strong feelings that can even make you
-cry with empathy, but they are induced not by exaggeration but by valid
-cognition of the plight of sentient beings, and the appropriateness of being
-concerned for their well-being. These feelings rely on insight into how
-beings suffer in the round of rebirth called "cyclic existence," and the depth
-of these feelings is enhanced through insight into impermanence and
-emptiness.... Though it is possible for love and compassion to be influenced
-by afflictive emotions, true love and compassion are unbiased and devoid of
-exaggeration, because they are founded on valid cognition of your relationship
-to others. The perspective of dependent-arising is supremely helpful in
-making sure that you appreciate the wider picture.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are",
- translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
-~
-The Prajna Paramita is a very profound philosophical doctrine, and I will just
-outline the main ideas in it in order to clarify the Chod. First we start off
-with the confused egocentric state of mind. This state of mind causes us to
-suffer, and so, to alleviate the suffering, we start to practice meditation.
-What happens in meditation is that the speedy mind begins to slow down and
-things begin to settle, like the mud sinking to the bottom of a puddle of
-water when it is left undisturbed. When this settling has occurred, a kind of
-clear understanding of the way things work in the mind takes place. This
-understanding is prajna, profound cognition. Then, according to Buddhist
-doctrine, through the use of this prajna, we begin to see that, in fact,
-although we think that we have a separate and unique essence, or self, which
-we call the "ego," when we look closely, we are a composite of form, sense-
-perceptions, consciousness, etc., and are merely a sum of these parts. This
-realization is the understanding of sunyata, usually translated as emptiness,
-or voidness. It means there is no self-essence, that we are "void of a self."
-If we are void of a self, there is no reason to be egocentric, since the whole
-notion of a separate ego is false. Therefore we can afford to be
-compassionate, and need not continually defend ourselves or force our desires
-onto others.
- -- Tsultrim Allione, "Women of Wisdom", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- There is a film called "Groundhog Day," which is really a Buddhist movie
-because this is exactly what the plot is about. For those of you who haven't
-seen it, it's about somebody who had to relive the same day again and again
-until he got it right. He started out with an extremely negative attitude,
-and so throughout the first day he created a lot of negative causes. People
-related back to him from his own level of negativity, and so he had a very bad
-day. Then the next day he had to experience the same day all over again.
-Then again, and again. He became desperate to find a way out. He attempted
-suicide many times, but the next morning, there he was again in the same room
-and the same bed. The date hadn't changed, and the same song was playing on
-the radio. His attitude underwent many, many changes, until in the end he
-spent most of his time trying to help people. He forestalled tragedies he
-knew were going to happen because he had lived the day over so many times, and
-his whole attitude gradually turned around into working out ways to help
-others. As his inner attitude transformed, the day gradually got better and
-better. Finally, he was able to break through to a new day.
- The important thing is how we respond to our situation. We can transform
-anything if we respond in a skillful way. This is precisely what karma is
-about. If we greet situations with a positive attitude, we will eventually
-create positive returns. If we respond with a negative attitude, negative
-things will eventually come our way. Unlike the scenario in the movie, it
-doesn't always happen right away. We can be very nice people but still have
-lots of problems. On the other hand, we can be awful people and have a
-wonderful time. But from a Buddhist perspective, it's just a matter of time
-before we receive the results of our conduct. And usually it is true that
-people with a positive attitude encounter positive circumstances. Even if the
-circumstances do not appear positive, they be transformed through a positive
-view. On the other hand people with negative minds complain even when things
-are going well. They also transform circumstances, but they transform
-positive ones into negative ones!
- Both our present and our future depend on us. From moment to moment, we
-are creating our future. We are not a ball of dust tossed about by the winds
-of fate. We have full responsibility for our lives. The more aware we
-become, the more capable we are of making skillful choices.
- -- Venerable Tenzin Palmo, "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings
- on Practical Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Why is endeavor necessary? If we consider material progress, we see that
-research started by one person can always be continued by another. But this
-is not possible with spiritual progress. The realization we talk about in the
-Buddhadharma is something that has to be accomplished by the individual. No
-one else can do it for us. Of course, it would be wonderful if in the future
-we could attain realization through some sort of new injection or by means of
-a new generation of computers, without having to go through any difficulties.
-If we could be absolutely certain that such a time would come, we could simply
-lie back and wait to get enlightened. But I doubt that this will ever happen.
-It is better to make an effort. We have to develop endeavor.
- I.
- Thus with patience I will practice diligence,
- For it is through zeal that I will reach enlightenment.
- If there is no wind, then nothing stirs;
- Neither is there merit where there is no diligence.
- We can be patient in various ways, such as by not thinking ill of those
-who harm us or by accepting suffering as the path. Of these two, the latter
-is the more important for generating endeavor, and it is endeavor that enables
-us to attain enlightenment. As Shantideva says, "It is through zeal that I
-will reach enlightenment." In the same way that protecting a lamp from the
-wind allows the flame to burn without flickering, endeavor enables the
-virtuous mind to grow undisturbed.
- What is endeavor? It is finding joy in doing what is good. To do that,
-it is necessary to remove anything that counteracts it, especially laziness.
-Laziness has three aspects: having no wish to do good, being distracted by
-negative activities, and underestimating oneself by doubting one's ability.
-Related to these are taking undue pleasure in idleness and sleep and being
-indifferent to samsara as a state of suffering.
- -- Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "A Flash of
- Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of
- Life", translated by The Padmakara Translation Group.
-~
- Western women emerging from crisis situations often choose to live alone,
-intuitively knowing that the confrontation with oneself that this brings will
-lead to a deeper understanding. These women in our society (which sees them
-as pitiable and unfortunate) can take strength from the stories of Tibetan
-yoginis.
- These Western women also seek the support of other women or
-psychotherapists to help them to emerge from their descents, just as the
-yoginis sought the guidance of their teachers and spiritual friends, and the
-Greeks needed the help of the "therapeutes" [helpers] to make sense of the
-memories they brought back from the oracle cave.
- Speaking of the descent myth in terms of her experiences in controlled
-therapeutic regressions, Jungian analyst M.L. Von Franz describes the descent
-process in relation to the story of "The Handless Maiden":
- In the Middle Ages there were many hermits, and in Switzerland there
- were the so-called Wood Brothers and Sisters. People who did not want
- to live a monastic life but who wanted to live alone in the forest had
- both a closeness to nature and also a great experience of spiritual
- inner life. Such Wood Brothers and Sisters could be personalities on
- a high level who had a spiritual fate and had to renounce active life
- for a time and isolate themselves to find their own inner relation to
- God. It is not very different from what the shaman does in the Polar
- tribes, or what medicine men do all over the world, in order to seek
- an immediate personal religious experience in isolation.
- ...If we avoid the descent because of fear of what we will discover about
-ourselves in the "underworld," we block ourselves off from a powerful
-transformative process. This process has been recognized by modern
-psychologists and ancient mystery religions alike.
- -- Tsultrim Allione, "Women of Wisdom", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The modes of thought in pride and in courageous thought are entirely
-different.
- Depression caused by disintegration of the ego probably comes from not
-being able to posit a conventionally existent I. Still, when some
-understanding of emptiness develops, you have a different feeling of I than
-that to which you previously were accustomed. Our usual feeling is that the I
-is something solid, really independent, and very forceful. Such no longer
-remains, but at the same time there is a sense of a mere I that accumulates
-karma and performs actions. Such a sense of self is not at all a source of
-depression.
- If you have difficulty positing a merely nominal I as well as merely
-nominal cause and effect of actions--if you get to the point where if you
-assert selflessness, you cannot posit dependent-arising--then it would be
-better to assert dependent-arising and give up selflessness. Indeed, there
-are many levels of understanding selflessness, and Buddha, out of great
-skillfulness in method, taught many different schools of tenets that posit
-coarser levels of selflessness for those temporarily unable to understand the
-more subtle levels. It is not the case that only if the most profound level
-is immediately accessible, it is suitable, and if it is not accessible, the
-whole endeavor should be thrown away. You have to proceed step by step with
-whatever accords with your level of mind. Between emptiness and dependent-
-arising, you should value dependent-arising more highly.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
- Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Puba Supoche asked, "Dampa, tell me what it's like when you really
-practice sincerely! I understand neither heads nor tails of it!"
- Dampa said, "View is the destruction of extreme ideas regarding things!
-Cutting pride of self with confidence is realization! Being without support
-in luminosity is meditation! In insight, absence of recognition is the
-innate! Finding nowhere to place the mind among shifting phenomena is
-subsequent attainment! In their absence, there is no antidote but natural
-intensity! Naked awareness without grasping is dharmakaya! Disappearance
-without being anything is experience! Don't you wonder whether all this truly
-exists?"
- -- Padampa Sangye, "Lion of Siddhas: The Life and Teachings of Padampa
- Sangye", translated by David Molk, with Lama Tsering Wangdu Rinpoche,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-[do you have any thoughts about how a person could go about increasing their
-feeling of autonomy or freedom at work?]
-
- ...it will completely depend on the person's individual circumstances,
-what position they are in. Let's take the example of a prisoner. Now of
-course it is best not to be in prison, but even in that situation, where a
-person may be deprived of freedom, he or she may discover small choices that
-they are able to make. And even if somebody is in prison, with very rigid
-rules, they can undertake some spiritual practices to try to lessen their
-mental frustrations, try to get some peace of mind. So they can work on
-internal development...if people can do this under the extreme conditions of
-prison, in the workplace people may try to discover small things, small
-choices that they can make in how to go about their work. And of course,
-somebody may work on an assembly line with little variation in how to do their
-tasks, but they still have other kinds of choices in terms of their attitudes,
-how they interact with their co-workers, whether they utilize certain inner
-qualities or spiritual strengths to change their attitude at work even though
-the nature of the work may be difficult. Isn't it? So, perhaps that would
-help.
- Of course, when you are talking about rigid rules and lack of freedom,
-that doesn't mean that you are required to blindly follow and accept
-everything others tell you. In instances where the worker might be exploited,
-where the employer thinks of nothing but profit and pays a small salary and
-demands a lot of overtime, or where one may be asked to do things that are not
-appropriate or are unethical, one should not simply think, "Well, this is my
-karma," and take no action. Here it is not enough to think, "I should just be
-content."
- If there is injustice, then I think inaction is the wrong response. The
-Buddhist texts mention what is called "misplaced tolerance," or "misplaced
-forbearance." So...misplaced patience or forbearance refers to the sense of
-endurance that some individuals have when they are subject to a very
-destructive, negative activity. That is a misplaced forbearance and
-endurance. Similarly, in the work environment, if there is a lot of injustice
-and exploitation, then to passively tolerate it is the wrong response. The
-appropriate response really is to actively resist it, to try to change this
-environment rather than accept it. One should take some action...perhaps one
-could speak with the boss, with the management, and try to change these
-things. One needs to actively resist exploitation. And in some cases, one
-may simply need to quit and to look for other work.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D.,
- "The Art of Happiness at Work"
-~
- The purpose of Buddha's coming to the world was for the sake of sentient
-beings' attaining the wisdom that he achieved. The paths that he taught are
-only a means leading to Buddhahood; he does not lead sentient beings with a
-low vehicle that is not a method leading to Buddhahood. He establishes
-sentient beings in the powers and so forth that exist in his own state.
-
- "Manjushri, all the doctrines that I teach to sentient beings are for
- the sake of attaining omniscient wisdom. Flowing into enlightenment
- and descending into the Mahayana, they are means of achieving
- omniscience, leading completely to one place. Therefore, I do not
- create different vehicles."
- -- from "Chapter of the True One Sutra".
-
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- We are aiming to develop a strong feeling of love and compassion with
-respect to everyone, but this cannot be done without first seeing an equality
-of all beings throught meditatively cultivating equanimity. Otherwise, you'll
-easily be able to generate love and compassion for friends and may be able to
-extend a little of this to neutral people, but even minor enemies will remain
-a huge problem. Thus at first it is necessary to recognize how friends,
-neutral persons, and enemies are equal.
- This is done in two ways. One way to break down rigid classifications of
-people is by reflecting first with respect to friends, then neutral persons,
-and then enemies:
- "Just as I want happiness and don't want suffering, so this friend
- wants happiness and doesn't want suffering. And equally, this neutral
- person wants happiness and doesn't want suffering. And equally, this
- enemy wants happiness and doesn't want suffering."
- Another way is to reflect on what your relationships have been with others
-over the course of lifetimes, beginning with neutral persons, then friends,
-and finally enemies. An enemy in this lifetime wants to do you in, but over
-the course of lifetimes was this person just an enemy? No. If you do not
-believe in rebirth, utilize the rebirth game, the rebirth perspective, as a
-technique for making your mind more flexible.
- Either of these techniques will work:
- - Reflecting on the similarity of yourself and others in the basic
- aspiration to gain happiness and be rid of suffering.
-
- - Reflecting on the changeability of relationships over the course
- of lifetimes.
- -- Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
- with Others", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- What is wisdom? It is as explained in the perfection of supreme knowledge
-teachings: all phenomena are free from elaborations, and when the perceiving
-subject as well becomes equally free from elaborations, that is wisdom. In
-particular, the wisdom of the buddha consists in the pacification of the
-elaborations and their habitual tendencies in relation to suchness. It is the
-inseparability of the expanse and wisdom. It is free from singularity and
-multiplicity, quality and qualified. It realizes the nonduality of subjects
-and objects. In it all phenomena--samsara and nirvana, faults and qualities,
-and so on--are always undifferentiable and equal. Outside of that, there is
-no way to posit wisdom.
- In a nonanalytical context of repeating what others accept, we Followers
-of the Middle Way describe knowable objects as existing. The wisdom of the
-buddhas is the same. Since we speak of all phenomena as existing from the
-perspective of others (even though from our own perspective they are free of
-the elaborations of existence and nonexistence), it is unreasonable to debate
-solely about the existence or nonexistence of the wisdom of buddhas.
- -- "The Karmapa's Middle Way: Feast for the Fortunate by the Ninth Karmapa,
- Wangchuk Dorje", trans. by Tyler Dewar, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-Well timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. -- Martin Fraqhar Tupper
-~
-A diplomat is a man who says you have an open mind,
-instead of telling you that you have a hole in the head.
- -- Anonymous
-~
-To achieve great things, two things are needed;
-a plan, and not quite enough time.
- -- Leonard Bernstein
-~
-To bend a bamboo, start when it is a shoot. -- Malaysian Proverb
-~
-Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.
- -- John Wooden
-~
-No shade tree? Blame not the sun, but yourself. -- Chinese Proverb
-~
-'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool,
-than to speak and remove all doubt.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-Art is either plagiarism or revolution. -- Paul Gauguin
-~
- When this world initially formed, there seem to have been two types of
-events or entities, one sentient, the other insentient. Rocks, for instance,
-are examples of nonsentient entities. You see, we usually consider them to
-have no feelings: no pains and no pleasures. The other type, sentient beings,
-have awareness, consciousness, pains and pleasures.
- But there needs to be a cause for that. If you posit there is no cause
-for consciousness, then this leads to all sorts of inconsistencies and logical
-problems. So, the cause is posited, established. It is considered certain.
- The initial cause must be an independent consciousness. And on that basis
-is asserted the theory of continuation of life after death. It is during the
-interval when one's continuum of awareness departs from one's body at death
-that the subtle mind, the subtle consciousness, becomes manifest. That
-continuum connects one life with the next.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
- with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
- Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Channels and cakras represent the inner structure of the human body,
-referred to in the tantric teachings as the 'vajra body'. 'Vajra' means
-'indestructible', and 'vajra body' refers to the dimension of the three
-fundamental components: the channels and cakras, the prana that flows through
-them, and the bindu or thigle, the white and red seed-essences of the physical
-body that form the basis for practices such as the Tummo.
- In the tantras of the Upadesa section of Dzogchen, it is explained that
-after the conception of a human being the first thing to develop is the navel
-cakra. Then from this, through a channel, the head cakra develops followed by
-the other main cakras of the throat and the heart. This channel or meridian,
-known as the life-channel, develops into the spinal cord and spine. At the
-same time it remains as the fundamental energy of the central channel.
- The central channel, known as Uma in Tibetan, is connected with the two
-lateral channels called Roma and Kyangma. The Roma channel, which is white
-and corresponds to lunar energy, is on the right side in men and on the left
-in women. Ro means 'taste', and the main function of this channel is to give
-the sensation of pleasure. The Kyangma channel, red and corresponding to
-solar energy, is on the left side in men and on the right in women. Kyang
-means 'sole', and unlike the Roma, this channel is not connected with many
-secondary channels. Control of this channel is fundamental in order to
-cultivate the experience of emptiness. These are the characteristic features
-of the two channels, which are related to the two principles of upaya or
-method, and of prajna or energy. Method denotes everything pertaining to the
-visible or material dimension; while 'prajna', which generally means
-discriminating wisdom, in this context denotes the energy of emptiness that is
-the base of any manifestation.
- -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Yantra Yoga: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement",
- translated by Adriano Clemente, published byy Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Flowers leave some of their fragrance in the hand that bestows them.
- -- Chinese proverb
-~
-The taller the bamboo grows, the lower it bends.
- -- Chinese proverb
-~
-You can't depend on the man who made the mess to clear it up.
- -- Indian proverb
-~
-You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket. -- John Adams
-~
-Kissing is like drinking salted water; you drink and your thirst increases.
- -- Chinese Proverb
-~
-The eye is a menace to clear sight, the ear is a menace to subtle hearing, the
-mind is a menace to wisdom, every organ of the senses is a menace to its own
-capacity.... Fuss, the god of the Southern Ocean, and Fret, the god of the
-Northern Ocean, happened once to meet in the realm of Chaos, the god of the
-center. Chaos treated them very handsomely and they discussed together what
-they could doto repay his kindness. They had noticed that, whereas everyone
-else had seven apertures, for sight, hearing, eating, breathing and so on,
-Chaos had none. So they decided to make the experiment of boring holes in
-him. Every day they bored a hole, and on the seventh day, Chaos died.
- -- Chuang Tzu
-~
- Everybody loves to talk about calm and peace, whether in a family,
-national, or international context. But without inner peace how can we make
-real peace? World peace through hatred and force is impossible. Even in the
-case of individuals, there is no possibility to feel happiness through anger.
-If in a difficult situation one becomes disturbed internally, overwhelmed by
-mental discomfort, then external things will not help at all. However, if
-despite external difficulties or problems, internally one's attitude is of
-love, warmth, and kind-heartedness, then problems can be faced and accepted.
- -----
- The necessary foundation for world peace and the ultimate goal of any new
-international order is the elimination of violence at every level. For this
-reason the practice of non-violence surely suits us all. It simply requires
-determination, for by its very nature non-violent action requires patience.
-While the practice of non-violence is still something of an experiment on this
-planet, if it is successful it will open the way to a far more peaceful world
-in the next century.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
- Mary Craig
-~
- On the tenth night of the twelfth month, Gyal Dawa, the girl, came again.
-She said, "Don't neglect my request for a prayer. It is very important."
-That's the dream she had. I thought, "I'll write it on the full moon day."
-So on the night of the fourteenth I prayed with single-pointed devotion to
-Guru Rinpoche to grant blessing that the prayer would be beneficial and then
-fell asleep. Early in the morning of the fifteenth I dreamed I was sitting in
-front of the shrine in a very large building that looked like a temple.
-Suddenly a young white man dressed in white with his hair falling loosely over
-his shoulder appeared at the entrance. He was playing the cymbals melodiously
-and dancing the swirling, joyous dance of the Ging. He came closer and
-closer, singing:
-
- If you want to establish the dharma,
- Establish it in your mind.
- In the depth of mind, you will find Buddha.
- If you wish to visit the buddha fields,
- Purify ordinary deluded attachment.
- The perfectly comfortable buddha field is close by.
- Develop the joyful effort to practice,
- That is the essence of the teaching.
- Without practice, who can gain the siddhis?
- It is hard to see one's faults,
- But to see them nakedly is powerful advice.
- In the end when faults have been cleared away,
- The enlightened qualities increase and shine forth.
-
- At the end of this he rolled his cymbals. Then he crashed them together,
-and I awoke. After I woke up, I did not forget what he had said. I
-understood it to have been advice on practicing what to accept and what to
-reject. I was sad that although I had actually seen the face of my only
-father, Guru Padmasambhava, I had not recognized him.
- I, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, old father of the Nyingma, wrote this from my own
-experience. Sarva Mangalam [May all be auspicious].
- -- Khenpo Tsewaang Dongyal Rinpoche, "Light of Fearless Indestructible
- Wisdom: The Life and Legacy of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche", published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The modern economy has no national boundaries. When we talk about ecology,
-the environment, when we are concerned about the ozone layer, one individual,
-one society, one country cannot solve these problems. We must work together.
-Humanity needs more genuine cooperation. The foundation for the development
-of good relations with one another is altruism, compassion, and forgiveness.
-For small arguments to remain limited, in the human circle the best method is
-forgiveness. Altruism and forgiveness are the basis for bringing humanity
-together. Then no conflict, no matter how serious, will go beyond the bounds
-of what is truly human.
- -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
- About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited bby Sidney Piburn, Foreword
- by Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Creation in four vajra steps entails meditation on emptiness; generating a
-moon, sun, and seed-syllable from which light emanates and then converges; the
-full manifestation of the deity resulting from the convergence of the light
-and transformation of the seed-syllable; and visualization of three syllables
-at the deity's three places. [The syllables om, ah, and hum are imagined at
-the forehead, throat, and heart, respectively.]
- ...Kongtrul explains that all the varieties of the creation phase
-incorporate the four key elements of form, imagination, result, and
-transformative power. "Form" means meditating on forms that represent the
-aspects of awakening and generating clear images of these forms, thereby
-stopping impure appearances. "Imagination" means using the force of creative
-imagination to convert the visualized forms of awakening into reality.
-"Result" means meditating on the result, that is, the very goal to be
-attained, and thereby achieving that goal. "Transformative power" means
-turning the ordinary body and mind into pristine awareness by relying on the
-transformative powers of awakened beings. Among these, Kongtrul points out,
-the most important element for realization of the path is the transformative
-power of the vajra master combined with one's own devotion to that master.
- -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taaye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight,
- Part Three: The Elements of Tantric Practice", translated by Ingrid
- Loken McLeod and Elio Guarisco, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-From The Prayer Requested by Namke Nyingbo
-by Padmasambhava
-
-All these things of the outer environment and the beings therein
-That come into sight as the objects of your eyes like this,
-They may appear, but leave them in the sphere free from clinging to a self.
-Since they are pure of perceiver and perceived, they are the
-luminous-empty body of the deity.
-I pray to the guru in whom attachment is self-liberated,
-I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
-
-All these sounds, taken as pleasant or unpleasant,
-That resound as the objects of your ears like this,
-Leave them in the sphere of inconceivable, empty resonance.
-Empty resonance, unborn and unceasing, is the Victor's speech.
-I pray to the words of the Victor that resound and yet are empty,
-I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
-
-However these thoughts of afflictions' five poisons,
-Which stir as objects in your mind like this, may appear,
-Do not mess around with them through a mind that rushes ahead into the
- future or lingers in the past.
-Through leaving their movement in its own place, they uncoil as the dharmakaya.
-I pray to the guru whose awareness is self-liberated, I pray to
- Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
-
-Grant your blessings that the mind stream of someone like me is liberated
-Through the compassion of the Tathagatas of the three times,
-So that objects, appearing as if perceived outside, become pure,
-That my very mind, perceiving as if inside, becomes liberated,
-And that, in between, luminosity will recognize its own face.
-
- -- "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions", translated
- and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The actual method of cultivating the correct attitudes towards the
-spiritual master is to practice contemplative meditation upon the guru's good
-qualities and the beneficial effects that he or she introduces into one's
-life. By reflecting again and again on the great kindness the guru performs,
-a confidence suitable for spiritual training under him or her is born. This
-process of reflecting on the role of the guru is important in the beginning as
-well as in the higher practices, for as we sit in contemplation we become
-faced with a stream of reactions, which if understood at an early stage can
-clear the mind of much doubt, confusion and superstition.
- The spiritual master is the source of all spiritual progress. In this
-context, Geshe Potowa once said, "If even those who want to learn a common
-worldly trade must study under a qualified teacher, how much more so must we
-who seek enlightenment? Most of us have come from the lower realms and have
-no background or experience in the paths and stages to enlightenment; and, if
-we wish to gain this experience, why should we not study with someone
-qualified to teach us the methods that develop it?"
- In the beginning of his Great Exposition, Lama Tsongkhapa writes, "The
-root of spiritual development is to cultivate an effective relationship with a
-master." This means that we must cultivate the correct attitudes and then
-demonstrate them correctly in action. This is the root that, if made strong,
-supports the trunk, branches, leaves and flowers of practice. When the roots
-of a tree are strong, the entire tree becomes strong, whereas when the roots
-are weak, the entire tree will remain weak.
- ...We should engender respect such that we see the guru as a Buddha. If
-we can do this, then we experience the guru as we would a Buddha and
-consequently are sufficiently inspired to practice what he or she teaches.
-The instruction to see the guru as a Buddha is not unreasonable, for in many
-ways the spiritual master is Buddha himself.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
- by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Liion Publications
-~
- ...when you start practicing, you should not expect too much. We live in
-a time of computers and automation, so you may feel that inner development is
-also an automatic thing for which you press a button and everything changes.
-It is not so. Inner development is not easy and will take time. External
-progress, the latest space missions and so forth, have not reached their
-present level within a short period but over centuries, each generation making
-greater developments based on those of the previous generation. However,
-inner development is even more difficult since internal improvement cannot be
-transferred from generation to generation. Your past life's experience very
-much influences this life, and this life's experience becomes the basis for
-the next rebirth's development, but transference of inner development from one
-person to another is impossible. Thus, everything depends on yourself, and it
-will take time.
- I have met Westerners who at the beginning were very enthusiastic about
-their practice, but after a few years have completely forgotten it, and there
-are no traces of what they had practiced at one time. This is because at the
-beginning they expected too much. Shantideva's Engaging in the Bodhisattva
-Deeds emphasizes the importance of the practice of patience--tolerance. This
-tolerance is an attitude not only towards your enemy but also an attitude of
-sacrifice, of determination, soo that you do not fall into the laziness of
-discouragement. You should practice patience, or tolerance, with great
-resolve. This is important.
- -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatsoo, "Kindness,
- Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", edited and translated
- by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- I take refuge until I am enlightened in the Buddhas,
- the Dharma, and the Sangha.
- By the positive potential I create by practicing generosity
- and the other far-reaching attitudes (ethical discipline,
- patience, joyous effort, meditative stabilization, and wisdom),
- may I attain Buddhahood in order to benefit all sentient beings.
-
- It takes only a few moments to think in this way and to recite the prayer,
-yet doing so has a significant effect on the rest of our day. We'll be more
-cheerful and will be sure of our direction in life. Especially if we don't do
-a regular meditation practice, starting the day in this way is extremely
-beneficial.
- In the evening, after reviewing the day's activities and freeing our minds
-from any remaining afflictions that may have arisen during the day, we again
-take refuge and generate the altruistic intention.
- Before going to sleep, we can envision the Buddha, made of light, on our
-pillow. Placing our head in his lap, we fall asleep amidst the gentle glow of
-his wisdom and compassion. Instead, we can learn the guidelines and try to
-implement them as much as we can, reviewing them periodically to refresh our
-minds. We may choose one guideline to emphasize this week in our daily lives.
-Next week, we can add another, and so on. In that way, we'll slowly build up
-the good habits of practicing all of them.
- -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-Compassion is the wish for another being to be free from suffering;
-love is wanting them to have happiness.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
-~
-The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past,
-worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present
-moment wisely and earnestly.
- -- Buddha
-~
-Our patience will achieve more than our force. -- Edmund Burke
-~
-The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his tax return,
-it's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.
- -- Arthur C. Clarke
-~
- Despite all the material progress in this and the last century we still
-experience suffering, especially in relation to mental well-being. In fact,
-if anything, the complex way of life created by modernisation or globalisation
-is causing new problems and new causes of mental unrest. Under these
-circumstances I feel that the various religious traditions have an important
-role to play in helping to maintain peace and the spirit of reconciliation and
-dialogue, and therefore harmony and close contact between them is essential.
-Whether we are believers or non-believers and, within the category of the
-believers, whether we hold this or that belief, we must respect all the
-traditions. That's very important.
- I always tell people in non-Buddhist countries that followers of other
-religions should maintain their own tradition. To change religion is not
-easy, and people can get into trouble as a result of confusion. So it is much
-safer to keep to one's own tradition, while respecting all religions. I'm
-Buddhist--sometimes I describe myself as a staunch Buddhist--but, at the same
-time, I respect and admire the works of other traditionss' figures such as
-Jesus Christ. Basically, all the religious traditions have made an immense
-contribution to humanity and continue to do so, and as such are worthy of our
-respect and admiration.
- When we contemplate the diversity of spiritual traditions on this planet
-we can understand that each addresses the specific needs of different human
-beings, because there is so much diversity in human mentality and spiritual
-inclination. Yet, fundamentally, all spiritual traditions perform the same
-function, which is to help us tame our mental state, overcome our negativities
-and perfect our inner potential.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...For one who abides in thought
- Feats do not arise.
- Therefore abandon thought
- And think a mantra form.
-
-'Abandon thought' refers to the eradication of thought conceiving self
-[inherent existence] through the wisdom of selflessness; it does not mean to
-stop any and all types of thought. 'Think a mantra form' means to meditate on
-a deity. The measure of firmness in deity yoga is indicated by 'whether
-going, standing, or sitting is always immovable though moving about'. When
-one has attained the capacity to hold the mind on the divine body in all types
-of behaviour--whether in meditative equipoise or not--without moving to
-something else, one has the capacity to remove the pride of ordinaariness.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins,
- "Deity Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- A person who is liberated, who has freed his or her mind of all mental
-afflictions, still experiences physical suffering. The difference between us
-and an arhat, a person who has freed the mind from mental affliction, is that
-an arhat doesn't identify with pain. Arhats experience physical pain vividly
-but don't grasp onto it; they can take action to avoid or alleviate pain, but
-whether they do so or not, the physical pain doesn't come inside. What an
-arhat does not experience is mental suffering. A buddha, one who is perfectly
-spiritually awakened, has gone a further step. A buddha has no mental
-suffering of his or her own, but is vividly and non-dually aware of the
-suffering of others.
- Superficially, the arhat who is free from mental suffering can seem to us
-who lack this realization as numb and detached, in a state of existential
-anesthesia. A buddha, one who is fully awakened, presents the paradox of
-being free from suffering and also non-dually present with other people's joys
-and sorrows, hopes and fears. A buddha taps into immutable bliss, the
-ultimate ground state of awareness beyond the dichotomy of stimulus-driven
-pain and pleasure. The mind of a buddha has been purified of all obscuration
-and from its own nature there naturally arises immutable bliss, like a spring
-welling up from the earth. With the unveiling of the buddha-nature of
-unconditioned bliss, there is also a complete erosion of an absolute
-demarcation between self and other. The barrier is gone. This is why buddhas
-are vividly and non-dually aware of the suffering of others, their hopes and
-fears, the whole situation, and at the same time are not disengaged from the
-purity and bliss of their own awareness. The mind of a buddha doesn't block
-out anything and nothing is inhibited, and this is why the awareness of an
-awakened being is frequently described as "unimaginable."
- -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
- Mind Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The fifth Tara is known as Wangdu Rigje Lhamo. She is Kurukulle in
-Sanskrit and Rigjema or Rigje Lhamo in Tibetan. Wangdu means power of
-"gathering, summoning," or "magnetizing." We can think of it as attracting
-everything beneficial, to benefit all beings. Rigjema means "she who
-precisely understands everything" and Lhamo is "divine lady." So she is known
-as the Tara who precisely understands the power of magnetizing.
- Kurukulle's practice is very extensively taught throughout Tibetan
-Buddhism. She is often named the "Red Tara" because of her color. Her Praise
-is:
- CHAG TSHAL TUT TA RA HUNG YI GE
- Homage, Mother, filling all regions, sky, and the realm of desire
-
- DO DANG CHOG DANG NAM KHA GANG MA
- With the sounds of TUTTARA and HUNG,
-
- JIG TEN DUN PO ZHAB CHI NEN TE
- Trampling the seven worlds with her feet,
-
- LU PA ME PAR GUG PAR NU MA
- Able to summon all before her.
- -- Khenchen Palden Sherab annd Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, "Tara's Enlightened
- Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one Praises to Tara'",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
- -- Gandhi
-~
-Always bear in mind that your resolution to succeed
-is more important than any one thing.
- -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless-like water. Now you put water into a
-cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle,
-you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can
-crash. Be water, my friend.
- --Bruce Lee
-~
-All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability.
-The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.
- --Bruce Lee
-~
-A wise man can learn more from a foolish question
-than a fool can learn from a wise answer.
- --Bruce Lee
-~
-The remembrance of youth is a sigh. -- Oriental Maxim
-~
-Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.
- -- Herbert Henry Asquith
-~
-The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next.
- -- Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)
-~
-What we play is life. -- Louis Armstrong
-~
-Fight for your opinions, but do not believe that they contain
-the whole truth, or the only truth.
- -- Charles Dana
-~
-Some say the glass is half empty,
-some say the glass is half full,
-I say, are you going to drink that?
- -- Lisa Claymen
-~
-Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. -- Carl Jung
-~
-Since a politician never believes what he says,
-he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.
- -- Charles de Gaulle
-~
-On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable.
-The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the
-other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out
-is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting
-against each other.
- -- Stewart Brand at the first Hackers' Conference in 1984
-~
-Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.
- -- William Ruckelshaus
-~
-Those who get too big for their briches will be exposed in the end. -- Anon.
-~
-We're not talking about the same thing," he said. "For you the world is weird
-because if you're not bored with it you're at odds with it. For me the world
-is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my
-interest has been to convince you that you must accept responsibility for being
-here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous desert, in this marvelous
-time. I wanted to convince you that you must learn to make every act count,
-since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for
-witnessing all the marvels of it.
- -- Don Juan, Yaqui Shaman
-~
-Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.
- -- Wendell Johnson
-~
-People prefer to believe what they prefer to be true. -- Francis Bacon
-~
-The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling,
-but in rising every time we fall.
- -- Nelson Mandela
-~
-Stapp's Ironical Paradox:
-The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any
-human accomplishment an incredible miracle.
- -- Col. John P. Stapp
-~
-When the only tool you own is a hammer,
-every problem begins to resemble a nail.
- -- Abraham Maslow
-~
-Peace is not a little white dove. It is you and me. -- Rigoberta Menchu Tum
-~
-If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
- -- African proverb
-~
-The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes,
-in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip
-himself of almost all sense and meaning.
- -- Sir Winston Churchill
-~
-Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is? -- Frank Scully
-~
-Money often costs too much. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
-~
-The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with.
- -- Marty Feldman
-~
-The true meaning of life is to plant trees
-under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
- -- Nelson Henderson
-~
-The first human being who hurled an insult instead
-of a stone was the founder of civilization.
- -- Sigmund Freud
-~
-When the weight of the world has got you down
- and you want to end your life.
-Bills to pay, a dead-end job,
- and problems with the wife.
-But don't throw in the tow'l,
- 'cuz there's a place right down the block...
-Where you can drink your misery away...
-At Flaming Moe's.... (Let's all go to Flaming Moe's...)
-When liquor in a mug (Let's all go to Flaming Moe's...)
- can warm you like a hug. (Flaming Moe's...)
-And happiness is just a Flaming Moe away...
-Happiness is just a Flaming Moe away...
- -- Flaming Moe's Theme Song, The Simpsons.
-~
-Stop living for what's around the corner
-and start enjoying the walk down the street.
- -- Grant L. Miller
-~
-Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom. -- George Iles
-~
-One day Ananda, who had been thinking deeply about things for a while, turned
-to the Buddha and exclaimed: "Lord, I've been thinking--spiritual friendship
-is at least half of the spiritual life!" The Buddha replied: "Say not so,
-Ananda, say not so. Spiritual friendship is the whole of the spiritual life!"
- -- Samyutta Nikaya, Verse 2
-~
-There are moments when one feels free from one's own identification with human
-limitations and inadequacies. At such moments one imagines that one stands on
-some spot of a small planet, gazing in amazement at the cold yet profoundly
-moving beauty of the eternal, the unfathomable; life and death flow into one,
-and there is neither evolution nor destiny; only Being.
- -- Albert Einstein
-~
-A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but
-together can decide that nothing can be done.
- -- Fred Allen
-~
-An undefined problem has an infinite number of solutions.
- -- Robert A. Humphrey
-~
-The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best--and therefore
-never scrutinize or question.
- -- Stephen Jay Gould
-~
-41. One's own awareness, fresh and uncontrived
- One's own awareness, fresh and uncontrived,
- Is the primordially present ultimate Lama
- From whom you have not been separated for even an instant.
- This meeting with the original abiding nature--how amazing!
-I, Jnana, wrote this in response to Changchub Palmo's request.
- -- "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice", translated by
- Ron Garry, a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion
-~
- I hunted up statistics, and was amazed to find that after all the glaring
-newspaper headings concerning railroad disasters, less than three hundred
-people had really lost their lives by those disasters in the preceding twelve
-months. The Erie road was set down as the most murderous in the list. It had
-killed forty-six.or twenty-six, I do not exactly remember which, but I know
-the number was double that of any other road. But the fact straightway
-suggested itself that the Erie was an immensely long road, and did more
-business than any other line in the country; so the double number of killed
-ceased to be matter for surprise.
- By further figuring, it appeared that between New York and Rochester the
-Erie ran eight passenger trains each way every day.sixteen altogether; and
-carried a daily average of 6,000 persons. That is about a million in six
-months.the population of New York city. Well, the Erie kills from thirteen
-to twenty-three persons out of its million in six months; and in the same
-time 13,000 of New York's million die in their beds! My flesh crept, my hair
-stood on end.
- "This is appalling!" I said. "The danger isn't in travelling by rail, but
-in trusting to those deadly beds. I will never sleep in a bed again."
- --Mark Twain on Risk Analysis, 1871
-~
-The activities of this degenerate age are like a madman's performance of dance.
-No matter what we do, there is no way to please others.
-Think about what is essential.
-This is my heart's advice.
- --Bhande Dharmaradza
-
- In any group of people, there is always some misunderstanding. You cannot
-satisfy everyone, no matter what you do. The Bodhicaryavatara says that every
-individual has a different way of thinking. Thus, it is very difficult to
-please everyone. Even the Buddha could not do it, so how can we? Instead of
-trying to please others, please yourself by applying yourself fully to
-bodhicitta.
- Investigate your situation carefully, according to the Dharma. For us, it is
-more important to know what is best than to know how to please everyone. Know
-what is right, and on the basis of your own wisdom and skill, just do it.
-Don't expect that other people will be pleased with you or that they will be
-happy about what you do. Rather, do what's best, what's helpful for yourself
-and for others. If they are happy about it, that's fine. If they are not
-happy, what can you do?
- -- "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path", by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen,
- edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Lochen Gyurme Dechen, nephew of the great accomplished master Tangtong
-Gyalpo, sang this song, a prayer of the Six Doctrines, called "The Rain
-of Great Bliss":
-
-Nama Shri Jnana Daki Nigupta-ye!
-
- Lady of the celestial realms, compassionate one,
- Chief of wisdom dakinis, Niguma,
- When I, your child, pray fervently to you,
- In your expanse free from formulations, please think of me.
- Lady who reveals the sacred circle of great secrets,
- Bestow now the empowerment of the four joys!
- Lady who opens the door to the unborn state,
- Clear away now my negative acts and obscurations with the purification
- practice!
- Lady who emits fire from the short Ah,
- Burn now my soiled aggregates and sense elements!
- Lady who draws great bliss from the syllable Ham,
- Bestow now coemergent wisdom!
- Lady who reveals the natural experience of illusion,
- Destroy now my attachment to the reality of anger and desire!
- Lady who emanates and transforms during lucid dreams,
- Lady who makes spontaneous luminosity arise,
- Dispel now the darkness of my stupidity!
- Lady who leads above at the time of departure,
- Guide me now to the celestial realms!
- Lady who overcomes the appearances of delusion in the intermediate state,
- Grant me now the invincible body of enlightenment's perfect rapture.
-
-This prayer was sung by the religious teacher Gyurme Dechen.
-
- -- "Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse of the Shangpa Masters", compiled by
- Jamgon Kongtrul, translated & edited by Ngawang Zangpo, a Tsadra
- Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...ngondro, the foundational practices, are ways to bring body, speech, or
-energy, and all aspects of mind into increasingly effortless harmony with the
-oceanic expanse central to Dzogchen teachings. This expanse is another name
-for reality, the heart of our being, and thus for mind-nature. Its vastness
-challenges the cramped and reified self-images that temporarily obstruct our
-view of the whole. Finitudes of any kind--the sense of being small and
-contained, the familiar urgent rush of business, passions, or plans--are
-simply conceptions. These conceptions are both cause and effect of energetic
-holdings in the body. The foundational practices illuminate these holdings
-and, in the end, lead to their dissolution into the expanse. As Khetsun
-Sangpo Rinpoche has said, "Like a fire that burns fuel, the mind consumes
-thought by working with it."
- In the Tibetan traditions, teaching and practice sessions typically open
-with a reference, brief or extensive, to the foundational practices. Every
-lineage has its own variations, but the basic structure and principles of
-these practices are virtually identical. After an acknowledgment of one's
-guru or lineage and the intention to benefit all beings, the sequence usually
-begins with the four thoughts. These are reflections on (1) the preciousness
-of one's own life, (2) the fragility of life and the uncertainty of death's
-timing, (3) the inexorable nature of karma, and (4) the impossibility of
-avoiding suffering so long as ignorance holds one in samsara. In addition,
-there are two other contemplations: (5) the benefits of liberation compared to
-life in samsara and (6) the importance of a spiritual guide. These six are
-known as the outer foundational practices.
- These six are combined with five inner practices, each of which is repeated
-one hundred thousand times. The first inner foundational practice is refuge.
-Refuge, writes Adzom Drukpa, is the cornerstone of all paths. Without it, he
-adds, quoting Candrakirti, all vows come to nothing. Most succinctly, refuge
-helps us cultivate a quality vital to the path and to human interaction in
-general: this is the quality of trust, the ability to fruitfully rely on
-someone or something other than oneself. Adzom Paylo Rinpoche once said that
-whereas relying on others in the context of samsara generally leads us astray,
-relying on the Dharma increases our good qualities.
- -- "Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse: A Story of Transmission", by Anne C.
- Klein, foreword by Adzom Paylo Rinpoche, preface by Tulku Thondup
- Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-1.18 Fruition of the Seed of Enlightenment
-
- When we engage in virtuous actions, we realize they are beneficial not only
-for others, but also for ourselves. Our good deeds can earn the praise and
-appreciation of others, and the benefits of our work come back to us through
-others. When we are involved with virtuous works, people respect us and hold
-us in high esteem. And we know we must be doing something good, because we
-experience a wholesome, pleasant feeling about our life's work. We quickly
-begin to see the short-term benefits of our involvement in virtuous action as
-our bodies and minds become more peaceful in our daily lives.
- This serenity in turn increases our longevity as our body and mind become
-more harmonized. Even after our death, we will be reincarnated in higher
-realms of existence as a result of our involvement with virtuous works during
-this life. Yet a higher rebirth is merely a short-term benefit, a temporary
-relief from the sufferings of samsara, for until we achieve liberation from
-samsara we remain trapped in the cycle of suffering, and "whatever goes up,
-must come down!"
- Within the mundane world, when our evil deeds are common knowledge, no one
-sings their praises. If such deeds are remembered at all, it is in infamy.
-However, when a being lives with a mind of true bodhichitta and does great
-works of pure altruism, their deeds are remembered for centuries. Of such
-cases we have many examples within the Kagyu lineage alone: the historical
-Buddha, Guru Rinpoche, Milarepa, the Karmapas, and countless others. Yet it
-is also important to remember that virtuous action eventually leads us to the
-liberation of buddhahood; this is the ultimate long-term benefit of planting
-the seed of enlightenment of which we speak. Hence, as we make this journey
-towards liberation, it is extremely important for us to learn to recognize
-which of our actions are virtuous and which are not.
- -- Lama Dudjom Dorjee, "Heartfelt Advice", Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, addressing those who have or will undertake a
-retreat, gives this advice:
-
- "You will fall sick, experience pain, and encounter many adverse
-circumstances. At such times do not think, 'Although I am practicing the
-Dharma, I have nothing but trouble. The Dharma cannot be so great. I have
-followed a teacher and done so much practice, and yet hard times still befall
-me.' Such thoughts are wrong views. You should realize that through the
-blessing and power of the practice, by experiencing sickness and other
-difficulties now, you are purifying and ridding yourself of negative
-actions.... By purifying them while you have the chance, you will later go
-from bliss to bliss. So do not think, 'I don't deserve this illness, these
-obstacles, these negative influences.' Experience your difficulties as
-blessings...when you do experience such difficulties, you should be very happy
-and avoid having adverse thoughts like, 'Why are such terrible things
-happening to me.'"
-
- As Rinpoche advises, relating to hardship properly depends on the strength
-of one's view. In general, having a view is knowing exactly where you want
-to go and how to get there. It is the vision of knowing what you want. For
-example, if you have the view to become a doctor, your vision guides you
-through financial burdens, physical and emotional difficulties, and obstacles
-that get in your way. You know it will be difficult and involve sacrifice,
-but with a strong view, you forge to the finish line.
- Similarly, if you want to become spiritually awakened, it is the power of
-your view that gets you there. If you are having a hard time getting to the
-meditation cushion, or engaging in the necessary study, it is because your
-view is not strong enough or is incomplete. A partial view, in this case, is
-one that doesn't include hardship. You can strengthen your view and
-accelerate progress by understanding how you lose your view in the fog of
-hardship, and therefore lose sight of your path.
- -- Dr. Andrew Holecek, "The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual
- Hardship into Joy", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Chod is a very powerful path to buddhahood. Its power comes from working
-with the practitioner's afflictive emotions. Chod is purposely performed in
-frightening places to help the practitioner heighten his fear so that he has
-the opportunity to cut through it.
- -- adapted from Chod Practice in the Bon Tradition, by Alejandro Chaoul,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Under the heading of the great way's [Mahayana's] perspective, we read of how
-the Buddha merely demonstrates the process of enlightenment in this world,
-something he has done and will do repeatedly. Kongtrul quotes the Buddha in
-an important discourse:
-
- "In the past, countless ages ago, in a world-system that united as many
-realms as there are grains of sand in the Ganges, I attained enlightenment as
-Transcendent Buddha Crown of the Powerful One, aided beings, and transcended
-sorrow. Then once again, from that point until the present age, I have
-repeatedly demonstrated the inconceivable process of enlightenment.
- "I will continue, until cyclic existence is empty, to demonstrate [this
-process of] enlightenment beginning with the initial development of the mind
-of awakening as an ordinary being."
-
- While such statements do not help us grasp the nature of the Buddha's
-enlightenment, they do underline the fact that enlightenment is a specific
-experience, the result of a known and knowable process that the Buddha
-deliberately demonstrates time and again so that we might follow his example,
-no guesswork involved.
- -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "Treasury of Knowledge, Books Two, Three,
- and Four: Buddhism's Journey to Tibet" translated and introduced by
- Ngawang Zangpo, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Yang Gonpa says:
-
- The essence of thoughts that suddenly arise is without any nature. Do not
-inhibit their appearance in any way, and without thinking of any essence, let
-them arise clearly, nakedly, and vividly. Likewise, if one thought arises,
-observe its nature, and if two arise, observe their nature. Thus, whatever
-thoughts arise, let them go without holding onto them. Let them remain as
-fragments. Release them unimpededly. Be naked without an object. Release
-them without grasping. This is close to becoming a Buddha. This is the self-
-extinction of samsara, samsara is overwhelmed, samsara is disempowered, and
-samsara is exhausted. Knowledge of the path of method and wisdom, appearances
-and emptiness, the gradual stages, the common and special paths, and the 84,
-000 entrances to the Dharma is made perfectly complete and fulfilled in an
-instant. This is self-arisen, for it is present like that in the very nature
-[of awareness]. Natural liberation is the essence of all the stainless paths,
-and it bears the essence of emptiness and compassion.
- -- Karma Chagme, "A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on the
- Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga", commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche, trans.
- by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- We must learn to trust ourselves when we practice the doctrines of the Buddha.
-In time, we come to trust the infallibility of karmic cause and effect and of
-the interdependence of all actions. We must come to know and trust the
-importance of the accumulation of merit and wisdom, in the same way we know
-and trust that even the smallest drops of water falling into a bucket will
-eventually fill it.
- We must learn to trust that our own dharma practice will remove our entire
-jungle of kleshas [unwholesome qualities], much like knowing a raging wildfire
-can clear an entire forest from the earth. All of our negativities can be
-swept away by the firestorm of our compassionate wisdom. We must trust that
-all of our happiness and sadness is completely dependent on, and a result of,
-our previous karma; when we trust this process we can begin the accumulation
-of virtuous actions immediately.
- No one achieves perfection in anything meaningful the very first time they
-try; however, we've heard the phrase over and over again that "practice makes
-perfect." It is true that with multiple repetitions and patience everyone can
-achieve perfection over time. I don't know of anyone who has sat down to
-meditate for the very first time and immediately attained enlightenment, but
-just like the drops of water that we trust will eventually fill our bucket,
-consistent dharma practice will eventually lead us to liberation.
- -- Lama Dudjom Dorjee, "Heartfelt Advice", published by Snow Lion
-~
- Unbroken practice is like a watchful guard.
- It is simply unscattered and is free from acceptance or rejection.
- There is no duality of things to be abandoned and their antidotes.
- This is my heart's advice.
-
-This verse and the following instructions concern how to continue with
-Mahamudra practice. Once we have received instructions, we have to accomplish
-them and perfect the practice. Continuity of practice is essential for the
-perfection of enlightenment.
- Unbroken practice means that one is mindful all the time, like a watchful
-guard. Thieves and robbers may come at any time, so the guard of a mansion
-containing great treasure must be alert twenty-four hours a day. In the same
-way, it is important to watch our mind since the thieves of attachment,
-desire, anger, and forgetfulness can come at any time and steal the wealth of
-our compassion and wisdom, along with our realization of Mahamudra.
- Once mindfulness is continuously established, an unscattered mind is "just
-there," on the spot, whether we are walking, eating, driving, or performing
-other activities. We can watch the mind and see how our mental state shapes
-our world. But when we watch it, we should just relax. Milarepa advises us
-in a vajra song:
-
- Rest naturally, like a small child.
- Rest like an ocean without waves.
- Rest with clarity, like a candle flame.
- Rest without self-concern, like a corpse.
- Rest unmoving like a mountain.
-
- -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path",
- edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Every time we begin to practice, it helps not to plunge in right away.
-Instead, take a few moments to stop your ordinary chain of thoughts. This is
-especially relevant if you are very busy and have only five minutes for your
-daily practice, but even ordinarily we have this constant stream of thoughts.
-Suppose that just before practice you have a fight with your fianc�. This
-will probably trigger a chain of thoughts about what you want to say to your
-partner. If you start your practice in the midst of all this, it is not going
-to go so well. This is why it helps to put a stop to this chain of thoughts
-for just a few moments.
- I have found this to be very, very useful. There are actually countless
-methods for stopping the chain of thoughts, but for me, before I practice, I
-just sit for a while. Every time a thought comes along, I try to stop it by
-cultivating a sense of renunciation, and I do this over and over again. I
-think about how I am now forty-years-old and, even if I live to be eighty, I
-only have half of my life left. I think that out of this forty years, I am
-going to sleep the equivalent of twenty years. So now there are only twelve
-hours a day that could actually be termed living. If we then factor in
-watching at least one movie a day, eating, and gossip, we have maybe five
-hours or so left. Out of forty years that means eight years remain, and most
-of that will go to indulging our paranoia, anxiety, and all that.... There is
-actually very little time for practice!
- This should give you an idea of how to stop the chain of thoughts. Don't
-immediately throw yourself into the practice; instead, just watch yourself,
-watch your life, and watch what you are doing. If you are doing ten minutes
-of practice every day, you should try to stop the chain of thoughts for at
-least two to three minutes. We do this to transform the mind by invoking a
-sense of renunciation. When we think, "I am dying. I am coming closer to
-death" and other such thoughts, it really helps.
- -- Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in the commentary to "Entrance to the Great
- Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary Practices", compiled,
- translated, and introduced by Cortland Dahl, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that
-something else is more important than fear.
- -- Ambrose Redmoon
-~
-Good timber does not grow with ease;
-the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.
- -- Douglas Malloch
-~
-Q: Does every kind of desire lead to pain?
-
-A: Not all desire leads directly to pain. However, the very word expresses
-the sense of sticking to something. It does not permit freedom. It binds.
-When attached and fastened to something, we cannot move far away. It is as if
-the desired object pulls us back, and we cannot free ourselves from it. For
-this kind of desire we use a term meaning attachment. So long as we are
-attached, we stick there and cannot achieve liberation. However, this does
-not necessarily entail chaos and pain.
-
-Q: Does that mean that some desire is actually beneficial?
-
-A: In the Tibetan language, desire names an attachment that harms ourselves
-and others. The source of benefit for ourselves and others receives a
-different name; we call that "longing."
-
- -- "Essential Practice: Lectures on Kamalashila's Stages of Meditation in
- the Middle Way School by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche", translated and
- introduced by Jules B. Levinson, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-He who plants a tree plants hope. -- Lucy Larcom
-~
-We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with
-nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a
-presumption that once our eyes watered.
- -- Tom Stoppard
-~
-The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do
-something stupid.
- -- Art Spander
-~
-It is our earth, not yours or mine or his. We are meant to live on it,
-helping each other, not destroying each other.
- -- J. Krishnamurti
-~
-When one has the feeling of dislike for evil, when one feels tranquil, one
-finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and
-appreciates them, one is free of fear.
- -- Buddha
-~
-In Buddhism, there is a teaching called the "three bodies" (sanjin), also
-called the "three properties" or the "three enlightened properties". These
-are the three kinds of form that a Buddha may manifest as: 1) the Dharma Body
-(dharmakaya or hosshin) is the form in which a Buddha transcends physical
-being and is identical with the undifferentiated unity of being or Suchness
-(Skt. tathata, Jp. shinnyo); 2) the Bliss or Reward Body (sambhogakaya or
-hojin) is obtained as the "reward" for having completed the bodhisattva
-practice of aiding other beings to end their suffering and having penetrated
-the depth of the Buddha's wisdom. Unlike the Dharma Body, which is
-immaterial, the Bliss Body is conceived of as an actual body, although one
-that is still transcendent and imperceptible to common people; 3) the
-Manifested Body (nirmanakaya or ojin) is the physical form in which the Buddha
-appears in this world in order to guide sentient beings. It is considered
-that the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, is nirmanakaya. Honen believed that
-Amida is sambhogakaya.
-~
- Sometimes we put our glasses in our pockets or on our heads and later we ask,
-"Where are my glasses?" This is quite common. We look everywhere else without
-finding our glasses. That is why we need the guru, who can say to us, "There
-are your glasses." That is all that the Mahamudra and Dzogchen teachers do:
-they simply point out. What they are pointing out is something that you
-already have. It is not something that they give you. They do not give you
-new glasses. They cannot afford to give you new glasses, but they can afford
-to point out where you can find your own glasses.
- When we receive pointing-out instructions from our root teacher, we are
-being introduced directly and nakedly to the reality of mind's nature. These
-instructions become very effective if we have prepared ourselves to receive
-them.
- ...Pointing-out is similar to pointing to the sky when it is very cloudy and
-saying to someone, "There is the blue sky." The person will look up and say,
-"Where?" You may reply, "It is there--behind the clouds." The person to whom
-you are pointing out the blue sky will not see it at first. However, if even
-a patch of blue sky appears, then you can say, "Look--the blue sky is like
-that." The person then gets a direct experience. He or she knows
-experientially that there is blue sky, which will be fully visible when the
-clouds are gone.
- -- The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
-In general, clear light is of two types--the objective clear light that is
-the subtle emptiness [of inherent existence], and the subjective clear light
-that is the wisdom consciousness realizing this emptiness.
- -- Lati Rinbochay, "Death, Intermediate State and Rebirth"
-~
- [At the time of Buddha, a farmer asked to be ordained as a monk. Shariputra
-did not see his merit. But, with a great, compassionate mind, the Buddha took
-his hand and said, "I will give you ordination. You do have a seed to attain
-arhatship...."]
- The Buddha explained, "Thousands and thousands of kalpas ago, this man was
-born as a fly. He was sitting on a pile of cow dung when a sudden rush of
-water caught the cow dung, along with the fly, and sent them into the river.
-Downstream, someone had placed a prayer wheel in the water, and that cow dung
-and fly swirled around and around it. Because of that circumambulation, this
-man now has a seed to attain arhatship in this lifetime."
- Cause and result are so subtle that only omniscient wisdom can perceive
-every detail. That is why we must be very careful that our actions are truly
-beneficial.
- Reciting just one mantra, protecting the life of even one small bug, giving
-a small thing--we should not ignore such actions by saying, "This is nothing;
-it makes no difference if I do it or not." Many small actions will gather and
-swell like the ocean. These are not merely Buddhist beliefs; these are the
-causes that create our world no matter who we are. Our study and practice
-give us the opportunity to understand this and to be sincere with ourselves
-even in small things.
- -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path",
- edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
- -- Isaac Asimov
-~
-What a blessing it would be if we could open and shut our ears as easily as we
-open and shut our eyes!
- -- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
-~
-Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an
-acquaintance, or a stranger.
- -- Franklin P. Jones
-~
-Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.
-Develop the mind of equilibrium. You will always be getting praise and blame,
-but do not let either affect the poise of the mind: follow the calmness, the
-absence of pride.
- -- Sutta Nipata
-~
-Whosoever has heard the law of virtue and vice is as one who has eyes and
-carries a lamp, seeing everything and will become completely wise.
- -- Buddha
-~
-...in Dzogchen, one applies specific practices in order to create a variety of
-sensations, so that the practitioner is more clearly enabled to distinguish
-the state of presence--which always remains the same--from the sensations
-which change according to the practice being carried out. This obviously
-enables one to 'no longer remain in doubt' as to what the state of pure
-presence is. The practices known as the twenty-one Semdzin found in the
-Dzogchen Mennagde, or Upadesha, series, have this particular function,
-enabling the practitioner to separate the ordinary, reasoning mind from the
-nature of the mind.
- -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra
- and Dzogchen", compiled and edited by John Shane, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-People often wonder how to reconcile the Buddha's teachings on non-attachment
-with those on love. How can we love others without being attached to them?
-Non-attachment is a balanced state of mind in which we cease overestimating
-others' qualities. By having a more accurate view of others, our unrealistic
-expectations fall away, as does our clinging. This leaves us open to loving
-others for who they are, instead of for what they do for us. Our hearts can
-open to care for everyone impartially, wishing everyone to be happy simply
-because he or she is a living being. The feeling of warmth that was
-previously reserved for a select few can now be expanded to a great number of
-people.
- -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
- Even in this world, and even now, there are said to be many hidden yogis or
-discreet yogis, called bepay naljor in Tibetan. It means those realized ones
-who are not generally recognized as great spiritual sages or saints, but have
-deeply tasted the fruit of enlightenment, and are living it. Perhaps they are
-anonymously doing their good works here among us right now!
- The infinite vast expanse is one's own inconceivable nature. Who can say
-who has realized it and who hasn't? When we travel around the world or
-experience other dimensions, there are so many beings who have tasted it. We
-can see it in their behavior, in their countenance, and in stories that are
-told--not just in the Dzogchen tradition or the Buddhist tradition, but in any
-tradition, and in our Western world too.
- This true nature is so vast and inconceivable that even some birds and
-animals and beings in other unseen dimensions can be said to have realized it,
-as in some of the ancient Indian Jataka stories and other teaching tales. It
-is always said that everything is the self-radiant display of the primordial
-Buddha Samantabhadra. There are infinite numbers of Buddhas and infinite
-numbers of beings. Who can say who is excluded from it?
- -- Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche and Lama Surya Das, "Natural Great Perfection:
- Dzogchen Teachings and Vajra Songs", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Many spiritual seekers are not yet ready to become the disciples of
-spiritual mentors. Their present levels of commitment may suit working only
-with Buddhism professors, Dharma instructors, or meditation or ritual
-trainers. Even if they are ready to commit themselves to the Buddhist path
-and to spiritual mentors, they may not yet have found properly qualified
-mentors. Alternatively, the spiritual teachers available to them may be
-properly qualified and may even have shown them great kindness. Yet, none
-seem right to be their mentors. They feel they can relate to them only as
-their Buddhism professors. Nevertheless, the Kadam style of guru-meditation
-may still help such seekers to gain inspiration from these teachers at the
-present stages of their spiritual paths.
- Unless our spiritual teachers are total charlatans or complete scoundrels,
-all of them have at least some good qualities and exhibit at least some level
-of kindness. Our Buddhism professors, Dharma instructors, or meditation or
-ritual trainers may lack the qualities of great spiritual mentors. Still,
-they have some knowledge of the Dharma, some insight from applying the Dharma
-to life, or some technical expertise in the practice. Our teachers are kind
-to instruct us, even if their motivations contain the wish to earn a living.
-If we correctly discern and acknowledge whatever qualities and levels of
-kindness that our professors, instructors, or trainers in fact possess, we may
-derive inspiration, through guru-meditation, by focusing on them with
-conviction and appreciation.
- -- Dr. Alexander Berzin, "Wise Teacher, Wise Student: Tibetan Approaches to
- a Healthy Relationship", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- A tenth-century Bengali pandita named Palden Atisha reintroduced Buddhism
-into Tibet. He had a servant who was really awful. He was abusive to Atisha,
-disobedient, and generally a big problem. The Tibetans asked Atisha what he
-was doing with such an awful guy who was so completely obnoxious. They said,
-"Send him back. We'll take care of you." Atisha replied, "What are you
-talking about? He is my greatest teacher of patience. He is the most
-precious person around me!"
- Patience does not mean suppression, and it doesn't mean bottling up our
-anger or turning it in on ourselves in the form of self-blame. It means
-having a mind which sees everything that happens as the result of causes and
-conditions we have set in motion at some time in this or past lives. Who
-knows what our relationship has been with someone who is causing us
-difficulties now? Who knows what we have have done to him in another life!
-If we respond to such people with retaliation, we are just locking ourselves
-into that same cycle. We are going to have to keep replaying this part of
-the movie again and again in this and future lifetimes. The only way to break
-out of the cycle is by changing our attitude.
- -- "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical Buddhism by
- Venerable Tenzin Palmo", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-[Understanding through the merging of sound and meaning takes place when one
-immediately understands the meaning of a teaching through hearing the sound of
-the words.]
-
- One might ask what these words are in the key instructions on the Three
-Words That Strike the Vital Point. The sound and the word are the same. For
-example, the word "mother" can be understood as indicating someone who is very
-kind. If one says "mother," the meaning of what that word expresses is
-pointed out. What is known as "the three words" is like that.
- What are the three words? "View," "meditation," and "action." What does it
-mean to "strike the vital point" with these three words? If one wants to kill
-a man and strikes his heart with a weapon, the man will not live another hour.
-He will die immediately. What vital point do these three words strike? Just
-as oil is present in a mustard seed, all of us, all sentient beings, have
-buddha nature. Though it is present, we do not recognize it, because our
-minds are obscured by delusions. When, as a result of the view, meditation,
-and action, we come to recognize these delusions, we can get rid of them in a
-moment. In one day sentient beings can be transformed into buddhas--that is
-the ultimate view, meditation, and action of dzogchen. Such a power of
-transformation is called "striking the vital point."
- -- Dilgo Khyentse, "The Collected Works of Dilgo Khyentse", edited by
- Matthieu Ricard and Vivian Kurz, excerpt from Volume 3: "Primordial
- Purity", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- If we can attain nondual, nonconceptual awareness in meditation, we are
-engaged in profound political activity, even though we may lose this awareness
-during the times we are not formally meditating (the buddha's awareness in
-post-meditation is the same as during meditation). Meditating in nondual,
-nonconceptual awareness, which is meditating on the dharmadhatu, immediately
-begins systematically to destroy in ourselves the structure of dualistic
-consciousness with all its attendant cognitive obscurations and emotional
-affiictions. From the standpoint of duality, since this dualistic
-consciousness also involves other sentient beings as the other pole of our
-duality, our activity in dissolving this consciousness has a profound impact
-on them as well.
- While our nondualistic, nonconceptual meditation is purifying our own
-obscurations and afflictions and thereby transforming our personal experience
-of others, it is also becoming a spark of buddha activity in those others. As
-our meditation becomes effective, the attitude of others towards us begins to
-change, and they themselves begin to turn inward and to search with greater
-conscientiousness through the stuff of their own minds and lives for spiritual
-solutions to their own problems. And as the power of our meditation
-increases, this effect reaches ever-widening concentric circles of sentient
-beings with whom we have karmic interdependence, which in this day and age
-includes not only our immediate family and friends, working associates, and
-local communities, but also everyone with whom we are connected through all
-the media of our lives.
- --Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "The Ninth Karmapa's Ocean of Definitive
- Meaning", edited, introduced and annotated by Lama Tashi Namgyal,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and courage.
-Realization doesn't grow within a timid or weak state of mind--it blossoms in
-the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless. When we see
-the true nature of reality, there's nothing hidden, nothing left to fear. At
-last we're seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.
- ...Thinking of Tara will bring total calm, peace, and protection from all
-fears and all frightening situations. Tara's practice removes the two
-obscurations: negative emotions and subtle conceptual thinking. It will
-increase the two merits: accumulation merit and wisdom merit. From the moment
-you start praying to and practicing Tara, your life will be always under the
-protection of the Great Mother. From then on rebirth in the lower realms will
-be prevented. If you do this prayer for others, it will bring them the same
-benefits; it will protect them in their lifetimes as well as uproot future
-births in the lower realms. So there is great benefit.
- -- Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal in "Tara's Enlightened
- Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one Praises to Tara'",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and courage.
-Realization doesn't grow within a timid or weak state of mind--it blossoms in
-the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless. When we see
-the true nature of reality, there's nothing hidden, nothing left to fear. At
-last we're seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.
- ...Thinking of Tara will bring total calm, peace, and protection from all
-fears and all frightening situations. Tara's practice removes the two
-obscurations: negative emotions and subtle conceptual thinking. It will
-increase the two merits: accumulation merit and wisdom merit. From the moment
-you start praying to and practicing Tara, your life will be always under the
-protection of the Great Mother. From then on rebirth in the lower realms will
-be prevented. If you do this prayer for others, it will bring them the same
-benefits; it will protect them in their lifetimes as well as uproot future
-births in the lower realms. So there is great benefit.
- -- Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal in "Tara's Enlightened
- Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one Praises to Tara'",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-6. Meditation on the Buddha
- Begin by observing your breath for a few minutes to calm the mind.
- Think of the qualities of infinite love, compassion, wisdom, skillful means,
-and other wonderful qualities you aspire to develop. What would it feel like
-to have those qualities? Get a sense of the expansiveness and peace of having
-a wise and kind heart that reaches out impartially to work for the benefit of
-all beings.
- Those qualities of love, compassion, wisdom, skillful means, and so on now
-appear in the physical form of the Buddha, in the space in front of you. He
-sits on an open lotus flower, and flat sun and moon disks. His body is made
-of radiant, transparent light, as is the entire visualization. His body is
-golden and he wears the robes of a monk. His right palm rests on his right
-knee and his left is in his lap, holding a bowl of nectar, which is medicine
-to cure our afflictions and other hindrances. The Buddha's face is very
-beautiful. His smiling, compassionate gaze looks at you with total acceptance
-and simultaneously encompasses all sentient beings. His eyes are long,
-narrow, and peaceful. His lips are red and his earlobes long.
- Rays of light emanate from each pore of the Buddha's body and reach every
-part of the universe. These rays carry countless miniature Buddhas, some
-going out to help beings, others dissolving back into the Buddha after having
-finished their work.
- The Buddha is surrounded by the entire lineage of spiritual teachers, all
-meditational deities, innumerable other Buddhas, bodhisattvas, arhats, dakas,
-dakinis, and Dharma protectors. To the side of each spiritual master is an
-elegant table upon which are arranged volumes of Dharma teachings.
- Surrounding you are all sentient beings appearing in human form, with your
-mother on your left and your father on your right. The people you do not get
-along with are in front of you. All of you are looking to the Buddha for
-guidance.
- -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the
- Path", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- If we investigate on a deeper level, we will find that when enemies inflict
-harm on us, we can actually feel gratitude toward them. Such situations
-provide us with rare opportunities to put to test our own practice of
-patience. It is a precious occasion to practice not only patience but the
-other bodhisattva ideals as well. As a result, we have the opportunity to
-accumulate merit in these situations and to receive the benefits thereof.
- The poor enemy, on the other hand, because of the negative action of
-inflicting harm on someone out of anger and hatred, must eventually face the
-negative consequences of his or her own actions. It is almost as if the
-perpetrators of the harm sacrifice themselves for the sake of our benefit.
-Since the merit accumulated from the practice of patience was possible only
-because of the opportunity provided us by our enemy, strictly speaking, we
-should dedicate our merit to the benefit of that enemy. This is why the Guide
-to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life speaks of the kindness of the enemy.
- --Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
-~
- If our practice does not diminish self-grasping, or perhaps even enhances
-it, then no matter how austere and determined we are, no matter how many hours
-a day we devote to learning, reflection, and meditation, our spiritual
-practice is in vain.
- A close derivative of self-grasping is the feeling of self-importance. Such
-arrogance or pride is a very dangerous pitfall for people practicing Dharma.
-Especially in Tibetan Buddhism, with its many levels of practice, the exalted
-aspirations of the bodhisattva path, and the mystery surrounding initiation
-into tantra, we may easily feel part of an elite. Moreover, the philosophy of
-Buddhism is so subtly refined and so penetrating that, as we gain an
-understanding of it, this also can give rise to intellectual pride.
- But if these are the results of the practice, then something has gone awry.
-Recall the well-known saying among Tibetan Buddhists that a pot with a little
-water in it makes a loud noise when shaken, but a pot full of water makes no
-noise at all.
- People with very little realization often want to tell everyone about the
-insights they have experienced, the bliss and subtleties of their meditation,
-and how it has radically transformed their life. But those who are truly
-steeped in realization do not feel compelled to advertise it, and instead
-simply dwell in that realization. They are concerned not to describe their
-own progress, but to direct the awareness of others to ways in which their own
-hearts and minds can be awakened.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
- Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- What is method, within the context of the unity of method and wisdom? It is
-a dedicated heart of bodhichitta, based on love and compassion. It apprehends
-its object, enlightenment, with the intention to achieve it in order to
-benefit others. Compassion, as its basis, apprehends its object, the
-suffering of others, with the wish to remove it.
- Wisdom, on the other hand, is a correct view that understands voidness--the
-absence of fantasized, impossible ways of existing. Even if it is aimed at
-the same object as method, it apprehends that object as not existing in an
-impossible way.
- The ways wisdom and compassion each apprehend their object are not at all
-the same. Therefore, we need to actualize these two, as method and wisdom,
-first separately and then together.
- Even if we speak about the mahamudra* that is method and wisdom, inseparable
-by nature in the ultimate tantric sense, the first stage for its realization
-is understanding the abiding nature of reality.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
- Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- In Buddhism we speak of three types of phenomena: First, there are evident
-phenomena that are perceived directly.
- Second, there are slightly hidden phenomena, which are not accessible to
-immediate perception. There are differences of opinion on this even within
-Buddhist philosophy. Generally speaking, we think this second type of
-phenomena can be known indirectly by inference.
- One example of something known by inference is that anything arising in
-dependence upon causes and conditions is itself subject to disintegration and
-momentary change. This momentary change is not immediately evident to your
-senses. You can look at something with your eyes, and it does not appear to
-be changing right now, but by inference you can know that it is momentarily
-changing. This is an example of the second category of phenomena.
- Third, there are very concealed phenomena, which cannot be known by either
-of the two preceding methods. They can be known only by relying upon
-testimony of someone such as the Buddha.
- -- "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on
- Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand, Robert B.
- Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in
-magnificent glow, than asleep and permanent as a planet.
- -- Jack London
-~
- Sometimes our life can feel devoid of meaning even though we may try in
-different ways to put meaning into it.... Meaning comes when we go deeply
-within, wait, listen, and open. It begins to come when we genuinely open to
-the suffering of those around us with a compassionate heart. Equally, it
-comes as we respond to the environment within which we live with care and
-concern.
- The meaning or purpose to be found in bodhichitta is less associated with
-what we do than with the quality we bring to what we engage in. Small, simple
-aspects of our life can be profoundly meaningful and have deep impact both for
-ourselves and others. Meaning lies in the quality of heart that we put into
-what we do.
- It is not, therefore, the outer manifestation of what we can achieve that is
-the root of meaning. It is the undercurrent of bodhichitta's intention or
-purpose and meaning that flows within. What bodhichitta implies is that in
-attuning to our buddha nature or buddha potential, we touch a source of
-meaning in ourselves that will come through whatever we do.
- This root of meaning gives the bodhisattva the capacity to live a relatively
-ordinary life and transform adverse circumstances into the path. Even small
-things become meaningful, like the way we respond to someone's distress or a
-gesture of friendliness that lifts someone's day. This deeper sense of
-purpose is reflected in the care we give to our relationships and the
-environment.
- Being present and responsive to what arises may mean that the eventual goal
-of our sense of purpose is less crucial. We are seldom, if ever, able to see
-fully where our path will take us, and once we are open to the meaning present
-in bodhichitta, the ego must surrender ambitions and allow the journey to
-unfold.
- -- Rob Preece, "The Courage to Feel: Buddhist Practices for Opening to
- Others", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- We have to admit impermanence into our lives. It's important to live with
-impermanence as a frame of reference so that we can approach each moment or
-each day with a sense of humility about what we are able to do and what we are
-not able to do and relinquish control over things we cannot have control over.
-It is important to live as if things are as permanent as stone.
- You have to invest yourself in love and concern for people, accept people's
-love as if that's the only thing that exists. The commitment to living as if
-everything is always there forever with the acceptance that nothing is going
-to survive.
- --David Hodge and Hi-Jin Kang Hodge, "Impermanence: Embracing Change",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-We are the people our parents warned us about. -- Jimmy Buffett
-~
-To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid,
-you must also be well-mannered.
- -- Voltaire
-~
-I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth.
- -- Carl Sandburg
-~
-Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time.
-Hatred ceases through love.
-This is an unalterable law.
- -- Shakyamuni Buddha
-~
- The Tibetan controversies about instantaneous enlightenment through
-recognition of the nature of the mind have been studied by David Jackson.
-As he shows, it is mainly members of the Kagyu traditions in Tibet who have
-maintained this doctrine, although it is certainly common in Chinese Ch'an
-Buddhism and in the teachings of the Great Perfection in Tibet. Dolpopa
-quotes the position that is the object of his refutation: "Recognizing the
-very essence naturally purifies them, without rejection." This expresses the
-view that through recognition of the essence of the thoughts as the dharmakaya
-they are purified or dissolved into the dharmakaya, and also the idea that any
-affliction that arises is actually a manifestation or self-presencing of
-primordial awareness itself. Thus there is no need to reject thoughts or
-afflictions, which are naturally purified by means of the recognition. This
-type of viewpoint is widespread in Tibetan Buddhism.
- In contrast to these views, Dolpopa claims that the definition of an
-ordinary sentient being or a buddha, and of samsara or nirvana, is determined
-by the presence or absence of the incidental and temporary obscurations that
-veil the true nature of reality. It is not determined solely by recognition
-of the nature of the mind or the thoughts.
- ...While the ground buddhahood of the dharmakaya and the resultant
-buddhahood of the dharmakaya have not the slightest difference in essence,
-they are distinguished as ground and result by means of the presence or
-absence of incidental stains.
- -- Cyrus Stearns, "The Buddha from Dolpo: A Study of the Life and Thought
- of the Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen", a Tsadra Foundation
- Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- We live in an ocean of cyclic existence whose depth and extent cannot be
-measured. We are troubled again and again by the afflictions of desire and
-hatred as if repeatedly attacked by sharks.
- Our mental and physical aggregates are impelled by former contaminated
-actions and afflictions and serve as a basis for present suffering as well as
-inducing future suffering. While such cyclic existence lasts, we have various
-thoughts of pleasure and displeasure: 'If I do this, what will people think?
-If I do not do this, I will be too late; I won't make any profit.' When we see
-something pleasant we think, 'Oh, if I could only have that!'
- ...Day and night, night and day we spend our lives in the company of the
-afflictions, generating desire for the pleasant and anger at the unpleasant,
-and continue thus even when dreaming, unable to remain relaxed, our minds
-completely and utterly mixed with thoughts of desire and hatred without
-interruption.
- To what refuge should we go? A source of refuge must have completely
-overcome all defects forever; it must be free of all faults. It must also
-have all the attributes of altruism--those attainments which are necessary for
-achieving others' welfare. For it is doubtful that anyone lacking these two
-prerequisites can bestow refuge; it would be like falling into a ditch and
-asking another who is in it to help you out. You need to ask someone who is
-standing outside the ditch for help; it is senseless to ask another who is in
-the same predicament. A refuge capable of protecting from the frights of
-manifold sufferings cannot also be bound in this suffering but must be free
-and unflawed.
- Furthermore, the complete attainments are necessary, for if you have fallen
-into a ditch, it is useless to seek help from someone standing outside it who
-does not wish to help or who wishes to help but has no means to do so.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- If we were forced to choose between a sense of practical application and
-learnedness, a sense of practical application would be more important, for one
-who has this will receive the full benefit of whatever he knows. The mere
-learnedness of one whose mind is not tamed can produce and increase bad states
-of consciousness, which cause unpleasantness for himself and others instead of
-the happiness and peace of mind that were intended. One could become jealous
-of those higher than oneself, competitive with equals and proud and
-contemptuous towards those lower and so forth. It is as if medicine had
-become poison.
- Because such danger is great, it is very important to have a composite of
-learnedness, a sense of practical application and goodness, without having
-learnedness destroy the sense of practical application or having the sense of
-practical application destroy learnedness.
- -- The Dalai Lama, "A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
- About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword
- by Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- A bodhisattva, having generated a sincere and spontaneous desire to attain
-full enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, enters the Mahayana
-path of accumulation. Here the bodhisattva cultivates the four mindfulnesses
-and develops mental quiescence, then passes on to the path of application,
-where she or he strives for a conceptual insight into emptiness. When
-quiescence and insight are combined in examining emptiness, the bodhisattva
-attains a direct, non-conceptual realization of emptiness, and thus becomes an
-arya, on the path of seeing.
- The path of seeing corresponds to the first of the ten bhumis, i.e. stages,
-levels, or grounds said to be traversed by a bodhisattva. The other nine
-bodhisattva stages are coextensive with the path of development, during the
-course of which the disciple completely eliminates not only the defilements
-that are obstacles to liberation but even the traces of defilement, which are
-obstacles to full enlightenment.
- When the path of development is completed, the disciple is ready to enter
-the path of no-more-training; this marks the attainment of full enlightenment,
-the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya of an omniscient, compassionate,
-and powerful buddha.
- -- Geshe Lhundub Sopa, Roger Jackson, John Newman, "The Wheel of Time: The
- Kalachakra in Context", edited by Beth Simon, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-"If you fear you are running after the objects of the six senses, hold
-yourself with the hook:"
- 'Employ the watchman that is mindfulness.'
-
- Someone who has been captured with a hook has no option but to go wherever
-he is led. In the same way, if we catch hold of our mind--which risks being
-distracted by the objects of the six senses--with the hook of mindfulness, and
-with vigilance and carefulness, this will be of enormous benefit. We should
-use this watchman to constantly check how many positive or negative thoughts
-and actions we produce during the day. When we are able to control our minds
-through mindfulness, everything that appears in samsara and nirvana becomes an
-aid in our practice and serves to confirm the meaning of the teachings. All
-appearances are understood as being dharmakaya. We perceive everything in its
-natural purity, and there is nothing we can call impure.
- -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Zurchungpa's Testament: A Commentary on
- Zurchung Sherab Trakpa's 'Eighty Chapters of Personal Advice'", based on
- Shechen Gyaltsap's Annotated Edition, translated by the Padmakara
- Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-A committee can make a decision that is dumber than any of its members.
- -- David Coblitz
-~
-Art is science made clear. -- Jean Cocteau
-~
-A specification that will not fit on one page of 8.5x11 inch paper
-cannot be understood.
- -- Mark Ardis
-~
-A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff
-that nature replaces it with.
- -- Tennessee Williams
-~
-The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all of your time.
- -- Willem de Kooning
-~
- We need to understand the essential nature of the broad diversity of
-phenomena. For example, if we are obliged to be involved frequently with a
-man who exhibits a personality that is true only on the surface, as well as
-another basic personality, it is important for us to know both of them. To
-engage in a relationship with this person that does not go awry, we must know
-both aspects of his personality. To know only the facade that he presents is
-insufficient; we need to know his basic disposition and abilities. Then we
-can know what to expect from him; and he will not deceive us.
- Likewise, the manifold events in the world are not non-existent; they do
-exist. They are able to help and hurt us--no further criterion for existence
-is necessary. If we do not understand their fundamental mode of existence, we
-are liable to be deceived, just as in the case of being involved with a person
-whose basic personality we do not know.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom", translated, edited and
- annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- One has to be cautious when one is very successful since at that time there
-is danger of becoming prideful and becoming involved in the non-religious, and
-one has to be cautious also when one has undergone lack of success and so
-forth since there is a danger of becoming discouraged--the life of the mind,
-so to speak, dying--due to which harm to one's practice could be incurred.
- ...Specifically, in situations of low self-esteem, Shantideva recommends
-reflection this way:
- "Even very tiny bugs and worms have the Buddha nature and thus, when they
- encounter certain conditions, through the power of effort they can achieve
- the non-abiding nirvana of a Buddha. Now, I have been born as a human with
- the capacity to understand what is to be adopted in practice and what is to
- be discarded; thus, there is no reason for me to be discouraged. The great
- saints and so forth of the past who achieved a high level were people with
- a life-basis such as I have, not something separate."
- Through such reflection, a resurgence of will can be generated.
- -- "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace by
- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso", translated and edited by
- Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-When we understand the evolution of our unsatisfactory experiences in cyclic
-existence, we will see that meditating on emptiness is their antidote. All
-knowable things--people and phenomena--appear to our minds to be inherently
-existent. We then grasp at them as existing inherently. Our inappropriate
-attention focuses on them, and that gives rise to the various disturbing
-attitudes of anger, attachment, and so on. These disturbing attitudes
-motivate our actions, which in turn leave karmic imprints on our mindstreams.
-When these imprints ripen, we meet with suffering.
- -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
- Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
- Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The essential point about this condition of potentiality is that, although
-there is a causal relationship between the physical world and the world of
-mental phenomena, in terms of their own continuum one cannot be said to be the
-cause of the other. A mental phenomenon, such as a thought or an emotion,
-must come from a preceding mental phenomenon; likewise, a particle of matter
-must come from a preceding particle of matter.
- Of course, there is an intimate relationship between the two. We know that
-mental states can influence material phenomena, such as the body; and,
-similarly, that material phenomena can act as contributory factors for certain
-subjective experiences. This is something that we can observe in our lives.
-Much of our gross level of consciousness is very closely connected to our
-body, and in fact we often use terminology and conventions which reflect this.
- For example, when we say 'human mind' or 'human consciousness' we are using
-the human body as the basis to define a particular mind state. Likewise, at
-the gross levels of mind such as our sensory experiences, it is very obvious
-that these are heavily dependent upon our body and some physiological states.
-When a part of our body is hurt or damaged, for instance, we immediately
-experience the impact on our mental state. Nevertheless, the principle
-remains that mental phenomena must come from preceding phenomena of the same
-kind, and so on.
- If we trace mental phenomena back far enough, as in the case of an
-individual's life, we come to the first instant of consciousness in this life.
-Once we have traced its continuum to this point of beginning, we then have
-three options: we can either say that the first instant of consciousness in
-this life must come from a preceding instant of consciousness which existed in
-the previous life. Or we can say that this first instant of consciousness
-came from nowhere--it just sort of 'popped up'. Or we can say that it came
-from a material cause.
- From the Buddhist point of view, the last two alternatives are deeply
-problematic. The Buddhist understanding is that, in terms of its continuum,
-consciousness or mind is beginningless. Mental phenomena are beginningless.
-Therefore, the person or the being--which is essentially a designation based
-on the continuum of the mind--is also devoid of beginning.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-If someone wants a sheep, then that means that he exists.
- -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
-~
-If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one? -- Abraham Lincoln
-~
-There is something about the outside of a horse
-that is good for the inside of a man.
- -- Sir Winston Churchill
-~
- Life is a party on death row. Recognizing mortality means we are willing to
-see what is true. Seeing what is true is grounding. It brings us into the
-present and, eventually, into presence. It also brings us into our bodies,
-especially if we combine meditation on impermanence with an energetic
-awareness at the base of the spine. At first, the important thing about
-impermanence seems to be the limited time we have in this precious life. This
-is crucial and foundational, and yet it is not the whole story.
- The teachings on impermanence concern the death of a self that never
-existed. Our sense of such a false and finite self, which initially is
-inseparable from our wish to practice, can dissolve. Understanding
-impermanence, Khetsun Rinpoche says, will lead you into the natural clarity of
-your own mind. To know impermanence is thus not only a path leading to what
-Dzogchen traditions speak of as "unbounded wholeness" (thigle nyag cig), it is
-also integral to that wholeness.
- -- Anne C. Klein, "Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse: A Story of
- Transmission", foreword by Adzom Paylo Rinpoche, preface by Tulku
- Thondup Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Now, you see, world peace through mental peace is an absolute. It is the
-ultimate goal. But as for the method, there are many factors that must be
-taken into consideration. Under a particular set of circumstances, a certain
-approach may be useful while under other circumstances another may be useful.
-This is a very complicated issue which compels us to study the situation at a
-particular point of time. We must take into account the other side's
-motivation, etc., so it is a very complex matter.
- But we must always keep in mind that all of us want happiness. War, on the
-other hand, only brings suffering--that is very clear. Even if we are
-victorious, that victory means sacrificing many people. It means their
-suffering. Therefore, the important thing is peace. But how do we achieve
-peace? Is it done through hatred, through extreme competition, through anger?
-It is obvious that through these means it is impossible to achieve any form of
-lasting world peace. Hence, the only alternative is to achieve world peace
-through mental peace, through peace of mind. World peace is achieved based
-only on a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, on the basis of compassion.
-The clear, genuine realization of the oneness of all mankind is something
-important. It is something we definitely need. Wherever I go, I always
-express these views.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
- edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-koan for dependency inversion:
-
- High-level modules should not depend upon low-level modules.
- Both should depend upon abstractions.
-
- Abstractions should not depend upon details.
- Details should depend upon abstractions.
-~
-People harm others only when they are unhappy. No one wakes up in the morning
-and says, "I feel so great today! I think I'll go out and harm someone!" When
-we can allow ourselves to know the depth of the pain and confusion felt by
-those who have harmed us, compassion--the wish that they be free from such
-suffering--can easily arise. Thinking in this way does not mean whitewashing
-or denying harm that was done. Rather, we acknowledge it, but go beyond
-amassing resentment, because we know that grudges help neither ourselves nor
-others.
- -- Thubten Chodron, "Working with Anger", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The reason why the qualities of a teacher are described at such length in
-the scriptures is because we should know what to look for when seeking a guru
-capable of opening up the Buddhist paths within us. To take up training under
-an unqualified teacher can be disastrous. It is said in the tantric
-scriptures that one is not unwise to examine a guru for twelve years before
-accepting that person as one's teacher. The choice of teachers is an
-important one and must be made carefully.
- Not only does the guru perform the work of the Buddhas and thus equal them
-in activity, in terms of kindness the guru surpasses them. Of all Buddhas of
-the past who have manifested as universal teachers, it is said that Buddha
-Shakyamuni is kindest to us; for it is with his teachings that we have come
-into contact...even though Buddha Shakyamuni is most kind of the past Buddhas,
-still we are unable to receive teachings from him or witness his inspiring
-presence.
- Were all the Buddhas and lineage masters of the past to manifest before us
-at this very moment, we would not be able to recognize them as enlightened
-beings. Due to our not having a sufficiently strong karmic connection with
-them, they would be unable to affect us. The guru performs the great kindness
-of coming to us in an ordinary form which we can perceive and to which we can
-relate, and carries out the work of the Buddhas in our lives. The fact that a
-donkey like us is brought into the family of spiritual beings is purely due to
-the kindness of the guru. The Buddhas can only come to us through him or her.
-Thus if we do not respect the guru and heed his or her teachings, what hope do
-we have? We should meditate upon the guru's unexcelled kindness and give
-birth to profound appreciation.
- The reason why we have been wandering unceasingly in cyclic existence since
-time immemorial is because we have not met a spiritual master before; or even
-if we have met one we did not cultivate an effective relationship with him or
-her. We should determine to take the opportunities afforded by our present
-human situation and cultivate a spiritual practice under the guidance of a
-master.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
- by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-There was once a Spartan boy,
-who, one night, stole a fox.
-In order not to be caught,
-he hid it under his cloak.
-He stood stock still as his
-elder looked him over,
-but all the while the fox
-chewed away at his insides.
-The boy bit his lip against
-the pain until he inevitably fell,
-dead to the ground.
- -- Plutarch
-~
-An exalting task for all humankind
- The West is fascinated by efficiency. And there is no doubt that in many
-areas its efficiency is quite admirable. That is why I would like to ask this
-question, which seems natural to me: why not apply this technical efficiency
-to protect all forms of life? This would be an exalting task for all
-humankind, especially as we seem to lack a truly large-scale project or ideal.
-It is difficult, yet it is absolutely necessary. If the question of human
-survival is not solved, there will be nobody left to solve the problem. And
-Buddhism can help here.
- -- "The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner Peace: The Essential Life and
- Teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama"
-~
- If you continue to practice meditation, then your experience will gradually
-increase and there will be greater and greater stability and greater and
-greater lucidity. However, the experiences that can arise in meditation can
-take various different forms. And in spite of the fact that the person has a
-real recognition of the mind's nature, there is still the possibility or
-probability of fluctuation in experience even after that.
- Sometimes you may feel that you have amazing, tremendous meditation, and at
-other times you may feel that you have no meditation at all. This
-characterizes meditation experience, which fluctuates a great deal.
-Realization, which is distinct from experience, does not change, but
-experiences can fluctuate a great deal or alternate between good and bad.
-There will still be times when you will have what you regard as good
-experiences and, in contrast, what you regard as bad experiences. When that
-occurs, just keep on looking. Don't get distracted or sidetracked by the
-experience. Whatever meditation experience arises, you should recognize that
-it is transitory. As is said, "meditation experience is like mist, it will
-surely vanish."
- Experiences are different from the actual fact of the recognition itself.
-Because they are ephemeral experiences, they aren't worth investing in. So if
-you have a bad meditation experience, do not be alarmed, because it too will
-vanish. If you have a good meditation experience, you need to continue; if
-you have a bad meditation experience, you need to continue. In either case,
-you simply need to continue to rest in this recognition of the mind's nature.
- -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Pointing Out the Dharmakaya", published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The person witnessing another person's suffering has only one appropriate
-response: "How can I help?" When karma comes to fruition and causes suffering,
-the response should never be, "This is your karma. It's your destiny, so I
-can't help." Your own karma may very well present itself as an opportunity to
-help a suffering person. Misunderstanding actions and their consequences can
-be disastrous.
- From the Buddhist perspective, the type of fortune we encounter, happiness
-or sorrow, is not due to somebody doing something to us. If I win the
-lottery, it is not because Buddha selected me for a bonus. No god or buddha
-is responsible for what happens to us....This does not imply that a suffering
-person is morally degenerate any more than suffering the consequences of
-eating contaminated food does. The suffering we experience is due to karma
-accumulated under the influence of delusion and mental afflictions. This is
-true for all sentient beings.
- The Buddhist response to the non-virtues we all commit while strapped to the
-wheel of samsara can be inspiring and encouraging. The Buddhist teaching is
-that it is possible to neutralize negative karmic seeds embedded in the stream
-of consciousness. Deeds cannot be undone, but it is possible to purify one's
-mind-stream so that the impact of karmic seeds will be nullified.
- The method used to purify the mind-stream is the "four remedial powers"
-[remorse, reliance, resolve, and purification]. The metaphor for the
-effectiveness of the four remedial powers is that of burning a seed. Karma,
-like a seed, can be scorched in the fire of purification so that it will not
-sprout. The seed won't vanish, but it will not sprout.
- -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
- Mind Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- ...it is said that through the power of believing one's own body, speech,
-and mind to be undifferentiable from the deity's exalted body, speech, and
-mind all one's physical actions and movements are seals and all one's speech
-is mantra. In this way the Vajrapani Initiation Tantra says:
- "A son or daughter of lineage* who has seen a mandala, who generates the
-mind of enlightenment, who is compassionate, skilled in means and in teaching
-the ways of letters--the door of Secret Mantra--should think thus, 'Separate
-from speech, there is no mind. Separate from mind, there is no speech.
-Separate from mind, there is no divine form. Mind itself is speech; speech
-itself is mind; divine form itself is also mind, and speech itself is also
-divine form.'
- "If a mantra practitioner believes in this way that these are
-undifferentiable, he attains purity of mind. At those times when he has a
-pure mind, he always views in all ways his own body to be the same as the
-deity's body, his own speech to be the same as the deity's speech, and his own
-mind to be the same as the deity's mind; then, he is in meditative equipoise."
-* One who is a suitable vessel for the teaching.
- -- "Deity Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", by His Holiness the Dalai
- Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-My fellow Americans. As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball, but
-tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward, upward not forward,
-and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom.
- -- Kodos gives a speech, "Treehouse of Horror VII"
-~
- Mind is empty like an illusion;
- Separate from body, it cannot achieve.
- Body also is like a wall;
- Separate from mind it is without activity.
- Similarly the yoga of seals....
- --Shriparamadhya
-
- Mind separate from body cannot openly display activities; body separate from
-mind is the same. Rather, actions must be done upon the aggregation of mind
-and body. Just so, here when practicing techniques for transforming basic--or
-ordinary--body, speech, mind, and activities into those of the fruit stage of
-Buddhahood, it is necessary both to cultivate (1) internal meditative
-stabilization on a divine body, on a vajra on a moon disc at the heart, on a
-seed syllable on a vajra in the throat, and on a vajra at the heart, and (2)
-at the same time to construct the appropriate gesture, or seal, with the
-hands. These must be done in unison, for it is said in Yoga Tantra ritual
-texts that if you fail to construct seals with the hands, the rite is
-nullified. Unlike on other occasions, it is not just that if the hand-seals
-are constructed, it is better, but if not, there is no fault of nullifying the
-rite. Here, they must be done.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
- to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Following the Vajrayana teachings, we do not give up or reject anything;
-rather we make use of whatever is there. We look at our negative emotions and
-accept them for what they are. Then we relax in this state of acceptance.
-Using the emotion itself, it is transformed or transmuted into the positive,
-into its true face.
- When, for instance, strong anger or desire arises, a Vajrayana practitioner
-is not afraid of it. Instead he or she would follow advice along the
-following lines: Have the courage to expose yourself to your emotions. Do not
-reject or suppress them, but do not follow them either. Just look your
-emotion directly in the eye and then try to relax within the very emotion
-itself. There is no confrontation involved. You don't do anything.
-Remaining detached, you are neither carried away by emotion nor do you reject
-it as something negative. Then, you can look at your emotions almost casually
-and be rather amused.
- When our usual habit of magnifying our feelings and our fascination
-resulting from that are gone, there will be no negativity and no fuel. We can
-relax within them. What we are trying to do, therefore, is to skillfully and
-subtly deal with our emotions. This is largely equivalent to the ability of
-exerting discipline.
- -- Ringu Tulku, "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha", edited and
- translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Although we did not have the fortune to see Buddha Shakyamuni himself in
-person, we do have the great fortune of having access to his own precious
-teachings, which is actually superior to seeing him in person. The same is
-the case with masters like Nagarjuna and his immediate disciples. If we make
-the necessary effort, and undertake the practice and study, we can fully enjoy
-a benefit equal to that of having met them in person.
- ...So visualize in space, in front of you, all the exalted masters,
-including Buddha Shakyamuni, Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, eighty mahasiddhas, the
-Nyingma masters, Atisha, the Kadampa masters, the five great masters of the
-Sakya tradition, the lineages of Lamdre practice, the great masters of the
-Kagyu lineage, such as Marpa, Milarepa, and also the great masters of the
-Gelugpa lineage, Lama Tsongkhapa, and all of their followers.
- Around you also are the protectors who have taken the oath in the presence
-of Buddha Shakyamuni to safeguard and protect the precious doctrine of Buddha.
-Visualize as well the harmful spirits--actually an embodiment of your own
-delusions--from which you are being protected by the guardians. Also
-visualize various emanations of the buddhas actively working for the benefit
-of all living beings. Surrounding you are all sentient beings...undergoing
-the sufferings of their individual realms of existence. Now generate a strong
-force of compassion directed towards all these sentient beings, particularly
-your enemies.
- Having created this mental image, question yourself as to how all these
-objects of refuge, the buddhas and the masters of the past, achieved such a
-high state of realization and reached a state where they can provide
-protection to all living beings. You will find that it is because of their
-having made effort in the practice of dharma in general and, in particular,
-the practice of bodhicitta*. Think as follows: "I shall, from today, follow
-in the footsteps of these great masters, and take the initiative of generating
-bodhicitta."
- * The aspiration to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all beings.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves.
- -- Gandhi
-~
-I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire
-to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
- -- E.B. White
-~
- The question then is "How do we cultivate and develop this bodhicitta, the
-mind of enlightenment?" The key, and the root, is great compassion.
-Compassion here refers to a state of mind that makes it utterly unbearable for
-us to see the suffering of other sentient beings. The way to develop this is
-through understanding how we feel about our own suffering. When we become
-conscious of our own suffering, we have a spontaneous wish to be free from it.
-If we are able to extend that feeling to all other beings, through realizing
-the common instinctive desire we all have to avoid and overcome suffering,
-then that state of mind is called 'great compassion'.
- All of us have the potential to develop that kind of compassion, because
-whenever we see people who are suffering, especially those close to us, we
-immediately feel empathy towards them, and witness a spontaneous response
-within our minds. So all we have to do is to bring that potential out, and
-then to develop it to become so impartial that it can include all sentient
-beings within its embrace, whether friend or foe.
- To cultivate this great compassion within ourselves, first of all we need to
-develop what is called loving-kindness, a feeling of connectedness or
-closeness with all living creatures. This closeness and intimacy should not
-be confused with the kind of feeling we normally have toward our loved ones,
-which is tainted by attachment...ego and selfishness. On the contrary, we are
-seeking to develop a feeling of closeness towards other sentient beings, and
-affection for them, by reflecting on the fact that suffering is inherent in
-their very nature, on the helplessness of their situation, and on the
-instinctive desire they all have to overcome suffering.
- The greater the force of our loving kindness towards other beings, the
-greater the force of our compassion. And the greater the force of our
-compassion, the easier it will be for us to develop a sense of responsibility
-for taking upon ourselves the task of working for others. The greater that
-sense of responsibility, the more successful we will be in generating
-bodhicitta, the genuine altruistic aspiration to attain buddhahood for the
-benefit of all.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
- Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword by
- Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
- Understanding the power of the path provides the inspiration that keeps us
-going forward; exploring its pain provides the understanding of what holds us
-back. It doesn't take long to discover the power, nor to feel the pain.
-Waking up hurts. And if we don't understand why, we will run from the pain
-and abandon the path. There are countless people who have become spiritual
-dropouts, or who are lost in detours because they have not understood
-hardship.
- When your arm falls asleep, it prickles and burns as it returns to life.
-Frozen fingers sting when they thaw; we jolt awake when the alarm clock rings.
-But physical instances of anesthesia are mild compared to the anesthesia born
-of ignorance, and so is the level of discomfort upon awakening. The longer
-something has been asleep, the more painful it is to wake it up. If your
-fingers are merely cold, it is easy to warm them up. But if your fingers are
-frozen solid, it hurts like hell when they thaw. According to the traditions,
-unless one is already a buddha, an "awakened one," one has been snoring from
-beginningless time, and it can really hurt before we completely wake up.
-Mingyur Rinpoche writes,
- "I'd like to say that everything got better once I was safely settled among
-the other participants in the three-year retreat.... On the contrary,
-however, my first year in retreat was one of the worst in my life. All the
-symptoms of anxiety I'd ever experienced--physical tension, tightness in the
-throat, dizziness, and waves of panic--attacked in full force. In Western
-terms, I was having a nervous breakdown. In hindsight, I can say that what I
-was actually going through was what I like to call a 'nervous breakthrough'."
- -- Dr. Andrew Holecek, "The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual
- Hardship into Joy", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Through our eyes the universe is perceiving itself, and through our ears the
-universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witness through which the
-universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.
- -- McMurdo Station Forklift Driver paraphrasing Alan Watts
-~
- As human beings we are deeply insecure and we do not know who we truly are.
-Of course this problem does not show on the surface of our lives. We are
-always telling ourselves who we are, based on this notion that we are separate
-from everything else. This sense that "I am separate" is the ground of our
-sense of self. It is reinforced by various false identities that we cling to,
-notions that "I am this" or "I am that." Whatever beliefs we have about
-ourselves are just another extension. Most of the time when we look around,
-we immediately see that our surroundings are validating these false
-identities. For this very reason, it is a challenging endeavor to deconstruct
-this illusion of self.
- Every time we look into our mirror we might have some thought about
-ourselves. Each of these thoughts adds up. They become the conceptual bricks
-we use to keep building this illusory castle of self. Yet, there is a
-suspicion that this notion of self might be very fragile and transient, and
-this thought is silently lurking somewhere in our consciousness. Most of the
-time this suspicion is not brought into the light of awareness, but if it is,
-some deep, inner wisdom will arise without choice.
- Our suspicion of the fragility of this false notion of self can go in one of
-two directions. In general it becomes a source of fear, anxiety, and
-insecurity. We often see people who are fearful and overly defensive when it
-comes to their own identity. We ourselves tend to become fearful if our
-identity is threatened. But at other times the suspicion can go another way.
-When that happens, it can be a life-changing revelation that can lead us to
-the realization of the highest level of truth. This idea is not some new,
-lofty theory. It is timeless wisdom that has been realized by many people in
-human history. Buddha taught this wisdom, and in his tradition it is called
-anatman or "no self." Anatman, or "no self," is the term used to mean that one
-has seen through this false sense of self. One has seen that this false sense
-of self is merely an identification with one's roles in life. It is just a
-mask, not the truth.
- -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem", edited by Sharon Roe, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- It is common worldly knowledge that by believing untrue information to be
-true we fall into confusion and are harmed. Similarly, by believing phenomena
-to be inherently existent when in fact they are not inherently existent, we
-are also harmed. For example, with respect to the different ways in which
-there can be a consciousness of 'I', there is a definite difference between
-the way the 'I' is apprehended when desire, hatred, pride and so forth are
-generated based on this 'I', and the way the 'I' is apprehended when we are
-relaxed without any of those attitudes being manifest.
- Similarly, there is the mere consciousness that apprehends an article in a
-store before we buy it, and there is the consciousness apprehending that
-article after it has been bought, when it is adhered to as 'mine' and grasped
-with attachment. Both these consciousnesses have the same object, and in both
-cases the mode of appearance of the article is the appearance of it as
-inherently existent. However, there is the difference of the presence or
-absence of our adhering to it as inherently or independently existent.
- ...a consciousness conceiving inherent existence precedes any bad
-consciousness, leading it on by the nose, and also accompanies, or aids, many
-other bad consciousnesses as well. Thus, if there were no ignorance
-conceiving inherent existence, then there would be no chance for desire,
-hatred and so forth to be generated.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
- Jeffrey Hopkins, with Anne Klein, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Avoid Sidetracks
-
- As practitioners we will face many obstacles and sidetracks on our path to
-liberation, and these will provide us with many challenges along the way. We
-shouldn't allow our practice to become interrupted due to these obstacles and
-sidetracks, such as the appearance and disappearance of the many friends we
-will have over the course of our lives.
- We also shouldn't allow our practice to become interrupted by a change in
-the availability or quality of food and shelter. And we shouldn't allow our
-practice to become interrupted by the obstacles and sidetracks presented by
-the many distractions of mind that are readily available in the mundane world
-of our external environment. We shouldn't allow our practice to be
-interrupted by obstacles and sidetracks that arise due to the desire and
-attachment we feel for loved ones, or our aversion to enemies, or our
-indifference towards others. Finally, we should not allow our practice to
-become interrupted by our desire to accumulate wealth, or by our attachment to
-our material possessions. Only an advanced practitioner, motivated by deep
-bodhichitta, can get through these obstacles and avoid these sidetracks to
-reach their goal of liberation from samsara.
- -- Lama Dudjom Dorjee, "Heartfelt Advice", published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
- Cultivating an aspiration to help other sentient beings becomes a cause for
-wanting to achieve Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. These are
-the two levels of the awakening mind of bodhichitta.
- Such a mind cannot be cultivated in a mere few months or years, but this
-does not mean it cannot be cultivated at all. If you continue your practice
-to cultivate bodhichitta, a time will come when you will be successful. For
-example, in the initial stage you may not even understand the meaning of the
-word bodhichitta. You might wonder how you could ever cultivate such a mind.
-But through repeated practice and familiarity, you will gradually come closer
-to such a mind.
- It is the nature of conditioned things that they change depending on causes
-and conditions. So it is important to recall the advantages and benefits of
-such a mind and cultivate a strong determination to achieve it. Make ardent
-prayers. Whether you sleep, walk, or sit, you should think: "How good it
-would be if I could cultivate such a mind." Try to cultivate bodhichitta even
-on an aspirational level. If you spend your days in such repeated and
-persistent practice, you can definitely develop it. Make the determination to
-cultivate it even if it will take many aeons. As Shantideva prays in his
-Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life:
-
- As long as space endures
- And as long as sentient beings remain,
- May I too abide
- To dispel the sufferings of all sentient beings.
-
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
- translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
- Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The theory of dependent-arising can be applied everywhere. One benefit of
-applying this theory is that viewing a situation this way gives you a more
-holistic picture, since whatever the situation is--good or bad--it depends on
-causes and conditions. An event is not under its own power but depends on
-many present causes and conditions as well as many past causes and conditions.
-Otherwise, it could not come into being.
- When you think from this viewpoint, you can see much more of the whole
-picture, and from this wider perspective, you can see the reality of the
-situation, its interdependence. With the help of this relational outlook, the
-action that you take will be realistic.
- ...Failure to look at the whole picture means realism is lost. The attitude
-that money alone is sufficient leads to unforeseen consequences. Money is
-certainly necessary; for instance, if you thought that religious retreat in
-meditation alone was sufficient, you would not have anything to eat. Many
-factors have to be considered. With awareness of the fuller picture, your
-outlook becomes reasonable, and your actions become practical, and in this way
-favorable results can be achieved.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are",
- translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
-~
-Fear and Fearlessness.
-
- Perhaps the first reaction we have to our own suffering is fear. Fear
-arises in us almost automatically when we experience strong emotions or pain.
-We don't have to sit there and generate fear--it just arises. When we
-experience a disturbing emotion such as jealousy we think, "No, I don't want
-this." We would rather not experience it. However, if we examine fear
-closely, we see that it is a thought to which we have been habituating our
-mind for a very long time. We have repeated this thought pattern of fear for
-many years, and from a Buddhist point of view, many lifetimes.
- In just the same way, when we habituate our minds to being fearless, to
-being brave and open towards our emotions, fearlessness will also arise
-naturally. In order for this to happen, we must train in applying antidotes
-to our thought patterns that are caught up in fear. In this way, we transcend
-fear first through a conceptual process, which later becomes nonconceptual, a
-natural fearlessness. In order to become fearless in this way, we need
-determination and the willingness to face our emotions. With that strong
-determination and courage, fearlessness will arise effortlessly.
- -- "Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara",
- trans. by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- There is both a reason and a purpose for cultivating the meditative
-stabilization observing exhalation and inhalation of the breath. The reason
-is mainly to purify impure motivations. What exactly is to be purified? The
-main of these are the three poisons--desire, hatred, and obscuration. Even
-though we have these at all times and even though the meditator will still
-retain them, she or he is seeking to suppress their manifest functioning at
-that time. The specific purpose for cleansing impure motivations before
-meditation is to dispel bad motivations connected with this lifetime, such as
-having hatred toward enemies, attachment to friends, and so forth.
- In terms of the practice I am explaining here, even the thought of a
-religious practitioner of small capacity is included within impure
-motivations; such a person engages in practice mainly for the sake of a good
-future lifetime. Similarly, if on this occasion one has the motivation of a
-religious practitioner of middling capacity--that of only oneself escaping
-from cyclic existence, this is also impure.
- What is a pure motivation? To take as one's aim the welfare of all sentient
-beings. This is the motivation of a religious practitioner of great capacity.
-Meditators should imagine or manifest their own impure motivation in the form
-of smoke, and with the exhalation of breath should expel all bad motivation.
-When inhaling, they should imagine that all the blessings and good qualities
-of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, in the form of bright light, are inhaled into
-them. This practice is called purification by way of the descent of ambrosia.
-There are many forms of this purification, but the essence of the practice is
-as just indicated.
- -- Geshe Gedun Lodro, "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving Spiritual
- Transformation Through Meditation", translated and edited by Jeffrey
- Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Tsongkhapa pays homage to the "foremost holy lamas," for it is in dependence
-upon a qualified lama that the three principal aspects of the path are
-realized.
- The high title "lama" alone does not qualify someone as a lama; the good
-qualities associated with the title must also be present. The three words--
-foremost, holy, and lama--set forth the three qualities of a lama.
- "Foremost" describes a person who has diminished emphasis on this lifetime
-and is primarily concerned with future lifetimes and deeper topics. Such a
-person has a longer perspective than the shortsighted one of those who mainly
-look to the affairs of this life and thus, in relation to common beings whose
-emphasis is mainly on this life, is the foremost, or a leader.
- "Holy" refers to one who, as a result of developing renunciation for all
-forms of cyclic existence, is not attached to any of its marvels and is
-seeking liberation. A holy person has turned his or her mind away from
-attachment outside to the better things of cyclic existence and focused it
-within.
- In the word "lama", "la" means high, and "ma" is a negative, which indicates
-that there is none higher; this is a person who has turned away from self-
-cherishing to cherishing others, has turned away from the lower concern for
-personal benefit in order to achieve the higher purpose of attaining benefit
-for others.
- -- "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", by The
- Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, edited and translated
- by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-...beginning with an attitude
-Of love for all living creatures,
-Consider beings, excluding none,
-Suffering in the three bad rebirths,
-Suffering birth, death and so forth.
-
- The" attitude of love" to which the text refers is the affection which sees
-all living beings as lovable. The stronger our affection the more easily
-compassion arises and the more intense and steadfast it is. Compassion can
-arise without it, but it will not be consistent. Unless we see all living
-beings as near, dear, appealing and beloved, we won't care what happens to
-them. On the contrary, we may even wish more suffering on those we dislike.
-That affection is what a doting mother feels for the apple of her eye, what a
-dog-owner feels for a beloved pet--a warm feeling that makes you want to hug
-and pat and say, "Adorable!"
- At present our feelings of affection are restricted to those we like and,
-even then, vanish quite quickly if they do something that goes against our
-wishes. It's a tall order to ask us to feel affection toward all living
-beings. It doesn't come naturally, which is why we need to train ourselves to
-see them in a new way.
- -- "Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment", commentary by Geshe Sonam
- Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- Why should one work so hard to please people, doing all sorts of things for
-others in order to make them feel happy? If one can't bear one's enemy's
-happiness, then why should one do all sorts of things to make anyone else
-happy?
- Shantideva explains an inconsistency regarding this issue. He notes that
-when praise is directed toward oneself, when people speak highly of oneself,
-one not only feels happy but also expects others to be happy when they hear
-this praise. However, this is totally inconsistent with one's attitude toward
-others. When people praise others, then not only does one disapprove of
-others' happiness but one's own peace of mind and happiness are destroyed as
-well. So there seems to be an inconsistency when it comes to relating to
-praise directed toward oneself and praise directed toward others.
- Then, especially for a Bodhisattva practitioner who has dedicated his or her
-life to bringing about joy and happiness in others and leading them to the
-ultimate state of happiness, to be jealous of others' happiness and joy is
-totally inappropriate. In fact, one should feel that if other sentient beings
-of their own accord, from their own efforts, gain any little experience of
-happiness and joy here and there, we should be all the more grateful, because
-without our helping them, they have been able to achieve these joyful
-experiences and happiness.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
- Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- What is meant by going for refuge is that you are seeking refuge from some
-fear. All the objects [Buddha, lama, guru, etc.] in front of you are what is
-known as the causal refuge, because they serve as the cause for bringing about
-the resultant refuge within you. You should entrust yourself to these objects
-from the depth of your heart, and you should see the objects as protectors.
-The resultant state of your own future realizations, becoming an arya being
-and attaining buddhahood--which depends on your own actualization of the path-
--is called the resultant refuge. Someone in difficulty seeking the assistance
-of a high official is analogous to someone seeking refuge in the causal
-refuge.
- But depending upon others' protection forever is not a courageous way of
-life; therefore, one has to try to achieve a state where one is no longer
-dependent upon such a refuge, and this is likened to taking refuge in the
-resultant buddha, dharma, and sangha. That is the process of taking refuge by
-a person of high faculty and courage. This practice should be done not for
-the sake of oneself alone but rather for the sake of all other sentient
-beings. When you cultivate such an aspiration focused toward the achievement
-of the omniscient state, it is very much like the generation of the
-bodhichitta mind.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the
- Practice of Guru Yoga", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- Many of the methods of practicing Dharma that are learned during waking can,
-upon development of dream awareness, be applied in the dream condition. In
-fact, one may develop these practices more easily and speedily within the
-Dream State if one has the capacity to dream lucidly. There are even some
-books that say that if a person applies a practice within a dream, the
-practice is nine times more effective than when it is applied during the
-waking hours.
- The dream condition is unreal. When we discover this for ourselves within
-the dream, the immense power of this realization can eliminate obstacles
-related to conditioned vision. For this reason, dream practice is very
-important for liberating us from habits. We need this powerful assistance in
-particular because the emotional attachments, conditioning, and ego
-enhancement which compose our normal life have been strengthened over our
-many, many years.
- In a real sense, all the visions that we see in our lifetime are like the
-images of a dream. If we examine them well, the big dream of life and the
-smaller dreams of one night are not very different. If we truly see the
-essential nature of both, we will find that there really is no difference
-between them. If we can finally liberate ourselves from the chains of
-emotions, attachments, and ego by this realization, we have the possibility of
-ultimately becoming enlightened.
- -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light",
- ed. & intro. by Michael Katz, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Cultivating Memory and Joyful Effort
-
- [This] foundational practice is engaged upon awaking in the morning. It
-further cultivates strong intention and also strengthens the capacity to
-remember the events of the night.
- Begin by reviewing the night. The Tibetan term for this preparation is
-literally "remembering." Did you dream? Were you aware that you were in a
-dream? If you dreamt but did not attain lucidity, you should reflect, "I
-dreamt but did not recognize the dream as a dream. But it was a dream."
-Resolve that next time you enter a dream you will become aware of its true
-nature while still in the dream.
- If you find it difficult to remember dreams, it can be helpful, throughout
-the day and particularly before sleep, to generate a strong intention to
-remember dreams. You can also record dreams in a notepad or with a tape
-recorder, as this will reinforce the habit of treating your dreams as
-something valuable. The very act of preparing the notebook or recorder at
-night serves to support the intention to recall the dream upon waking. It is
-not difficult for anyone to remember dreams once the intention to do so is
-generated and sustained, even over just a few days.
- If you did have a lucid dream, feel joy at the accomplishment. Develop
-happiness relative to the practice and resolve to continue to develop the
-lucidity the following night. Keep building intention, using both successes
-and failures as occasions to develop ever stronger intent to accomplish the
-practice. And know that even your intention is a dream.
- --Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- On some occasions, people faint. Even when your breath temporarily stops,
-during that moment, there is a reduced level of consciousness. Consciousness
-is most reduced late in the course of dying. Even after all physical
-functions cease, we believe that the "I," or "self," still exists. Similarly,
-just at the beginning of life, there must be a subtle form of consciousness to
-account for the emergence of consciousness in the individual.
- We must explore further the point at which consciousness enters into a
-physical location. At conception, the moment when and the site where
-consciousness interacts with the fertilized egg is something to be discovered,
-although there are some reference to this in the texts.... The Buddhist
-scriptures do deal with it, but I am interested to see what science has to say
-about this. During this period we believe that without the subtle
-consciousness, there would be a life beginning without consciousness. If that
-were the case then no one could ever recollect experiences from their past
-life. It is also in terms of Buddhist beliefs relating to this topic that
-Buddhism expounds its theory of cosmology: how the universe began and how it
-later degenerates.
- Based on this metaphysical reasoning and other arguments, and based on the
-testimony of individuals who are able to recollect their experiences in past
-lives very vividly, Buddhists make this claim. I am a practitioner, so based
-on my own limited experiences, and the experiences of my friends, I cannot say
-with one hundred percent certainty that there is a subtle consciousness.
- Scientists don't posit consciousness in the same sense that Buddhists do.
-At the moment of conception, however, there has to be something that prevents
-the sperm and egg from simply rotting, and causes it to grow into a human
-body. When does that occur? Why does that occur?
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
- the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand,
- Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion
-Taking the reins is the key to happiness
-~
- The state of mind of a Buddhist practitioner should be stable, and should
-not be subject to too many conflicting events. Such a person will feel both
-joy and pain, but neither will be too weak or too intense. Stability is
-developed through discipline. The heart and mind become more full of energy,
-more resolute, and therefore less susceptible to being blown about by outside
-events.
- Deep within the human being abides the wisdom that can support him or her in
-the face of negative situations. In this way, events no longer throw him
-because he is holding the reins. Similarly, when something good happens it is
-also possible to rein it in. Taking the reins is the key to happiness. In
-Tibet we have a saying: "If you are beside yourself with joy, tears are not
-far behind." This shows how relative what we call joy and pain are.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner
- Peace: The Essential Life and Teachings"
-~
- From a Buddhist perspective, busying ourselves with worldly activities is a
-form of laziness, because we're lax in self-cultivation. Our lives are so
-busy in modern society: Our appointment books are completely full and we're
-always running here and there. We often complain there isn't enough time for
-the Dharma.
- However, whenever we have a spare moment, we work overtime or call some
-friends to fill in the gap. We always have time to eat, but we hardly ever
-have time to nourish ourselves spiritually by attending Dharma classes or
-meditating. When the temple has entertainment and free meals, we go; but when
-there is meditation or lessons, we're busy.
- This hindrance to spiritual progress comes because we're attached to worldly
-pleasures: food, money, reputation, amusement, and friends. The harm comes
-from our inappropriate way of relating to them. Attached, we selfishly
-indulge in them. However, these things in and of themselves aren't bad.
-Through pacifying our afflictions, we can enjoy these things with a good
-motivation--to improve ourselves for the benefit of others.
- -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
- It is important to note that we should make sure that our meditation suits
-our mind. If we feel comfortable doing analytical meditation on the various
-topics in a progressive way, we should go ahead with it. If, on the other
-hand, we find it difficult and it is not compatible with our mind, we should
-meditate on whatever topic we like.
- If we enjoy meditation on emptiness, we should go ahead with this. If it
-suits us and we derive pleasure from meditating principally on the altruistic
-intention, we can emphasize this. At some point if we find that we cannot
-really get into whatever analytical meditation we have been doing, but doing
-prostrations, chanting mantra, visualizing a meditation deity, or reciting
-aspirational prayers brings peace and pleasure to our mind, we should do that
-practice.
- -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
- Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
- Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Attaining realization is not such a long path once we become able to
-integrate all our movements of energy in our practice, because then every
-action is governed by presence and becomes a step on the path and an
-expression of virtue.
- Practice is not only sitting in meditation, reciting mantras, or chanting.
-It is the application of practice in daily life that is most difficult,
-working with our energy in every life situation, with every sense perception,
-with every person we meet, whether we want to encounter that person or not.
- -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of
- Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet", published by Snow Lion
-~
-When we focus our attention on the passage of breath, we break the usually
-continuous flow of thoughts of attachment, hostility and so forth, whatever
-they might be. This causes such thoughts to subside for the moment. Thus, by
-occupying the mind with our breath, we cleanse it of all positive and negative
-conceptual thoughts and thus remain in a neutral state of mind unspecified as
-either constructive or destructive. This is the meaning of the line in the
-root text, "Thoroughly clean out your state of awareness." This unspecified or
-neutral state of mind, cleaned out of all positive and negative conceptual
-thoughts, is the most conducive one to work with. Because an unspecified
-state of mind like this is unburdened and supple, it is relatively easy to
-generate it into a constructive state.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
- Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-76.
- "You may ask: If there is no sentient being, whose is the goal? We grant
- that desire [for liberation, etc.] is indeed delusive. Still, in order to
- eradicate suffering, effective delusion, whose result [is understanding of
- the ultimate] is not prevented."
- -- Shantideva
-
-Objection:
- If sentient beings do not exist, who is it that attains the fruition of the
-spiritual path--full awakening? And while on the path, for whom does one
-cultivate compassion?
-
-Response:
- Sentient beings do exist. It is for them that compassion is felt, and
-compassion is cultivated by existent people. Whatever is designated by
-delusion is to be acknowledged. Due to cultivating compassion while on the
-spiritual path, the fruition of full awakening is attained. Who attains
-awakening? That, too, is to be established conventionally, without [ultimate]
-examination or analysis. In order to pacify the suffering of oneself and
-others, impure appearances that arise due to ignorance are not to be rejected.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom", translated, edited and
- annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The object of meditation this time is emotion. In other words, we
-specifically focus on the emotions that arise from our feelings of good, bad,
-and indifferent. In the first of the equanimity meditations, we made the
-choice to not follow up these emotions. This time we make the choice to
-meditate on them. We might choose to meditate on sensations and feelings that
-arise in our immediate, present environment. We might also choose to meditate
-on an event or person that sets off strong sensations, feelings, and emotions.
- Let's say you choose to base your meditation on an event such as a family
-argument. This time you contemplate an aspect of that event and try to
-disentangle the sensations, feelings, and emotions. Sensations are what you
-feel with your body. Feelings assess whether that sensation is nice, nasty,
-or neutral. What emotions arise as a result of those sensations and feelings?
- As we now know, equanimity means not getting caught in further
-exaggerations: "Oh, I am so bad because this is what I did," "Look how good I
-am," "How could anyone love someone like me?" and so on. In this meditation,
-equanimity means not judging whether we are good or bad people, but just
-noting what happened.
- -- Chonyi Taylor, "Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from
- Addictive Patterns", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Everyone tries to remove superficial pain, but there is another class of
-techniques concerned with removing suffering on a deeper level--aiming at a
-minimum to diminish suffering in future lives and, beyond that, even to remove
-all forms of suffering for oneself as well as for all beings. Spiritual
-practice is of this deeper type.
- These techniques involve an adjustment of attitude; thus, spiritual practice
-basically means to adjust your thought well. In Sanskrit it is called dharma,
-which means "that which holds." This means that by adjusting counterproductive
-attitudes, you are freed from a level of suffering and thus held back from
-that particular suffering. Spiritual practice protects, or holds back,
-yourself and others from misery.
- From first understanding your own situation in cyclic existence and seeking
-to hold yourself back from suffering, you extend your realization to other
-beings and develop compassion, which means to dedicate yourself to holding
-others back from suffering. It makes practical sense...by concentrating on
-the welfare of others, you yourself will be happier.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well
- and Dying Consciously", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
-~
-Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me eight
-times, I must be a f**king idiot.
- -- Jon Stewart, on the last eight presidents vowing to end America's
- addiction to foreign oil
-~
-A lot of disappointed people have been left standing on the street corner
-waiting for the bus marked "Perfection".
- -- Donald Kennedy
-~
- In his closing discussion on loving-kindness, Buddhaghosa asks: "What is the
-proximate cause of loving-kindness?" The answer is the observation of
-lovableness in the person to whom you are attending.
- Bring to mind right now someone whom you find lovable. It could be a person
-you have a romance with, or a child, or a dear friend, or a great teacher--
-someone to whom your heart would leap like a deer in the forest if this person
-were to walk through the door, someone whose presence is so lovable that a
-gladness arises on seeing him or her. If you can sense that in a dear friend,
-then try to seek out the lovableness of a neutral person. Then, finally, when
-you break down all the barriers, see it in a person who has done you injury.
- It's a great key if you can seek out something to love, even in the enemy.
-Bear clearly in mind that this does not endorse or embrace evil. The crucial
-point here is to be able to slice through like a very skilled surgeon,
-recognizing vicious behavior that we would love to see annihilated as separate
-from the person who is participating in it. The doctor can be optimistic. A
-cure is possible: the person is not equivalent to the action or the
-disposition. Moreover there is something there that we can hold in affection,
-with warmth. That really seems to be a master key that can break down the
-final barrier and complete the practice.
- One way of approaching this is to look at the person you hold in contempt,
-and try to find any quality he might share with someone you deeply admire and
-respect. Is there anything at all noble to be seen, anything that would be
-akin to what a truly great spiritual being would display? Focus on that:
-There is something there that you can love. The rest is chaff, that hopefully
-will be blown away quickly, to everyone's benefit. It is as if you could see
-a little ray of light from within, knowing that its source is much deeper than
-the despicable qualities on the outside. That light is what you attend to.
-(p. 112)
- -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Four Immeasurables: Practices to Open the Heart",
- edited by Zara Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Question: I have the strong wish to be reborn in any of the realms in a
-position to truly help other sentient beings in that realm. Is it wrong for
-me in these circumstances not to have the strong wish to leave the wheel of
-cyclic existence?
-
-Answer: Your wish to stay in order to help is certainly right. One of
-Shantideva's prayers, roughly translated is, "As long as there is space, I
-will remain with sentient beings, to serve and help them." Therefore, I also
-am trying to practice this. Helping others is the real purpose of life; it
-will bring the most satisfaction. The one action of helping others out of a
-sincere motivation brings two results--satisfaction for yourself and benefit
-to others. It is most beautiful.
- One might ask whether there is a contradiction between a Bodhisattva's
-developing a determination to leave cyclic existence by viewing it as faulty
-and a Bodhisattva's wishing to remain in cyclic existence in order to help
-others. An answer to this is given in Bhavaviveka's Heart of the Middle Way:
-...because of being under the influence of love and compassion, one is not
-captivated by the idea of retreating into solitary peace and, with an attitude
-of seeking to bring about the welfare of other sentient beings, remains in
-cyclic existence. This attitude is really marvelous. Though you are really
-fed up with cyclic existence, still because of a willingness and a
-determination to serve others, you voluntarily accept to remain.
- However, as is indicated by the frequently cited example of a lotus that is
-produced from mud but not polluted by it, a Bodhisattva stays in cyclic
-existence but is not affected by its faults. It would indeed be hypocritical
-to claim from one's mouth that one had taken up the practice of a Bodhisattva
-but actually to be happily stuck in cyclic existence with great attachment.
-(p. 91)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard:
- Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey
- Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Sutras, tantras, esoteric instructions, and experiences teach
- The vital point of deathlessness, awakening without meditating:
- How this body of karma fully ripening
- Arises as a naturally pure awareness body.
- Visualize the fully ripening karmic body as the deity's form
- And meditate without fixation on it.
- It is itself inseparable from mind.
- No essence of mind is established,
- So where is something that dies?
- "Death" is just a concept.
- The hosts of concepts are nonexistent phenomena of samsara and nirvana.
- -- Mokchokpa
-
- According to this and other statements, since one's own mind in essence has
-no real existence whatsoever, it was always unborn. Therefore the great
-natural liberation of deathlessness is attained. As for this body of fully
-ripening karma, since it is a conglomeration of inert matter, it is not a
-basis on which to attribute the designations of birth or death. In fact, the
-body even arises as a mere appearance of mind.
- When one gains confidence in the realization that the mind is unborn and
-undying, then the body appears as the deity's form in mahamudra and one
-becomes bound to basic space without erring into the path of deluded
-appearance. By this kind of instruction one discovers the kaya of union in
-this lifetime. Even just hearing it can cause one to get enlightened in the
-intermediate state as the sambhogakaya of the victors. Of the Five Golden
-Dharmas, it is said to be like the ripened fruit. (p. 248)
- -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight, Part
- Four: Esoteric Instructions, A Detailed Presentation of the Process of
- Meditation in Vajrayana", translated by Sarah Harding, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- Buddhas and Bodhisattvas see clearly that our neglect of others, our self-
-preoccupation and our disregard for the connection between actions and their
-effects are responsible for all our miseries. The feeling that it doesn't
-matter what we do as long as we can get away with it kills our chances of
-liberation and enlightenment. Our selfishness robs us of worldly and
-supramundane good qualities, leaving us naked and empty-handed. It separates
-us from happiness now and in the future and fetters us to suffering.
- Resolve never again to let yourself be dominated by this mean and selfish
-way of thinking and do everything in your power to combat it. Your happiness
-begins the moment you recognize self-cherishing as your chief foe. There are
-many good reasons why cherishing others makes sense. Shantideva says:
- The state of Buddhahood is accomplished
- Equally through living beings and Victorious Ones.
- What kind of behavior then is it to revere
- Victorious Ones but not living beings?
- ...If we truly want to please Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and all those noble
-beings in the world whom we admire and whose sole guiding principles are their
-affection, love and compassion for others, we can do nothing better than to
-cherish living beings. (p. 100)
- -- "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path", an oral teaching by Geshe
- Sonam Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
-How Purification Works
-
- During Nyungne [fasting] practice, true purification is possible primarily
-because of the power of Chenrezig's compassion and blessing, as well as our
-faith, devotion, and correct motivation to do the practice. When such causes
-and conditions come together, a result inevitably occurs, and this result is
-understood as the interdependently-arising nature of all phenomena.
- For the most part, enlightened and unenlightened phenomena all arise due to
-this interdependently-arising nature. As a spiritual practitioner, the basic
-qualities one must bring to the practice are faith, devotion, and a trust in
-the power of the practice and Chenrezig. These qualities stem from our own
-pure nature of mind, a purity that is identical to Chenrezig's heart, that is,
-unceasing love and compassion. When these two things are combined together,
-our devotion and faith and Chenrezig's love and compassion, one could say
-miracles happen; a true purification takes place.
- It has been said that when one is sitting before the mandala of Chenrezig,
-one should believe that although Chenrezig is not physically visible to us, in
-fact he is really there in front of us. Just as we would be very careful of
-our thoughts and behavior if we were in the presence of a powerful and
-clairvoyant enlightened guru, in the same way we must generate vigilance so
-that we don't act shamefully in front of this great being. If we develop such
-vigilance and noble habit, then our negativities will automatically decrease.
-(p.11)
- -- Wangchen Rinpoche, "Buddhist Fasting Practice: The Nyungne Method of
- Thousand-Armed Chenrezig", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Reflect on the basic pattern of our existence. In order to do more than
-just barely survive, we need shelter, food, companions, friends, the esteem of
-others, resources, and so on; these things do not come about from ourselves
-alone but are all dependent on others. Suppose one single person were to live
-alone in a remote and uninhabited place. No matter how strong, healthy, or
-educated this person were, there would be no possibility of his or her leading
-a happy and fulfilling existence.... Can such a person have friends? Acquire
-renown? Can this person become a hero if he or she wishes to become one? I
-think the answer to all these questions is a definite no, for all these
-factors come about only in relation to other fellow humans.
- When you are young, healthy, and strong, you sometimes can get the feeling
-that you are totally independent and do not need anyone else. But this is an
-illusion. Even at that prime age of your life, simply because your are a
-human being, you need friends, don't you? This is especially true when we
-become old and need to rely more and more on the help of others: this is the
-nature of our lives as human beings.
- In at least one sense, we can say that other people are really the principal
-source of all our experiences of joy, happiness, and prosperity, and not only
-in terms of our day-to-day dealings with people. We can see that all the
-desirable experiences that we cherish or aspire to attain are dependent upon
-cooperation and interaction with others. It is an obvious fact.
- Similarly, from the point of view of a Buddhist practitioner, many of the
-high levels of realization that you gain and the progress that you make on
-your spiritual journey are dependent upon cooperation and interaction with
-others. Furthermore, at the stage of complete enlightenment, the
-compassionate activities of a buddha can come about spontaneously only in
-relation to other beings, for those beings are the recipients and
-beneficiaries of those enlightened activities. (p.5)
- -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
-~
- The difficulty with a purely materialistic interpretation of life is that,
-in addition to ignoring an entire dimension of the mind, it does not deal
-effectively with the problems of this life. A materialistic mind is an
-unstable mind, for its happiness is built on transient, physical
-circumstances. Mental disease is as high among the affluent as it is among
-the poor, which is a clear indication of the limitations of the approach.
- Although it is essential to maintain a reasonable material basis on which to
-live, the emphasis in one's life should be on cultivating the mental and
-spiritual causes of happiness. The human mind is very powerful and our
-worldly needs are not so great that they must demand all of our attention,
-especially in light of the fact that materialistic success solves so few of
-the many challenges and problems that confront men and women throughout their
-lives, and it does nothing for them at death.
- On the other hand, if one cultivates spiritual qualities such as mental
-harmony, humility, non-attachment, patience, love, compassion, wisdom and so
-forth, then one becomes equipped with a strength and intelligence able to deal
-effectively with the problems of this life; and because the wealth one is
-amassing is mental rather than material, it will not have to be left behind at
-death. There is no need to enter the after-death state empty-handed. (31)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
- by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The bardo* of this life does not last forever. We know that, like a guest
-in a hotel, our mind is only temporarily sheltered in this body. As we face
-the challenges of this life and the impending challenges of the bardos to
-come, how does engaging in the three-stage process of study, contemplation and
-meditation help us? By applying ourselves to these three, we acquire the
-skills to stabilize our mind and we develop actual insight into how our mind
-functions. First we gain an understanding of the nature of mind; then, we
-experience that nature; and finally, we arrive at the ultimate benefit, which
-is fully realizing that nature.
- When we practice these stages of the path, it is like accumulating the exact
-things we will need to take with us on our trip. When we are ready to pack
-our suitcase, we will have what we need without looking further. We will not
-have to go out at the last minute and buy a map or a guidebook. We will not
-have to worry about whether we are forgetting something crucial.
- We have knowledge and experience that has blossomed into realization;
-therefore we can handle any situation. We have confidence in ourselves, in
-the teachings, and the guidance of our lineage teachers. At this point, we
-can let go of all our doubt and hesitation. We can simply relax and be who we
-are, wherever we are. (p.58)
- * in-between state, interval
- -- The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- The thoughts that in this year and month
- I will put right all my tasks and plans
- And then start a perfect dharma practice
- Is in fact the devil which brings all downfalls.
-
- The lack of death awareness prevents one from undertaking the practice of
-dharma. This is very true: If one is not aware of the eventuality of death,
-one will be totally concerned and preoccupied with the affairs of this
-lifetime alone, and with actions that are just for the benefit of this
-lifetime. Such ventures may take all one's time and energy, but no matter how
-important they appear to be, since they are directly related to this lifetime
-alone, their benefits are limited--once one leaves the present body, their
-benefit ends. Even though one might have a best friend, when one has to leave
-the body, one cannot take the friend along.
- ...Think that after twenty or thirty years even the Dalai Lama will also be
-no more. While I am alive, there will be people who are, from the depths of
-their hearts, prepared to give their lives for my sake, but on the day when I
-have to leave, I cannot take even one among them with me. Neither will I be
-able to take any of my possessions, even the body which I have always
-preserved and protected. This also will be left behind. At that time of my
-death, what will benefit is only the positive seeds that are imprinted upon my
-consciousness. No other factors will help at that time. (p.106)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- At the beginning of the process of deity meditation and mantra repetition
-one meditates on emptiness, settling the non-inherent existence of oneself and
-the deity through a reasoning such as that of dependent-arising--the fact that
-both oneself and the deity arise in dependence on their respective bases of
-designation. One's own final nature and the final nature of the deity are the
-same, an emptiness of inherent existence.
- To perform deity yoga one does not just withdraw ordinary appearances and
-then appear as a deity but causes the mind realising emptiness itself to
-appear as a deity. Thus, it is essential initially to meditate on emptiness,
-cleansing all appearances in emptiness. One then uses that wisdom
-consciousness realising emptiness as the basis of emanation of a divine body.
-This must be done at least in imitation of a consciousness actually doing
-this, for meditation on a truly existent divine body, instead of helping, will
-only increase adherence to inherent existence. Meditated properly, the
-appearance of a divine figure is the sport of the ultimate mind of
-enlightenment, first in imitation and later in fact. (p.39)
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity
- Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
- If one could attain the state of perfect buddhahood that is free from all
-faults, that sees directly all aspects of the qualities to be cultivated and
-faults overcome in the quest for enlightenment, and that is physically adorned
-with the marks and signs of perfection, the mere perception of which is
-beneficial, then one would be beyond the distinction of feeling attraction or
-aversion toward the infinite sentient beings. One would regard all beings
-with an equal compassion, and would have the ability to really benefit them.
-Think, "I should make every effort to attain this all-beneficial state."
- In brief, the motivation should be, "For the ultimate benefit of the
-sentient beings, who are as infinite as the sky is vast, I must attain the
-state of a peerless, perfect, pure buddha." This is the aspirational aspect of
-the bodhimind.
- -- Glenn Mullin, "The Practice of Kalachakra", foreword by H.H. the Dalai
- Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-After suffering severe puncture wounds without shooting any goop on my
-opponent, I realized I was simply outgunned. Never bring caulk to a
-nailgun fight.
- -- Stephanie S. Thompson
-~
-My cat Elea added a trick to her repertoire this morning.
-I sleep in a bit on the weekend, and both cats protest by
-visiting the bed every few minutes until I get up.
-Elea, being toothless, is afflicted with a mean case of drool when
-she's hungry. So this morning I got a "drool shower" since she
-sat next to my face and shook her head vigorously,
-flinging drool everywhere (especially onto my face).
-I know this wasn't just a fluke because a few minutes later
-she came back and did it again.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
-On Arcadia Asylum, pioneering creator in Second Life...
- "Nope, she can't log into Arcadia, Aley Arai, nor Lora Lemon. She's great
- at building, but she doesn't think she should have to pay the Lindens for
- anything, so she doesn't, and they get mad about that and close her
- accounts. :D"
-~
-The important thing is the obvious thing nobody is saying.
- -- William S. Burroughs
-~
- Our fundamental nature--what we term 'the buddha nature', the very nature of
-our mind, is inherently present within us as a natural attribute. This mind
-of ours, the subject at hand, has been going on throughout beginningless time,
-and so has the more subtle nature of that mind. On the basis of the
-continuity of that subtle nature of our mind rests the capacity we have to
-attain enlightenment. This potential is what we call 'the seed of
-buddhahood', 'buddha nature', 'the fundamental nature', or 'tathagatagarbha'.
- We all have this buddha nature, each and every one of us. For example, this
-beautiful statue of Lord Buddha here, in the presence of which we are now
-sitting, is a representation that honours someone who attained buddhahood. He
-awakened into that state of enlightenment because his nature was the buddha
-nature. Ours is as well, and just as the Buddha attained enlightenment in the
-past, so in the future we can become buddhas too.
- ...In any case, there dwells within us all this potential which allows us to
-awaken into buddhahood and attain omniscience. The empowerment process draws
-that potential out, and allows it to express itself more fully. When an
-empowerment is conferred on you, it is the nature of your mind--the buddha
-nature--that provides a basis upon which the empowerment can ripen you.
-Through the empowerment, you are empowered into the essence of the buddhas of
-the five families. In particular, you are 'ripened' within that particular
-family through which it is your personal predisposition to attain buddhahood.
-(p.29)
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
-Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword by
-Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-For achieving calm abiding... your mind must have two qualities:
- -great clarity of both the object and the consciousness itself
- -staying one-pointedly on the object of observation.
- Two factors prevent these from developing--laxity and excitement. Laxity
-prevents the development of clarity, and excitement prevents the stability of
-staying with the object.
- That which interferes with the steadiness of the object of observation and
-causes it to fluctuate is excitement, which includes any scattering of the
-mind to an object other than the object of meditation. To stop that, withdraw
-your mind more strongly inside so that the intensity of the mode of
-apprehension of the object begins to lower. If you need a further technique
-to withdraw the mind, it helps to leave the object of meditation temporarily
-and think about something that makes you more sober, such as the imminence of
-death. Such reflections can cause your heightened mode of apprehension of the
-object, the mind's being too tight, to lower or loosen somewhat, whereby you
-are better able to stay on the object of observation.
- It is not sufficient just to have stability; clarity is also needed. That
-which prevents clarity is laxity, which is a case of the mind's becoming too
-relaxed, too loose, lacking intensity--the tautness of the mind having become
-weak, caused by over-withdrawal inside. Heaviness of mind and body can lead
-to becoming lax, which can lead to a type of lethargy in which, losing the
-object of observation, you have as if fallen into darkness; this can lead even
-to sleep. When this begins to occur, it is necessary to raise, to heighten,
-this excessive declination of the mind by making it more taut, more tight. To
-accomplish this, it helps to brighten the object of meditation or, if that
-does not work, to leave the object of meditation temporarily and think on
-something that makes you joyous, such as the wonderful opportunity that a
-human lifetime affords for spiritual practice. If that does not work, you can
-even leave off meditating and go to a high place or where there is a vast
-view. Such techniques cause your deflated mind to heighten, to sharpen.
- While holding the object of observation with mindfulness, investigate with
-introspection from time to time to see whether the mind has come under the
-influence of laxity or excitement and determine the best practice for lowering
-or heightening it. In time, your will develop a sense of the proper level of
-tautness of the mind such that you will be able to catch laxity and excitement
-just before they arise and prevent their arising. (p.50)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
-to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow
-Lion Publications
-~
-The position of the body [during meditation] is very important because the
-channels within the body will follow the external disposition of the body.
-The way the body is placed will set the channels; and the winds, of course,
-flow inside the channels, so if they are properly set, the winds will flow
-properly. Mind follows the wind. To focus the mind properly, the winds must
-also be functioning properly. (p.39)
- -- Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, "The Practice of Mahamudra", translated
- by Robert Clark, ed. by Ani K. Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion
-~
- The real source of my suffering is self-centeredness: my car, my possession,
-my well-being. Without the self-centeredness, the suffering would not arise.
-What would happen instead? It is important to imagine this fully and to focus
-on examples of your own. Think of some misfortune that makes you want to lash
-out, that gives rise to anger or misery. Then imagine how you might respond
-without suffering. Recognize that we need not experience the misery, let
-alone the anger, resentment, and hostility. The choice is ours.
- Let's continue with an example. You see that there is a dent in the car.
-What needs to be done? Get the other driver's license number, notify the
-police, contact the insurance agency, deal with all the details. Simply do it
-and accept it. Accept it gladly as a way to strengthen your mind further, to
-develop patience and the armor of forbearance. There is no way to become a
-Buddha and remain a vulnerable wimp.
- Patience does not suddenly appear as a bonus after full enlightenment. Part
-of the whole process of awakening is to develop greater forbearance and
-equanimity in adversity. Santideva, in the sixth chapter of his Guide to the
-Bodhisattva's Way of Life, eloquently points out that there is no way to
-develop patience without encountering adversity, and patience is indispensable
-for our own growth on the path to awakening. (p.66)
- -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
- Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- While the great adept [Tangtong Gyalpo] did not stray from vajralike
-meditative concentration on the peak of glorious Riwoche, the ornamental wheel
-of his inexhaustible enlightened body, speech, and mind manifested in three
-great regions of Kham.
- At Gyalmorong, a person who had received the Path with the Result at Sakya,
-and who meditated single-mindedly on the Time of the Path during four sessions
-and on the Profound Path Guruyoga, saw the great adept to be Vajradhara, the
-lord of all spiritual families, and made countless prostrations.
- ...A person who recited a thousand of the heart-mantra of Tara every day,
-declared, "This isn't Avalokiteshvara. It's Tara."
- Also, a person said, "This is the Great Adept of Iron Bridges. O great
-adept, why do different visual manifestations appear to us?" The great adept
-replied:
- By bringing the vital winds
- and mind under control,
- taking control of how things appear to myself,
- overwhelming how things appear to others,
- and positioning magical bodies,
- I display whatever will tame sentient beings
- according to their various inclinations.
- (p.410)
- -- Cyrus Stearns, "King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge Builder
- Tangtong Gyalpo", a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion
-~
- When I was a boy, Ling Rinpochay, who was then my junior tutor, was always
-very stern; he never smiled, not even a little. This bothered me a lot. By
-wondering why he was so humorless, I examined more and more what I was doing
-in my own mind. This helped me develop self-awareness with regard to my
-motivation. By my early twenties when I had matured, Ling Rinpochay
-completely changed; he always had a big smile when we were together.
- Effective practice of the morality of individual liberation depends upon
-sound, long-term motivation. For example, one should not become a monk or a
-nun to avoid having to work at a worldly job for food and clothing. Also, it
-is not sufficient merely to seek to avoid difficulty in this lifetime. To be
-motivated by such trifling purposes does not help to achieve freedom from
-cyclic existence--the ultimate reason to practice the morality of individual
-liberation.
- This is confirmed by Buddha's life story. One day Shakyamuni slipped
-outside the palace wall to experience life for himself. For the first time he
-saw a sick person, an old person, and a corpse. Deeply troubled by the
-suffering of sickness, aging, and death, he came to the conclusion that
-worldly life is without substance. Later, inspired by several religious
-practitioners, Buddha became captivated by the possibility of a higher, more
-meaningful, spiritual life. At that point he escaped from the palace, leaving
-his ordinary life behind to pursue that vision.
- What does this teach us? Like Buddha we need to begin by becoming concerned
-about the suffering of cyclic existence and by turning away from temporary
-distractions. Influenced by this new attitude, we must take up a system of
-morality by renouncing cyclic existence and by taking vows of pure behavior
-through seeking to avoid the ten nonvirtues. (p.29)
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
- Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
- Tsong-ka-pa's intention in praising Buddhism is not to insult other
-teachers. Statements of the greatness of Buddhism are made in order to
-develop one-pointedness of mind toward practice, for one who is able to
-practise Buddhism must generate effort to do so. It is necessary for him to
-have confidence in Buddha's teaching from the round orb of his heart.
- There is a Tibetan saying that one cannot sew with a two-pointed needle or
-achieve aims with a two-pointed mind. Similarly, if a practitioner is
-hesitant, he will not put great force into the practice of any one system.
-Tsong-ka-pa states that Buddhism is the best in order that persons who would
-be helped more through engaging in the Buddhist path than through another
-system might not be diverted to another path. (p.48)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- At the level of conventional truth we all naturally possess both the desire
-and the potential to overcome suffering and to attain happiness. In this
-context, we can reflect upon the Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths
-and the Two Truths, and on the basis of such reflection we gradually develop
-an understanding of how we can gain freedom from suffering and of the
-potential we possess within ourselves for accomplishing such a goal.
- We can reflect further that: 'Just like me, all other sentient beings
-possess this same desire and potential to be happy and overcome suffering',
-and ask ourselves: 'If I continue to be guided by my own self-centredness and,
-through my single-pointed concern for my own well-being, continue to ignore
-the well-being of others, what will the consequences be?'
- Then we can reflect: 'From beginningless lifetimes I have harboured this
-self-cherishing attitude and have grasped onto the notion of an intrinsically
-real, enduring self. I have nurtured these two thoughts of self-cherishing
-and self-grasping deep in my heart as if they are twin jewels. But where has
-this way of being led me? By pursuing the dictates of my self-grasping and
-self-centredness, have I actually managed to attain the fulfilment of my self-
-interest? If it were possible, surely by now I should have achieved my goal.
-But I know that this is not the case.'
- We should then compare ourselves to enlightened beings such as the Buddha
-Shakyamuni who achieved total victory over all defilements and perfected all
-qualities of goodness. We should then ask ourselves: 'How did the Buddha
-accomplish this?' Through contemplation we will come to recognise that, at a
-certain point in his existence, the Buddha reversed the normal way of thinking
-and being. In the place of self-cherishing he cultivated the thought of
-cherishing the well-being of other sentient beings, and in place of self-
-grasping he cultivated the wisdom realising the absence of self-existence. In
-this way he attained full awakening. (p.30)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-In the history of the Nyungne tradition, many practitioners have been able to
-overcome incurable disease through the practice of Nyungne. We could say
-miracles like this literally do take place, although in the Buddhist
-understanding, overcoming great obstacles and disease would be considered
-blessings. A miracle is something else. It is the enlightened power that is
-demonstrated by enlightened masters. A true miracle in the Buddhist sense
-would be like the miracle of Milarepa entering into a little horn while his
-student, Rechungpa, sees him in his usual size yet he is inside the horn. Or
-like the miracle of Milarepa sitting on a lake and people seeing that he
-hasn't become any larger nor has the lake shrunk in size, yet he is completely
-covering it. These are real, enlightened miracles.(p.13)
- -- Wangchen Rinpoche, "Buddhist Fasting Practice: The Nyungne Method of
- Thousand-Armed Chenrezig", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- [In listening to teachings one] of the defects is to listen in a way that is
-like a container with holes. This means that even though we are listening to
-the teachings, we do not retain their contents. In this case we lack
-mindfulness and memory. Practice of Dharma means that we should be able to
-benefit from what we have heard. It is not a pastime, like listening to a
-story. The teachings give us guidance on how to live meaningful lives and how
-to develop proper attitudes. So in order to benefit from the teachings, we
-must retain them with mindfulness.
- In all kinds of learning processes, listening, reading, etc., we must pay
-full attention and should endeavor to remember their contents. When our
-interest is halfhearted, we only remember half the points, and we retain them
-for only a short time. We should reflect and think about whatever we have
-heard, over and over again. In this way, the knowledge will stay in our mind
-for a long time. Another technique for remembering instructions is debate as
-it is practiced in the traditional debating schools. (p.22)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
- translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
- Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- We are duped by maya. The whole display of our senses has tricked us into
-believing it and thus seduces us into the world of suffering. And the
-illusionist is that old trickster, one's own mind. But when this illusory
-nature is recognized to be just that, one is released from the bondage of the
-magic show, at which time it becomes a wonderful spectacle, even a display of
-the unimpeded creativity and freedom of mind. Then maya itself is both the
-medium for this realization and the expression of it.
- This conscious and intentional method of relating to all phenomena as
-illusion is thus cast in a totally positive light on the spiritual path, a
-complete turn-around from the original negative valuation of it as deceit.
-Now illusion is seen as illumination and opportunity. The nature of our
-relationship with it is the salient point, rather than its own nature, which
-certainly does not exist anyway, in any way.
- Aryadeva says:
- Since everything is an illusory display,
- it is possible to attain enlightenment.
- The transformation of the maya concept from something to escape to something
-to engage may be loosely correlated with the shift of emphasis on
-understanding emptiness that emerged in the mahayana teachings. A further
-development may be seen in the vajrayana teachings with the esoteric
-instruction known as Illusory Body (sgyu lus). This occurs as one of the Six
-Dharmas of Niguma and in other configurations of completion stage practices in
-many lineages. (p.40)
- -- Sarah Harding, "Niguma, Lady of Illusion", a Tsadra Foundation Series
- book, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Afflictions are classed as peripheral mental factors and are not themselves
-any of the six main minds [eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mental
-consciousnesses]. However, when any of the afflicting mental factors becomes
-manifest, a main mind [a mental consciousness] comes under its influence, goes
-wherever the affliction leads it, and 'accumulates' a bad action.
- There are a great many different kinds of afflictions, but the chief of them
-are desire, hatred, pride, wrong view and so forth. Of these, desire and
-hatred are chief. Because of an initial attachment to oneself, hatred arises
-when something undesirable occurs. Further, through being attached to oneself
-the pride that holds one to be superior arises, and similarly when one has no
-knowledge of something, a wrong view that holds the object of this knowledge
-to be non-existent arises.
- How do self-attachment and so forth arise in such great force? Because of
-beginningless conditioning, the mind tightly holds to 'I, I' even in dreams,
-and through the power of this conception, self-attachment and so forth occur.
-This false conception of 'I' arises because of one's lack of knowledge
-concerning the mode of existence of things. The fact that all objects are
-empty of inherent existence is obscured and one conceives things to exist
-inherently; the strong conception of 'I' derives from this. Therefore, the
-conception that phenomena inherently exist is the afflicting ignorance that is
-the ultimate root of all afflictions. (p.26)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
- Jeffrey Hopkins, with Anne Klein, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- With regard to awareness of the present moment, our mind is utterly
-insubstantial and yet has this characteristic of luminosity (Tib. salwa).
-"Luminosity" here simply means the cognitive capacity, the fact that our mind
-can know, experience, feel, and so on. This awareness always occurs in the
-present. When we are not thinking of the past or thinking of the future, when
-we're letting our mind simply rest in the direct experience of the present
-moment, then this awareness or lucidity emerges as an unfabricated
-intelligence.
- Initially we do this very briefly, for one moment, two moments, and so on,
-but as we work with this, it starts to take on a momentum. However, it's
-important not to interfere with the naturalness of this awareness by
-appraising what is occurring, which means that we shouldn't think, "Well, this
-is happening, that is happening, I'm aware of this, I'm aware of that." Nor
-should we judge what's happening by thinking, "Well, this is good, this is
-what's supposed to be happening," or, "This is bad, this isn't what's supposed
-to be happening."
- On the other hand, we do need to "plant the watchman of mindfulness and
-alertness," which means that we maintain some intentional awareness of what is
-occurring. Here, mindfulness means a simple, direct recollection of what
-we're trying to do. In other words, mindfulness is recollecting that we are
-trying to rest in a direct experience of the present moment. Alertness then
-is that faculty of mind that becomes aware when we become distracted from this
-present experience. However, this watchfulness or, this watchman, has to be
-very relaxed and gentle. It can't be too heavy-handed, otherwise the whole
-thing becomes a conceptual judgement. The technique of mind is to rest in
-this awareness of the present moment with a gentle watchman of mindfulness and
-alertness. (p.36)
- -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Pointing Out the Dharmakaya", foreword by
- the Dalai Lama, introduction by Lama Tashi Namgyal, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
-The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet. -- William Gibson
-~
- Complete spiritual fulfillment requires the ability to act compassionately,
-and that involves making practical distinctions. Therefore, Tsong-kha-pa
-insists upon the clarifying power of analysis that is not ultimate, analysis
-that operates within the constraints and boundaries of conventional fact and
-language so as to illuminate what does and what does not exist, what is and
-what is not helpful.
- Not all useful analysis need immediately reduce everything to emptiness. In
-other words, we can learn valuable, practical things by analyzing which car is
-good to drive, which action is good to do, which seed is good to plant,
-without at each step interrogating the final ontological status of the car,
-action, or seed.
- ...A pervasive sense that things are real and solid and exist just as they
-appear is woven right into the fabric of the world as we experience it. While
-tables do exist, we have yet to see them just as they are. Our very
-perception of them--while a valid source of information--is at the same time
-contaminated with a layer of distortion. That distortion is the appearance of
-the table as something that is able to be there on its own power, something
-that exists in and of itself.
- Thus when we begin to see, or even to suspect, that things lack essence and
-are not at all as we had supposed, we may feel terrified, as though our world
-is coming apart at the seams or evaporating beneath our feet. We calm those
-fears by again remembering that it is not that there is nothing. There is
-dependent arising, just as there has always been. Analysis threatens nothing
-but the false overlay, the distorting superimposition, which has caused us and
-others so much misery. (p.43)
- -- Guy Newland, "Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-kha-pa's
- Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path", published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
- The play of this divine mind,
- The union of bliss, the supreme father, and emptiness,
- Is unlimited and thus beyond concept.
- -- The Seventh Dalai Lama, Kelsang Gyatso
-
- Cultivate a state of mind focused on bliss and emptiness as forcefully as
-possible. The wisdom of bliss and emptiness is compared to space, which is
-non-obstructive and expansive. Because offerings are the manifestation of the
-wisdom of bliss and emptiness, these substances are called "offerings of
-Samantabhadra (All-Good)."
- Generally speaking, a bodhisattva named Samantabhadra is renowned for his
-elaborate offerings to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. But here the term all-
-good (samantabhadra) refers most appropriately to the wisdom of bliss and
-emptiness. It is all-good from the viewpoint of emptiness and also from the
-viewpoint of bliss. This emptiness is the ultimate truth and also the
-ultimate virtue. And the wisdom of great bliss is the clear light wisdom:
-With a feeling of joy, imagine that offerings having such a nature pervade
-entire space. (p.64)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the
- Practice of Guru Yoga", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- The spiritual path is truly simple. It is simple because it is not about
-acquiring, accumulating, or achieving anything. It is all about giving up
-what we don't need. It's about giving up what isn't useful instead of
-acquiring things with the idea of going somewhere or achieving something.
-That was the old game. That game which we have been playing for a long time
-is like a vicious circle. It has no end.
- Sometimes the spiritual search itself prevents us from seeing the truth that
-is always one with us. We have to know when to stop the search. There are
-people who die while they are searching for the highest truth with
-philosophical formulas and esoteric techniques. For them spiritual practice
-becomes another egoic plot which simply maintains and feeds delusions.
-Amazing! Buddha, God, truth, the divine, the great mystery, whatever you have
-been searching for, is here right now. (p.37)
- -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem", edited by Sharon Roe, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Practice of the morality of individual liberation, whether lay or monastic,
-leads to contentment.... Examine your attitudes toward food, clothes, and
-shelter. By reducing expectations you will promote contentment. The extra
-energy which is released should be devoted to meditation and to achieving
-cessation of problems, corresponding to the fourth and third noble truths. In
-this way, contentment is the basis, and the resulting action is called "liking
-meditation and abandonment."
- We should be contented in material areas, for those are bound by limitation,
-but not with regard to the spiritual, which can be extended limitlessly.
-Though it is true that a discontented person who owned the whole world might
-want to own a tourist center on the moon, that person's life is limited, and
-even the amount that can be owned is limited. It is better right from the
-beginning to be contented.
- However, with regard to compassion and altruism there is no limit, and thus
-we should not be content with the degree that we have. We are just the
-opposite; in the spiritual field we are content with slight amounts of
-practice and progress, but materially we always want more and more. It should
-be the other way around. Everyone needs to practice this, whether lay or
-monastic. (p.67)
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
- Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
- If we view the world's religions from the widest possible viewpoint and
-examine their ultimate goal, we find that all of the major world religions,
-whether Christianity or Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism, are dedicated to the
-achievement of permanent human happiness. They are all directed toward that
-goal. All religions emphasize the fact that the true follower must be honest
-and gentle, in other words, that a truly religious person must always strive
-to be a better human being. To this end, the different world religions teach
-different doctrines which will help transform the person. In this regard, all
-religions are the same, there is no conflict. This is something we must
-emphasize. We must consider the question of religious diversity from this
-viewpoint. And when we do, we find no conflict.
- ...Different kinds of food have different tastes: one may be very hot, one
-may be very sour, and one very sweet. They are opposite tastes, they
-conflict. But whether a dish is concocted to taste sweet, sour, or hot, it is
-nonetheless made in this way so as to taste good. Some people prefer very
-spicy, hot foods with a lot of chili peppers. Many Indians and Tibetans have
-a liking for such dishes. Others are very fond of bland tasting foods. It is
-a wonderful thing to have variety. It is an expression of individuality; it
-is a personal thing. Likewise, the variety of the different world religious
-philosophies is a very useful and beautiful thing. (p.13)
- -- "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists by the Dalai Lama", edited
- by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The basic principles and precepts of all true religions are very pure. What
-you see as impure is simply the inability of those who adhere to them. So as
-Buddhists, for instance, if you fail to embrace and internalize the basic
-principles and precepts of the practice, then your mind is always going to be
-overrun by the five mental afflictions. These negative afflictions are
-desire, hatred, jealousy, pride, and ignorance. They are the basic obstacles
-which impede you from making any true progress on the path. It is, in fact,
-the function of the preliminary training to prepare the field of the mind so
-that you are actually able to put to rest the gross delusions and give rise to
-your innermost qualities. This allows you to actualize your true bodhicitta
-nature, the mind which cares about others more than self.
- Leaving aside the idea of the so-called spiritual path, or religion, if you
-are able to uproot these delusions, the stones and boulders, from the field of
-your mind, then you will become an honorable person, respected in the world,
-with an easier, flexible attitude toward yourself and others. If you are
-able, through your development of wisdom and skillful means, to unite the
-teachings with your life, then true results will be achieved. (p.96)
- -- Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
- trans. by B. Alan Wallace and Sangye Khandro, published by Snow Lion
-~
- What premises or grounds do we have for accepting that mental afflictions
-can be ultimately rooted out and eliminated from our mind? In Buddhist
-thought, we have three principal reasons for believing that this can happen.
-One is that all deluded states of mind, all afflictive emotions and thoughts,
-are essentially distorted in their mode of apprehension, whereas all the
-antidotal factors such as love, compassion, insight, and so on not only are
-undistorted, but they also have grounding in our varied experience and in
-reality.
- Second, all these antidotal forces also have the quality of being
-strengthened through practice and training. Through constant familiarity, one
-can enhance their capacity and increase their potential limitlessly. So the
-second premise is that as one enhances the capacity of these antidotal forces
-and increases their strength, one is able to correspondingly reduce the
-influences and effects of delusory states of mind.
- The third premise is that the essential nature of mind is pure; in other
-words, there is the idea that the essential nature of mind is clear light or
-Buddha-nature.
- So it is on these three premises that Buddhism accepts that delusions, all
-afflictive emotions and thoughts, can be ultimately eliminated through
-practice and meditation. (p.38)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
- Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- As we become aware of the working of our mind, we'll find ourselves
-grappling with an inner trickster. Pay attention! The mind in which anger
-arises is also the mind that holds it, hides it, fans it, justifies it, or
-suppresses it. That's why this first step is crucial--before we can
-understand, befriend, tame, and transform our anger, we have to recognize it
-clearly and acknowledge it frankly. This is no small task.
- Self-awareness is a precondition for understanding and healing our anger.
-If we become aware of the workings of our mind we can discover the means by
-which we create our anger and the key to healing it. If we become aware that
-we are harboring irrational beliefs, ideas with false premises, mistaken
-assumptions or flawed logic, we can examine them and correct them. If we
-discover that we cherish ideas which are not in harmony with the realities of
-life and nature we can learn to relax into existence. If we find that we
-harbor desires, hopes, and expectations which cannot be achieved we have the
-option of letting them go.
- ...To develop awareness is to take a journey within--into the heart of our
-being. (p.33)
- -- Ron Leifer, M.D., "Vinegar into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and
- Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence", published by Snow Lion
-~
- A kind heart is the essential cause of happiness. Being kind to others is
-the nicest thing we can do for ourselves. When we respect others and are
-considerate of their needs, opinions and wishes, hostility evaporates. It
-takes two people to fight, and if we refuse to be one of them, there is no
-quarrel.
- ...A kind heart is the root of harmony and mutual respect. It prevents us
-from feeling estranged or fearful of others. It also protects us from
-becoming angry, attached, closed-minded, proud or jealous. When opportunities
-arise to help others we won't lack courage or compassion. If political
-leaders had impartial minds and kind hearts, how different our world would be!
- As all problems arise from the self-cherishing attitude, it would be wise
-for each of us, as individuals, to exert ourselves to subdue it. World peace
-doesn't come from winning a war, nor can it be legislated. Peace comes
-through each person eliminating his or her own selfishness and developing a
-kind heart...we can each do our part beginning today. The beneficial result
-in our own lives will immediately be evident. (p.76)
- -- Thubten Chodron, "Open Heart, Clear Mind", foreword by His Holiness
- the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- In order to have strong consideration for others' happiness and welfare, it
-is necessary to have a special altruistic attitude in which you take upon
-yourself the burden of helping others. In order to generate such an unusual
-attitude, it is necessary to have great compassion, caring about the suffering
-of others and wanting to do something about it. In order to have such a
-strong force of compassion, first you must have a strong sense of love which,
-upon observing suffering sentient beings, wishes that they have happiness--
-finding a pleasantness in everyone and wishing happiness for everyone just as
-a mother does for her sole sweet child.
- In order to have a sense of closeness and dearness for others, you first
-train in acknowledging their kindness through using as a model a person in
-this lifetime who was very kind to yourself and then extending this sense of
-gratitude to all beings. Since, in general, in this life your mother was the
-closest and offered the most help, the process of meditation begins with
-recognizing all other sentient beings as like your mother. (p.44)
- -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
- Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", edited and translated
- by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- Most people feel cozy enough in samsara. They do not really have the
-genuine aspiration to go beyond samsara; they just want samsara to be a little
-bit better. It is quite interesting that "samsara" became the name of a
-perfume. And it is like that. It seduces us into thinking that it is okay:
-samsara is not so bad; it smells nice! The underlying motivation to go beyond
-samsara is very rare, even for people who go to Dharma centers. There are
-many people who learn to meditate and so forth, but with the underlying motive
-that they hope to make themselves feel better. And if it ends up making them
-feel worse, instead of realizing that this may be a good sign, they think
-there is something wrong with Dharma. We are always looking to make ourselves
-comfortable in the prison house. We might think that if we get the cell wall
-painted a pretty shade of pale green, and put in a few pictures, it won't be a
-prison any more.
- ...There are two basic reasons we follow a spiritual path and look for
-liberation. One reason is that we want to be free. Let's take the
-traditional example of a burning house: your whole house is on fire, and you
-run out from it. But all your family--your partner, your children, your
-parents, even your pet dog--are all still inside. What are you going to do?
-You don't just say, "Well, I'm out. So too bad. Do your best to get out,
-too." Naturally this leads to the second basic reason for following a
-spiritual path: we will try to pull them out as well. (p.71)
- -- Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, "Into the Heart of Life", foreword by H.H. the
- Gyalwang Drukpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form."
-
- We are empty, or rather the matter of which we are composed is empty. But I
-must emphasize that emptiness does not mean nothingness. Some commentators
-have been mistaken when they have accused Buddhism of being nihilistic. We
-believe that the world in which we live is part of a flux, a stream of events.
-This does not mean it is nothing. Everything depends on everything else.
-Nothing exists on its own. On account of all the influences that come to bear
-upon them, things appear, exist, and disappear, and then reappear again. But
-they never exist independently. Form is therefore empty, by which we mean it
-is not separate and independent. Form depends on a multitude of different
-factors. And emptiness is form because all forms emerge from emptiness, from
-this absence of independent existence. Emptiness exists only to give rise to
-form. (p.341)
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner
- Peace: The Essential Life and Teachings".
-~
- When we understand the empty nature of our own mind, then the consequences
-of merit and sin will not be realized. In the state of emptiness, there
-exists no objective merit or sin.
- ...The nature of the mind is like a mirror; merits and sins are like the
-reflections in this mirror; and reflections in no way affect or modify the
-nature of the mirror. When we are in a state of contemplation, we are living
-in the condition of the mirror. At the time when all phenomena are exhausted
-and pass into the nature of reality, then our virtuous and vicious deeds will
-cause no benefit or harm to us. There is no basis for effect--all
-limitations, all frames of reference, all solid ground having been eliminated.
-But if we do not understand the nature of the mind and intrinsic awareness
-through direct personal experience, it will be a very dangerous situation for
-us.
- Indeed, it is not sufficient merely to understand these teachings
-intellectually; one must first practice and attain realization from this
-practice. Otherwise the virtuous and the vicious acts we commit in this life
-will create and accumulate karma, leading us again inevitably into
-transmigration. From the present time until we realize the ultimate
-exhausting of all phenomena into the nature of reality, our behavior must be
-refined; it must be heedful and scrupulous. Otherwise our view is only so
-much empty intellectual talk. (p.66)
- -- "Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness", translation and
- commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds, foreword by Namkhai Norbu, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The attainment of shamata is a serenely stilled state of mind, settled on
-mind itself. Although the attainment of such a meditational state focused on
-mind is the foundation for developing the highest attainments and is, of
-course, very excellent, by itself it is insufficient for reaching those goals.
- When we achieve a mind focused on mind with the perfect placement of
-absorbed concentration, free from all faults of dullness or flightiness, we
-increasingly experience an element of bliss accompanying our meditation. When
-we experience serene joy, on both a physical and mental level, brought on by
-the force of total absorption of mind on mind, we achieve a meditational state
-that fulfills the definition of shamata.
- Our ordinary mind is like raw iron ore that needs to be made into a steel
-sword. Progressing through the stages for attaining shamata is like forging
-the iron into steel. All the materials are there at our disposal. But since
-the mind wanders after external objects, then although it is the material for
-attaining shamata, it cannot yet be used as this product. We have to forge
-our mind through a meditational process. It is like putting the iron ore into
-fire.
- To fashion the steel into a sword, or in this analogy to fashion the mind
-into an instrument that understands voidness, our serenely stilled and settled
-mind needs to come to decisive realization of voidness as its object. Without
-such a weapon of mind, we have no opponent with which to destroy the
-disturbing emotions and attitudes. (p.142)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
- Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The Yolmo Valley has many different aspects that are beneficial to
-practitioners. Ian Baker writes:
- Chatral Rinpoche said that specific [places] in Yolmo are conducive to
-particular kinds of practice. Places with waterfalls inspire reflection on
-impermanence. Places with steep cliffs where the rocks are dark and jagged
-are good for meditating on wrathful deities. Places with rolling hills and
-flowering meadows support meditation on peaceful deities....
- Chatral Rinpoche clarified that the beyul [hidden lands] that Padmasambhava
-established in Tibet are not literal arcadias, but paradises for Buddhist
-practice, with multiple dimensions corresponding to increasingly subtle levels
-of perception. Beyond Yolmo's visible terrain of mountains, streams, and
-forests, he said, lies an inner level, corresponding to the flow of intangible
-energies in the physical body. Deeper still, the subtle elements animating
-the environment merge with the elements present within the practitioner--the
-secret level.
- Finally, at the beyul's innermost level--yangsang--lies a paradisiacal, or
-unitary dimension revealed through an auspicious conjunction of person, place,
-and time.... Chatral Rinpoche contended that yangsang is not merely a
-metaphor for the enlightened state, but an ever-present, if hidden, reality.
-(p.62)
- -- Chatral Rinpoche, "Compassionate Action", edited and annotated by Zach
- Larson, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Distinguishing between constructive and destructive emotions is right there
-to be observed in the moment when a destructive emotion arises--the calmness,
-the tranquillity, the balance of the mind are immediately disrupted. Other
-emotions do not destroy equilibrium or the sense of well-being as soon as they
-arise, but in fact enhance it--so they would be called constructive.
- Also there are emotions that are aroused by intelligence. For example,
-compassion can be aroused by pondering people who are suffering. When the
-compassion is actually experienced, it is true that the mind is somewhat
-disturbed, but that is more on the surface. Deep down there is a sense of
-confidence, and so on a deeper level there is no disturbance. A consequence
-of such compassion, aroused by intelligent reflection, is that the mind
-becomes calm.
- The consequences of anger--especially its long-term effects--are that the
-mind is disturbed. Typically, when compassion moves from simply being a
-mental state to behavior, it tends to manifest in ways that are of service to
-others, whereas when anger goes to the point of enactment it generally, of
-course, becomes destructive. Even if it doesn't manifest as violence, if you
-have the capacity to help, you would refrain from helping. That too would be
-a kind of destructive emotion. (p.158)
- -- "Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them?" A Scientific Dialogue
- with the Dalai Lama narrated by Daniel Goleman
-~
-I love smiles. That is a fact. How to develop smiles? There are a variety
-of smiles. Some smiles are sarcastic. Some smiles are artificial-diplomatic
-smiles. These smiles do not produce satisfaction, but rather fear or
-suspicion. But a genuine smile gives us hope, freshness. If we want a
-genuine smile, then first we must produce the basis for a smile to come.
- —- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- Suffering is something very concrete, which everyone knows and wants to
-avoid if possible, and the Buddha therefore began his teaching by talking
-about it in his famous formulation of the Four Noble Truths.
- The first truth draws our attention to the fact that we suffer, pointing out
-the existence of the basic dissatisfaction inherent in our condition; the
-second truth explains the cause of dissatisfaction, which is the dualistic
-state and the unquenchable thirst (or desire) inherent in it: the subject
-reifies its objects and tries to grasp them by any means, and this thirst (or
-desire) in turn affirms and sustains the illusory existence of the subject as
-an entity separate from the integrated wholeness of the universe.
- The third truth teaches that suffering will cease if dualism is overcome and
-reintegration achieved, so that we no longer feel separate from the plenitude
-of the universe. Finally, the fourth truth explains that there is a Path that
-leads to the cessation of suffering, which is the one described by the rest of
-the Buddhist teachings.
- All the various traditions are agreed that this basic problem of suffering
-exists, but they have different methods of dealing with it to bring the
-individual back to the experience of primordial unity. (p.47)
- -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra,
- and Dzogchen", compiled and edited by John Shane, published by Snow Lion
-~
- To disciples of increasing purity, ability, and rarity the Buddha gave more
-private guidance in the subtle mysteries. It appears that such teachings are
-included in the Mahayana sutras. There is no certainty, however, that all of
-the tantras were taught while the historical Buddha was alive. To an
-extremely small number of pure disciples the Buddha could appear today. They
-could encounter Vajradhara, the King of the Tantras, and he could reveal
-tantras and quintessential guidance to them.
- This is possible even though more than twenty-five hundred years have gone
-by since the historical Buddha passed away. There is no possibility, after
-the Buddha's death, of additions being made to his public discourses. But I
-think that teachings to disciples of pure action do not necessarily have to be
-given during the historical Buddha's lifetime. (pg.44)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom", translated, edited and
- annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- 30.
- Since the five perfections without wisdom
- Cannot bring perfect enlightenment,
- Along with skillful means cultivate the wisdom
- Which does not conceive the three spheres [as real]
- This is the practice of Bodhisattvas.
- -- Gyelsay Togmay Sangpo
-
- Practice of the five perfections without the understanding of reality
-remains contaminated, and though it may yield boundless happiness, it doesn't
-lead to omniscience. Love and compassion without the understanding of reality
-cannot help us to escape from worldly existence.
- On the other hand, we may easily remain trapped in a state of personal peace
-if we have understood reality but lack enough love and compassion. It is
-therefore the practice of Bodhisattvas to combine the two--skillful means and
-wisdom. Which of us can say we don't want to possess knowledge, kindness and
-pure conduct? Our text is a manual of instruction on how to gain these
-qualities and become a fully developed human being. (p.70)
- -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas",
- translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- "The Buddhas have already achieved all their own goals, but remain in the
-cycle of existence for as long as there are sentient beings. This is because
-they possess great compassion. They also do not enter the immensely blissful
-abode of nirvana like the Hearers. Considering the interests of sentient
-beings first, they abandon the peaceful abode of nirvana as if it were a
-burning iron house. Therefore, great compassion alone is the unavoidable
-cause of the non-abiding nirvana of the Buddha."
- -- Kamalashila
-
- Compassion's importance cannot be overemphasized. Chandrakirti paid rich
-tribute to compassion, saying that it was essential in the initial,
-intermediate, and final stages of the path to enlightenment.
- Initially, the awakening mind of bodhichitta is generated with compassion as
-the root, or basis. Practice of the six perfections and so forth is essential
-if a Bodhisattva is to attain the final goal.
- In the intermediate stage, compassion is equally relevant. Even after
-enlightenment, it is compassion that induces the Buddhas not to abide in the
-blissful state of complacent nirvana. It is the motivating force enabling the
-Buddhas to enter non-abiding nirvana and actualize the Truth Body, which
-represents fulfillment of your own purpose, and the Form Body, which
-represents fulfillment of the needs of others. Thus, by the power of
-compassion, Buddhas serve the interests of sentient beings without
-interruption for as long as space exists. This shows that the awakening mind
-of bodhichitta remains crucial even after achieving the final destination.
-(p.44)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, root text by Kamalashila, "Stages of Meditation",
- translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
- Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- [During sleep and waking states] there are physiological processes that
-correspond to different mental states, and these are associated with
-subjectively experienced energies in the body.
- In the waking state, these energies tend to be drawn into a locus in the
-center of the head, at the level of the forehead. In the dreaming stage,
-these energies will be even more drawn to a point in the throat. In the deep
-sleep state, these energies are more drawn into the heart. The location is
-not the physical heart, the organ, but the heart center which is right in the
-center of the chest.
- Certain events are experienced in meditation that seem to corroborate this
-theory. For example, in meditation, it is possible to bring your awareness
-into the heart cakra, and sometimes when this happens, the person will faint.
-On other occasions, the meditative awareness, finely concentrated, may be
-brought into the area of the navel. And at this juncture, it has been found
-experientially that heat is produced by such concentration. If you look at
-the anatomy of the body, you don't find these cakra points. (p.106)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
- the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand,
- Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
- When you meditate with concentration, there are three particular experiences
-that arise: bliss, clarity, and nonthought.
- The experience of meditative bliss is greater than ordinary worldly
-happiness. Sometimes when you are meditating, a feeling of blissfulness
-suddenly arises from the subtle state of your mind and pervades your entire
-body. This bliss is healthy and brings out your inner qualities. Some people
-use drugs to induce blissfulness and visions, but drugs are external supports
-that cannot bring lasting happiness. The bliss experienced in meditation can
-last for many days, according to your ability to meditate. When you
-experience this kind of bliss, on the outside you might look very poor, but
-inside you remain very joyful.
- The second main experience in meditation is clarity. Sometimes while
-meditating you can suddenly feel that your mind is very clear and bright.
-Even if you are meditating in the dark, you do not feel heavy or tired.
-Sometimes your body feels very light and your mind is very clear, and many
-kinds of reflections appear. Clarity brings great wisdom and the ability to
-read other people's minds, as well as to see your own past and future lives.
- The third main experience is nonthought, or a state of equanimity without
-distractions. Beginners can also experience this. Nonthought is more settled
-than the experiences of bliss and clarity. If you have thoughts, they
-suddenly dissolve and you can remain continuously in meditation. As your
-ability to meditate develops, your mind becomes more and more settled, so that
-you can meditate for one hour or one week or one month without being
-distracted by thoughts. You simply remain in the natural state for as long as
-you want.
- Bliss, clarity, and nonthought are the main qualities of concentration.
-However, it is important not to be attached to them or concerned about whether
-they arise or not; one should simply continue to practice. (p.29)
- -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
- "The Buddhist Path: A Practical Guide from the Nyingma Tradition of
- Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The Buddha's teachings can be divided into two main categories: the
-scriptures and realization. A verse states:
-
- The teachings of the Teacher have two aspects:
- Scripture and realization presented as they truly are.
- There is nothing else to do but
- Sustain them, speak of them, and practice them.
-
- When we practice listening, reflecting, and meditating, the teachings will
-free us from the heavy darkness of suffering. They are like a never-setting
-sun whose luminous rays reach to the farthest corners of this world. Among
-the eighty-four thousand teachings of the Buddha are those found in Tibet that
-maintain the unity of the sutra and mantra traditions. These teachings are
-like a tree trunk with numerous branches: a variety of lamas hold lineages
-within diverse traditions.
- ...In showing how to cut through the delusion of duality, these teachings
-open up to every living being the possibility of attaining true mastery over
-the immense and profound gates to the eighty-four thousand teachings. They
-are precious because they make nonconceptual wisdom manifest and bring forth
-the amrita of all-pervading emptiness. Like placing a perfect fruit in the
-palm of our hand, these teachings bring about two kinds of wisdom: the wisdom
-that sees the multitude of all phenomena distinctly and the wisdom that sees
-clearly into their nature.
- Relying on an appropriate path allows the fruition of practice to manifest.
-This result is possible because buddha nature is found in the mindstream of
-all living beings. (p.160)
- -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth
- Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, published by Snow Lion
-~
- All is neither real nor delusive--
- Held to be like [a reflection of] the moon on water by the learned.
- Just this ordinary mind
- Is called "dharmadhatu" and "Heart of the victors."
- --Venerable Rangjung Dorje
-
- ...Thus, seeming reality consists of the adventitious stains that are like
-[mistakenly seeing] a [white] conch as being yellow. Ultimate reality is the
-tathagata heart, which is like the [natural] white of the conch. Except for
-the mere appearances from the perspective of a mistaken [perceiving] subject,
-within the object--the conch--there is nothing white or yellow to be added or
-to be removed. Therefore, the pith instruction is to rest naturally and
-uncontrived.
- In brief, what are called "samsara" and "nirvana" are set up from the point
-of view of mere seeming appearances, while the nature of both--luminosity free
-from reference points--is called tathagata heart. Consequently, in terms of
-the definitive meaning, mere appearances and their nature cannot be separated,
-just like fire and its heat. For this reason, the mother [sutras] say:
- "Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form. Emptiness is nothing other than
-form. Form is nothing other than emptiness." (p.165)
- -- "Gone Beyond: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear
- Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition", Volume One
- translated and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, a Tsadra Foundation Series book,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- In the Mahayana 'cause and effect' refer to totally supreme emptiness and
-supreme immutable bliss. The Brief Explication of Initiations (Shekhoddesha)
-[included in the Kalachakra cycle] says:
-
- That bearing the form of emptiness is the cause,
- That bearing immutable compassion is the effect.
- Emptiness and compassion indivisible
- Are called the mind of enlightenment.
-
- The indivisibility of these two is a Cause Vehicle in the sense of being the
-means by which one progresses, and it is an Effect Vehicle in the sense of
-being that to which one is progressing. Such a Vajra Vehicle has reference to
-Highest Yoga Tantra and cannot occur in the lower tantras. For the supreme
-immutable bliss can only arise when one has attained the branch of meditative
-stabilisation (in the system of the Kalachakra) and thus the branches of
-mindfulness and those below must be the means of achieving it. The three
-lower tantras do not have all the factors that are included in these causal
-branches. (p.107)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-...one of the things you can learn from history is that men have learned
-to live with machinery at least as well as, and probably a good deal better
-than, they have learned to live with one another.
- -- E. E. Morison, from "Computers and the World of the Future"
-~
-Everything is perfect in the universe--even your desire to improve it.
- -- Dr. Wayne Dyer
-~
-On Practice Space
-
- I encourage you to conduct your own research on the results of practicing in
-various environments. Tibetan yogis are especially attracted to places with
-an enormous amount of open space and distant vistas. I have greatly enjoyed
-meditating in the high desert of the eastern Sierra Nevada range, where the
-views extend to peaks sixty miles away. The ability to direct the attention
-to such distant points gives a very expansive feeling to the intervening
-space.
- In such a spacious environment, allow your awareness to come out, with your
-eyes open and your gaze resting vacantly in the space in front of you. The
-experience in a vast space is very different from that in a tiny room. Gazing
-up at a clear night sky studded with stars is a wonderful way to experience
-the sheer enormity of space.
- It is important to distinguish between the contents of a space and the space
-itself. Colors and shapes constitute the contents of visual space. These are
-aspects or representations of ordinary phenomena in the visual field.
-Attending to the space of the mind means attending to that space from which
-all such contents emerge, in which they are present, and into which they
-dissolve; it is the space that lingers in between discrete events. (p.220)
- -- B. Alan Wallace, "Minding Closely: The Four Applications of Mindfulness",
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- "Through analytical meditation, you come to a point of clarity and decisive
-insight, and at this point it is beneficial to abide in that revelation. Your
-insight will grow gradually like a sprout. Simply be present and settle your
-mind in the absolute nature of reality. Remain in a state of meditative
-equipoise, and do not think of this as a waste of your time. If you think you
-should rather be actively engaged in such practices as circumambulations or
-the stage of generation, it is the time for you to be simply present in
-meditative equipoise. But do not just sit and space out."
- --Karma Chagme
-
- In some scholarly discursive meditations in the sutra tradition, one
-continually seeks out the mind, and there is a tradition in which
-investigation is needed. Here, in the tradition of Mahamudra and Atiyoga, it
-is enough to seek and investigate during this phase of Dharma practice, but
-afterwards it is not necessary to continue the search. In the Katok
-tradition, the investigation of the mind is said to takes months, for one
-examines for three days each of the points of the mind's color and shape as
-well as the exterior and the interior of the body. Our tradition does not
-take so long, so it is important for you to seek out the mind without even a
-moment's distraction. (p.100)
- -- Karma Chagme, "A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on the
-Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga", commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche, trans. by B.
-Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- When the root of duality--dualistic clinging, dualistic perceptions, deluded
-perceptions--is severed, all the leaves, the branches, and even the tree trunk
-of samsara and nirvana naturally wither on their own and topple in their own
-time. Then this great spreading tree of samsara and nirvana, of duality, of
-worldliness, of conditioned being, does not need to be chopped down: it is
-already as if dead. We can relax; done is what had to be done, as the Buddha
-sang.
- This is the whole point of the Dharma, of spiritual awakening, of
-Buddhahood; this is its ultimate evolution or unfolding. If we aspire to
-experience such an awakening, there is nothing else to do except recognize the
-true nature of our primordial awareness, our own essential being, our own
-birthright, which is within. This is the intrinsic nature of our own heart-
-mind, also known as bodhicitta or bodhi-mind. It is our own being, our own
-nature, this renowned buddha-nature. It is not a Buddha anywhere else. (p.103)
- -- Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche and Lama Surya Das, "Natural Great Perfection:
- Dzogchen Teachings and Vajra Songs", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- A common [Tibetan Buddhist] motif is the "Wheel of Life," symbolizing the
-workings of cyclic existence. This is frequently found at the doorway to a
-main assembly hall and serves to remind the inhabitants of the dangers of
-mundane existence. This striking image has a large central circle divided
-into two halves. The top half has three sections, representing the three
-"happy transmigrations"--humans, demi-gods, and gods. The lower half also has
-three sections, indicative of the three bad transmigrations--animals, hungry
-ghosts, and hell beings. A pigeon symbolizes the mental affliction of desire,
-a snake represents hatred, and a pig--symbol of ignorance--holds the tails of
-the first two in its mouth. These three afflictions are the primary factors
-that bind people to cyclic existence, causing them to transmigrate helplessly
-from birth to birth.
- The theme of cause and effect is further illustrated by twelve sections
-around the rim of the wheel, symbolizing the twelve links of dependent arising
-(a summary of the process of transmigration). The whole wheel is held in the
-jaws of the Lord of Death, indicating that death is inevitable for those who
-are caught up in this cycle. Outside of the wheel are buddhas and
-bodhisattvas, often shown teaching the dharma, which provides an avenue of
-escape for those who are perceptive enough to recognize this and follow their
-instructions. (p.239)
- -- John Powers, "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
-Is Anger Beneficial?
-
- We generally consider something beneficial if it promotes happiness. But
-when we ask ourselves, "Am I happy when I'm angry?" the answer is undoubtedly
-no. We may feel a surge of physical energy due to physiological reasons, but
-emotionally we feel miserable. Thus, from our own experience, we can see that
-anger does not promote happiness.
- In addition, we don't communicate well when we're angry. We may speak
-loudly as if the other person were hard of hearing or repeat what we say as if
-he had a bad memory, but this is not communication. Good communication
-involves expressing ourselves in a way that the other person understands. It
-is not simply dumping our feelings on the other. Good communication also
-includes expressing our feelings and thoughts with words, gestures, and
-examples that make sense to the other person. Under the sway of anger,
-however, we neither express ourselves as calmly nor think as clearly as usual.
- Under the influence of anger, we also say and do things that we later
-regret. Years of trust built with great effort can be quickly damaged by a
-few moments of uncontrolled anger.... If we could tame our anger, such
-painful consequences could be avoided.(p.23)
- -- Thubten Chodron, "Working with Anger", published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
- Why should we want to help our enemies or to give them happiness? Here are
-various useful ideas to consider. One approach is to think that the harm they
-have done us is, in fact, the result of our own past negative actions through
-which we have set ourselves up as a target for their harm. We could also
-consider how those who harm us are totally driven by their disturbing
-emotions.
- If someone in our family, someone we love dearly, becomes insane and tries
-to harm us, we wouldn't think of taking revenge but would try to help them
-regain a normal state of mind. Living beings, our mothers, are crazed by
-their disturbing emotions. Those who harm us are in particular need of our
-love and compassion. (p.52)
- -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Bodhisattva Vow", translated and edited by
- Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- On top of the sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and death, we encounter
-the pains of facing the unpleasant, separating from the pleasant, and not
-finding what we want. The basic problem lies with the type of mind and body
-that we have. Our mind-body complex serves as a basis for present sufferings
-in the form of aging, sickness, and death, and promotes future suffering
-through our usual responses to painful situations.
- By reflecting on birth and on the nature of mind and body, you will be moved
-from the depths of your heart to seek relief, thinking, "If I could only be
-free from a life driven by afflictive emotions and karma!" Without such
-reflection on pain, your knowledge of your own condition will be limited,
-which itself will put a limit on your compassion. As Tsonghkapa says:
- "If you do not cultivate a genuine sense of disenchantment with cyclic
-existence--whose nature is a mind-body complex under the sway of afflictive
-emotions and karma--you will have no chance to develop a genuine attitude
-intent on liberation, and there will be no way to develop great compassion for
-beings wandering in cyclic existence. Therefore, it is crucial to reflect on
-your situation." (p.151)
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Becoming Enlightened", trans. and ed. by
- Jeffrey Hopkins, PhD
-~
- When I was a young boy, Tantra was just a matter of blind faith. At age
-twenty-four I lost my own country, and then after coming to India started
-really reading Tsongkhapa's explanations on emptiness. Then, after moving to
-Dharamsala, I put more effort into the study and practice of the stages of the
-path, emptiness, and Tantra. So it was only in my late twenties after gaining
-some experience of emptiness that deity yoga made sense.
- One time in the main temple in Dharamsala I was performing the ritual of
-imagining myself as a deity of Highest Yoga Tantra, called Guhyasamaja. My
-mind continuously remained on the recitation of the ritual text, and when the
-words "I myself" came, I completely forgot about my usual self in relation to
-my combination of mind and body: Instead, I had a very clear sense of "I" in
-relation to the new, pure combination of mind and body of Guhyasamaja that I
-was imagining. Since this is the type of self-identification that is at the
-heart of Tantric yoga, the experience confirmed for me that with enough time I
-could definitely achieve the extraordinary, deep states mentioned in the
-scriptures. (p.188)
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
- Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
- In Buddhism, one speaks of three different levels of understanding, which
-are sequential--an understanding arrived at through learning and studying, an
-understanding developed as a result of deep reflection and contemplation, and
-an understanding acquired through meditative experience.
- There is a definite order in the sequence of this three. So on the basis of
-study and learning--which is the first level--we deepen our understanding of a
-given topic by constantly reflecting upon it until we arrive at a point where
-we gain a high degree of certainty or conviction that is firmly grounded in
-reason. At this point, even if others were to contradict our understanding
-and the premises upon which it is based we would not be swayed, because our
-conviction in the truth has arisen through the power of our own critical
-reflection. This is the second level of understanding which, however, is
-still at the level of the intellect.
- If we pursue this understanding further and deepen it through constant
-contemplation and familiarity with the truth, we reach a point where we feel
-the impact at the emotional level. In other words, our conviction is no
-longer at the level of mere intellect. This is the third level of
-understanding, which is experiential, and this is referred to in the Buddhist
-texts as an understanding derived through meditative experience.... You will
-need to deepen your understanding still further by engaging in regular
-meditation so that you can progress to the third level of understanding.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Shortly after attaining enlightenment under the bodhi tree, the Buddha gave
-a sermon in Varanasi sharing the fruits of his realization. This sermon is
-referred to as the "first turning of the wheel of Dharma." The word Dharma
-here refers to the Buddha's teachings themselves. It was this sermon in which
-the Buddha developed what would become the framework for the entirety of his
-teachings: the four noble truths.
- These four truths are the truth of suffering, the truth of its origin, the
-truth of the possibility of its cessation, and the truth of the path that
-leads to that cessation. In essence, the four noble truths say that we all
-naturally desire happiness and do not wish to suffer--and that the suffering
-we wish to avoid comes about as a result of a chain of causes and conditions
-begun even before our birth. If we are to pursue our aspiration to gain
-freedom from suffering, we need to clearly understand the causes and
-conditions that give rise to suffering and strive to eliminate them.
-Additionally, we must clearly understand the causes and conditions that give
-rise to happiness as well, and actively practice them. This is the essence of
-the four noble truths.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's
- Heart of Wisdom Teachings", translated & edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa
-~
- In Dzogchen, while thoughts are active, rigpa permeates them all, so that
-even at the very moment when powerful thoughts like attachment and aversion
-are arising, there remains a pervasive quality of clear light rigpa.
-Dodrupchen says, "in Dzogchen, since the clear light's natural way of being is
-like the sun and its rays, inseparable, if you are able, through this, to
-bring out the radiance of genuine mind, you will be able to maintain the
-experience of clear light in meditation, without it fluctuating, or coming and
-going."
- Longchen Rabjam speaks of self-arising wisdom, which is in fact rigpa:
-"Self-arising wisdom is rigpa that is empty, clear and free from all
-elaboration, like an immaculate sphere of crystal. Its very being is such
-that it never explores objects of the senses."
- This "self-arising wisdom" is rigpa, which in essence is primordially pure.
-Longchenpa describes it as "empty and clear". To call it empty is to refer to
-its essence, primordially pure. To call it clear is to speak of its nature,
-spontaneously present. As such, it is "free from all elaboration", and free
-from the elaborations of adventitious phenomena. So it is like a flawless
-crystal sphere, and truly "its very being is such that it never explores
-objects of the senses". (p.180-5)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- There is an Indian saying: if you are struck by a poisonous arrow, it is
-important first to pull it out, there is no time to ask who shot it, what sort
-of poison it is and so on. First handle the immediate problem, and later we
-can investigate. Similarly, when we encounter human suffering, it is
-important to respond with compassion rather than question the politics of
-those we help. Instead of asking whether their country is enemy or friend, we
-must think, "These are human beings, they are suffering, and they have a right
-to happiness equal to our own."
- Our attitude towards suffering is very important because it can affect how
-we cope with it when it arises. Our usual attitude consists of an intense
-aversion and intolerance of our own pain and suffering. However, if we can
-transform our attitude, adopt an attitude that allows us greater tolerance of
-it, this can do much to help counteract feelings of mental unhappiness,
-dissatisfaction and discontent. (p.92)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
- Mary Craig
-~
- Why should we want to help our enemies or to give them happiness? Here are
-various useful ideas to consider. One approach is to think that the harm they
-have done us is, in fact, the result of our own past negative actions through
-which we have set ourselves up as a target for their harm. We could also
-consider how those who harm us are totally driven by their disturbing
-emotions.
- If someone in our family, someone we love dearly, becomes insane and tries
-to harm us, we wouldn't think of taking revenge but would try to help them
-regain a normal state of mind. Living beings, our mothers, are crazed by
-their disturbing emotions. Those who harm us are in particular need of our
-love and compassion. (p.52)
- -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Bodhisattva Vow", translated and edited by
- Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- If you are totally concerned and preoccupied with the affairs of this
-lifetime, there is a great danger of causing your own downfall. If by such
-concern you were able to achieve the desired happiness, that is okay, but this
-is not the case.
- We all let ourselves be caught in this web of preoccupation with the
-activities and confusion of this lifetime. Having too much worldly
-involvement ends in confusion. We spend our whole lives thinking that this
-might be better than that, I should do this, or perhaps something else is
-better and I should do that. If you reflect upon the underlying
-dissatisfaction, then you will be able to find that, well, after all, whatever
-they might be, the affairs of this lifetime are not that important, because
-they yield a limited benefit. This does not mean that you should not work for
-your own livelihood, but it does indicate that you should not be preoccupied
-with that alone. (p.107)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Do you understand who the enemy is? You do not need to beat anyone up, and
-you do not need a weapon to kill your enemy. You do not need money to buy a
-weapon. It is all very easy.
- How is liberation accomplished? The offering of liberation is accomplished
-by abandoning the dualistic mind of discursive thoughts. The sharp weapon of
-primordial wisdom, which completely annihilates the dualistic mind, is the
-means for achieving this separation. This "weapon" has been part of your
-continuum for a long time now. With this weapon you can completely devastate
-the dualistic mind, leaving not even a trace behind, thus liberating the mind
-into the sphere of unborn truth. The enemy will never return. This is called
-great liberation.
- I must emphasize that primordial wisdom is not something you can buy, get
-from your best friend or have handed to you by a buddha in heaven. It is not
-something that someone else has but you do not. Abandon such concepts.
-Primordial wisdom does not come from an external source. It is simply your
-true nature. It is something that you and everyone else have as the very
-essence of your mind.
- You should know what your qualities and capabilities are. (p.79)
- -- Gyatrul Rinpoche, "The Generation Stage in Buddhist Tantra", published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- With regard to ordinary study, except for the fact that there is a limit to
-our lifetime, it is not that you arrive at a point where there is no more room
-in your brain. No matter how much you study, even if you study a hundred
-thousand million words, the mind can still retain them. This indicates that
-the basis of these qualities, consciousness, is stable and continuous.
- The other day, I made a joke to someone who was asking about the brain. I
-said that if, like a computer, you needed a cell for each moment of memory,
-then as you become more and more educated, your head would have to get bigger
-and bigger!
- Because of these reasons--that compassion, wisdom, and so forth are
-qualities that depend on the mind, and the mind is stable and continuous--they
-can be developed to a limitless degree.
- It is from this point of view that it is said that the conception of
-inherent existence can be extinguished. When one removes the conception of
-inherent existence, one thereby also ceases the afflictive emotions generated
-in dependence upon that ignorance. Also, since the ignorance that drives
-contaminated actions has ceased, this class of actions ceases. Once the
-motivator of the action and the actions cease, the results of those actions
-will cease. That is how the third noble truth--true cessation--comes to be.
-(p.103)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at
- Harvard: Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and
- edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- "Accumulating merit" can be approached from a psychological perspective that
-lends itself to experiential verification or from a spiritual dimension that
-requires some faith. "Merit" can be understood as "spiritual power" that
-manifests in day-to-day experience. When merit, or spiritual power, is
-strong, there is little resistance to practicing Dharma and practice itself is
-empowered.
- Tibetans explain that people who make rapid progress in Dharma, gaining one
-insight after another, enter practice already having a lot of merit. By the
-same theory, it is possible to strive diligently and make little progress.
-Tibetans explain this problem as being due to too little merit. Merit is the
-fuel that empowers spiritual practice.
- How do you accumulate merit? Engaging in virtue of any sort, with your
-mind, your speech, or your body results in merit. Just as merit can be
-accumulated, it can also be dissipated by doing harm. In general, mental
-afflictions dissipate merit. The mental affliction that is like a black hole
-sucking up merit, worse than all the others, is anger. Attachment or sensual
-craving can get you in a lot of trouble, but it doesn't have the debilitating
-impact upon spiritual practice that anger does. Remember the warrior
-metaphor--standing at the gateway of the mind, vigilant, spear ready. The
-spear is for mental afflictions, especially anger. Nip anger in the bud. (p.208)
- -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point Mind
- Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- It is necessary to alternate stabilising meditation and analytical
-meditation... by merely cultivating non-conceptuality and non-analysis it is
-impossible to enter into the yoga of signlessness.
- Even after emptiness has been realised, powerful and repeated analysis is
-needed. Merely to set one's mind on the meaning of emptiness is the mode of
-cultivating calm abiding observing emptiness; in order to cultivate special
-insight it is necessary to analyse again and again. These two modes of
-meditation--stabilising and analytical--are alternated until analysis itself
-induces even greater stablisation, at which point stabilisation and wisdom are
-of equal strength, this being a union of calm abiding and special insight.
- In Performance as well as in Action Tantra the meditative stabilisation
-which is a union of calm abiding and special insight is used to gain feats for
-the sake of aiding sentient beings and accumulating merit quickly. (p.42)
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity
- Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Seeking a Place of Refuge.
-
- A spiritual aspirant requires a model, something he or she can look up to as
-an ideal and thus find guidance and inspiration. In Buddhism this is the
-Triple Gem, or the Three Jewels of Refuge: the Buddhas, Dharma and Sangha.
- When we think of the fully enlightened Buddhas--the beings who have purified
-their minds of all stains and obscurations and who have expanded their wisdom
-to the limits of existence--we feel very attracted and awed; but somehow there
-always seems to be a great distance between the Buddhas and us. Therefore,
-there is the refuge of Sangha, the community of spiritual aspirants, the
-assembly of practitioners dwelling in the various stages of practice and
-attainment.
- These beings provide us with a perspective on the path. We have to look up
-to the Sangha, but not as far as to the Buddhas. The Sangha make us think,
-"This person is not that far ahead of me. If I just make a bit more
-effort...." They give us confidence for spiritual practice. Sometimes they
-make us feel like we can even race them to enlightenment. These are the
-Sangha of spiritual friends.
- Thoughts of the Buddhas make us numb with admiration; thoughts of the Sangha
-cause us to jump to it and to apply ourselves with zeal to the spiritual path.
-This path and the methods for traversing it are the third Jewel of Refuge, the
-Dharma. This is the collection of teachings to be practiced and the
-realizations to be attained. (p.97)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
- by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Suppose there is this religious group building thousands of childcare
-facilities and hospices.... Although these religious workers are doing a lot
-of caring work, there is no wish to enlighten sentient beings. Their aim is
-just to provide food and education. At the same time, imagine there is one
-hermit living somewhere in the mountains of the Himalayas who is doing none of
-this. In fact, within close range of him, there are a lot of babies dying,
-yet outwardly he is doing nothing about it. Inwardly, however, he is actually
-meditating, "May all sentient beings be enlightened!" and he continues to do
-this every day. Purely because of the enlightenment aspect, this person is
-worthier of homage than the first group. Why? Because it is so difficult to
-truly and genuinely wish for the enlightenment of others. It is much easier
-to give people food and educate them.
- Most of us don't really appreciate this fact. We have never before
-genuinely wished for someone else to achieve enlightenment. Likewise, if
-someone were to come over and say to us: "Here you go, you have a ticket for
-enlightenment. There is only one ticket." I don't think we would even think
-about giving it to someone else! We'd grab it and go for it. Enlightenment
-is such a valuable thing.
- Actually, enlightenment is much too large a subject, so let's not take that
-as an example. Instead, let's say someone comes along with a potion that
-promises you clairvoyance or omniscience. We would drink it ourselves, not
-even sharing half of it with others!
- Just think how often we are jealous when someone is a better practitioner.
-How often do we get jealous when someone receives a better or a higher
-teaching than we do? If you have genuine bodhichitta, you should be happy,
-shouldn't you? After all, isn't that what you wished for? Their getting
-enlightenment means your wish is at last coming true. Their receiving higher
-teachings, or becoming better practitioners, means that your aspiration is
-finally being fulfilled! But we don't feel this way, instead we feel jealous
-or envious. Some of us may be so-so Dharma practitioners, so we don't really
-feel jealous or envious, but we still feel left behind. Who cares? If you
-are a genuine bodhisattva, you shouldn't care about these things. (p.123)
- -- "Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary
- Practices", compiled, translated, and introduced by Cortland Dahl,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- It is very difficult to help somebody overcome his or her problems when the
-problems are unstructured, when in a certain way this person does not have any
-problems, though deep inside all the problems are there. It is very difficult
-for a human being whose problem is confused, whose ego is ill-defined and
-without foundation, to really purify, clarify, and develop anything.
- The same principle applies to praying. As long as we have our self, our
-ego, we pray to the Buddha: "Please bless me so that my prayers for the
-benefit of all sentient beings be fulfilled." Otherwise our prayer does not
-follow any line or direction. It would be like going to a big five-star hotel
-with five hundred rooms and not knowing your room number, or taking an
-elevator without knowing which floor to go to--this would be a big problem.
- This is the reason for calling upon the great compassion of the Buddha and
-asking him to consider our prayers. The reason is not that the Buddha only
-listens to someone who prays to him; rather, without praying to the Buddha we
-are not developed enough to have the condition necessary to receive his
-blessing. Rain might be falling for ten thousand years, yet if our cup is
-upside down it will remain empty. Through praying we open up, we turn our cup
-to let the water get inside. (p.48)
- -- XII Khentin Tai Situpa Rinpoche, "The Third Karmapa's Mahamudra Prayer",
- translated and edited by Rosemarie Fuchs, published by Snow Lion Pub
-~
-Catproof is an oxymoron, childproof nearly so. -- unknown
-~
- In Tibetan there is no word for "emotion."
- Bearing in mind that the fundamental goal of Buddhist practice is the
-achievement of nirvana, when you study the mind what you're really concerned
-with is what specific mental states impede the accomplishment of that end.
-That's what the six primary states and twenty derivative states (the
-unwholesome mental factors) all have in common. Some are emotions and some
-are not, but it doesn't really matter. What's important is they all share
-that common factor of being impediments.
- In contrast, modern psychology does not have the aim of nirvana. My
-conjecture, in terms of trying to understand why the West places such a strong
-emphasis on identifying emotion, is that, going back to the Enlightenment,
-even as far back as Aquinas, there is an enormous priority placed on reason
-and intelligence. What can impede reason? Emotion.
- You have two categories that are set in opposition to each other. The fact
-that there is a specific term for emotion in Western thought does not
-necessarily imply that there was a special emphasis placed on understanding
-the nature of emotion. Perhaps initially the motive for labeling something as
-emotion was to enhance reason by identifying something that is unreasonable,
-something that is irrational. (p.159)
- -- "Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them? A Scientific Dialogue
- with the Dalai Lama", narrated by Daniel Goleman, foreword by the Dalai
- Lama
-~
-The solution of this problem is trivial and is left as an exercise for the reader.
- -- Standard textbook cookie
-~
-Question:
- Your Holiness and other teachers tell us to be sincerely joyful about
-others' worldly achievements, happiness, and acquisitions. But if we know
-with certainty that a person has acquired or achieved something through
-unskillful or non-virtuous means, such as lying, stealing, cheating, harming,
-in what manner should that happiness for them be experienced and expressed?
-
-Dalai Lama:
- One's attitude toward superficial successes that are achieved through wrong
-means of livelihood such as lying, stealing, cheating, and so on, should not
-be the same as for achievements and happiness which are genuine. However,
-here you must bear in mind that if you examine this carefully, you will find
-that although the immediate circumstances that gave rise to a person's joy and
-happiness may be a wrong means of livelihood, that is merely the immediate
-circumstance: the actual cause of that happiness is the individual's merit in
-the past.
- So one has to see the difference between immediate circumstances and long-
-term causes. One of the characteristics of karmic theory is that there is a
-definite, commensurate relationship between cause and effect. There is no way
-that negative actions or unwholesome deeds can result in joy and happiness.
-Joy and happiness, by definition, are the results or fruits of wholesome
-actions. So, from that point of view, it is possible for us to admire not so
-much the immediate action, but the real causes of joy. (p.119)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
- Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- At all times, do not lose courage in your inner awareness; uplift yourself,
-while assuming a humble position in your outer demeanor. Follow the example
-of the life and complete liberation of previous accomplished masters (siddha).
-Do not blame your past karma; instead, be someone who purely and flawlessly
-practices the Dharma. Do not blame temporary negative circumstances; instead,
-be someone who remains steadfast in the face of whatever circumstances may
-arise.
- In brief, taking your own mind as witness, make your life and practice one,
-and at the time of death, with no thought of anything left undone, do not be
-ashamed of yourself. This itself is the pith instruction of all practices.
- Eventually, when the time of death arrives, completely give up whatever
-wealth you possess, and do not cling to even one needle. Moreover, at death,
-practitioners of highest faculty will be joyful; practitioners of middling
-faculty will be without apprehension; and practitioners of the lowest faculty
-will have no regrets. When realization's clear light becomes continuous day
-and night, there is no intermediate state (bardo): death is just breaking the
-enclosure of the body.
- If this is not the case, but if you have confidence that you will be
-liberated in the intermediate state, whatever you have done in preparation for
-death will suffice. Without such confidence, when death arrives, you can send
-your consciousness to whichever pure land you wish and there traverse the
-remaining paths and stages to become enlightened. (p.58)
- -- "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice", translated by Ron Garry,
- a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- There are many different forms of bodywork that can purify and heal in the
-context of preparing for tantric practice. Trauma held in the body from early
-experiences is cleared only when we are able to work therapeutically in the
-body. Whether it is body-centered therapy or the various practices of
-acupuncture, osteopathy, homeopathy, and so on, if the practice releases and
-transforms trauma, then it is beneficial as a preliminary to any further
-tantric practice. I often suggest to people I teach that they follow some
-form of body-energy healing in order to further their release of trauma.
-Also, after trauma has been released, it is often extremely useful to then
-explore some form of psychotherapy.
- We should not assume that the traditional practices will do it all for us.
-It is simply idealistic and naive to think that all our ills can be resolved
-by doing the traditional preliminary practices or, indeed, by classical
-"dharma practice" alone. We should consider a healthy body-mind-life
-relationship as a necessary part of our practice. When we get this balance
-right, we create the basis for a sound dharma practice.
- The practice of tantra in particular needs this healthy, balanced basis
-because when we work with tantric practices, we stimulate processes in the
-body that are often very powerful. If we have a sound base for practice and
-have a level of emotional and energetic maturity, then the effects of tantra
-can be held and grounded without creating the potential for problems to arise.
-Without a sound relationship to the body, the practice of tantra has no real
-base from which to unfold.(p.53)
- -- Rob Preece, "Preparing for Tantra: Creating the Psychological Ground
- for Practice", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-During a visit to America, Winston Churchill was invited to a buffet luncheon
-at which cold fried chicken was served. Returning for a second helping, he
-asked politely, "May I have some breast?" "Mr. Churchill," replied the
-hostess, "in this country we ask for white meat or dark meat." Churchill
-apologized profusely. The following morning, the lady received a magnificent
-orchid from her guest of honor. The accompanying card read: "I would be most
-obliged if you would pin this on your white meat."
-~
-The Three Refuges
-
- What are the methods for causing one's own mind to become the practices?
-Initially, one should take refuge and think about actions and their effects.
-The refuge is the Three Jewels: Buddha, his Doctrine and the Spiritual
-Community.
-
- [Buddha] When a sentient being purifies the taints of his own mind as well
-as their latent predispositions, he is free of all defects that act as
-obstructions. Thus, he simultaneously and directly knows all phenomena. Such
-a being is called a Buddha, and he is a teacher of refuge, like a physician.
-
- [Dharma] The Doctrine jewel is the superior paths--the chief right paths
-which remove the taints as well as their latent predispositions--and the
-absences which are states of having removed what is to be removed. The
-Doctrine is the actual refuge, like medicine.
-
- [Sangha] The Spiritual Community jewel is all persons, whether lay or
-ordained, who have generated a superior path in their continuum. They are
-friends helping one to achieve refuge, like nurses.
-
- The three refuges that have been achieved and presently exist in other
-beings' continuums are one's own causal refuge; one relies on a protector just
-as a weak person takes refuge in a stronger person. The three refuges that
-one will attain in the future are one's own effect refuge. One who relies on
-the Three Jewels from the point of view of knowing that he is to attain them,
-must cause them to be generated in his own continuum.(p.35)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
- Jeffrey Hopkins, with Anne Klein, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Buddhism was extremely helpful to me during the process of my sister's
-lingering death two years ago. She was forty-five years old and had very few
-spiritual aspirations. She was actually fearful and closed to any suggestions
-that she might find comfort in expanding her degree of awareness and
-understanding. At first I was extremely upset by her attitude, but then I
-realized it was not for me to decide what she should or should not do with the
-last few months of her life. I was with her for support and comfort and not
-to force her to view her life in a way which was foreign and threatening to
-her.
- Enabling a person to accomplish a sense of having lived purposefully and
-with significance is a major goal of caregivers and loved ones. Being able to
-support someone during their dying trajectory, regardless of what they are
-thinking or feeling is probably one of the most valuable services one person
-can offer to another. But, it is difficult to stay close to someone who is
-dying. Not trying to evade an open encounter with the intense psychic pain
-that usually accompanies the recognition of impending death is one of the most
-valuable contributions that a nurse or any other caregiver or loved one can
-make to the patient who wishes to discuss his or her circumstances. Facing
-forthrightly the situation of dying, however, requires feeling comfortable
-with one's own feelings about death and the frailty of being human.
- Buddhism has taught me that death need not be approached only as a tragedy;
-it is also an event from which a profound understanding can unfold. (p.44)
- -- "Buddhism through American Women's Eyes", edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Offerings should not be influenced by fluctuations of motivation and they
-should not be procured by devious means--offerings procured through wrong
-means are not good offerings. They should be arranged with proper motivation.
-As explained in the precepts of refuge, you should make offerings of the first
-portion of your food or drink of the day, whether it be food, milk or tea.
- Offerings should be made of what is edible; it is not helpful to arrange a
-torma that could not be eaten and then to say OM AH HUM, OM AH HUM. If you
-can in reality transform something into delicious food just by reciting OM AH
-HUM three times, then it is alright! On the other hand, if your offerings
-remain as mere tsampa (roasted barley flour) after having repeated OM AH HUM a
-thousand times, it will not help much. The offerings should be the best you
-can afford. At least you can offer the first portion of your daily food, as
-no one can live without food! Our offerings should be something which is
-edible.... [Even] if you make water offerings in a proper manner, you can
-generate great merit.(p.35)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the
- Practice of Guru Yoga", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- Hundreds of people may be more popular, powerful, and wealthy than we are,
-but from the point of view of the Dharma, no one is more fortunate. We have a
-very precious opportunity to make the best of our lives by working toward the
-attainment of buddhahood. We have obtained this precious human birth and have
-come in contact with the teachings and spiritual friends. All the favorable
-conditions are available--we could not ask for more. Yet this is only for a
-very short period of time. Within this very short time, the best thing we can
-do for ourselves is commit ourselves fully and wholeheartedly to practicing
-the disciplines, which are an essential part of the practice of the teachings.
- ...The practice of discipline is very profound. In terms of the
-effectiveness of the practice of the Dharma, there is a hundredfold difference
-between someone who follows some level of discipline and someone who does not.
-Whether visualizing a deity, practicing basic meditation, or reciting mantras,
-the benefit is a hundredfold greater when we have the ground of discipline.
- The teachings of the Buddha say that if we take dust from the footprint of a
-person who embodies discipline and put it on our heads, it is a blessing.
-Even the king of the devas would do that, because of the sacredness of
-discipline. There is a tradition, followed to this day in India, of touching
-the feet of a holy person or touching the doorstep before entering his or her
-door, and then touching our foreheads. This is not merely a cultural
-tradition, but is acknowledging something very profound.(p.73)
- -- Khenpo Karthar, "Dharma Paths" 2nd Edition, translated by Ngödup Burkhar
- and Chöjor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- According to the lower schools of Buddhist thought, when a being, like
-Sakyamuni Buddha, attains mahaparinirvana and passes away, he ceases to exist,
-there is no further continuity of consciousness. Therefore, according to the
-Vaibhasika school, for example, after this point there is no more being, no
-more consciousness. Only the name remains. And yet, they believe that this
-being who has now disappeared can influence the course of those who follow him
-due to the virtues that he created in the past.
- This is not accepted by the higher schools of thought, however, that instead
-believe that there are two kinds of bodies, those that are pure in nature and
-those that are impure. The latter is more gross, whereas a body that has been
-purified is more subtle. Now, for example, when Sakyamuni Buddha gave up his
-body, there still remained the more subtle one. So, according to these
-schools of thought, at the stage of Buddhahood, there are two bodies: a mental
-body and a physical one. I don't know whether the English word "body" is the
-most appropriate one. In Sanskrit, the words used to signify these two bodies
-of the Buddha are dharmakaya and rupakaya. The first is of the nature of
-mind, whereas the latter is material. So when the Buddha passes away, there
-is still this more subtle body, which is of the nature of mind, and since the
-mental continuum is also present, we can say that the personality is still
-there. Even today, the Buddha remains as a living being. I think this is
-better, don't you?(p.91)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
- edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Blame everything on one thing. It simplifies life incredibly, and yet it
-truly is not simplistic. If we believe from our hearts that all of our
-misfortunes can be attributed to self-centeredness, this must radically
-transform our lives.
- Do we have reservations? Isn't there some part of the mind that says,
-"Self-centeredness is not such a bad idea. It got me my job, a good salary,
-my house and car. How can this be my enemy?" On the surface self-centeredness
-may seem like an aide who looks after our interests. There is one powerful
-answer to this: insofar as self-centeredness dominates our lives, it brings us
-into conflict with virtually everyone else. Because most people are dominated
-by self-centeredness, their interests are at odds with our own. There is
-bound to be conflict, and conflict gives rise to suffering.
- Imagine what life would be like without self-centeredness. Would we give
-away all our possessions, waste away from malnutrition, and die prematurely of
-disease? No. This would be a partial lack of self-centeredness combined with
-a large part of stupidity. If we are to serve others effectively, we must
-take care of ourselves. A bodhisattva has no self-centeredness, but there
-have been people in all stations of life, including kings, who are
-bodhisattvas. If we free ourselves of self-centeredness and really concern
-ourselves with the cherishing of others, then our own welfare comes as a kind
-of echo.(p.67)
- -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
- Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- When we achieve a mind focused on mind with the perfect placement of
-absorbed concentration, free from all faults of dullness or flightiness, we
-increasingly experience an element of bliss accompanying our meditation. When
-we experience serene joy, on both a physical and mental level, brought on by
-the force of total absorption of mind on mind, we achieve a meditational state
-that fulfills the definition of shamata.
- Our ordinary mind is like raw iron ore that needs to be made into a steel
-sword. Progressing through the stages for attaining shamata is like forging
-the iron into steel. All the materials are there at our disposal. But since
-the mind wanders after external objects, then although it is the material for
-attaining shamata, it cannot yet be used as this product. We have to forge
-our mind through a meditational process. It is like putting the iron ore into
-fire.
- To fashion the steel into a sword, or in this analogy to fashion the mind
-into an instrument that understands voidness, our serenely stilled and settled
-mind needs to come to decisive realization of voidness as its object. Without
-such a weapon of mind, we have no opponent with which to destroy the
-disturbing emotions and attitudes.(p.142)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
- Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Focusing the mind on the object of meditation is like planting a seed for
-the arisal of the realization.... Even in the beginning stages one might
-become impatient, thinking, "I really want to get this done quickly." One
-might think that by exerting more effort, by adding more and more stuff, by
-changing things this way or that way the process can be made to go faster.
- The good gardener knows that too much water or fertilizer is harmful, not
-helpful. The mature meditator must understand this as well. The Kadampa
-masters of old gave this counsel: First, pay great heed to getting the proper
-causes and conditions together. Next, engage in the practice without
-agitation and without anxiety. Then, with the mind at ease, carry on to the
-end.(p.20)
- --Gen Lamrimpa, "How to Practice Shamatha Meditation: The Cultivation of
- Meditative Quiescence", translated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
-The Need for Reasoning
-
- All Buddhist schools agree that the analytical reasoning process which leads
-to an inference (a conceptual realization) derives from basic, shared, direct
-perception. As an example let us consider the following reasoning:
-
- A plant does not inherently exist because of being a dependent-arising.
-
- You begin by reflecting on the fact that a plant is a dependent-arising
-because its production depends on certain causes and conditions (such as a
-seed, soil, sunlight, and water), but eventually the reasoning process must be
-supported by direct perception, or it cannot stand. We can see with our eyes
-that plants change; they grow; mature, and finally dry up. In this sense,
-inference is blind, since it must eventually rely on direct perception.
-Inference depends on reasoning, which in turn rests on basic, shared,
-indisputable experience through direct perception. (p.153)
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
- Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
- The root of all qualities of the Bodhisattva vehicle is caring for sentient
-beings. We admire and respect the Buddha because he has reached the state
-free of all faults and possessing all good qualities, knows the method to
-reach that state, and teaches it to us. If we do as the Buddha did, by
-meditating on love and compassion for all sentient beings, not harming or
-getting angry with them, we too can become a Buddha.
- Our enlightenment depends on the Buddhas and on sentient beings, and from
-this point of view, they are equally important to us. Thus when we look at
-any sentient being, we should recognize that she is indispensable to our
-attainment of enlightenment. Our enlightenment comes from cherishing sentient
-beings; it does not come from cherishing only ourselves. Understanding this,
-whenever we encounter people in our lives, it becomes easy to feel, "May this
-person be happy and free from suffering."
- Caring for sentient beings means freeing them from the suffering of
-unfortunate rebirths and of cyclic existence in general, teaching the Dharma
-to those who want to hear it, providing the means for them to eliminate the
-causes which bring suffering temporarily and ultimately, not harming them, not
-lying to them, not creating discord among them, not speaking harshly to them,
-and so on. Through caring about them now, excellent results will follow, for
-us and for them.(p.179)
- -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
- Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
- Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The term 'karma' literally means 'action', and more specifically refers to
-the process of cause and effect, where the intention of an agent or being is
-involved. So here karma means an intentional act committed or carried out by
-a being who possesses a sentient nature and who is also capable of having a
-sentient experience.
- ...Buddhist texts state that only a buddha's omniscient mind can penetrate
-the subtlest aspects of the workings of karma, and know at the most
-microscopic level which specific causes and conditions give rise to which
-specific consequences. At our level, we can only recognise that an intimate
-relationship exists between the external elements of the material world and
-the internal elements of our mental world; and, based on that, we can learn to
-detect varying levels of subtlety within our mental and emotional experiences.
-(p.13)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- All attachment and aversion come from what we have mentally created. We
-have made an image and that is our mind as we normally experience it. In
-order to solve this problem in a more profound and permanent way, we have to
-look at our mind and see its true nature. In our innate, unfabricated nature,
-which is the basic state of our mind, there is no problem. We make all our
-problems by creating concepts and all kinds of mental conditioning.
- Seeing the true nature of mind means experiencing the way the mind is when
-we do not fabricate and contrive anything. We need to look at our mind when
-it is devoid of our creations and free from mental elaborations. If we can
-see this state of mind, there is no grasping, no grasped object, and no
-subject doing the grasping. There is simply perception or seeing, which in
-itself does not cause a problem.
- When the true nature of mind is seen, there are just appearances without any
-evaluation. One thing arises in the mind and then another thing arises. The
-arising that is pleasant is no better than the one that is unpleasant. They
-are simply different manifestations of the mind. There is no need to grasp
-one and reject the other. Once this is seen clearly, we see the true nature
-of mind. This is something that we need to experience directly. When we see
-the truth, we become liberated from our struggle within the nets of aversion
-and attachment.(p.97)
- --Ringu Tulku, "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha", edited and
- translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- In general, most non-Buddhist religions meditate on the deity as being
-outside the physical body. In these cases the deity takes the form of a
-refuge, or of a protector or messenger. Thus do they meditate, and of course
-this is fine. In the Buddhist tradition, however, the deity is not meditated
-on as being outside the physical body. One meditates on the deity as being
-one's own essence expressing itself through oneself arising as the deity. One
-therefore thinks, "I am the deity," and with this conviction one meditates.
- Why is it justifiable to meditate in this manner? As previously seen, the
-five afflictions are actually self-expressions of the five kinds of primordial
-awareness; thus our own mind is in essence exactly the same as the mind of a
-Buddha. In the philosophical treatises this is sometimes referred to as
-'sugatagarbha' or 'buddha-nature'.
- Because all beings possess this innately pure buddha-nature, they are pure
-by nature and not at all impure. Being pure by nature it is perfectly
-justified to meditate that you are the deity, because this is exactly how it
-is! (p.95)
- --Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Everyday Consciousness and Primordial
- Awareness", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- In day to day life if you lead a good life, honestly, with love, with
-compassion, with less selfishness, then automatically it will lead to
-nirvana....We must implement these good teachings in daily life. Whether you
-believe in God or not does not matter so much; whether you believe in Buddha
-or not does not matter so much; as a Buddhist, whether you believe in
-reincarnation or not does not matter so much. You must lead a good life.
- And a good life does not mean just good food, good clothes, good shelter.
-These are not sufficient. A good motivation is what is needed: compassion,
-without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy; just understanding that
-others are human brothers and sisters and respecting their rights and human
-dignity. That we humans can help each other is one of our unique human
-capacities. We must share in other peoples' suffering; even if you cannot
-help with money, to show concern, to give moral support and express sympathy
-are themselves valuable. This is what should be the basis of activities;
-whether one calls it religion or not does not matter.... In my simple
-religion, love is the key motivation.(p.20)
- -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
- Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", edited and translated by
- Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion
-~
- All beings suffer in the same way as we do, and some are even more deeply
-immersed in sorrow. Yet all of these beings wish to experience only happiness
-and to avoid all suffering, frustration, and pain. They wish lasting
-happiness but do not know how to cultivate its causes, and they wish to avoid
-misery but automatically collect only causes of further misery. As Shantideva
-said, "Although seeking happiness, they destroy their own causes of happiness
-as they would an enemy. And although seeking to avoid misery, they treat its
-causes as they would a close friend."
- Were the countless sentient beings unrelated to us, or were they not to mind
-their sufferings, perhaps there would be no need for us to bother with their
-welfare. In reality, however, all are related to us and not one of them
-wishes to suffer. Over the billions of lifetimes that we have experienced
-since beginningless time, we have known all the living beings again and again.
-Sometimes they have been parents to us, sometimes friends or mates, sometimes
-enemies. Without exception, each of them has been even a mother to us again
-and again, performing all the kindnesses of a mother. How can we be
-indifferent to them?
- Wishing them to have only happiness and its causes and to be free of
-suffering and its causes, we ourselves should generate a sense of
-responsibility for their well-being. Finally, as only an omniscient
-Enlightened One is effectively able to benefit beings in deep, lasting, and
-ultimate ways, we must quickly attain enlightenment. This is the wishing
-bodhimind, the inner basis of Mahayana practice.(p.136)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
- by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Recalling our interconnectedness, we begin to recognize our total
-interdependence and that whatever we enjoy in our life comes through others--
-through their efforts, their work, their hardships.
- It does not necessarily require that others had a specific intention to
-enable us to enjoy the things of our life. If we think of this in terms of
-the obvious examples like food and clothing, we can immediately see the global
-meaning of this contemplation. Our food comes from all over the world and if
-we consider the people and other creatures involved in its production,
-picking, packaging, transportation, and selling so that we can enjoy it, the
-numbers are vast. It is through their labor, their efforts, their struggles
-that we enjoy what we eat. Often their lives are terribly hard, and to feed a
-family they must work for very little--yet we enjoy the fruits of their labor.
-This is something to feel a huge gratitude for.
- If we begin to look more closely at our Western life, we can see how much we
-are dependent upon people in considerably poorer circumstances all over the
-world for what we consume. What we often don't consider is the impact of this
-consumption on those who produce it. In this meditation, it can be very
-useful to spend some time dwelling upon this so that we really feel the
-profound depth of appreciation for our interdependence upon others for our
-lives. This can counter the tendency to take our good fortune for granted and
-can open up a sense of gratitude for the kindness of those around. If guilt
-arises, it can be used to increase our awareness of the responsibility we have
-globally.
- Gradually, we may begin to see the complete interdependent nature of our
-relationship with the countless other beings around us. We cannot overlook
-this connectedness to others and the kindness and benefit we have gained
-through them. When we come to feel this deeply, we will be able to hold
-others dear and automatically respond to others with a greater sense of care
-and concern.(p.80)
- -- Rob Preece, "The Courage to Feel: Buddhist Practices for Opening to
- Others", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-If you cannot stop worrying over something in the past or what might happen in
-the future, shift your focus to the inhalation and exhalation of your breath.
-Or recite this mantra: om mani padme hum (pronounced "om mani padmay hum").
-Since the mind cannot concentrate on two things simultaneously, either of
-these meditations causes the former worry to fade.(p.133)
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
- Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
-When serving society or others in general, it is very important to set a
-proper motivation at the start of each day. When we wake up each morning, we
-reflect, 'Today I am not going to come under the power of either attachment or
-hostility. Today I am going to be of benefit and help to others.' Thus we
-consciously set the tone for the entire day so that we go through it within
-the context of a pure, altruistic motivation and attitude.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, excerpted from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
- Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- We all have a certain style for doing things--how we drive, how we cook, how
-we dress. Some of us are shy or cautious, others assertive or flamboyant.
-We've refined that style over the years based on how successful it is, but
-it's not usually something of which we're completely aware. As long as it
-gets the job done, as long as we get the appropriate feedback from others, our
-style goes unnoticed, and when questioned we'll say, "That's just the way I
-am."
- When we begin meditation, it is inevitable that we will meditate with the
-same style with which we do everything else, because it's who we think we are.
-Furthermore, this style has proven to be reasonably successful in our other
-activities. However, in this case, it is not at all appropriate. If there is
-any style, there is a hidden agenda and an implicit judgment of the various
-phenomena of meditation. There is not the true detachment or choiceless
-awareness of real meditation. Our style contains our unacknowledged attitudes
-toward meditation.
- ...What's the problem in meditating with an attitude? First, a large amount
-of energy goes into maintaining the attitude. To make this clearer, if we are
-trying to be aware of our breathing, 100 percent of our attention should be on
-our breathing. If we're thinking, "I'm a shy person and I'm a little afraid
-of what's going on here," even if we're not consciously aware of that thought,
-it will be taking our energy away from the breathing and keeping it tied up in
-the world of ego. Consequently, this energy is not available for our
-practice. And your evaluation of your practice and progress will be based on
-your agenda rather than on the Buddha's teaching.
- Of course, no one is a perfect meditator. It's not like we have to wait
-until we have a perfect attitude before we begin. If that were the case, we
-would never start..With time, the purity of your attitude will grow...refining
-one's approach is a lifetime's work and is at the same time the practice
-itself.(p.72)
- -- Bruce Newman, "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism", published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Developing a sense of good cheer in the face of adversity, you can
-specifically use adversity as the support for refuge and true spiritual
-development. I am discussing how you relate to your suffering, how you relate
-to your adversity, as it affects you in life and on the path.
- Now, as you know, whenever you are suffering by way of the body, speech, and
-mind, be it physical illness or a mental affliction, this is a very big deal
-to you. Usually it appears as something major. Even if it's minor, you make
-it into some great distress. If you lose a little money or if someone speaks
-nastily to you, it invokes a strong reaction. This is called "appearances
-arising as the enemy." When your habituation to adversity reaches such a
-point that you actually fall prey to appearances arising as the enemy, it
-means that you no longer have patience for suffering.
- ...If you can't bear the minor aspects of adversity in this, the best
-rebirth in cyclic existence, the precious human rebirth, what will you do when
-you're reborn in the three lower realms? Samsara is so vast, so deep and
-limitless, and the number of sentient beings within samsara are equal to that.
-All of them want to be free; all of them desire liberation. You should
-consider then how unnecessary or pointless it is to think that your small
-problems in this fortunate life are so great, when in fact they really are
-not.
- Any rebirth in this ocean of cyclic existence will by nature bring this type
-of discontent or suffering. Since you've been in this cycle of rebirths from
-beginningless time until now and you are still not free, it points out the
-fact that help is needed. Refuge is necessary. Adversity then becomes the
-support for training in refuge, which demonstrates that adversity is used to
-your advantage.(p.44)
- -- Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
- trans. by B. Alan Wallace and Sangye Khandro, published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
- The practice of Dharma is to pacify the afflictions and concepts that fill
-our minds. When we blend the teachings with our minds, the power of the
-Dharma can act upon and pacify afflictions and concepts. If on the outside we
-look like Dharma practitioners while on the inside our Dharma practice has not
-diminished our afflictions or concepts, we merely call ourselves practitioners
-without actually being one. This is not to say that outer behavior, our
-reflection in the world, is not important, but what is crucial is to train in
-taming our minds.
- What we tame are the three main afflictions: ignorance, attachment, and
-aversion. Ignorance, the root of the two others, is defined as the continual
-fixation on our self that we assume to be permanent and independent. This
-ego-clinging is the main cause for our cycling in samsara. We wish to be in
-paradise for our own advantage; we wish to erase all suffering for our own
-advantage. We cling to this "I" of ours, thinking that it is so special that
-we should not be bothered with problems but enjoy wealth, power, and charisma.
-If we honestly look into our minds, it is quite easy to see this kind of
-coarse and obvious grasping to a self.
- There are also subtle forms of fixating on the self ("I") and what belongs
-to it ("mine"), like the quick thought of ourselves before another one comes.
-When practicing Dharma, we are taming this coarse and subtle clinging to an
-ego. If this does not happen, we will merely be able to suppress the
-afflictions temporarily, distancing ourselves for the time being. To cut
-through them completely, we must steadily apply ourselves to practice.(p.187)
- -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth
- Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- "The mantra of the perfection of wisdom--the mantra of great knowledge,
- the unexcelled mantra, the mantra equal to the unequalled, the mantra
- that quells all suffering--is true because it is not deceptive."
- -- The Heart Sutra
-
- The perfection of wisdom is called "the mantra of great knowledge" because
-thoroughly understanding its meaning eliminates the three poisons of craving,
-hatred, and delusion. It is called the "unexcelled mantra" because there is
-no greater method than the perfection of wisdom for saving one from the
-extremes of cyclic existence and the isolated peace of individual nirvana. It
-is called the mantra "equal to the unequalled" because the Buddha's
-enlightened state is unequalled, and, through the deepest realization of this
-mantra, one attains a state equal to that state. Finally, the perfection of
-wisdom is known as the "mantra that quells all suffering" because it quells
-manifest sufferings and also removes all propensities for future suffering.
- The perfection of wisdom is the ultimate truth, thus the statement "it is
-true." In the realm of the ultimate truth, there is no disparity, as there is
-in conventional reality, between appearance and reality, and thus this
-manifest ultimate truth is "not deceptive." This nondeceptiveness also
-suggests that, through actualization of this mantra, the perfection of wisdom
-can enable one to attain total freedom from suffering and its causes. From
-this perspective too, we can say that it is the truth.
- "The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is proclaimed: tadyatha gate gate
-paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha! Shariputra, the bodhisattvas, the great
-beings, should train in the perfection of wisdom in this way."
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart
- of Wisdom Teachings", translated & edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa
-~
-For as long as space endures
-And for as long as sentient beings remain,
-Until then may I too abide,
-To dispel the misery of the world.
- -- Shantideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life
-~
-Global Responsibility
-
- Occasionally I notice that people are making a convenient distinction
-between ethics on the personal level and ethics on the wider social level. To
-me, such attitudes are fundamentally flawed, as they overlook the
-interdependence of our world.
- That individual ethics--or rather their absence--can have an impact on the
-lives of many is powerfully demonstrated by the global financial crisis that
-began in 2008, the repercussions of which are still being felt around the
-world. It revealed the way unbridled greed on the part of a few can adversely
-affect the lives of millions. So, just as in the wake of the 9/11 attacks we
-started to take the dangers of religious extremism and intolerance seriously,
-so too, in the wake of the financial crisis, should we take the dangers of
-greed and dishonesty seriously. When greed is seen as acceptable, even
-praiseworthy, there is clearly something wrong with our collective value
-system.
- In this age of globalization, the time has come for us to acknowledge that
-our lives are deeply interconnected and to recognize that our behavior has a
-global dimension. When we do so, we will see that our own interests are best
-served by what is in the best interests of the wider human community. By
-contrast, if we concentrate exclusively on our inner development and neglect
-the wider problems of the world, or if, having recognized these, we are
-apathetic about trying to solve them, then we have overlooked something
-fundamental. Apathy, in my view, is itself a form of selfishness. For our
-approach to ethics to be truly meaningful, we must of course care about the
-world. This is what I mean by the principle of global responsibility, which
-is a key part of my approach to secular ethics.(p.84)
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole
- World", trans. by Thupten Jinpa Langri
-~
- Speech that is not harmful is the meaning of "right speech." It is wise
-speech. Wise people can still be quite firm and decisive when that is what is
-needed. It means finding generous and productive ways of saying things.
-There are times when we need to be strict, but we do not have to denigrate or
-harm the person or child who is out of line. Firm speech can also be wise
-speech.
- Wise speech is another tool that can be practiced. We can begin by
-practicing wise speech to ourselves--replacing the inner voice of guilt that
-is putting us down and opening a space to listen to our deeper needs.
- What can I say which will be helpful to someone? What tone of voice will I
-use? And when is it wise to say nothing? Imagine yourself actually saying
-something helpful and supportive. Imagine the difference it would make in
-your life if you could say just one helpful thing to one person. Imagine your
-life if your speech always came from wisdom.(p.136)
- -- Chonyi Taylor, "Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from
- Addictive Patterns", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
-The famous nineteenth-century dzogchen master Paltrul Rinpoche explained self-
-liberation concretely and precisely:
-
- The practitioner of self-liberation is like an ordinary person as far as
- the way in which the thoughts of pleasure and pain, hope and fear,
- manifest themselves as creative energy. However, the ordinary person,
- taking these really seriously and judging them as acceptable or rejecting
- them, continues to get caught up in situations and becomes conditioned by
- attachment and aversion.
-
- Not doing this, a practitioner, when such thoughts arise, experiences
- freedom: initially, by recognizing the thought for what it is, it is freed
- just like meeting a previous acquaintance; then it is freed in and of
- itself, like a snake shedding its skin; and finally, thought is freed in
- being unable to be of benefit or harm, like a thief entering an empty
- house.
-
-...Freeing or liberating thought does not mean ignoring, letting go of, being
-indifferent to, observing, or even not having thoughts. It means being
-present in hope and fear, pain and pleasure, not as objects before us, but as
-the radiant clarity of our natural state. Thus anger, for example, when
-experienced dualistically, is an irritation which we may indulge in or reject,
-depending on our conditioning. Either way we are caught up in it and act out
-of it. But when aware of anger as a manifestation of clarity, its energy is a
-very fresh awareness of the particulars of the situation. However, these
-particulars are no longer irritating.(p.77)
-
- -- Longchenpa, "You Are the Eyes of the World", translated by Kennard Lipman
- and Merrill Peterson, introduction by Namkhai Norbu, published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
- In this practice one recollects negativity, contemplates its nature,
-generates apprehension of its karmic implications, and resolves to purify
-one's mind of the negative traces. On the basis of this resolve one takes
-refuge, develops the bodhimind and enters the Vajrasattva meditation or
-whatever method is being used. One can also do exercises such as prostrations
-and so forth. This concentration of purifying energies destroys the potency
-of negative karmic imprints like the germ of a barley seed roasted in a fire.
- Here it is important to begin the meditation session with a contemplative
-meditation and then to transform this into settled meditation for a prolonged
-period of time. One abides in the settled meditation until it begins to lose
-intensity, and then temporarily reverts to contemplative meditation in order
-to invigorate the mind, returning to fixed meditation once a contemplative
-atmosphere has been restored.
- Generally our mind is habituated to directing all of our energies into
-things that benefit this life alone, things of no spiritual consequence. By
-performing these types of meditations, our natural attachment to the
-meaningless activities of this life subsides and we begin to experience an
-inner appreciation for spiritual values. When spontaneously one's mind
-appreciates spiritual rather than mundane goals one has become an active
-practitioner of initial perspective.(p.117)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
- by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- When doing lamrim meditations, it is important to know clearly the state of
-mind you want to reach as a conclusion to the meditation. Lamrim texts
-describe the purpose of each meditation, and we want to make sure that our
-mind arrives at that conclusion and not at an incorrect or irrelevant
-conclusion. For example, when meditating on the disadvantages of the self-
-centered thought, our mind may twist that meditation and conclude, "I'm a
-horrible person because I'm so selfish." This is the wrong conclusion to reach
-from that meditation. The Buddha didn't teach the disadvantages of self-
-centeredness so that we would deride ourselves.
- If you meditate on a lam rim topic and arrive at an incorrect conclusion,
-the meditation hasn't been done correctly. In the above case, thinking, "I'm
-a bad person because I'm so selfish," indicates that we have misunderstood the
-purpose of the meditation and probably have fallen into an old pattern of
-putting ourselves down. Stop and ask yourself,
- "What conclusion does the Buddha want me to reach from this meditation? He
-wants me to ascertain that the self-centered mind is the actual 'enemy' that
-destroys my happiness. Self-centeredness is not an intrinsic part of me; it
-is not who I am. It's an incorrect, but deeply entrenched, thought that
-creates problems for me. I can free myself from it. Since I want to be
-happy, I will realize this selfish attitude for what it is and will stop
-following it! Instead, I will cultivate love and compassion for all beings."
- This is the conclusion you want to reach.(p.58)
- -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the
- Path", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
-~
- Greed is a form of desire. However, it is an exaggerated form of desire,
-based on overexpectation. The true antidote of greed is contentment.
- For a practicing Buddhist, for a Dharma practitioner, many practices can act
-as a kind of counterforce to greed: the realization of the value of seeking
-liberation or freedom from suffering, recognizing the underlying
-unsatisfactory nature of one's existence, and so on. These views also help an
-individual to counteract greed. But in terms of an immediate response to
-greed, one way is to reflect upon the excesses of greed, what it does to one
-as an individual, where it leads. Greed leads one to a feeling of
-frustration, disappointment, a lot of confusion, and a lot of problems.
- When it comes to dealing with greed, one thing which is quite characteristic
-is that although it arises from the desire to obtain something, it is not
-satisfied by obtaining it. Therefore, it becomes limitless or boundless, and
-that leads to trouble. The interesting thing about greed is that although the
-underlying motive is to seek satisfaction, as I pointed out, even after
-obtaining the object of one's desire, one is still not satisfied. On the
-other hand, if one has a strong sense of contentment, it doesn't matter
-whether one obtains the object or not; either way, one is still content.(p.32)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
- Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-We will hereby start scouring the net for people who say git is hard to
-understand and use, and just kill them. They clearly are just polluting
-the gene pool.
- -- Linus Torvalds
-~
-i got nothin'.
-~
- What is the Bodhisattva's Way of life? It is the way of life that follows
-naturally from having cultivated the awakening mind of bodhicitta.
-Omniscience is achieved only through the process of purifying the disturbing
-emotions within your mind. It cannot be achieved merely through wishes and
-prayers. We have to train in eliminating all the specific disturbing emotions
-within your mind. We have to train in eliminating all the specific disturbing
-emotions by relying on specific antidotes.
- All the activities of a Bodhisattva can be included in two major categories:
-the practice of skillful means and the practice of wisdom. If the practices
-of giving, ethics, and so forth are to be perfected, they should be supported
-and influenced by the practice of wisdom. Without the practice of wisdom, the
-first five of the six perfections cannot actually become practices of
-perfection. In order to cultivate such wisdom, you must first cultivate the
-genuine unmistaken philosophical view that is known as the view of the Middle
-Way, or Madhyamika.
- ...even when you have understood the wisdom realizing emptiness, that alone
-will not become a powerful antidote to ignorance if it is not supported by
-other practices such as giving, ethics, patience, and so forth. Mere
-understanding of selflessness is not sufficient to defeat the disturbing
-emotions.(p.76)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
- translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
- Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The many tantras of both the Ancient and New traditions unanimously agree
-that these, and others, are the consequences of violating the pledges.
-
- Means of Restoration
- The proclaimers' vows, like a clay pot, once broken cannot be repaired;
- The awakening mind commitments, like gold or silver, can be restored;
- 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.
-An awakening mind commitment that has been transgressed is like a cracked gold
-or silver vase which can still be soldered by a blacksmith. A violated vow or
-pledge in this Secret Mantra system is likened to a dented golden vessel,
-which can be straightened out by the practitioner's own strength.
- Pledges are restored through action, precious substances, earnest desire,
-contemplation, and reality.
- The Great Cleansing can purify all transgressions.(p.296)
- -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "Treasury of Knowledge--Book Five: Buddhist
- Ethics", trans. by the Kalu Rinpoche Translation Group, under the
- direction of Ven. Bokar Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- How to Become a Receptacle Suitable for Cultivating the Paths.
You are
-made into a vessel suitable for cultivating the path through entering a
-mandala such as that of the Vajra Element, receiving initiation, and receiving
-the pledges and vows.
- Concerning this, there are two types: those who merely enter a mandala and
-those who enter and receive initiation, of which there are two types. The
-former are those who cannot hold the vows of the five lineages but who hold
-the Bodhisattva vows; only the initiation of a student is granted to them.
-However, to those who can hold both Bodhisattva and mantra vows the full
-initiation of a vajra master is granted.(p.78)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
- to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Awareness as virtue. Beyond choosing more virtuous forms of speech, you can
-also try to cultivate awareness of the subtle vibration underlying your speech
-and of how your speech manifests from there. Is your voice creating the right
-energy field?
- In dzogchen the concept of virtuous speech is taken to its highest level.
-For example, the A-Tri system of dzogchen offers a group of successive
-practices in which one learns to maintain awareness while engaging in various
-virtuous, neutral, and nonvirtuous activities.
- One initially tries to stay present amid virtuous activity such as praying
-or chanting mantras. Once that experience is stabilized, one integrates
-presence with neutral speech, such as conversing casually with a friend about
-cooking or gardening. Finally, one tries to integrate with negative speech
-such as lying, arguing, or giving insults. It is easier if you can establish
-your intent for self-awareness before you get drawn into an angry argument.
-For example, think of how courtroom lawyers argue a case: although they may
-use strong, sharp language, they are never driven by their emotions--every
-word is carefully chosen for its impact and is guided by intent, if not
-awareness.
- From this perspective "nonvirtuous speech" might be defined as speech that
-is driven and not guided and through which you lose connection with your self.
-In dzogchen practice you aim to arrive at a place where all activity of body,
-speech, and mind becomes an expression of contemplative awareness and an aid
-to spiritual development--therefore virtuous in the truest sense of the word.
-(p.85)
- -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Tibetan Yogas of Body, Speech, and Mind",
- edited by Polly Turner, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Bodhisattvas give solely out of concern for others, without a self-
-cherishing attitude. That is the proper way of giving. Courageous
-Bodhisattvas risk even their lives to help others, and so, when we are in
-relatively better, more comfortable situations, we must certainly practice
-giving. Even if they are threatened, the courageous ones will not engage in
-improper actions. Instead, after examining the situation carefully, when they
-find that certain actions are correct and justified, on the basis of reason,
-they engage in them even at the risk of their lives. That is the way of the
-decent, civilized and courageous ones, who do not follow misleading paths.(p.20)
- -- H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the
- Dalai Lama XIV on the Jatakamala, Garland of Birth Stories", translated
- by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by Dexter Roberts
-~
- Merely understanding the mind is not good enough. Recognizing it as the
-source of happiness and suffering is good, but great results come only from
-looking inward and meditating on the nature of the mind. Once you recognize
-its nature, then you need to meditate with joyful effort. Joyful meditation
-will actualize the true nature of the mind, and maintaining the mind in this
-natural state will bring enlightenment. This type of meditation reveals the
-innermost, profound wisdom that is inherent in the mind.
- Meditation can transform your body into wisdom light, into what is known as
-the rainbow body of wisdom. Many masters in the history of the Nyingma
-lineage have achieved this, as can anyone who practices these methods of
-meditation. The wisdom aspect of our nature exists at all times in each of
-us. You have always had this nature and it can be revealed through
-meditation. When you maintain the mind in its natural state, wonderful
-qualities shine out like light from the sun. Among these qualities are
-limitless compassion, limitless loving-kindness, and limitless wisdom.
- -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
- "The Buddhist Path: A Practical Guide from the Nyingma Tradition of
- Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- In order for the wisdom of special insight to remove impediments to proper
-understanding, and to remove faulty mental states at their very roots, we need
-concentrated meditation, a state of complete single-mindedness in which all
-internal distractions have been removed.
- Single-minded meditation involves removing subtle internal distractions such
-as the mind's being either too relaxed or too tight. To do so we must first
-stop external distractions through training in the morality of maintaining
-mindfulness and conscientiousness with regard to physical and verbal
-activities--being constantly aware of what you are doing with your body and
-your speech. Without overcoming these obvious distractions, it is impossible
-to overcome subtler internal distractions. Since it is through sustaining
-mindfulness that you achieve a calm abiding of the mind, the practice of
-morality must precede the practice of concentrated meditation.(p.23)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life",
- translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
- Buddha means one who is fully enlightened. In other words, a buddha has
-fully awakened from the sleep of delusion. He is free from all obscurations,
-both gross and subtle, and has revealed the two intrinsic wisdom awarenesses.
-Buddhahood is the spontaneously established, uncompounded nature that does not
-depend on any other conditions. A buddha has perfect wisdom, has perfectly
-accomplished the nature of compassion, and has every ability to manifest all
-excellent activities.
- There are many buddhas in the past, present, and future. In fact, there are
-as many buddhas as there are particles of dust. Basically, the term buddha
-refers to anyone whose mind is fully awakened and who is free from all
-suffering and its causes. When we point to Buddha Shakyamuni as a buddha, he
-is an example of this. A buddha has four forms, all of which emanate from the
-dharmakaya:
- 1. Nirmanakaya is a buddha who has emanated in a physical form. A
-nirmanakaya can emanate anywhere as anything animate or inanimate--as a human
-being, an animal, or even a bridge, if necessary...
- 2. Sambhogakaya is the expression of the complete, perfect manifestation
-of the Buddha's excellent, infinite qualities, called the enjoyment body--
-splendid and glorious. All the buddhas appear and manifest in the limitless
-buddha fields in this form...
- 3. Dharmakaya is one's own perfection, fully free from all delusion and
-suffering. It is infinite and transcends all boundaries...
- 4. Svabhavikakaya is the indivisible nature of the other three forms.(p.165)
- -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path",
- edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Boundless joy is the joy you should feel when you see gifted and learned
-beings who are happy, famous or influential. Instead of feeling uneasy and
-envious of their good fortune, rejoice sincerely, thinking, "May they continue
-to be happy and enjoy even more happiness!" Pray too that they may use their
-wealth and power to help others, to serve the Dharma and the Sangha, making
-offerings, building monasteries, propagating the teachings and performing
-other worthwhile deeds. Rejoice and make a wish: "May they never lost all
-their happiness and privileges. May their happiness increase more and more,
-and may they use it to benefit others and to further the teachings."
- Pray that your mind may be filled with boundless equanimity, loving-
-kindness, compassion and joy--as boundless as a Bodhisattva's. If you do so,
-genuine bodhichitta will certainly grow within you.
- The reason these four qualities are boundless, or immeasurable, is that
-their object--the totality of sentient beings--is boundless; their benefit--
-the welfare of all beings--is boundless; and also their fruit--the qualities
-of enlightenment--is boundless. They are immeasurable like the sky, and they
-are the true root of enlightenment.(p.49)
- -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "The Excellent Path to Enlightenment",
- translated and edited by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Regarding an online merchant... I think I have bought a couple things from
-them before, and my "cornholio sense" is not tingling (a power I got from
-being bitten by a radioactive asshole), so I don't think they were jerks when
-I used them last time.
- -- fred t. hamster
-~
- External circumstances are not what draw us into suffering. Suffering is
-caused and permitted by an untamed mind. The appearance of self-defeating
-emotions in our minds leads us to faulty actions. The naturally pure mind is
-covered over by these emotions and troubling conceptions. The force of their
-deceit pushes us into faulty actions, which leads inevitably to suffering.
- We need, with great awareness and care, to extinguish these problematic
-attitudes, the way gathering clouds dissolve back into the sphere of the sky.
-When our self-defeating attitudes, emotions, and conceptions cease, so will
-the harmful actions arising from them.
- As the great Tibetan yogi Milarepa says, "When arising, arising within space
-itself; when dissolving, dissolving back into space." We need to become
-familiar with the state of our own minds to understand how to dissolve ill-
-founded ideas and impulses back into the deeper sphere of reality. The sky
-was there before the clouds gathered, and it will be after they have gone. It
-is also present when the clouds seem to cover every inch of the sky we can
-see.(p.22)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
- Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
- Usually the reason that we can't experience transcendent bliss is because
-our consciousness is actually chained by the illusion called "I." It is
-chained because this concept literally ties our consciousness to the prison of
-duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. What most people experience is
-that their consciousness is chained by that illusion.
- But now and then there are people who find the so-called spiritual path.
-This is another quite strange and sneaky way that ego can actually keep
-binding our consciousness once again to another form of prison, the prison of
-duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. Transcendent bliss comes from
-breaking every chain.
- Breaking all chains, losing every concept, every idea, sounds very
-frightening to the ego's mind. But actually when we let go of every concept,
-we land on this infinite ground of eternal bliss, and that bliss is not some
-kind of religious or mystical experience, some altered state of consciousness.
-That bliss is not the result of doing something to our consciousness, rather
-it is the pure state of our consciousness.(p.74)
- -- Anam Thubten, "The Magic of Awareness", edited by Sharon Roe, published
- by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The all-base consciousness* works like a savings bank. Continuously money
-is paid into the bank and continuously it is taken out again. In the same way
-karmic imprints are absorbed by the all-base, are stored there, and can
-therefore be brought forth again.
- Learning, for example, occurs through the mind consciousness. The mind
-consciousness itself vanishes. Nevertheless, on the next day we have a memory
-of what we learned. At this time of remembrance, the mind consciousness of
-what we learned is no longer actually present, since it has ceased to exist.
-Yet, still we did not forget what we learned previously. What we learned was
-seized by the all-base in the form of karmic imprints, and stored. Due to the
-'all-base of complete ripening' these imprints can be re-awakened, so that the
-mind consciousness perceives them afresh. This is why we learn things. It is
-similar with strong mental afflictions.
- ...The example of the savings bank is particularly effective, especially in
-the context of karmic actions. Whoever puts money into the bank can get it
-out again later, often including interest!(p.37)
-
-* The all-base consciousness is the general basis for the whole mind, all
-aspects of the mind.
-
- -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Everyday Consciousness and Primordial
- Awareness", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Q: How can Dzogchen help us in our daily jobs and careers?
-
- HHDL: In the first place, it is quite difficult to have an experience of
-Dzogchen. But once you do have that experience, it can be extremely
-beneficial in dealing with your day to day life, your job, and your career.
-This is because that kind of experience will give you the ability to prevent
-yourself from being overwhelmed by circumstances, good or bad. You will not
-fall into extreme states of mind: you will not get over-excited or depressed.
-Your attitude toward circumstances and events will be as if you were someone
-observing the mind, without being drawn away by circumstances.
- For example, when you see a reflection of a form in a mirror, the reflection
-appears within the mirror but it is not projected from within. In the same
-way, when you confront the situations of life, or deal with others, your
-attitude too will be mirror-like.
- Also, when a reflection appears in the mirror, the mirror does not have to
-go after the object that is reflected: it simply reflects, spontaneously, on
-the surface. The same with you: since there is no attachment or agitation at
-having these 'reflections' in your mind, you will feel tremendous ease and
-relief. You are not preoccupied by what arises in the mind, nor does it cause
-you any distress. You are free from conceptuality or any form of
-objectifying. And so it really does help you, in allowing you to be free from
-being caught up in the play of emotions like hatred, attachment, and the like.
-(p.162)
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
- Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, foreword by
- Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
- The quality of one's rebirth in the next life is determined by the quality
-of one's mental activity in this life. Generally speaking, we have no power
-to choose how we are born; it is dependent on karmic forces. However, the
-period near the time of death is very influential in terms of activating one
-from among the many karmas that a person has already accumulated, and,
-therefore, if one makes particular effort at generating a virtuous attitude at
-that time, there is an opportunity to strengthen and activate a virtuous
-karma. Moreover, when one has developed high realization and has gained
-control over how one will be reborn, it is possible to take what is called
-"reincarnation" rather than mere rebirth.(p.42)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard:
- Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey
- Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Without an acute awareness of our personal suffering and a deep, heartfelt
-determination to be completely rid of both this suffering and its causes,
-there is no way to begin the spiritual quest authentically. For just as
-Prince Siddhartha's sudden and unexpected visions of old age, sickness and
-death shocked him out of mistaking the world to be a pleasure palace, so too
-must all spiritual seekers confront the unsatisfactory nature of their lives
-so directly that they become thoroughly disenchanted with the ordinary human
-condition.
- If we do not take a long, hard look at the uncomfortable truths of our
-impermanent existence, we can easily waste the time between now and our
-inevitable death in essentially worthless pursuits, never taking advantage of
-this precious opportunity to do something truly meaningful with our life.
-Like the foolish prisoner who becomes so accustomed to the confines of his
-cell that he turns a blind eye to all chances of escape, we shall be
-condemning ourselves to spiritual stagnation and the endlessly recurring
-miseries of cyclic existence.
- Yet it is not enough merely to become discontent with our present condition;
-everyone experiences discontent at one time or another but very few do
-anything of real significance about it. In fact, the usual ways of dealing
-with problems and disappointment--blaming them on someone else or drowning
-them in forgetfulness--only bind us tighter to the wheel of suffering. What
-we must do is recognize that the true causes of all our misery lie rooted in
-our own ignorant misconceptions and that these can only be eradicated through
-the development of a clear, penetrating insight into the nature of reality.
-Only through the continued cultivation of such penetrating wisdom will it
-eventually be possible to attain liberation from all states of existence
-conditioned by ignorance and be free of suffering.(p.45)
- -- "Images of Enlightenment: Tibetan Art in Practice", by Jonathan Landaw
- and Andy Weber, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- We must distinguish between pride and self-confidence. Self-confidence is
-necessary. It is what enables us, in certain situations, not to lose courage
-and to think with some justification, 'I am capable of succeeding.' Self-
-confidence is quite different from excessive self-assurance based on a false
-appreciation of our capacities or circumstances.
- If you feel able to accomplish a task that other people cannot manage, then
-you cannot be called proud as long as your assessment is well founded. It is
-as if someone tall came across a group of short people who wanted to get
-something too high for them to reach, and said to them, 'Don't exert
-yourselves, I can do it.' This would simply mean that he was more qualified
-than the others to carry out a particular task, but not that he is superior to
-them or that he wants to crush them.(p.259)
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "365 Dalai Lama: Daily Advice from the
- Heart", edited by Matthieu Ricard, translated by Christian Bruyat,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- What is progress? How do we recognize it? The teachings are like a mirror
-before which we should hold our activities of body, speech, and mind. Think
-back to a year ago and compare the stream of activities of your body, speech,
-and mind at that time with their present condition. If we practice well, then
-the traces of some improvement should be reflected in the mirror of Dharma.
- The problem with having expectations is that we usually do not expect the
-right things. Not knowing what spiritual progress is, we search for signs of
-it in the wrong areas of our being. What can we hope for but frustration? It
-would be far better to examine any practice with full reasoning before
-adopting it, and then to practice it steadily and consistently while observing
-the inner changes one undergoes, rather than expecting this or that fantasy to
-become real.
- The mind is an evolving organism, not a machine that goes on and off with
-the flip of a switch. The forces that bind and limit the mind, hurling it
-into unsatisfactory states of being, are impermanent and transient agents.
-When we persistently apply the practices to them, they have no option but to
-fade away and disappear.
- Ignorance and the "I"-grasping syndrome have been with us since
-beginningless time, and the instincts of attachments, aversion, anger,
-jealousy and so forth are very deeply rooted in our mindstreams. Eliminating
-them is not as simple as turning on a light to chase away the darkness of a
-room. When we practice steadily, the forces of darkness are undermined, and
-the spiritual qualities that counteract them and illuminate the mind are
-strengthened and made firm. Therefore, we should strive by means of both
-contemplative and settled meditation to gain stability in the various Lam Rim
-topics.(p.176)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
- by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- We are beings of the Desire Realm, and thus our minds are also included
-within Desire Realm minds. If we cultivate great compassion, our own minds
-are the basis for great compassion. By contemplating countless sentient
-beings and meditating to develop great compassion, one eventually achieves
-great compassion. At that point, the mental basis--one's own mind--has become
-of the entity of great compassion. There is no distinguishing the two at that
-time. Meditating on great compassion does not mean taking compassion as an
-object and looking at it; it means taking sentient beings as one's object and
-developing compassion for them such that the mind comes to be of the nature of
-great compassion.
- The texts frequently speak of different mental bases: the basis for calm
-abiding, the basis for meditative absorption, the basis for achieving a path.
-The way of understanding all of these is the same. You may wonder whether,
-when one cultivates a certain path, the mind becomes of the entity of that
-path. It is important to understand this question because that is, in fact,
-what occurs when one cultivates calm abiding. The mental basis becomes of the
-nature of calm abiding.
- -- Geshe Gedun Lodro, "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving Spiritual
- Transformation Through Meditation", translated and edited by Jeffrey
- Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Nature's law dictates that, in order to survive, bees must work together.
-As a result, they instinctively possess a sense of social responsibility.
-They have no constitution, no law, no police, no religion or moral training,
-but because of their nature, they labor faithfully together. Occasionally,
-they may fight, but in general, based on cooperation, the whole colony
-survives.
- We human beings have a constitution, laws and a police force. We have
-religion, remarkable intelligence and a heart with a great capacity for love.
-We have many extraordinary qualities, but in actual practice, I think we are
-lagging behind those small insects. In some respects I feel we are poorer
-than the bees.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
- Mary Craig
-~
- Nagarjuna offers us encouragement in terms of someone of modest potential
-accomplishing the practice, in verse 116:
-
- And even those who realized the truth
- Did not fall from the heavens, nor emerge
- Like crops of corn from earth's dark depths, but once
- Were ruled by kleshas and were ordinary men.
-
- Not one of all the sublime beings who have appeared--individuals who had
-direct realization of the Dharma of the four truths--was already a sublime
-being right from the beginning: they did not fall from the sky, nor did they
-emerge from the darkness of the earth like a crop. In the past they were
-subject to afflictive emotions ['kleshas']--they were ordinary people
-dominated by the afflictive emotions. They are therefore worth following as
-an example for accomplishing the path.(p.150)
- -- Nagarjuna, "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur
- Rinpoche", with commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kyabje Kangyur
- Rinpoche, translated by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Our sense of self
-
- As long as we cling to some notion of objective existence--the idea that
-something actually exists in a concrete, identifiable way--emotions such as
-desire and aversion will follow. When we see something we like--a beautiful
-watch, for example--we perceive it as having some real quality of existence
-among its parts. We see the watch not as a collection of parts, but as an
-existing entity with a specific quality of watch-ness to it. And if it's a
-fine mechanical timepiece, our perception is enhanced by qualities that are
-seen to exist definitely as part of the nature of the watch. It is as a
-result of this misperception of the watch that our desire to possess it
-arises.
- In a similar manner, our aversion to someone we dislike arises as a result
-of attributing inherent negative qualities to the person. When we relate this
-process to how we experience our own sense of existence--how the thought "I"
-or "I am" arises--we notice that it invariably does so in relation to some
-aspect of our physical or mental aggregates.
- Our notion of ourselves is based upon a sense of our physical and emotional
-selves. What's more, we feel that these physical and mental aspects of
-ourselves exist inherently. My body is not something of which I doubt the
-specificity. There is a body-ness as well as a me-ness about it that very
-evidently exists. It seems to be a natural basis for my identifying my body
-as "me." Our emotions such as fear are similarly experienced as having a valid
-existence and as being natural bases for our identifying ourselves as "me."
-Both our loves and our hates serve to deepen the self sense. Even the mere
-feeling "I'm cold" contributes to our sense of being a solid and legitimate
-"I."(p.61)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "A Profound Mind: Cultivating Wisdom in Everyday
- Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Richard Gere
-~
- In the Mahayana, there exist the vows of the Bodhisattva... but in Dzogchen,
-there exist no such rules or vows.
- When the Indian Buddhist master Atisa came to Tibet in the eleventh century,
-he met the famous Tibetan translator Rinchen Zangpo. Atisa asked him how he
-practiced the Tantras which he had translated, and he replied that he
-practiced them meticulously one after the other. But Atisa told him that this
-was not the correct way. He pointed out to the translator that all of the
-Tantras could be condensed and integrated into a single Upadesa and one need
-only practise that in order to maintain all of the transmissions which he had
-received.
- The same is true with Dzogchen. If we really understand this single
-teaching here which comes directly from Guru Padmasambhava, we can attain
-liberation. But we must grasp this vital core of the teaching. No matter
-what we are doing, which ever among the four modes of behavior--walking,
-sitting, lying down, or eating, we must always hold to awareness, never
-forgetting, never losing this awareness. This is the real meaning of Rigdzin,
-one who is totally aware. In Dzogchen, there is only one rule--always be
-aware in whatever we do, never be distracted!(p.68)
- -- "Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness", translation and
- commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds, foreword by Namkhai Norbu,
- published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Our mind needs to stretch to encompass emptiness. Our minds are so stuck in
-the idea, "Things exist the way they appear to me. What I see is reality. It
-is 100 percent true. There's nothing to doubt. Things exist exactly as they
-appear to my senses, exactly as they appear to my mental consciousness." We
-hardly ever doubt that. Not only do we have the appearance of inherent
-existence to our sense consciousnesses and mental consciousness, but also our
-mental consciousness grasps on to that appearance and says, "Yes! Everything
-really exists in this findable, independent way. Everything is real as it
-appears to me."
- When we believe there's a real "me," then we have to protect that self and
-bring it happiness. Thus, we are attached to things that are pleasurable and
-become angry at anything unpleasant. Pride, jealousy, laziness, and the whole
-gamut of negative emotions follow. Motivated by these, we act physically,
-verbally, and mentally. These actions, or karma, leave seeds on our
-mindstream, and when these ripen, they influence what we experience. We again
-relate to these experiences ignorantly, so more emotions arise, motivating us
-to create more karma. As a result, cyclic existence with all its difficulties
-continues on and on, created by our mind, dependent on the ignorance that
-misconceives the nature of ourselves and all other phenomena.
- ...However, when we investigate more deeply and look beyond appearances, we
-realize that it's impossible for things to exist in the way they appear.
-Seeing this gives us a kind of spaciousness and freedom because, if samsara
-were inherently existent and everything really did exist the way it appears to
-us, then transformation and change could not occur...and the best we could
-ever have is what we have right now. Thinking about the emptiness of inherent
-existence shows us the possibility for change. Beauty can come forth because
-nothing is inherently concrete, fixed, or findable.(p.105)
- -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of
- Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
-Three Meditations
-
- If one does not sow the seed
- Of appreciation for a perfect guru,
- The tree of spiritual power is not born.
- With undivided mind entrust yourself.
-
- Human life is rare and precious,
- Yet if not inspired by thoughts of death,
- One wastes it on materialism:
- Be ready to die at any moment.
-
- All living beings have been our mothers,
- Three circles of suffering always binding them.
- Ignoble it would be not to repay them,
- Not to strive to attain enlightenment. (p.100)
-
- The colophon [inscription] for this poem reads, "Written at the request of
-Ritropa Samdrub, an Amdo monk from Dechen Monastery, who begged for a short
-teaching...." The Seventh Dalai Lama advises him to establish three central
-pillars in his spiritual practice: (1) a disciplined spiritual connection with
-his teacher; (2) awareness of the preciousness of life, and the uncertainty of
-the time of death; and (3) the mind of love and compassion for all living
-beings, coupled with the aspiration to enlightenment as the best means of
-fulfilling that love and compassion.
- -- The Seventh Dalai Lama, "Meditations to Transform the Mind", translated,
- edited, and introduced by Glenn Mullin, published by Snow Lion Pub.
-~
- Courageous Bodhisattvas risk their lives to help others, and so, when we are
-in relatively better, more comfortable situations, we must certainly practice
-giving. Even if they are threatened, the courageous ones will not engage in
-improper actions. Instead, after examining the situation carefully, when they
-find that certain actions are correct and justified, on the basis of reason,
-they engage in them even at the risk of their lives. That is the way of the
-decent, civilized and courageous ones, who do not follow misleading paths.(p.20)
- -- H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the
- Dalai Lama XIV on the Jatakamala, Garland of Birth Stories", translated
- by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by Dexter Roberts
-~
- One day, when a very learned scholar or geshe and I were discussing the fact
-that the self is an elusive phenomenon, that it is unfindable in either body
-or mind, he remarked: 'If the self did not exist at all, in a sense that would
-make things very simple. There would be no experience of suffering and pain,
-because there would be no subject to undergo such experiences. However, that
-is not the case. Regardless of whether we can actually find it or not, there
-is an individual being who undergoes the experience of pain and pleasure, who
-is the subject of experiences, who perceives things and so on. Based on our
-own experience we do know that there is something--whatever we may call it--
-that makes it possible for us to undergo these experiences. We have something
-called discernment or the ability to perceive things.'
- In fact, when we examine the experience of suffering, although some
-sufferings are at the sensory or bodily level, such as physical pain, even the
-very experience of pain is intimately connected with consciousness or mind and
-therefore is part of our mental world. This is what distinguishes sentient
-beings from other biological organisms, such as plants, trees and so on.
-Sentient beings have a subjective dimension, which we may choose to call
-experience, consciousness or the mental world.
- ....One thing we can understand, both through scientific analysis and also
-from our own personal experience or perception, is that whatever experiences
-we have now are consequences of preceding conditions. Nothing comes into
-being without a cause. Just as everything in the material world must have a
-cause or condition that gives rise to it, so must all experiences in the
-mental world also have causes and conditions.(p.74)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
- Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Meditation, when learned skillfully, can enable a return to awareness of the
-body, our sensations, and feelings. When we are not given specific guidance
-to ground our meditation within the body, however, meditation can easily
-perpetuate a disembodied spiritual practice. This is accentuated if our view
-of spirituality sees the body as some kind of problem to be transcended.
-Unfortunately, this view can prevail even within the Buddhist world, despite
-being counter to the essential principle of mindfulness and presence. When,
-however, we cultivate the capacity to remain present in our felt experience
-within the body, our relationship to ourselves changes. We can begin to feel
-more grounded in our life and more stable in our identity.
- Engaging in a disembodied spirituality is no solution to our life demands.
-It may be a way of experiencing states of mind that can be very seductive,
-even addictive. Seldom does it address the roots of our emotional problems.
-Transformation comes when we are willing and able to restore or develop a
-sound relationship to our body in a healthy way. With many Buddhist
-practices, such as Tantra, this is essential, for the body contains the
-vitality that is the heart of our innate creative potential.
- Embodiment therefore implies a full engagement in life with all of its
-trials and tribulations, rather than avoidance through disembodied spiritual
-flight. The value of meditation is that it can enable this engagement because
-it cultivates the capacity to be present and remain open, not grasping at or
-rejecting what arises. When meditation emphasizes presence rather than
-transcendence, this openness is a natural outcome.(p.143)
- -- Rob Preece, "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of Individuation
- in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- Those training in great love should forsake self-centeredness and engage in
-the Buddha's practice, the root of which is compassion. You may be thinking,
-Love is indeed very profound, but I do not have the skill to practice it; I
-will focus my efforts on practices aimed at getting myself out of cyclic
-existence instead. On one hand, this is true, because you should choose a
-path of development appropriate to your ability. On the other hand, there is
-great advantage in attempting the highest degree of love you can.
- Even if you cannot actually implement the practices of love and compassion,
-merely hearing about them establishes powerful predispositions for future
-success. This can be amplified by planting prayer-wishes aspiring to
-altruism. Do not be discouraged; it is difficult to absorb such a profound
-perspective. Be courageous and think of your future potential. It is
-particularly important to do the best you can.(p.82)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
- Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
- What is very important for us to recognise is our own falsity. This is not
-a judgement that sometimes we are authentic and sometimes we are false. It
-means that everything about us in our ordinary sense of self is false because
-it is grounded on a misapprehension of the nature of reality.... It is like
-somebody in University who is having their final examinations. They go into
-the wrong examination room and not reading the questions very clearly they
-write very long answers on their own subject that is unfortunately not the one
-they are being examined on. It does not matter how good the answer is they
-will fail, for they are not addressing the question.
- The basic question is always: "Who are you?", "Who am I?" but we do not
-understand it and so we answer with a ceaseless narrative of self definition.
-This covers over the freshness of the question, the possibility of looking and
-seeing, and so all our answers are stale, the reworking of self-protective
-versions constructed out of unexamined elements. We have many, many, many
-answers and all of them are false. That's why it is very important when you
-do meditations, to put your full energy one-pointedly into the practice, to
-try to repair the initial basic fault that has torn subject and object apart.
- It is very important to stop being ashamed of being false. For we have to
-see how falsity arises, how obscuration develops. We want to look directly at
-our falsity and learn its tricks so that we will not be caught by them. This
-helps to open the space in which we can recognise our own nature.
- "When you understand the falsity of your confusion remain unartificially,
-effortlessly in the natural mode (dharmakaya)."(p.90)
- -- "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje entitled 'The
- Mirror of Clear Meaning' with commentary by James Low", published by Snow
- Lion Publications
-~
-groundhog daze:
- this is an event that can be caused by strong intoxication of various sorts.
-the sufferer passes out while seated at a table, such that he or she then has
-their head thud down onto the table. after a brief rest, the unlucky person
-wakes up again, and starts to rise off the table. when the head rises to a
-certain point, where blood pressure starts to increase, the effect of the
-intoxication takes over again, and they pass out once more. bam. hence, the
-head repeatedly banging into the table: a groundhog daze.
- i have seen this happen. it's not fun to watch. well, maybe a little.
- --fred t. hamster
-~
- We are the source of healing and happiness. Our generosity and concern
-pacify every negative situation. As we send out kindness, we grow accustomed
-to being strong and kind. In this way, our positive feelings are constantly
-renewed and can never be exhausted.
- Perhaps you know the story about the man who arrived in heaven and when
-asked by God where he wanted to go replied that he wanted to see both heaven
-and hell. First, he went to hell. There was a large table with all the
-inhabitants of hell sitting around it. The center of the table was full of
-delicious food. Each person had two very long chopsticks. They could reach
-the food but they could not get it into their mouths because their chopsticks
-were too long. They were miserable. No one was eating and everyone went
-hungry. Next he was taken to visit heaven. All the inhabitants of heaven
-were also sitting around a big table full of delicious food but they were
-happy. They too had very long chopsticks but they were eating and enjoying
-themselves. They used the chopsticks to feed each other across the table.
-The people in heaven had discovered that it was in their interest to
-collaborate unselfishly.(p.69)
- -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- When you are in a fluctuating state of mind, like when you are angry or have
-lost your temper, then it is good to bring back calmness by concentrating on
-breathing. Just count the breaths, completely forgetting about anger.
-Concentrate on breathing and count in/out "one, two, three," up to twenty.
- At that moment when your mind concentrates fully on breathing, the breath
-coming and going, the passions subside. Afterwards it is easier to think
-clearly.
- Since all activities, including meditation, depend very much on the force of
-intention or motivation, it is important that, before you begin to meditate,
-you cultivate a correct motivation... The correct motivation is the
-altruistic attitude.(p.69)
- -- Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Cultivating a Daily
- Meditation", published by Snow Lion Publications
-~
- The crazy elephant of the mind behaving wildly
- Is tied to the pillar of an object of observation
- With the rope of mindfulness.
- By degrees it is brought under control with the hook of wisdom.
- --Bhavaviveka
-
- "Wisdom" here is introspection. Hence, the example of taming an elephant
-indicates the achievement of a serviceable mind by way of the two--mindfulness
-and introspection. The subtle vajra that is the base on which the mind is
-being set is like a stable pillar to which an elephant is tied. The
-unserviceable mind is like an untamed elephant. Causing the mind not to be
-distracted from its object of observation through relying on mindfulness is
-like using a rope to tie an elephant. Setting the mind free from fault--when
-it does not hold the object of observation as originally set--through
-immediately recognizing such by means of introspection is like a herder's
-hitting an elephant with a hook and correcting it when it strays from the tie-
-up.
-
- Hence, there are two important factors with regard to holding the mind:
- + From the beginning, stay on the object of observation without being
- distracted to anything other than it.
- + Then if distracted, immediately recognize such, and again focus the mind
- as before. (p.94)
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
- to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
- Snow Lion Publications
-~
-Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate. Neither wisdom nor
-technique has a place in this. A real man does not think of victory or
-defeat. He plunges recklessly towards an irrational death. By doing this
-you will awaken from your dreams.
- -- Hagakure, Yamamoto Tsunetomo
-~
-LEEEEEEEROYYYY JENNNNNKINZZZ!!!
- -- To be yelled before irrationally throwing away all plans and jumping into
- the worst possible situation.
-~
-what is an inference?
- someone says, "my hand stinks because my butt stinks."
-an inference you could draw:
- that hand has probably been too close to that butt.
-~
-What Do We Mean by Bodhisattva?
-
- Bodhi means enlightenment, the state devoid of all defects and endowed with
-all good qualities. Sattva refers to someone who has courage and confidence
-and who strives to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. Those who
-have this spontaneous, sincere wish to attain enlightenment for the ultimate
-benefit of all beings are called bodhisattvas. Through wisdom, they direct
-their minds to enlightenment, and through their compassion, they have concern
-for beings. This wish for perfect enlightenment for the sake of others is
-what we call bodhichitta, and it is the starting point on the path.
-~
-The Notion of Self
-
- When we talk about the notion of self in Buddhism, it is important to bear
-in mind that there are different degrees or types. There are some types of
-sense of self which are not only to be cultivated but also to be reinforced
-and enhanced. For instance, in order to have a strong determination to seek
-buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, one needs a very strong
-sense of confidence, which is based upon a sense of commitment and courage.
-This requires a strong sense of self. Unless one has that identity or sense
-of self, one will not be able to develop the confidence and courage to
-strongly seek this aim.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-Genuine peace of mind is rooted in affection and compassion. There is a very
-high level of sensitivity and feeling involved. So long as we lack inner
-discipline, an inner calmness of mind, then no matter what external facilities
-or conditions we may have, they will never give us the feeling of joy and
-happiness that we seek. On the other hand, if we possess this inner
-quality—that is, calmness of mind, a degree of stability within—then even
-if we lack various external facilities that are normally considered necessary
-for a happy and joyful life, it is still possible to live a happy and joyful
-life.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-COMPLICATED SIMPLICITY
-
- Emptiness is the simplest and most unelaborated thing we could imagine, but
-then there is this whole literature about all these very discursive details
-with all their subpoints. There are five paths and ten bhumis, and each path
-is divided into a number of stages, with certain numbers of obscurations
-having to be relinquished on each one of those subpaths. Most people just
-think, "Who wants or needs to know all that? Don't we have too many
-thoughts already? I thought this was about letting go of all reference
-points."
- Of course nobody really wants to know all those details and in a sense we
-all know them already, because they are the details of the many reference
-points that we already have in our mind. The fact that these sutras and their
-commentaries talk about our obscurations is precisely the point why they seem
-so endless and complicated—because our minds are complicated. Emptiness is
-extremely simple, but our convoluted minds that do not get this simplicity are
-very complicated. It is not that the Buddha and the other speakers in the
-sutras and the commentaries really like to, but they need to address each one
-of those knots in our minds, which are like knots in space.
-~
-If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have
-to be a horrible warning.
- -- Catherine Aird
-~
-THE MIND OF CLEAR LIGHT
-
- Is spiritual practice really worthwhile? Is it really possible to eliminate
-from within ourselves the forces that give rise to suffering? As is said,
-"The ultimate nature of mind is clear light." Consciousness has many
-levels, and although the coarser levels are affected by the defiling forces,
-the most subtle level remains free of gross negativities. In the Vajrayana
-this subtle level of consciousness is called the mind of clear light.
- The delusions and emotional afflictions as well as the dualistic mind of
-right and wrong, love and hatred, etc., are associated only with the coarse
-levels of consciousness. At the moment, we are totally absorbed in the
-interplay of these coarse states, so we must begin our practice by working
-within them. This means consciously encouraging love over hate, patience in
-place of anger, emotional freedom rather than attachment, kindness over
-violence, and so forth. Doing this brings immediate peace and calm to the
-mind, thus making higher meditation possible.
- Then, because grasping at a self and at phenomena as being truly existent is
-the cause of all the vast range of distorted states of mind, one cultivates
-the wisdom that eliminates this ego-grasping. To overcome ego-grasping is to
-overcome the entire host of mental distortions.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-It is the general Buddhist procedure that one's own pleasure and pain are
-acheived by oneself and not from the outside, and that, therefore, sentient
-beings themselves must understand and implement practices to bring about their
-own happiness. Thus, the most efficacious way to help others is through
-teaching what should be adopted in practice and what should be discarded from
-among current behavior. There is no way to do this unless you come to know
-all of the topics involved in what should be adopted in practice and what
-should be discarded—you must become omniscient. As mentioned earlier, there
-is no way to accomplish this except by removing the obstructions to
-omniscience, and one who has overcome, utterly and forever, the obstructions
-to omniscience is a Buddha.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- In meditation, imagine that in front of you are three persons—an enemy, a
-friend, and a neutral person. At that time, in our minds we have (1) a sense
-of closeness for one of them, thinking, "This is my friend"; (2) a sense
-of dislike even when imagining the enemy; and (3) a sense of ignoring the
-neutral person. Now, we have to think about the reasons why we generate these
-feelings—the reasons being that temporarily one of them helped us whereas
-the other temporarily harmed us, and the third did neither. However, when we
-think in terms of the long course of beginningless rebirth, none of us could
-decide that someone who has helped or harmed us in this life has been doing so
-for all lifetimes.
- When you contemplate this way, eventually you arrive at a point where a
-strong generation of desire or hatred appears to you to be just senseless.
-Gradually, such a bias weakens, and you decide that one-sided classification
-of persons as friends and enemies has been a mistake.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- Generally speaking, even if money brings us happiness, it tends to be the
-kind that money can buy: material things and sensory experiences. And these,
-we discover, become a source of suffering themselves. As far as actual
-possessions are concerned, we must admit that they often cause us more, not
-less, difficulty in life. The car breaks down, we lose our money, our most
-precious belongings are stolen, our house is damaged by fire. Or we worry
-about these things happening.
- The problem is not materialism as such. Rather it is the underlying
-assumption that full satisfaction can arise from gratifying the senses alone.
-Unlike animals whose quest for happiness is restricted to survival and to the
-immediate gratification of sensory desires, we human beings have the capacity
-to experience happiness at a deeper level, which, when achieved, can overwhelm
-unhappy experiences.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of
-others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like
-it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives in which we do not benefit
-from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most
-of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others. Nor
-is it so remarkable that our greatest joy should come when we are motivated by
-concern for others. But that is not all. We find that not only do altruistic
-actions bring about happiness, but they also lessen our experience of
-suffering. Here I am not suggesting that the individual whose actions are
-motivated by the wish to bring others happiness necessarily meets with less
-misfortune than the one who does not. Sickness, old age, mishaps of one sort
-or another are the same for us all. But the sufferings which undermine our
-internal peace—anxiety, doubt, disappointment—these are definitely less.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-If we view the world's religions from the widest possible viewpoint and
-examine their ultimate goal, we find that all of the major world religions,
-whether Christianity or Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism, are dedicated to the
-achievement of permanent human happiness. They are all directed toward that
-goal. All religions emphasize the fact that the true follower must be honest
-and gentle, in other words, that a truly religious person must always strive
-to be a better human being. To this end, the different world religions teach
-different doctrines which will help transform the person. In this regard, all
-religions are the same, there is no conflict. This is something we must
-emphasize. We must consider the question of religious diversity from this
-viewpoint. And when we do, we find no conflict.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-Emptiness vs. Non-Existence
-
-The doctrines of emptiness and selflessness do not imply the non-existence of
-things. Things do exist. When we say that all phenomena are void of self-
-existence, it does not mean that we are advocating non-existence, that we are
-repudiating that things exist. Then what is it we are negating? We are
-negating, or denying, that anything exists from its own side without depending
-on other things. Hence, it is because things depend for their existence upon
-other causes and conditions that they are said to lack independent self-
-existence.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-If we view the world's religions from the widest possible viewpoint and
-examine their ultimate goal, we find that all of the major world religions,
-whether Christianity or Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism, are dedicated to the
-achievement of permanent human happiness. They are all directed toward that
-goal. All religions emphasize the fact that the true follower must be honest
-and gentle, in other words, that a truly religious person must always strive
-to be a better human being. To this end, the different world religions teach
-different doctrines which will help transform the person. In this regard, all
-religions are the same, there is no conflict. This is something we must
-emphasize. We must consider the question of religious diversity from this
-viewpoint. And when we do, we find no conflict.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- The process of overcoming our defilements goes in conjunction with gaining
-higher levels of realisation. In fact, when we speak of gaining higher levels
-of realisation in Buddhism we are speaking primarily of the processes through
-which our wisdom and insight deepen. It is actually the wisdom aspect that
-enables the practitioner to move from one level to the next on the path.
- The attainment of the levels of the path is explained in condensed form in
-the Heart Sutra, where we find the mantra tadyatha om gate gate paragate
-parasamgate bodhi svaha. Tadyatha means It is thus; gate gate means go, go;
-paragate means go beyond and transcend; parasamgate means go utterly beyond,
-go thoroughly beyond; and bodhi svaha means firmly rooted in enlightenment.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-ENDURING SUCCESS
- It is often seen that human beings can endure problems quite well, but
-cannot endure success. When we are successful and have everything we desire,
-it can easily go to our heads. There is a great danger of losing our common
-sense and becoming careless and arrogant. As it is said, "Nothing corrupts a
-person more than power." Very powerful people sometimes become so proud that
-they no longer care about their actions or about the effect they have on
-others. Losing any sense of right and wrong, they create severe problems for
-themselves and everyone else.
- Even if we have all the success we could dream of—fame, wealth, and so
-on—we must understand that these things have no real substance. Attachment
-does not come from having things, but from the way our mind reacts to them.
-It is fine to participate in good circumstances, provided we can see that they
-have no real essence. They may come and they may go. When seeing this, we
-will not become so attached. Even if we lose our wealth we will not be badly
-affected, and while it is there we will enjoy it without being senseless and
-arrogant.
- -- Ringu Tulku, from "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha",
- edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, page 92.
-~
-The role of other sentient beings
-
- In relation to the attainment of liberation from cylic existence, which is
-known also as "definite goodness," the role of other sentient beings is
-indispensable. In the Buddhist understanding, the key spiritual practices
-that lead to the attainment of liberation are the Three Higher
-Trainings—higher training in morality, in meditation, and in wisdom. The
-last two are based upon the foundation of the first, namely the training in
-morality. As I said before, the presence of other sentience beings is
-indispensable for this training. This is how we come to the powerful
-realisation that the role of other sentient beings is essential in all areas
-of our mundane and spiritual activities.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- To avoid being hurt by thorns and brambles, we might consider covering all
-the mountains with leather. That would be impossible, but putting on shoes
-would serve the same purpose. Similarly, if we tried to subdue all our outer
-enemies, we would never succeed. Once one was eliminated, another would rise
-against us. While doing this, our anger would continue to breed new foes.
-The only way to overcome our enemies is to turn inward and kill the real one,
-which is our own hatred.
- -- Ringu Tulku, from "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha",
- edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs.
-~
- One should not view one's dharma practice as being something decorative,
-regarding statues and images as material possessions or as furnishings for
-one's house, or thinking that because there is an empty space on a wall one
-might as well put up a thangka for decoration. That kind of attitude should
-not be cultivated. When you arrange the statues or thangkas, you should do so
-out of a deep respect from the mind, moved by your faith and conviction. If
-you can arrange these physical representations—statues and so forth—out of
-deep respect and faith, that's all right. On the other hand, the attitude
-that they are merely material possessions is dangerous and destructive. I
-think that some people who have a cupboard or the like in which they keep all
-their precious possessions may arrange an altar on it just for the sake of
-decoration. This is very wrong.
- Having such motivations is not the proper way to become a Buddhist; the
-proper way to become a Buddhist is to bring about some positive change within
-the mind. Any practice that can give you more courage when you are undergoing
-a very difficult time and that can provide you with some kind of solace and
-calmness of mind is a true practice of the dharma.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-The environment where you are doing the meditation should be properly cleaned.
-While cleaning, you should cultivate the motivation that since you are engaged
-in the task of accumulating great stores of merit by inviting the hosts of
-buddhas and bodhisattvas to this environment, it is important to have a clean
-place. You should see that all external dirt and dust around you is basically
-a manifestation of the faults and stains within your own mind. You should see
-that the most important aim is to purge these stains and faults from within
-your mind. Therefore, as you cleanse the environment, think that you are also
-purifying your mind. Develop the very strong thought that by cleaning this
-place you are inviting the hosts of buddhas and bodhisattvas who are the most
-supreme merit field, and that you will subsequently engage in a path that will
-enable you to purge your mind of the stains and delusions.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- From the point of view of one who seeks enlightenment, it is far better to
-be a human being than to be born even in the heavens of the gods, where there
-is nectar to live on and all wishes are granted by the wish-fulfilling tree;
-where there is neither fatigue nor difficulty, neither sickness nor old age.
-It is as humans, possessed of the eight freedoms and the ten endowments, and
-not as gods, that every one of the thousand Buddhas of this age has attained,
-or will attain, enlightenment. This human existence, moreover, is not to be
-achieved by force or mere chance; it is the result of positive actions. And
-because it is rare for beings to accomplish positive actions, a precious human
-existence is indeed difficult to obtain.
- Nevertheless, we have now managed to be born into such a state; we have
-encountered the Buddadharma, have entered the path and are now receiving
-teachings. But if we are unable to practise them, simply listening to the
-teachings will not in itself liberate us from samsara, and will be of no help
-to us when we are confronted by the hardships of birth, disease, old age and
-death. If we do not follow the doctor's prescription when we are sick, then
-even if the doctor sits constantly by our side, the pain will not go away.
- -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, from "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the
- Seven-Point Mind Training", translated by Padmakara Translation Group.
-~
-The realization of the nature of the mind is not something we can find by
-searching for it from afar. It is present within the essence of the mind
-itself. If we do not alter or change that in any way, that is enough. It is
-not as if we were lacking something before, so we need to make something new
-through our meditation. It is not as if we are bad and have to go through all
-sorts of efforts to make ourselves good. Goodness is something we all have.
-It has always been with us, but we have just not looked for it or seen it yet,
-so we have become confused. Therefore all we need to do is to just rest
-within it without changing it. We see where it stays and rest there, so we
-are like a kusulu. This means that we rest free and easy with nothing to do,
-very simply. We do not need to think that we are making something good or
-that we need to meditate properly. It is enough just to know what we already
-have.
- -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from "Vivid Awareness", in "The Best Buddhist
- Writing 2012", edited by Melvin McLeod and the editors of the Shambhala
- Sun, pages 196–197.
-~
-We all have to recognize the tremendous opportunity that we have. As humans
-we have this rare intelligence, but there is a real danger that we will waste
-it. Death is certain, but when we will die is totally unpredictable. We
-could lose our precious human existence at any moment. With such reflections,
-we must motivate ourselves to do something meaningful right now. The best way
-to make your human existence meaningful is to really engage in the practice of
-Dharma. During formal sitting meditation and in between sessions, in
-different ways, be mindful and introspectively vigilant. Keep constant watch
-on your mind.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- In order to carry out a practice--such as constantly watching the mind--you
-should form a determination, make a pledge, right when you wake up: "Now, for
-the rest of this day, I will put into practice what I believe just as much as
-I can." It is very important that, at the start of the day, we should set out
-to shape what will happen later. Then, at the end of every day, check what
-happened. Review the day. And if you carried through for that whole day your
-morning's determination, then rejoice. Reinforce further your motivation to
-continue in the same line. However, when you do your reviewing, you may
-discover that you did things during the day that are contrary to your
-religious values and beliefs. You should then acknowledge this and cultivate
-a deep sense of remorse. Strengthen your resolve not to indulge in these
-actions in the future.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- There are two different ways in which we can understand the term "ordinary
-mind." One way is to not take control over anything and end up following our
-afflictions. When a thought of anger arises, we follow it; when greed arises,
-we lose control of ourselves to it. Similarly, we lose control of ourselves
-to our pride and jealousy. Although we might think of this as our ordinary
-state of mind, it is not what we mean here. Here it does not mean losing
-control of ourselves to negative emotions. Instead, it means that we do not
-need to do anything at all to the essence of the mind itself.
- We do not need to alter this essence in any way. We do not have to worry
-about what we are thinking, what is pleasant, or what is painful. We can
-leave this mind as it is. If we try to alter the mind in any way, thoughts
-will arise. But if we do not do anything to it and let it rest easily, then
-it is unaltered. The Kagyu masters of the past called this the ordinary mind,
-or the natural state. They called it this out of their experience. This
-ordinary mind itself is the dharma expanse and the essence of the buddhas; it
-is our buddha-nature.
- -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from "Vivid Awareness" in "The Best Buddhist
- Writing 2012", edited by Melvin McLeod and the editors of the Shambhala
- Sun, page 200.
-~
- If your engagement with others is tainted by strong attachment, craving,
-aversion, anger, and so forth, then that form of grasping is undesirable. But
-on the other hand, when you are interacting with other living beings and
-become aware of their needs or suffering or pain, then you need to fully
-engage with that and be compassionate. So there can be positive attachment in
-this sense of active engagement.
- Buddhist masters have long used the term attachment to describe the quality
-of compassion for others. For example, a verse from Haribhadra's Clear
-Meaning Commentary refers to compassion that is attached to other living
-beings. And as we have seen, Nagarjuna teaches that attachment for other
-living beings will arise spontaneously in the person who realizes emptiness.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-Kongtrul Rinpoche suggested we pray to the guru, buddhas, and bodhisattvas and
-ask them to grant their blessings, "So I may give birth to the heart of
-sadness." But what is a "heart of sadness"? Imagine one night you have
-a dream. Although it is a good dream, deep down you know that eventually you
-will have to wake up and it will be over. In life, too, sooner or later,
-whatever the state of our relationships, or our health, our jobs and every
-aspect of our lives, everything, absolutely everything, will change. And the
-little bell ringing in the back of your head to remind you of this
-inevitability is what is called the "heart of sadness." Life, you realise,
-is a race against time, and you should never put off dharma practice until
-next year, next month, or tomorrow, because the future may never happen.
- -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-
- Called Preliminary Practices"
-~
- What we want to eliminate is grasping that is grounded upon falsification of
-the object, distortions that arise as afflictions grasp at the apparent
-substantial existence of an object. Some texts say that mental states such as
-compassion and faith are, by their very nature, virtuous and thus cannot at
-the same time be afflicted mental states. Yet there are other texts that
-refer to "afflicted compassion" or "afflicted faith." For those of us
-who have not realized emptiness, when we generate strong devotion toward the
-Buddha perhaps there is within that faith, within that devotion, an element of
-grasping at the Buddha as substantially real. This makes it an instance of
-so-called "afflicted devotion."
- Still, it is important to distinguish grasping rooted in falsification and
-distortion from the attachment, focus, or holding that we associate with
-compassion. In our immediate experience, these two forms of grasping may seem
-the same, but in terms of the overall mental environment they are quite
-different. Compassion is fact-based, while distorted grasping is not.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- By and large, human beings tend to prefer to fit in to society by following
-accepted rules of etiquette and being gentle, polite, and respectful. The
-irony is that this is also how most people imagine a spiritual person should
-behave. When a so-called dharma practitioner is seen to behave badly, we
-shake our heads over her audacity at presenting herself as a follower of the
-Buddha. Yet such judgments are better avoided, because to "fit in" is not
-what a genuine dharma practitioner strives for.
- Think of Tilopa, for example. He looked so outlandish that if he turned up
-on your doorstep today, odds are you would refuse to let him in. And you
-would have a point. He would most likely be almost completely naked; if you
-were lucky, he might be sporting some kind of G-string; his hair would never
-have been introduced to shampoo; and protruding from his mouth would quiver
-the tail of a live fish. What would your moral judgment be of such a being?
-"Him! A Buddhist?" This is how our theistic, moralistic, and judgmental
-minds work. Of course, there is nothing wrong with morality, but the point of
-spiritual practice, according to the vajrayana teachings, is to go beyond all
-our concepts, including those of morality.
- -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-
- Called Preliminary Practices".
-~
-Because it is a reality that we are by nature social animals, bound to depend
-on each other, we need to cultivate affection and concern for other people if
-we really desire peace and happiness. Look at wild animals and birds. Even
-they travel together, flock together, and help each other. Bees do not have a
-particular legal system, they do not follow any spiritual practice, but for
-their livelihood and survival they depend on each other--that is their
-natural way of existence. Even though we intelligent human beings must also
-depend on each other, we sometimes misuse our intelligence and try to exploit
-each other. That goes against human nature. For those of us who profess to
-believe in a particular religious practice, it is extremely important that we
-try to help each other and cultivate a feeling of affection for each other.
-That is the source of happiness in our life.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- It's important to differentiate a thought from an emotion. We say things
-such as, "I feel like they don't accept me." Actually, that is a thought.
-We may feel hurt or frustrated, and it's because we're thinking that others
-don't accept us. How do we know they don't accept us? We don't. We
-haven't asked them. Instead, on the basis of how they looked at us or a
-comment they made, our mind constructs a story that we believe.
- As soon as you hear yourself saying, "I feel like...," stop and recognize
-that you can't "feel like" something. You are thinking. After you have
-identified the thought, ask yourself, "Is that true? How do I know it's true?
-What evidence do I have to prove the validity of that thought?" It's really
-startling to see how often we assume our interpretation of a situation is true
-when in fact it is based on flimsy evidence.
- -- Thubten Chodron, from "Don't Believe Everything You Think: Living with
- Wisdom and Compassion"
-~
-We are all human beings, and from this point of view, we are the same. We all
-want happiness and we do not want suffering. If we consider this point, we
-will find that there are no differences between people of different faiths,
-races, colors, or cultures. We all have this common wish for happiness.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-Enlightenment is not anything new or something we create or bring into
-existence. It is simply discovering within us what is already there. It is
-the full realization of our intrinsic nature. In Tibetan, buddha is sang
-gyay. Sang means that all of the faults have been cleared away, while gyay
-means "full realization"; just as from darkness, the moon waxes, likewise
-from ignorance, the qualities of the mind's intrinsic nature emerge.
- -- Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
-~
-The fundamental teaching of the Buddha is that we should view others as being
-more important than we are. Of course, you cannot completely ignore yourself.
-But neither can you neglect the welfare of other people and other sentient
-beings, particularly when there is a clash of interest between your own
-welfare and the welfare of other people. At such a time you should consider
-other people's welfare as more important than your own personal well-being.
-Compare yourself to the rest of sentient beings. All other sentient beings
-are countless, while you are just one person. Your suffering and happiness
-may be very important, but it is just the suffering and happiness of one
-individual, whereas the happiness and suffering of all other sentient beings
-is immeasurable and countless. So, it is the way of the wise to sacrifice one
-for the benefit of the majority and it is the way of the foolish to sacrifice
-the majority on behalf of just one single individual. Even from the point of
-view of your personal well-being, you must cultivate a compassionate
-mind—that is that source of happiness in your life.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- Attachment and love are similar in that both of them draw us to the other
-person. But in fact, these two emotions are quite different. When we're
-attached we're drawn to someone because he or she meets our needs. In
-addition, there are lots of strings attached to our affection that we may or
-may not realize are there. For example, I 'love' you because you make me feel
-good. I 'love' you as long as you do things that I approve of. I 'love' you
-because you're mine. You're my spouse or my child or my parent or my friend.
-With attachment, we go up and down like a yo-yo, depending on how the other
-person treats us. We obsess, "What do they think of me? Do they love me?
-Have I offended them? How can I become what they want me to be so that they
-love me even more?" It's not very peaceful, is it? We're definitely stirred
-up.
- On the other hand, the love we're generating on the Dharma path is
-unconditional. We simply want other to have happiness and the causes of
-happiness without any strings attached, without any expectations of what these
-people will do for us or how good they'll make us feel.
- -- Thubten Chodron, "Don't Believe Everything You Think: Living with Wisdom
- and Compassion"
-~
-Because we don't recognize our essential nature--we don't realize that
-although appearances arise unceasingly, nothing is really there--we invest
-with solidity and reality the seeming truth of self, other, and actions
-between self and others. This intellectual obscuration gives rise to
-attachment and aversion, followed by actions and reactions that create karma,
-solidify into habit, and perpetuate the cycles of suffering. This entire
-process needs to be purified.
- -- Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, from "In the Presence of Masters: Wisdom from 30
- Contemporary Tibetan Buddhist Teachers", edited by Reginald A. Ray.
-~
- Effort is crucial in the beginning for generating a strong will. We all
-have the Buddha nature and thus already have within us the substances through
-which, when we meet with the proper conditions, we can turn into a fully
-enlightened being having all beneficial attributes and devoid of all faults.
-The very root of failure in our lives is to think, "Oh, how useless and
-powerless I am!" It is important to have a strong force of mind thinking,
-"I can do it," this not being mixed with pride or any other afflictive
-emotion.
- Moderate effort over a long period of time is important, no matter what you
-are trying to do. One brings failure on oneself by working extremely hard at
-the beginning, attempting to do too much, and then giving it all up after a
-short time. A constant stream of moderate effort is needed. Similarly, when
-meditating, you need to be skillful by having frequent, short sessions; it is
-more important that the session be of good quality than that it be long.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight"
-~
-We Buddhists are supposed to save all sentient beings, but practically
-speaking, this may be too broad a notion for most people. In any case, we
-must at least think in terms of helping all human beings. This is very
-important. Even if we cannot think in terms of sentient beings inhabiting
-different worlds, we should nonetheless think in terms of the human beings on
-our own planet. To do this is to take a practical approach to the problem.
-It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily
-lives. If we find we cannot help another, the least we can do is to desist
-from harming them. We must not cheat others or lie to them. We must be
-honest human beings, sincere human beings.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- How things appear and how they actually exist differ greatly. A person
-engaging in practice of the perfection of wisdom does this kind of analysis
-and then examines how things appear in ordinary experience, alternating
-analysis and comparison with the usual mode of appearance in order to notice
-the discrepancy between the actual mode of subsistence of phenomena and their
-appearance.
- In this way the inherent existence which is the object of negation will
-become clearer and clearer. As much as the object of negation becomes
-clearer, so much deeper will your understanding of emptiness become. Finally,
-you will ascertain a mere vacuity that is a negative of inherent existence.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- Three attitudes prevent us from receiving a continual flow of blessings.
-They are compared to three "pots": a full pot, a pot with poison in it,
-and a pot with a hole in the bottom.
- The pot that's filled to the brim is like a mind full of opinions and
-preconceptions. We already know it all. We have so many fixed ideas that
-nothing new can affect us or cause us to question our assumptions.
- The pot containing poison is like a mind that's so cynical, critical, and
-judgmental that everything is poisoned by this harshness. It allows for no
-openness and no willingness to explore the teachings or anything else that
-challenges our righteous stance.
- The pot with a hole is like a distracted mind: our body is present but
-we're lost in thought. We're so busy thinking about our dream vacation or
-what's for dinner that we're completely deaf to what's being said.
- Knowing how sad it is to receive blessings and not be able to benefit,
-Shantideva wants to save himself grief by remaining open and attentive.
-Nothing will improve, he says, unless we become more intelligent about cause
-and effect. This is a message worth considering seriously.
- -- Pema Chödrön, from "No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the
- Bodhisattva".
-~
- Shantideva cites three benefits of pain. First, it is valuable because
-through sorrow, pride is driven out. No matter how arrogant and condescending
-we've been, great suffering can humble us. The pain of a serious illness or
-loss of a loved one can be transformative, softening us and making us less
-self-centered.
- The second benefit of pain is empathy: the compassion felt for those who
-wander in samsara. Our personal suffering brings compassion for others in the
-same situation. A young woman was telling me that when her baby died, she
-felt a deep connection to all the other parents who had lost children. This
-was, as she put it, the unexpected blessing of her sorrow.
- The third value of suffering is that evil is avoided and goodness seems
-delightful. When we practice according to Shantideva's instructions, we can
-get smarter about cause and result. Based on this understanding, we'll have
-less inclination to cause harm, and more desire to gather virtue and benefit
-others.
- -- Pema Chödrön, from "No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the
- Bodhisattva"
-~
- Since emptiness, from between positive and negative phenomena, is a negative
-phenomenon and, from between affirming negatives and non-affirming negatives,
-is a non-affirming negative, when it appears to the mind, nothing will appear
-except an absence of such inherent existence—a mere elimination of the
-object of negation. Thus, for the mind of a person realizing emptiness there
-is no sense of, "I am ascertaining emptiness," and there is no thought,
-"This is emptiness." If you had such a sense, emptiness would become
-distant. Nevertheless, the emptiness of inherent existence is ascertained and
-realized.
- After such realization, even though whatever phenomena appear appear to
-exist in their own right, you understand that they do not exist that way. You
-have a sense that they are like a magician's illusions in that there is a
-combination of their appearing one way but actually existing another way.
-Though they appear to exist inherently, you understand that they are empty of
-inherent existence.
- When phenomena are seen this way, the conceptions that superimpose a sense
-of goodness or badness on phenomena beyond what is actually there and serve as
-a basis for generating desire and hatred lessen; this is because they are
-based on the misconception that phenomena are established in their own right.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- Rely on timeless awareness, which is free of elaboration, without
- identity, and the very essence of being;
- do not rely on ordinary consciousness, which is a mind fixated
- on characteristics and concepts.
-
- Timeless awareness entails (a) understanding that the way in which phenomena
-actually abide is, from the ultimate perspective, free of all limitations
-imposed by elaborations of origination, cessation, and so forth; (b)
-realization of the nonexistence of the two kinds of identity; and (c) unerring
-knowledge of sugatagarbha as utter lucidity, the way in which things actually
-abide, beyond any context of speculative value judgments. It is on this
-awareness that one should rely.
- Ordinary consciousness entails (a) belief that what one immediately
-perceives constitutes something truly existent; (b) conceptualization in terms
-of characteristics, such as the sense of personal identity and the mind-body
-aggregates; and (c) mental states that are conditioned, for example, by
-attitudes of naively fixating on the pleasures of the senses. One should not
-rely on such consciousness.
- -- Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Taye, from "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Seven
- and Book Eight, Parts One and Two"
-~
- Such is the process of karma: it is ineluctable; its results are greatly
-magnified; actions not committed have no effect; and the effects of actions
-committed never expire on their own.
- Generally speaking, whether you are an ordinary mortal individual or a
-spiritually advanced being, all positive experiences that carry with them any
-pleasant sensation—down to even the slightest pleasure caused by a cool
-breeze for beings reborn in a hell realm—occur due to positive karma
-reinforced in the past; it is not in accord with the nature of things that
-happiness be due to negative karma. And all negative experiences that carry
-with them any unpleasant sensation—down to even the slightest suffering that
-could occur in the experience of an arhat—occur due to negative karma one
-has reinforced in the past; for it is not in accord with the nature of things
-that suffering be due to positive karma.
- -- Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Taye, from "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Seven
- and Book Eight, Parts One and Two"
-~
- "That which is seen and that which is touched are of a dream-like and
- illusion-like nature. Because feeling arises together with the mind,
- it is not [ultimately] perceived." --Shantideva
-
- There is nothing whatever that has a true mode of existence. Nevertheless,
-this does not suggest that a person who experiences feelings and the feelings
-themselves—pleasant and unpleasant—are utterly non-existent. They do
-exist, but in an untrue fashion. Thus, the things that we see and touch have
-a dream-like and illusion-like quality.
- In the second line the author refutes the true existence of the mind that
-experiences feelings. Since feelings arise in conjunction with the mind,
-feelings are not perceived by the mind that is simultaneous with them. There
-must be a causal relationship between the experienced object and the
-experiencing subject. If two entities are substantially distinct and exist
-simultaneously, there could be neither a causal relationship nor an identity
-relationship between them.
- For this reason the author denies that either [intrinsic] relationship could
-hold for the feelings and the awareness that is simultaneous with them. Two
-mental events that arise in conjunction with each other are not able to
-apprehend one another. This holds true for all states of awareness. Thus,
-feelings are not observed by the awareness that arises in conjunction with
-them and that exists simultaneously with them.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-Any happiness there is in the world ultimately turns to pain. Why? Consider
-the two sides of a coin: just because what we desire is to be seen on the
-front does not mean that dislike won't soon appear on the back. Likewise,
-hope and fear are a single coin, one entity with two faces--on the other side
-of a moment in which we hope for more happiness will be our fear of more
-suffering. Until attachment is eliminated, we can be certain of having both
-hope and fear. As long as there is hope and fear, the delusions of samsara
-will be perpetuated and there will be constant suffering. Thus attachment is
-the nature of both hope and fear: looking at the ultimate emptiness of the
-self-envisioned magical illusion of hope and fear, we should hang loosely in
-the flow.
- --Tulku Pema Rigtsal, "The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the
- Nonduality of Dzogchen", translated by Keith Dowman
-~
- The feelings of joy and sorrow do not exist from their own side. Although
-they exist as conceptual imputations, you cling to them as existing from their
-own side. Feelings do not exist by their own intrinsic nature; rather, they
-are identified on the basis of contributing circumstances.
- Therefore, this analysis is cultivated as an antidote for that [false
-conception of intrinsic existence]. The meditative absorption that arises
-from the field of discriminative investigation is the food of the
-contemplative.—Shantideva
- Feelings do not truly exist; they are not found when sought through
-analysis; they do not exist independently, but exist by the power of
-convention. Thus, the means for overcoming the misconception of the true
-existence of feelings is meditation on their lack of such existence. This
-entails analyzing the mode of existence of feelings.
- Such investigation is an aid to meditative absorption and leads to the
-integration of meditative quiescence and insight. That increases the physical
-vitality of the contemplative and enhances the power of his [or her] spiritual
-practice. Thus it is called the nourishment of the contemplative.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom".
-~
-It is not enough merely to look into the space of happiness or sadness; it is
-important to have pure presence constant in that flow. If the power of
-meditation is not constant, it is impossible to remain long in the place of
-nondual perception. Thoughts that arise intermittently will break the
-continuity, and radiating out from this, like ripples on a pond, the poisonous
-taste of emotion will arise to obstruct the meditation. As gross thoughts
-increase, ripples become rough waves that intensify the emotion. Until subtle
-emotions are left behind, we cannot eradicate suffering, so it is crucially
-important to sustain the state of meditation. When we gain strong familiarity
-by staying in that space for a long time, then no matter what thoughts arise,
-whether gross or subtle, they will not be able to dislodge us: upon
-recognizing the first thought, whatever thought it may be, in that very
-moment, we realize it to be the play of the spontaneous creativity of
-dharmakaya. Like a wave falling back into the ocean, the thought vanishes
-into the dharmakaya. In that space of naked empty pure presence that is the
-view, always cherishing thoughts of the five poisonous emotions and all the
-movements of body, speech, and mind, and the acts of eating, sleeping, moving,
-and sitting, we are known as the yogins and yoginis who stand guard over the
-shifting dharmakaya display. This is the supreme method of sustaining the
-essence of meditation. According to Dzogchen teaching, this is unadulterated
-by any kind of focus; it is called "the great meditation that is
-nonmeditation."
- --Tulku Pema Rigtsal, "The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the
- Nonduality of Dzogchen", translated by Keith Dowman.
-~
- Who is more shameless in this world,
- Than one who abandons to samsara's ocean of suffering
- All the mothers who have tenderly cared for him since beginningless time
- And instead strives toward the peace of a solitary nirvana?
- --Shechen Gyaltsap Pema Namgyal
-
- In each of our lives since beginningless time, our mother carried us within
-her body for nine months. She took care of us when we were helpless babies;
-she gave us food, education, and protection. In return, we feel love and
-gratitude for her kindness.
- Why not extend our respect and appreciation for our mother to everyone else?
-If we take a broader perspective, we can consider that, within the countless
-existences we have lived, every being has been our mother at one time or
-another. Don't they also deserve our kindness now? We can extend the same
-debt of gratitude that we owe our present mother to all sentient beings. By
-doing so, we naturally begin to develop a deep concern for the happiness of
-others, and this feeling makes sense to us.
- We take the refuge vow not just for our own sake, but also for the sake of
-all sentient beings. This is bodhichitta, or the altruistic mind, which aims
-for the enlightenment of all sentient beings.
- --Shechen Rabjam, "The Great Medicine That Conquers Clinging to the Notion
- of Reality: Steps in Meditation on the Enlightened Mind"
-~
- Direct perfect enlightenment [with regard to] all aspects,
- and abandonment of the stains along with their imprints
- [are called] buddha and nirvana respectively.
- In truth, these are not two different things.
- —Arya Maitreya
-
-All aspects of the knowable—all absolute and relative phenomena—are
-directly known. Through this knowledge one is immediately and perfectly
-enlightened. This is the aspect of realization. All the adventitious
-defilements—the two veils along with their remaining imprints—are
-abandoned without any exception. This is the aspect of abandonment. These
-two qualities have been led to ultimate perfection. They are therefore named
-"perfect buddha" ["perfectly awakened and expanded"] from the
-viewpoint of the former aspect, and "nirvana" ["gone beyond any torment
-and pain"] from the viewpoint of the latter aspect. These two aspects are
-contained in one and the same meaning, the meaning of the tathagatagarbha,
-whereas a difference only lies in the convention of the different terms. In
-the sense of the absolute field of experience of the noble ones' primordial
-wisdom the qualities of realization and abandonment are therefore completely
-inseparable and do not exist as two different things.
- -- Arya Maitreya, "Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with
- Commentary", with commentary by Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Thaye
-~
- "Vehicle" (yana) has two meanings: the means by which one progresses and
-the destination to which one is progressing. Mahayana in the sense of the
-vehicle by which one progresses means to be motivated by the mind of
-enlightenment—wishing to attain highest enlightenment for the sake of all
-sentient beings, one's objects of intent—and means to engage in the six
-perfections.
- Seeing reason and need, Buddha set forth many systems and vehicles, but
-these did not arise due to his being intimate with some and alien to others.
-The trainees who were listening to his teaching had various dispositions,
-interests, and abilities, and thus he taught methods that were suitable for
-each of them. For those who temporarily did not have the courage to strive
-for Buddhahood or who did not at all have the capacity of obtaining Buddhahood
-at that time, Buddha did not say, "You can attain Buddhahood." Rather, he
-set forth a path appropriate to the trainees' abilities. Buddha spoke in
-terms of their situation, and everything that he spoke was a means of
-eventually attaining highest enlightenment even though he did not always say
-that these were means for attaining Buddhahood.
- Since the purpose of a Buddha's coming is others' realization of the
-wisdom of Buddhahood, the methods for actualizing this wisdom are one vehicle,
-not two. A Buddha does not lead beings by a vehicle that does not proceed to
-Buddhahood; he establishes beings in his own level. A variety of vehicles are
-set forth in accordance with temporary needs.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-You do not have to seek out loneliness--it is always there. Egolessness is a
-concept, a philosophy, but loneliness is a reality that you experience. A
-feeling of loneliness is part of the journey. As for me, I feel that way
-constantly, and I think it's a very healthy feeling, a very real feeling.
-When you sense that you are not you anymore and that nothing can replace that
-state, you begin to make discoveries. You discover devotion, and you discover
-a quality of richness and artistic expression that is very special. Being
-you, but not being you, is very resourceful. You become a complete mountain
-man: you know how to make fire and cook food. But it doesn't mean anything.
-You are still nobody. That is the inspiration.
- -- Chögyam Trungpa, "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume
- One: The Individual Path of Liberation"
-~
- Interdependence is our reality, whether we accept it or not. In order to
-live productively within such a reality, it is better to acknowledge and work
-with interdependence, wholeheartedly and without resistance. This is where
-love and compassion come in. It is love that leads us to embrace our
-connectedness to others, and to participate willingly in the relations created
-by our interdependence. Love can melt away our defenses and our painful sense
-of separation. The warmth of friendship and love makes it easy for us to
-accept that our happiness is intimately linked to that of others. The more
-widely we are able to love others, the happier and more content we can feel
-within the relations of interdependence that are a natural part of our life.
- Love is possible in all our relationships because all people want happiness.
-No one wants to suffer. This is true of the people we love. It is also true
-of those we dislike. We are all absolutely identical in this respect. I
-think this universal wish for happiness is something we can easily grasp
-intellectually. When we learn to also feel and respect this in our heart,
-love naturally flourishes within us.
- -- The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, "The Heart is Noble: Changing the World
- from the Inside Out"
-~
- Day and night, night and day we spend our lives in the company of the
-afflictions, generating desire for the pleasant and anger at the unpleasant,
-and continue thus even when dreaming, unable to remain relaxed, our minds
-completely and utterly mixed with thoughts of desire and hatred without
-interruption.
- To what refuge should we go? A source of refuge must have completely
-overcome all defects forever; it must be free of all faults. It must also
-have all the attributes of altruism—those attainments which are necessary
-for achieving others' welfare. For it is doubtful that anyone lacking these
-two prerequisites can bestow refuge; it would be like falling into a ditch and
-asking another who is in it to help you out. You need to ask someone who is
-standing outside the ditch for help; it is senseless to ask another who is in
-the same predicament. A refuge capable of protecting from the frights of
-manifold sufferings cannot also be bound in this suffering but must be free
-and unflawed. Furthermore, the complete attainments are necessary, for if you
-have fallen into a ditch, it is useless to seek help from someone standing
-outside it who does not wish to help or who wishes to help but has no means to
-do so.
- Only a Buddha has extinguished all faults and gained all attainments.
-Therefore, one should mentally go for refuge to a Buddha, praise him with
-speech, and respect him physically. One should enter the teaching of such a
-being.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
- All that is has me—universal creativity,
- pure and total presence—as its root.
- How things appear is my being.
- How things arise is my manifestation.
- Sounds and words heard are my messages
- expressed in sounds and words.
- All the capacities, forms, and pristine
- awareness of the buddhas;
- The bodies of sentient beings, their
- habituations, and so forth;
- All environments and their inhabitants,
- life forms, and experiences;
- Are the primordial state of pure and total
- presence.
-
- Without understanding me, the creativity of
- the universe,
- But investigating the phenomena that I
- manifest,
- You perceive everything dualistically due
- to your attachment and longing.
- Impermanent, apparitional things will fade
- away.
- They are aimless, like a blind man.
-
- All that is experienced and
- Your own mind are the unique primary reality.
- They cannot be conceptualized according to
- the cause and effect systems of thought.
- Investigate your mind's real nature
- So that your pure and total presence will
- actually shine forth.
-
- -- Longchenpa, "You Are the Eyes of the World"
-~
- Devotion, or mögü in Tibetan, can be divided into two aspects: möpa and
-küpa. Möpa means "longing" or "wanting," and küpa means "humility,"
-"respect," or "being without arrogance." With küpa, you are not pretending
-to be somebody who has reached a higher level of wisdom. So in devotion,
-longing and humbleness are put together. That state of mind brings openness
-to the teacher and to the dharma.
- With küpa, the longing of möpa does not become purely an emotional
-indulgence or demand on the part of either the student or the teacher. The
-devotion of küpa is the respect or sacredness that comes from that experience
-of aah [the space before first thought]! Küpa arises because every highlight
-in your life has always been touched by the sacredness of vajrayana, even
-before you knew it.
- -- Chogyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma,
- Volume Three: The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness"
-~
-All suffering in this life and others is created by the unsubdued mind.
-Similarly, the basis of all the practices of the six paramitas, such as
-generosity, moral discipline, and so on, is the mind.
-
-Nothing is more important than guarding the mind. Let us constantly keep
-watch over the wild elephant of the mind, curbing it with mindfulness and
-vigilance. This is how to avoid being influenced by different external
-conditions. But even in retreat in a very secluded place, if the mind is not
-kept under control, it will wander all over the place. Even completely alone,
-we can have an enormous amount of negative emotions.
-
-How are we to guard the mind? We should use attentiveness to watch our
-thoughts and use mindfulness to judge whether we are acting correctly. With
-these two we have the means to annihilate all adverse conditions. But without
-them, we will not see whether our thoughts are positive or negative or whether
-we are doing right or wrong, nor will we then be able to use antidotes as
-necessary.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-The great yogi Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol replies to a Losar Day request from
-his disciple Depa Wangpo on what to adopt and what to reject regarding
-attitude and conduct...
-
- Don't harm your friends and neighbors; help them.
- Don't be stingy; use your wealth for offerings and charity.
- Don't let your body be idle; do prostrations and circumambulations.
- Don't let your mouth be idle; recite the mani mantra.
- Always have pure thoughts towards others.
-
- In brief, keeping Death in mind, practice the sacred Dharma.
- Give up doing wrong, and do what is wholesome.
- Whatever happiness and sufferings you undergo,
- Regard them as the result of previous actions.
- Always act in accord with the Dharma.
- Even though I may be far away,
- These instructions will remain like my very presence.
- Keep them in mind!
-
- -- Shabkar Natshok Rangdrol, in "The Life of Shabkar"
-~
-On the very night of Dodrupchen's death, his spiritual testament was
-received by his principal disciple, Do Khyentse. Dodrupchen appeared in the
-sky in a radiant light body and an attire of lights. He was floating on a
-carpet of light, which was held up by four dakinis. In a very enchanting
-voice he sang the verses of his testament, which include the following lines:
-
- I am going into the expanse of the Wisdom of the Ultimate Sphere,
- Which is the state that transcends thoughts and expressions.
- I am going into the state of Mirrorlike Wisdom,
- Which is the ceaseless clear glow, fresh and open.
- I am going into the expanse of the Wisdom of Evenness,
- In which all the thoughts of grasping and grasper have vanished into the
- ultimate sphere.
- I am going into the Wisdom of Discriminative Awareness,
- Which is the clarity, the dawn of six kinds of foreknowledge.
- I am going into the state of the Wisdom of Accomplishment,
- Which emanates various manifestations in accordance with [the needs of]
- trainable beings.
-
- Son, please stay healthy.
- Now you have won over the obstructions of your life.
- Until all the phenomenal existents are liberated as the signs and
- teachings [of Dharma],
- [You should be] aware of samsara and nirvana as dreams and illusions.
- Dedicate yourself to the meditation where there is no reference point.
- This is the empowerment of total entrustment and aspiration.
- This is the supreme empowerment of empowerments.
-
- -- from "Masters of Meditation and Miracles", by Tulku Thondup.
-~
- The view of interdependence makes for a great openness of mind. In general,
-instead of realizing that what we experience arises from a complicated network
-of causes, we tend to attribute happiness or sadness, for example, to single,
-individual sources. But if this were so, as soon as we came into contact with
-what we consider to be good, we would be automatically happy, and conversely,
-in the case of bad things, invariably sad. The causes of joy and sorrow would
-be easy to identify and target. It would all be very simple, and there would
-be good reason for our anger and attachment. When, on the other hand, we
-consider that everything we experience results from a complex interplay of
-causes and conditions, we find that there is no single thing to desire or
-resent, and it is more difficult for the afflictions of attachment or anger to
-arise. In this way, the view of interdependence makes our minds more relaxed
-and open.
- By training our minds and getting used to this view, we change our way of
-seeing things, and as a result we gradually change our behavior and do less
-harm to others. As it says in the sutras:
-
- Abandon evildoing;
- Practice virtue well;
- Subdue your mind:
- This is the Buddha's teaching.
-
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "For the Benefit of All Beings"
-~
-In the avadhuti, the main path of enlightenment,
-Prana and mind, bliss and warmth, are united,
-Becoming unconditioned great bliss.
-The wisdom of unobscured insight dawns.
-
-"This is unsurpassable," the guru has said.
-The darkness of ignorance is purified in space.
-One is free from the two obscurations of grasping and fixation.
-Therefore bliss and luminosity dawn in simplicity.
-
-This appearance of collective coincidence
-Is a reflection without self-nature.
-All appearances are realized like that,
-And just like appearances in a dream,
-All dharmas arise as illusions...
-
-When thoughts arise, rest naturally.
-When dreaming, be mindful without corrupting it.
-When in the pardo, don't control, but be aware.
-When there is fruition, let it arise without obscuration.
-
- -- from "The Life of Marpa the Translator" translated by Chögyam Trungpa
- and the Nalanda Translation Committee.
-~
-The Four Seals in Buddhism are:
-
- All products are impermanent.
- (or all compounded phenomena are impermanent?)
- ('du byed thams cad mi rtag pa)
-
- All contaminated objects are miserable.
- (zag bcas thams cad sdug bsngal ba)
-
- All phenomena are selfless.
- (chos thams cad bdag med pa)
-
- Nirvana is peace.
- (mya ngan las 'das ba zhi ba)
-
- --from "Meditation on Emptiness" (London: Wisdom, 1983), by Jeffrey Hopkins
-~
- When you pass away, nothing will do you any good except for the pure Dharma.
-You will not simply disappear when you die. Rather, what happens next will be
-dictated by your previous actions.
- For these reasons, you should exert yourself by whatever means necessary to
-free yourself from samsara, which is nothing but a vast ocean of suffering!
-Practice your teacher's guidance concerning what to do and what to give up
-to the letter, without falling under the influence of immature friends or bad
-influences. To the best of your ability, incorporate this genuine teaching on
-the certainty of death into each and every day.
- Keeping all this in mind, arouse faith in the Three Jewels so that you will
-be able to practice in this manner, thinking to yourself, "Think of me,
-Three Jewels!" At the same time, be sure to generate an intense sense of
-renunciation and subdue your mind stream.
- -- from "Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen
- Preliminary Practices", edited and translated by Cortland Dahl
-~
-I would like to mention my visit to Lourdes as a pilgrim. There, in front of
-the cave, I experienced something very special. I felt a spiritual vibration,
-a kind of spiritual presence there. And then, in front of the image of the
-Virgin Mary, I prayed. I expressed my admiration for this holy place that has
-long been a source of inspiration and strength, that has provided spiritual
-solace, comfort and healing to millions of people. And I prayed that this may
-continue for a long time to come. My prayer there was not directed to any
-clearly defined object, like Buddha or Jesus Christ or a bodhisattva, but was
-simply directed to all great beings who have infinite compassion towards all
-sentient beings.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
-~
-The Buddhist teaching is superior in four ways: view, meditation, behavior,
-and fruit.
-
-1. The "four seals" that distinguish the [Buddhist] view are as follows: all
-composed phenomena are impermanent, all contaminated things are miserable, all
-phenomena are selfless, and nirvana is peace.
-
-2. Buddhist meditation serves as an antidote to all cyclic existence within
-the three realms.
-
-3. Buddhist behavior is free from the two extremes, having abandoned both the
-extreme of overindulgence of desire, which is a case of being desirous and
-wanting good and great quantities of food and clothing, and the extreme of
-being too tired and worn out in body and mind.
-
-4. The fruits are the true cessations, which are abandonments such that the
-obstruction that is removed does not arise again [and which comes about]
-through analyzing individually the nonexistence of the referent object of the
-conception of self.
-
-These four [view, meditation, behavior, and fruit] are the distinguishing
-features of Buddhist doctrine.
- -- Jamyang Shayba, from "Buddhist Philosophy: Losang Gonchok's Short
- Commentary to Jamyang Shayba's Root Text on Tenets", by Daniel Cozort
- and Craig Preston, page 88.
-~
-When you are busy and preoccupied, you feel hassled by your own existence.
-You are so busy that you think that you do not have any time to spare for your
-practice. Such torment and busyness seem to be monumental or historic, but
-that is not the case. As far as we are concerned, that kind of torment is
-absolutely ordinary. As you begin to work on that, you realize that the
-inconvenience, discomfort, and anguish that you experience is no more than
-anybody else experiences. So your experience is no longer regarded as
-monumental—no more than if you step on a cat's tail, and the cat cries
-out, "Wooaaaoow!" However, it is still a problematic situation. Therefore
-you need to practice the paramita of discipline, which overcomes that type of
-preoccupation altogether. You begin to realize that preoccupations are
-garbage; they are worth flushing out so that something real could come up.
-Then paramita activity begins to make sense, and you begin to act in a more
-genuine way.
- -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma.
- Volume Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion"
-~
-If we unbalance nature, humankind will suffer. Furthermore, we must consider
-future generations: a clean environment is a human right like any other. It
-is therefore part of our responsibility toward others to ensure that the world
-we pass on is as healthy as, if not healthier than, we found it. This is not
-quite such a difficult proposition as it might sound. For although there is a
-limit to what we as individuals can do, there is no limit to what a universal
-response might achieve. It is up to us as individuals to do what we can,
-however little that may be. Just because switching off the light on leaving
-the room seems inconsequential, it does not mean we shouldn't do it.
- -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Pocket Dalai Lama"
-~
-Basically we are trying to put a stop to frivolity of any kind. Frivolity is
-an interesting word. It can mean being crazy and indulging unnecessarily in a
-very crude fashion, but it could also mean indulging in something in the name
-of humor and overdoing it slightly. If you are embarrassed to deal with a
-particular subject, you find another subject to discuss. If you are tired of
-drinking vodka, you switch to sake. If you are bored with talking to one
-person, you switch to somebody else. Frivolity is anything that creates
-further confusion, or the longing for further confusion. Confusion may seem
-luxurious: when you no longer have it, you begin to miss that confusion, and
-you would like to re-create it. It is like going back to an adult bookshop
-and getting more magazines. But with discipline, you control any form of
-potential escape from reality.
- -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma.
- Volume Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion"
-~
- The essence of all the songs can be epitomized by the four dharmas of
-Gampopa. These are: (1) one's mind becomes dharmic; (2) that dharma
-practice becomes path; (3) in following that path, confusion is removed; (4)
-having removed confusion, everything dawns as wisdom.
- The first dharma is the ground, where our mind becomes dharmic so that we
-and the dharma are no longer separate entities. We develop true renunciation
-and have a sense of revulsion towards samsara. The second dharma is the path.
-When our mind goes along with the dharma, the dharma becomes the path, and any
-obstacles, whether extreme or ordinary, become a part of our journey. The
-third dharma is the fruition. As the journey is taking place, the process of
-the journey liberates us from confusion and anxiety. We are delighted by our
-journey and we feel it is good. The fourth dharma is the total vision. When
-we are able to overcome confusion and anxiety, even our anxiety is not
-regarded as anti-dharma or anti-path. Cosmic wakefulness takes place.
- -- Chögyam Trungpa's in the foreword to "The Rain of Wisdom: The Essence of
- the Ocean of True Meaning"
-~
-Scrutinize Apperances
-
-No matter what our mind makes appear as an object of one of our six
-collections of consciousness—sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile or
-bodily sensations, or mental objects or events—we thoroughly scrutinize its
-mode of appearance. Our mind is making it appear as though its existence were
-established by virtue of itself, empowered by some truly and inherently
-existent self-nature—and not by virtue simply of mental labeling
-establishing its existence as what can be labeled "this" or "that"
-from this side. We thoroughly scrutinize this mode of appearance and the mode
-of existence it implies. There does appear to be something solidly there, not
-existing as what it is by virtue simply of mental labeling, but by virtue of
-itself, independently of anything else. But, by reminding ourselves that it
-does not exist as it appears to exist—by being mindful that its existence
-and identity are not established through its own power—we automatically
-reconfirm and become even stronger in our conviction in its bare mode of
-existence. In other words, as the text [the First Panchen Lama's A Root
-Text for the Precious Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra] says, "[You
-experience] their bare mode of existence dawning in an exposed, resplendent
-manner."
- -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition
- of Mahamudra"
-~
-The dakini principle must not be oversimplified, as it carries many levels of
-meaning. On an outer level, accomplished female practitioners were called
-dakinis.... But ultimately, though she appears in female form, a dakini
-defies gender definitions. "To really meet the dakini, you have to go
-beyond duality," Khandro Rinpoche teaches, referring to an essential
-understanding in Vajrayana that the absolute reality cannot be grasped
-intellectually. The Tibetan word for dakini, khandro, means "sky-goer" or
-"space-dancer," which indicates that these ethereal awakened ones have
-left the confinements of solid earth and have the vastness of open space to
-play in.
- -- Michaela Haas, from "Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the
- Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West"
-~
-Drawing from Longchenpa, Jamgon Kongtrul explains the method of awakening in
-the Dzog-chen system, calling it the "Liberation as Ever-Perfect," as the
-primordial buddha Samantabhadra... Liberation as Ever-Perfect does not refer
-to the liberation of a buddha that has occurred in the past, such as that of
-Buddha Sakyamuni, but to the way in which countless beings are liberated right
-now and will continue to be liberated in the future simply by realizing their
-primordial purity. The basis, the path, and the ultimate result in this
-system are all of a singular, undifferentiated nature: total, pure awareness.
-Thus, the primordial freedom that one seeks to attain by practicing the
-spiritual path is something that one already possesses. Intrinsic freedom is
-itself the path that leads to the actualization of the goal.
- -- from the Translator's Introduction, "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book One,
- Myriad Worlds", by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye
-~
- If we realize, "I am a human being. A human being can do anything,"
-this determination, courage, and self-confidence are important sources of
-victory and success. Without will power and determination, even something
-that you might have achieved easily cannot be achieved. If you have will
-power and reasonable courage—not blind courage but courage without
-pride—even things that seemed impossible at a certain stage turn into being
-possible because of continuing effort inspired by that courage. Thus,
-determination is important.
- How can this be developed? Not through machines, not by money, but by our
-own inner strength based on clear realization of the value of human beings, of
-human dignity. For, once we realize that a human being is much more than just
-material, much more than just money, we can feel the importance of human life,
-from which we can feel the importance of compassion and kindness.
- Human beings by nature want happiness and do not want suffering. With that
-feeling everyone tries to achieve happiness and tries to get rid of suffering,
-and everyone has the basic right to do this. In this way, all here are the
-same, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, Easterner or Westerner,
-believer or nonbeliever, and within believers whether Buddhist, Christian,
-Jewish, Muslim, and so on. Basically, from the viewpoint of real human value
-we are all the same.
- -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight"
-~
-Pete's Song:
-My fur reeks like
-Racoon dead six weeks.
-Feed me!
-~
-The Epic of Gesar
-
-Through aspiration prayers and arousing bodhicitta, for the noble families the
-time had come to tame the māras and cannibal demons of Tibet, and resounding
-as self-arising formless sound from the sky was this song, which invokes the
-enlightened mindstreams [of all the sages]:
-
- E MA HO
- Unborn primordially empty dharmadhatu,
- Unobstructed ground for the arising of phenomena,
- The strength of emptiness free from the extremes of existing or not,
- Listen to this song, a self-arising spontaneously present song.
-
- Without considering the six grains of the three months of autumn,
- Why toil in the fields in the three months of spring?
- Without considering the abundance of the plunder,
- Why wave your arms to summon enemies and disputes?
- Without considering the benefit of others,
- Why single-pointedly practice to try to accomplish enlightenment?
-
- Failing to know the minds of those to be tamed, one is not a buddha.
- Failing to fulfill the welfare of others is not the sacred dharma.
- Failing to lead others to liberation is not the sangha.
-
- -- from The Epic of Gesar of Ling, "Gesar's Birth and Childhood"
-~
-When we meditate I encourage all of us to have the attitude that we are
-meditating to dissolve the self. That's why we meditate. Hold this
-perspective in your awareness and let your dualistic mind dissolve for at
-least a half hour, or at least for ten minutes every day. When you allow
-yourself to witness that unexpected glimpse of the truth, where the self is
-dissolved, it's like drinking nectar. It's inexpressible. We often use
-the word bliss to describe that state. Bliss is a good word, but it can be
-misunderstood. The bliss that I am speaking about has nothing to do with
-ordinary bliss. It's not like the bliss of having great food or other
-sensual pleasure. This is nonconceptual bliss that is not based on emotions
-but is based on awareness. We often say that realizing the true nature of who
-we are is like drinking the nectar of ultimate bliss. The more we drink, the
-more we are going to be addicted, which is very good.
- -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem: Awakening to Our True Nature"
-~
- Why is a man condemned to death not fortunate
- If he is released after having his hand cut off?
- Why am I who am experiencing human misery not fortunate
- If by that I am spared from (the agonies of) hell?
-
- If I am unable to endure
- Even the mere sufferings of the present,
- Then why do I not restrain myself from being angry,
- Which will be the source of hellish misery?
-
- In these two verses [from The Way of the Bodhisattva], Shantideva explains
-that by not being angry and developing hatred in response to harm caused by
-others, what one is gaining is protection from potential undesirable
-consequences that might otherwise come about. Because if one responds to such
-situations with anger and hatred, not only does it not protect one from the
-injury that has already been done, but on top of that one creates an
-additional cause for one's own suffering in the future. However, if one
-responds without anger and hatred and develops patience and tolerance, then
-although one many face temporary discomfort or injury, that temporary
-suffering will protect one from potentially dangerous consequences in the
-future. If this is the case, then by sacrificing small things, by putting up
-with small problems or hardships, one will be able to forgo experiences of
-much greater suffering in the future.
- An example Shantideva uses here is that if a convicted prisoner can save his
-life by sacrificing his arm as a punishment, wouldn't that person feel
-grateful for that opportunity? By accepting the pain and suffering of having
-his arm cut off, that person will be saving himself from death, which is a
-greater suffering. Shantideva adds that there is another advantage: not only
-will one be protected from potentially dangerous consequences in the future,
-but also by experiencing the pain and suffering which has been caused
-temporarily by others, one is exhausting the karmic potentials of negative
-karma which one has accumulated in the past. So it serves two purposes.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
- Buddhist Perspective"
-~
-The Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682) was perhaps the most mystical of all the
-Dalai Lamas in that he seemed to spend much of his time in a state of trance.
-During these trances many gurus of past ages, as well as mandala deities,
-buddhas, and bodhisattvas, would appear directly to him and give him secret
-transmissions, initiations, and teachings. As the Thirteenth Dalai Lama says
-of the Great Fifth later in this chapter, he "was continually absorbed in
-the wisdom dance that experiences all appearances as pure vision."
- -- Glenn H. Mullin, from "From the Heart of Chenrezig: The Dalai Lamas on
- Tantra"
-~
-Wishing others to be happy doesn't mean we give them everything they want,
-because sometimes what they want can be harmful. Wishing them to be happy
-entails wanting them to be free from pain and loneliness. Wouldn't it be
-wonderful if they were free from these and all other miseries? In order to
-love others, we have to be able to overcome our anger and hatred toward them.
-We have to be able to forgive them for the wrongs they've done. To do that,
-we have to get "me" out of the way and see that when people create harm,
-it is a reflection of their own pain, confusion, and misery. We just happened
-to walk across their path. We may even have done something to antagonize
-them, either deliberately or accidentally, but the reason that they got so
-upset is because of what is going on inside of them. We might also look at
-how we made ourselves into a target or accidentally became a target onto which
-they projected their confusion. Maybe we weren't very considerate of them.
-Maybe we have certain bad habits of which we're not aware and to which
-they're reacting.
- -- Thubten Chodron, "How to Free Your Mind: The Practice of Tara the
- Liberator"
-~
-We humans are actually not that far from enlightenment. Our five senses are
-like the Emanation Body of a Buddha; our dream body, which is similar to the
-after-death form, is like a Buddha's Beatific Form; and the basis of both of
-these is the subtle mind of clear light which shares the nature of a
-Buddha's Wisdom Body. All we have to do is learn to transform these
-ordinary elements into their pure natures. Then buddhahood naturally comes
-into our hands.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Path to Enlightenment"
-~
- There are three kinds of people [who practice Buddhism]. Like all other
-beings, the lowest person wants happiness and not suffering or rebirth in the
-lower realms of existence, so he practices Buddhism to create the causes of
-rebirth in the human realm or in the heavenly realms of the gods. He does not
-have the power or the courage to leave worldly existence completely. He only
-wants the best parts of worldly existence; he wants to avoid the worst parts,
-and that is why he practices the Buddhist religion—to gain a higher rebirth.
- The middling sort of person understands that the whole of worldly existence,
-no matter where one is born, is suffering by its nature, just as fire is hot
-by its nature. He wants to get out of it altogether and attain nirvana, the
-state that is entirely away from suffering.
- The highest person realizes that just as he himself does not want to suffer
-and does want happiness, so also do all living beings have the same fears and
-wishes. He knows that since we have been born again and again from
-beginningless time in worldly existence, there is not a single sentient being
-who has not been our mother and father at one time or another. Since we are
-that close to all sentient beings, the best person is one who practices
-Buddhism in order to remove all these countless beings from suffering.
- -- H.H. Sakya Trinzin, from "Treasures of the Sakya Lineage: Teachings from
- the Masters", by Migmar Tseten
-~
- To take refuge in the Buddha means to take refuge in the dharmas that
-constitute a buddha (a nonlearner). These consist of a buddha's knowledge
-of the termination and nonarising [of the obscurations]. Together with the
-associated factors [of this knowledge], they consist of the five
-uncontaminated skandhas.
- To take refuge in the sangha means [to take refuge] in the dharmas that
-constitute the sangha, which consists of [all] learners and nonlearners except
-for buddhas. It is by virtue of having attained their respective [dharmas]
-that the eight persons* are not separated from the path by [anyone], including
-gods. Therefore, they are called "sangha." In other words, [the sangha]
-is represented by the five uncontaminated skandhas in the mind streams of said
-eight persons.
- To take refuge in the dharma means [to take refuge] in the analytical
-cessation that is nirvana, that is, the two nirvanas [with and without
-remainder] of the noble ones.
-
-*The eight persons are also known as "the four pairs of persons"--stream-
-enterers, once-returners, nonreturners, and arhats, each divided into
-approachers to, and abiders in, these states.
-
- --from "Groundless Paths: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear
- Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Nyingma Tradition",
- translated by Karl Brunnholzl, from Shambhala Publications
-~
-Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary
-Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
- -- Benjamin Franklin
-~
- We need a clear mind-training map to keep us from missing the correct path.
-If we want to go to New York we need to know the roads and directions. Just
-jumping in the car and starting to drive may get us there, but most likely we
-will end up in another place or take much longer than is necessary.
- I have seen this happen with students who tell me of doing years of
-meditation without seeing any changes. They may blame themselves, meditation,
-or the Dharma, yet most often the problem is not knowing or applying the
-correct techniques or methods. Meditation is both easy and not easy. With
-the correct techniques and methods, applied with diligence, meditation can
-become a swift path to clearing confusion and unhelpful habits. Without them,
-we may wander in fogginess or agitation, never having engaged in true
-meditation even after years of "sitting."
- At Namdroling Monastery we practiced both resting and analytical meditation.
-The renowned teacher Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche believed that both types of
-meditation were important, but he thought it was best to begin with analytical
-meditation, because gaining familiarity with the true nature of reality would
-naturally lead to a clearer understanding of resting meditation and how to
-engage our mind constructively.
- -- Khenpo Gawang, "Your Mind Is Your Teacher: Self-Awakening through
- Contemplative Meditation", Shambhala Publications
-~
- Never think, "Even though I have confidence in the Three Jewels, it is not
-really certain that this work will be accomplished." Instead, one should
-know that the Enlightened One is surely able to protect those who surrender
-and act in accord with his words, because the Enlightened One is endowed with
-the transcendental wisdom which knows all the paths of practice that are in
-harmony with the intelligence and nature of all living beings, because he has
-the compassionate desire to establish his disciples on the right path after
-turning them from wrong ways, and because he has accomplished the two
-accumulations of merit and transcendental wisdom and has accomplished the
-resolve to help beings. So even though one has not yet attained liberation
-from worldly existence, it is one's fault for not having trusted and not
-having acted in accord with the words of the Three Jewels, not because the
-Three Jewels have no compassion.
- In brief, those who do not entrust themselves to the Precious Jewels, who
-are arrogant and who assume they are intelligent have no certainty in
-accomplishing their schemes. Even if they are accomplished, it is not certain
-whether those schemes will turn out well in the long run. So it is important
-to entrust oneself always to the Precious Jewels.
- -- Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub, "Three Visions: Fundamental Teachings of the
- Sakya Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism"
-~
-Setting out on a spiritual path is a little like planning a trip—to Machu
-Picchu, for example. Some travellers will approach the project by investing a
-lot of time in reading travel books or Googling Internet sites about the best
-route to take and where to stay--a method that works, but only to a certain
-extent. Other travellers prefer a much simpler and safer method: to ask
-someone they know and trust who has already been to Machu Picchu to go with
-them and show them the way. Similarly, those wishing to follow the Buddhist
-path to enlightenment should rely on what are called in the teachings the
-"four authentics": the authentic words of the Buddha (his teachings); the
-authentic clarification of the teachings that can be found in the shastras
-(commentaries) written by great masters of the past; the further clarification
-that is the result of authentic personal experience; and for this experience
-to find expression, an authentic guru.
- -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, "Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called
- Preliminary Practices", Shambhala Publications
-~
-With regard to selflessness, it is necessary to know what "self" is--to
-identify the self that does not exist. Then one can understand its opposite,
-selflessness. Selflessness is not a case of something that existed in the
-past becoming non-existent; rather, this sort of "self" is something that
-never did exist. What is needed is to identify as non-existent something that
-always was nonexistent, for due to not having made such identification, we are
-drawn into the afflictive emotions of desire and hatred as well as all the
-problems these bring.
- -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight", Shambhala
- Publications
-~
- The essence of mind is somewhat difficult to explain, so we look at it from
-the negative point of view, that is, what mind is not. First of all, we see
-that it is not something which arises or ceases or abides. It is free of
-these three things. From beginningless time, there is no arising, no
-cessation and no abiding in terms of staying in one place, not moving, or not
-changing. It is completely free of all three of these.
- It is also free of being a thing or a substance composed of particles. The
-essential entity, or substance, of mind is not something that can be defiled
-or stained by grasping at subject and object. It is completely free of the
-stains from those activities.
- Further, when we look at the essential substance of mind, we find that no
-matter how much we search for it, no matter how much we analyze it, there is
-no thing there to be found. There is no entity that we can come up with by
-searching, evaluating, and analyzing. No matter how much we seek for its
-essential substance, we cannot find it. The searcher, the one who does the
-search for essential substance of mind, cannot find it. Therefore it is said
-that the essential substance of mind itself is emptiness.
- -- Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, "The Practice of Mahamudra", published
- by Shambhala Publications
-~
- "Like a cloud." This is a simile for how the wisdom mind benefits sentient
-beings without conceptual thought. For example, in the summer, clouds gather
-in the sky without effort, causing crops and so forth to grow perfectly
-through the rain falling on the ground without conceptual thought.
- Likewise, the activities of the wisdom mind ripen the trainees' crop of
-virtue through the rainfall of Dharma without conceptual thought.
- -- Gampopa, from "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation: The Wish-fulfilling Gem
- of the Noble Teachings"
-~
- Psychologists tell us that a strong sense of self is essential to be
-psychologically healthy. But it seems Buddhism says there is no self. How
-can we reconcile these two views?
- When psychologists speak of a sense of "self" they are referring to the
-feeling that oneself is an efficacious person, someone who is self-confident
-and can act in the world. Buddhists agree that such a sense of self is both
-realistic and necessary. However, the sense of self that Buddhism says is
-unrealistic is that of a very solid, unchanging, independent "I." Such a
-self never has and never will exist. To understand this is to realize
-emptiness.
- Strange though it may sound, someone may have a psychologically weak sense
-of self that in Buddhist parlance would be considered strong self-grasping.
-For example, a person with poor self-esteem may focus a lot on himself and
-have a strong feeling of the existence of an independent self that is
-inferior, unlovable, and a failure. From a Buddhist viewpoint, such an
-independent self does not exist, although a conventional self does.
- --Thubten Chodron, "Buddhism for Beginners"
-~
-We all depend on one another. For this reason, whenever we act according to
-self-interest, sooner or later our selfish aims are bound to clash with the
-aims of the people we rely upon to accomplish our own goals. When that
-happens, conflicts will inevitably arise. As we learn to be more balanced in
-valuing others' concerns with our own, we will naturally find ourselves
-involved in fewer and fewer conflicts. In the meantime, it is helpful to
-acknowledge that conflicts are the logical outcome of this combination of
-self-interest and interdependence. Once we recognize this, we can see that
-conflicts are nothing to feel shocked or offended by. Rather, we can address
-them calmly and with wisdom.
- -- Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, in "Beyond Anger: How to Hold On to Your
- Heart and Your Humanity in the Midst of Injustice", Shambhala Publications
-~
-Cyclic existence continues to evolve through the power of the unbroken
-relationship of the twelve links of dependent origination. What are these
-twelve? They are (1) ignorance, which afflicts wandering beings by keeping
-them from seeing true reality. In obscuring the perception of true reality,
-ignorance also functions as the source for the subsequent links, such as
-karmic formation, by grasping as if there were an "I" and "mine." (2)
-Formation afflicts wandering beings by implanting the seeds of subsequent
-existence in the consciousness. In this way, when the root text states:
-"Wandering beings are afflicted due to…," it should be understood to
-apply to all the remaining links as well, from consciousness on. Accordingly,
-(3) consciousness becomes infused with habitual tendencies and leads sentient
-beings to the place of their birth. (4) Name and form take hold of the body
-of one's coming existence. (5) The six sense sources bring the state of
-name and form to completion. (6) Contact determines the experience of an
-object based on the coming together of three factors: object, faculty, and
-cognition. (7) Sensation experiences the various types of enjoyable and
-painful karmic ripening. (8) Craving creates the cohesion necessary for a
-future existence. (9) Grasping totally binds one to such an existence. (10)
-Becoming brings about the actual acquisition of this birth. (11) Birth serves
-as the support for the suffering of old age and so on. (12) Aging and death
-is the essence of suffering.
- -- Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham, "Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's
- Madhyantavibhaga with Commentaries"
-~
-Compassion and generosity must be accompanied by detachment. Expecting
-something in return for them is like doing business. If the owner of a
-restaurant is all smiles with his customers, it is not because he loves them
-but because he wants to increase his turnover. When we love and help others,
-it should not be because we find a particular individual likable but because
-we see that all beings, whether we think of them as friends or enemies, want
-to be happy and have the right to happiness.
- -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, in "On the Path to
- Enlightenment: Heart Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters",
- Shambhala Publications
-~
-Examining the understanding of heat in Vajrayana gives insight into tantra's
-somewhat different embrace of classical Buddhist imagery. From this
-perspective, the experience of mental burning is indeed the central suffering
-of our lives. It is the experiential dimension of the intensity of our
-obscurations, whether emotional, conceptual, or habitual. But rather than
-attempting to put out the flames with meditation methods, it is important to
-allow the burning to occur during practice. Certainly in the foundational
-stages of the path we must learn not to become engulfed in the flames, to tame
-the wild mind and emotions, and to train ourselves to open further to
-experience. Finally, however, through Vajrayana practice under the guidance
-of a guru, the burning we experience becomes a great teacher and a great
-blessing.
- -- Judith Simmer-Brown, "Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in
- Tibetan Buddhism", Shambhala Publications
-~
-Life is mainly froth and bubble,
-Two things stand like stone--
-Kindness in another's trouble,
-Courage in your own.
- -- Adam Lindsay Gordon
-~
-With regard to one's behavior, one must relinquish all the limitations
-implied in subject-object duality (gzung 'dzin gyi la dor ba). One should
-abandon all ordinary ways of assessing outer and inner phenomena, and the
-engagement or withdrawal of the mind with regard to "good" and "bad."
-One must not, through mindless clinging to sense objects, stray into the five
-ordinary mental poisons. For when approached with skillful means, all are but
-the display of the great and perfect equality.
- -- Jigme Lingpa, from "Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book Two: Vajrayana
- and the Great Perfection", by Shambhala Publications
-~
- Recollection is the path of meditating on
- The nature that was seen with awareness.
- Constituted by the aspects of enlightenment,
- This serves to eliminate the stains.
-
- Recollection involves repeatedly recalling and realizing, in the context of
-the path of cultivation, what was realized when the intrinsic nature was
-directly seen with individual self-awareness at the prior stage. In this way,
-the term recollection refers to all that constitutes the factors of
-enlightenment. The path of cultivation is [referred to as such] because it
-involves eradicating those stains that are eliminated through cultivation.
- -- from "Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature: Maitreya's
- Dharmadharmatavibhanga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham",
- Shambhala Publications.
-~
- The Capable One spoke of the following attributes as the seven noble riches,
-for they are the causes of untainted happiness and are not in any way
-ordinary. Faith—that is, the three kinds of faith in the Three Jewels and
-confidence in the law of actions and their effects. Discipline, the avoidance
-of harmful actions. Learning that comes from listening to the holy Dharma
-that leads to liberation, with the intention of gaining complete knowledge.
-Being generous—with a desire to make offerings and to help beings, to give
-away all one's possessions without expecting anything in return or any
-karmic reward. A sense of shame with respect to oneself that prevents one
-from indulging in negative actions, and that is unstained by such things as
-jealousy or seeking veneration. A sense of decency with regard to others that
-stops one from engaging in unvirtuous practices. And wisdom, that is,
-knowledge of the particular and general characteristics of phenomena.
- You should realize that other common things that the world calls
-riches—gold, for instance—are of no value in obtaining untainted
-qualities; they are worthless, hollow, and without essence.
- -- from "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend With Commentary by Kyabje Kangyur
- Rinpoche", Shambhala Publications
-~
-All apparent phenomena are nothing but delusion, and there is, moreover, no
-freedom from delusion to be achieved by dispelling delusion. Delusion is, by
-its own essence, completely pure and, hence, enlightened. All phenomena are,
-in this way, primordially, fully, and completely enlightened. Phenomena
-appearing as various attributes are, therefore, indeed the mandala of vajra
-body, speech, and mind. They are like the Buddhas of the three times, never
-transcending the essence of complete purity. Sentient beings and Buddhas are
-not differentiated in terms of their essence. Just like distinct causes and
-results appearing in a dream, they are nothing but perceptions of individual
-minds brought forth by the power of imputation.
- -- Heidi I. Köppl, "Establishing Appearances as Divine: Rongzom Chökyi
- Zangpo on Reasoning, Madhyamaka, and Purity", Shambhala and Snow Lion
- Publications
-~
- "Emptiness" is a rough translation of the Sanskrit term shunyata and the
-Tibetan term tongpa-nyi. The basic meaning of the Sanskrit word shunya is
-"zero," while the Tibetan word tongpa means "empty"—not in the sense
-of a vacuum or a void, but rather in the sense that the basis of experience is
-beyond our ability to perceive with our senses and or to capture in a nice,
-tidy concept. Maybe a better understanding of the deep sense of the word may
-be "inconceivable" or "unnameable."
- So when Buddhists talk about emptiness as the basis of our being, we don't
-mean that who or what we are is nothing, a zero, a point of view that can give
-way to a kind of cynicism. The actual teachings on emptiness imply an
-infinitely open space that allows for anything to appear, change, disappear,
-and reappear. The basic meaning of emptiness, in other words, is openness, or
-potential. At the basic level of our being, we are "empty" of definable
-characteristics.
- -- Tsoknyi Rinpoche, from "The Best Buddhist Writing 2013", published by
- Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications.
-~
- The Lama is the ecstatic, wild, and gentle figure who short-circuits your
-systems of self-referencing. The Lama is the only person in your life who
-cannot be manipulated. The Lama is the invasion of unpredictability you allow
-into your life, to enable you to cut through the convolutions of interminable
-psychological and emotional processes. The Lama is the terrifyingly
-compassionate gamester who reshuffles the deck of your carefully arranged
-rationale. To enter into vajra commitment is to leap from the perfect
-precipice. To find yourself in the radiant space of this choiceless choice is
-the very heart of Tantra. To leap open-eyed into the shining emptiness of the
-Lama's wisdom display and to experience the ecstatic impact of each dynamic
-gesture of the Lama's method display is the essential luminosity and power
-of the path.
- -- Ngak'chang Rinpoche, quoted in "Dangerous Friend: The Teacher-Student
- Relationship in Vajrayana Buddhism", Shambhala Publications
-~
- When clouds cover the sky, we cannot see the pure nature of space.
-Likewise, when conceptual thoughts occupy the mind, we cannot see the pure
-nature of the mind. To see whether this is true, we can meditate so that the
-mind becomes relaxed and peaceful, and then there is room to develop
-compassion, love, and bodhicitta. But when our mind is occupied by conceptual
-thoughts and negative thoughts, there is no space to develop good qualities.
-Our mind becomes full of suffering and we cannot disentangle ourselves from
-confusion.
- When our mind emphasizes positive, calming, and relaxing thoughts, it leaves
-no space for negative thoughts to arise. Then we can maintain a peaceful,
-harmonious mind regardless of external conditions. This becomes a matter of
-how much we habituate ourselves to the Dharma teachings.
- -- from "Opening the Treasure of the Profound: Teachings on the Songs of
- Jigten Sumgön and Milarepa", by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche,
- Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications.
-~
-What is true patience and how can we develop it? Patience is imperturbability
-in the face of harm and hardship. Responding to these difficulties with anger
-is extremely destructive because it creates unpleasant consequences and
-destroys positive energy. There is no austere practice to equal the practice
-of patience, which calms the turbulence of the disturbing emotions. It is
-cultivated in meditation and implemented in everyday life. There are three
-main kinds of patience: the patience of taking no account of those who inflict
-harm, the patience of willingly accepting adversity and the patience of
-gaining certainty with regard to the teachings. Their opposites are
-animosity, discouragement and reluctance to engage with the teachings.
- -- from "The Six Perfections: An Oral Teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen",
- Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications.
-~
-Bodhichitta can be understood as a quality of intention, sometimes called a
-“great will.” This great will does not come from the ego; it is
-paradoxically an intention that arises through the surrender of the ego. As
-the ego lets go of its assumption that it has a real understanding of what is
-needed in the path of awakening, it surrenders to a deeper quality of will and
-wisdom. The shift from the ego’s center of will to the intention of our
-buddha nature to awaken us for the welfare of others aligns us with a source
-of will far beyond our limited sense of self. I have often described this
-will as a river of intention, which once stepped into becomes an undercurrent
-in all we do in our life.
- -- Rob Preece, "Preparing for Tantra: Creating the Psychological Ground for
- Practice", published by Shambhala and Snow Lion Publications.
-~
- In fact, one of the things that I hope all of us have learned these past few
-weeks is that it turns out smart, effective government is important. It
-matters. I think the American people during this shutdown had a chance to get
-some idea of all the things, large and small, that government does that make a
-difference in people's lives.
- We hear all the time about how government is the problem. Well, it turns
-out we rely on it in a whole lot of ways. Not only does it keep us strong
-through our military and our law enforcement, it plays a vital role in caring
-for our seniors and our veterans, educating our kids, making sure our workers
-are trained for the jobs that are being created, arming our businesses with
-the best science and technology so they can compete with companies from other
-countries. It plays a key role in keeping our food and our toys and our
-workplaces safe. It helps folks rebuild after a storm. It conserves our
-natural resources. It finances startups. It helps to sell our products
-overseas. It provides security to our diplomats abroad.
- So let's work together to make government work better, instead of treating
-it like an enemy or purposely making it work worse. That’s not what the
-founders of this nation envisioned when they gave us the gift of self-
-government. You don’t like a particular policy or a particular president,
-then argue for your position. Go out there and win an election. Push to
-change it. But don’t break it. Don’t break what our predecessors spent
-over two centuries building. That's not being faithful to what this country
-is about.
- -- Barack Obama, after the US government shutdown of 2013 had ended.
-~
-When the teachings say we need to reduce our fascination with the things of
-this life, it does not mean that we should abandon them completely. It means
-avoiding the natural tendency to go from elation to depression in reaction to
-life’s ups and downs, jumping for joy when you have some success, or wanting
-to jump out the window if you do not get what you want. Being less concerned
-about the affairs of this life means assuming its ups and downs with a broad
-and stable mind.
- -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in "On the Path to Enlightenment: Heart
- Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters", from Shambhala Publications and
- Snow Lion Publications.
-~
-Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for Excellence in
-Critical Thinking, 1987
-
- Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and
-skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or
-evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation,
-experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and
-action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values
-that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision,
-consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and
-fairness.
- It entails the examination of those structures or elements of thought
-implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue;
-assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions;
-implications and consequences; objections from alternative viewpoints; and
-frame of reference. Critical thinking — in being responsive to variable
-subject matter, issues, and purposes — is incorporated in a family of
-interwoven modes of thinking, among them: scientific thinking, mathematical
-thinking, historical thinking, anthropological thinking, economic thinking,
-moral thinking, and philosophical thinking.
- Critical thinking can be seen as having two components: 1) a set of
-information and belief generating and processing skills, and 2) the habit,
-based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behavior. It
-is thus to be contrasted with: 1) the mere acquisition and retention of
-information alone, because it involves a particular way in which information
-is sought and treated; 2) the mere possession of a set of skills, because it
-involves the continual use of them; and 3) the mere use of those skills ("as
-an exercise") without acceptance of their results.
- Critical thinking varies according to the motivation underlying it. When
-grounded in selfish motives, it is often manifested in the skillful
-manipulation of ideas in service of one’s own, or one's groups’, vested
-interest. As such it is typically intellectually flawed, however
-pragmatically successful it might be. When grounded in fairmindedness and
-intellectual integrity, it is typically of a higher order intellectually,
-though subject to the charge of "idealism" by those habituated to its selfish
-use.
- Critical thinking of any kind is never universal in any individual; everyone
-is subject to episodes of undisciplined or irrational thought. Its quality is
-therefore typically a matter of degree and dependent on, among other things,
-the quality and depth of experience in a given domain of thinking or with
-respect to a particular class of questions. No one is a critical thinker
-through-and-through, but only to such-and-such a degree, with such-and-such
-insights and blind spots, subject to such-and-such tendencies towards self-
-delusion. For this reason, the development of critical thinking skills and
-dispositions is a life-long endeavor.
- -- from a statement by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul, presented at the 8th
- Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education
- Reform, Summer 1987.
-~
-Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to
-reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think
-critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically.
-They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when
-left unchecked. They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and
-sociocentric tendencies. They use the intellectual tools that critical
-thinking offers--concepts and principles that enable them to analyze,
-assess, and improve thinking. They work diligently to develop the
-intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual humility,
-intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and
-confidence in reason. They realize that no matter how skilled they are as
-thinkers, they can always improve their reasoning abilities and they will at
-times fall prey to mistakes in reasoning, human irrationality, prejudices,
-biases, distortions, uncritically accepted social rules and taboos, self-
-interest, and vested interest. They strive to improve the world in whatever
-ways they can and contribute to a more rational, civilized society. At the
-same time, they recognize the complexities often inherent in doing so. They
-avoid thinking simplistically about complicated issues and strive to
-appropriately consider the rights and needs of relevant others. They
-recognize the complexities in developing as thinkers, and commit themselves to
-life-long practice toward self-improvement. They embody the Socratic
-principle: The unexamined life is not worth living, because they realize that
-many unexamined lives together result in an uncritical, unjust, dangerous
-world.
- -- Linda Elder, September, 2007
-
+++ /dev/null
-(define (batch-whiteboard-clean pattern)
- (let* ((filelist (cadr (file-glob pattern 1))))
- (while (not (null? filelist))
- (let* ((filename (car filelist))
- (image (car (gimp-file-load RUN-NONINTERACTIVE
- filename filename)))
- (drawable (car (gimp-image-get-active-layer image))))
- (plug-in-dog RUN-NONINTERACTIVE
- image drawable 6.0 2.0 FALSE TRUE)
- (plug-in-c-astretch RUN-NONINTERACTIVE
- image drawable)
- (gimp-file-save RUN-NONINTERACTIVE
- image drawable filename filename)
- (gimp-image-delete image))
- (set! filelist (cdr filelist)))))
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-how to clean whiteboard snapshots in general:
- http://matthew.mceachen.us/blog/how-to-clean-up-photos-of-whiteboards-with-gimp-403.html
-
-script for whiteboard cleaning in batch can be found in this folder also.
-the batch-whiteboard-clean.scm script should go in: ~/.gimp-2.6/scripts
-command:
- gimp -i -b '(batch-whiteboard-clean "*.png")' -b '(gimp-quit 0)'
-from site: http://registry.gimp.org/node/19822
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-
-==============
-
-find all the tables that have a CreatorID column:
-
- SELECT DISTINCT TABLE_NAME
- FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
- WHERE COLUMN_NAME IN ('CreatorId')
- AND TABLE_SCHEMA='opensim';
-
-=> yields assets inventoryitems prims primitems
-as tables matching the column.
-
-==============
-
-replace all the creator ids with fred's id on ducky:
-
- update inventoryitems set creatorid = 'NEWGUID'
-
-=> do for each of the tables.
-
-==============
-
-checking to make sure the changes to creatorid took effect:
-
- select * from assets where creatorid != 'YOURGUID'
-
-=> there should be no matches after running a setting operation.
-
-==============
-
-if you have a more selective update to do, try replacing using a pattern:
-
- update assets set creatorid = replace(creatorid, 'OLDGUID', 'NEWGUID')
-
-==============
-
-note: replacing all creator ids like above still does not secure total
-ownership for everything in inventory or even in the sim; nested objects in
-inventory do not seem to be affected, and the contents of objects nested in
-live objects also are not affected.
-
+++ /dev/null
-\r
-Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.\r
-\r
-Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.\r
-\r
-But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate... we can not consecrate... we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us\97that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion\97that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain\97that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom\97and that government : of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.\r
-\r
+++ /dev/null
-
-
-pattern that automates making changes in a lot of files with vi.
-system_config is to be changed to path_config. substitute as needed.
-
-:1,$s/system_config/path_config/g
-:wn
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-
-:1,$s/\/\*\([a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*\)\*\//formal(\1)/g
-:wn
-
-
-
+++ /dev/null
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
-<html>
-<head>
- <meta http-equiv="content-type"
- content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
- <title>no matches for your search...</title>
-</head>
-<body style="color: rgb(153, 255, 153); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
- link="#ccffff" alink="#ffcc99" vlink="#66cccc">
-<center>
-<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"
- style="text-align: center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 100%; height: 100%;">
- <tbody>
- <tr>
- <td style="vertical-align: middle;"><br>
- <br>
- <img src="/yeti/pictures/no_matches.jpg" alt="no matches"
- style="width: 394px; height: 484px;" align="middle">
-<br>
-<br>
-(thanks to
-<a href="http://constructivereality.com/">Karlsville</a>
-for this beautiful photo of matches which we have defaced horribly.<br>
-check out the original and other images on his
-<a href="http://constructivereality.com/photography.html">photography page</a>.)
- </td>
-
- </tr>
- </tbody>
-</table>
-</center>
-</body>
-</html>
+++ /dev/null
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
-<html>
-<head>
- <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
- content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
- <meta name="Author" content="Fred T. Hamster">
- <meta name="generator"
- content="Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US) [Mozilla]">
- <meta name="Description"
- content="Open Source Perl for Your Perusement">
- <meta name="KeyWords"
- content="reusable, open source, perl, shell, script, recursive, diff, snarf, yeti, free, source code, example, filename, snarfer">
- <title>Feisty Meow Concerns Bash Scripts</title>
- <meta content="Fred T. Hamster" name="author">
- <meta
- content="Assorted scripts for enhancing the bash environment and tools that automate fairly common actions."
- name="description">
-</head>
-<body
- style="background-image: url(pics/home_front_b_5.jpg); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(255, 255, 153);"
- alink="#ffcc00" link="#66ff99" vlink="#00cc00">
-<h3> </h3>
-<center>
-<table bgcolor="#330000" border="4" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
- cols="1" width="92%">
- <tbody>
- <tr>
- <td>
- <center>
- <h1><a href="http://feistymeow.org/">Feisty Meow Concerns</a>Open Source Bash Scripts</h1>
- <h2>GPL-Licensed Bash Code<br>
- </h2>
- </center>
- <center>Contributed by Chris Koeritz (<a
- href="mailto:%20koeritz@gruntose.com">Koeritz@Gruntose.COM</a>) <br>
-See the <a href="http://www.gruntose.com/Info/GNU/GPL.html">GNU Public
-License</a> for details of licensing.<span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br>
- </center>
- <h4>Caveats: please refer to the <a href="perl_tools.html">Perl
-Scripts page</a> which shares the same constraints as these Bash
-Scripts do.<br>
- </h4>
- <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">Direct Cognition</span>:
-View the scripts directory itself rather than navigating with the links
-below: <a href=".">scripts</a>.
- <ol>
- </ol>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </tbody>
-</table>
-</center>
-<h3> </h3>
-<center>
-<table bgcolor="#330000" border="4" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
- cols="1" width="92%">
- <tbody>
- <tr>
- <td>
- <h2>Assorted Bash Script Files</h2>
- <blockquote>
- <h3> <a href="uhh.sh">uhh.sh</a></h3>
- <blockquote>This documentation page isn't quite ready yet.<br>
-In fact, this file is still in its very first few iterations and is
-pretty
-limited so far...<br>
- </blockquote>
- <h3> </h3>
- <h3><a href="../database/movie_seeker.sh">movie_seeker.sh</a>
-/ <a href="../database/movie_stripper.sh">movie_stripper.sh</a>
-/ <a href="../database/show_stripper.sh">show_stripper.sh</a><br>
- </h3>
- <div style="margin-left: 40px;">Some manipulation methods for a
-particular type of movie and TV show database. These expect a db
-in the form of a CSV file with three fields per line: (1) index number,
-(2) show or movie name and (3) show episode title. The third
-field is defined as blank for movies. The movie_seeker finds a
-given movie (or pattern) in the database. The movie_stripper
-pulls out all the unique movie or show names in the database. The
-show_stripper pulls out the episode names for a particular show name
-(or pattern).<br>
- </div>
- <h3><a href="../database/call_movie_seeker.sh">call_movie_seeker.sh</a>
-/ <a href="../database/call_movie_stripper.sh">call_movie_stripper.sh</a>
-/ <a href="../database/call_show_stripper.sh">call_show_stripper.sh</a><br>
- </h3>
- <div style="margin-left: 40px;">These are CGI correspondents to
-the above movie database searches. They're used on the Gruntose
-web site.<br>
- </div>
- <br>
- </blockquote>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </tbody>
-</table>
-</center>
-<br>
-<br>
-<br>
-<br>
-</body>
-</html>
--- /dev/null
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
+<html>
+<head>
+ <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
+ content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+ <meta name="Author" content="Fred T. Hamster">
+ <meta name="generator"
+ content="Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US) [Mozilla]">
+ <meta name="Description"
+ content="Open Source Perl for Your Perusement">
+ <meta name="KeyWords"
+ content="reusable, open source, perl, shell, script, recursive, diff, snarf, yeti, free, source code, example, filename, snarfer">
+ <title>Feisty Meow Concerns Bash Scripts</title>
+ <meta content="Fred T. Hamster" name="author">
+ <meta
+ content="Assorted scripts for enhancing the bash environment and tools that automate fairly common actions."
+ name="description">
+</head>
+<body
+ style="background-image: url(pics/home_front_b_5.jpg); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(255, 255, 153);"
+ alink="#ffcc00" link="#66ff99" vlink="#00cc00">
+<h3> </h3>
+<center>
+<table bgcolor="#330000" border="4" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
+ cols="1" width="92%">
+ <tbody>
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <center>
+ <h1><a href="http://feistymeow.org/">Feisty Meow Concerns</a>Open Source Bash Scripts</h1>
+ <h2>GPL-Licensed Bash Code<br>
+ </h2>
+ </center>
+ <center>Contributed by Chris Koeritz (<a
+ href="mailto:%20koeritz@gruntose.com">Koeritz@Gruntose.COM</a>) <br>
+See the <a href="http://www.gruntose.com/Info/GNU/GPL.html">GNU Public
+License</a> for details of licensing.<span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br>
+ </center>
+ <h4>Caveats: please refer to the <a href="perl_tools.html">Perl
+Scripts page</a> which shares the same constraints as these Bash
+Scripts do.<br>
+ </h4>
+ <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">Direct Cognition</span>:
+View the scripts directory itself rather than navigating with the links
+below: <a href=".">scripts</a>.
+ <ol>
+ </ol>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </tbody>
+</table>
+</center>
+<h3> </h3>
+<center>
+<table bgcolor="#330000" border="4" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
+ cols="1" width="92%">
+ <tbody>
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <h2>Assorted Bash Script Files</h2>
+ <blockquote>
+ <h3> <a href="uhh.sh">uhh.sh</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>This documentation page isn't quite ready yet.<br>
+In fact, this file is still in its very first few iterations and is
+pretty
+limited so far...<br>
+ </blockquote>
+ <h3> </h3>
+ <h3><a href="../database/movie_seeker.sh">movie_seeker.sh</a>
+/ <a href="../database/movie_stripper.sh">movie_stripper.sh</a>
+/ <a href="../database/show_stripper.sh">show_stripper.sh</a><br>
+ </h3>
+ <div style="margin-left: 40px;">Some manipulation methods for a
+particular type of movie and TV show database. These expect a db
+in the form of a CSV file with three fields per line: (1) index number,
+(2) show or movie name and (3) show episode title. The third
+field is defined as blank for movies. The movie_seeker finds a
+given movie (or pattern) in the database. The movie_stripper
+pulls out all the unique movie or show names in the database. The
+show_stripper pulls out the episode names for a particular show name
+(or pattern).<br>
+ </div>
+ <h3><a href="../database/call_movie_seeker.sh">call_movie_seeker.sh</a>
+/ <a href="../database/call_movie_stripper.sh">call_movie_stripper.sh</a>
+/ <a href="../database/call_show_stripper.sh">call_show_stripper.sh</a><br>
+ </h3>
+ <div style="margin-left: 40px;">These are CGI correspondents to
+the above movie database searches. They're used on the Gruntose
+web site.<br>
+ </div>
+ <br>
+ </blockquote>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </tbody>
+</table>
+</center>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+</body>
+</html>
--- /dev/null
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
+<html>
+<head>
+ <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
+ content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+ <meta name="Author" content="Fred T. Hamster">
+ <meta name="generator"
+ content="Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US) [Mozilla]">
+ <meta name="Description"
+ content="Open Source Perl for Your Perusement">
+ <meta name="KeyWords"
+ content="reusable, open source, perl, shell, script, recursive, diff, snarf, yeti, free, source code, example, filename, snarfer">
+ <title>Feisty Meow Concerns Perl Scripts</title>
+ <meta content="Fred T. Hamster" name="author">
+ <meta
+ content="Scripts for backing up hierarchies, generating documents from other documents, etc etc."
+ name="description">
+</head>
+<body
+ style="background-image: url(pics/celtic_destiny14.jpg); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(255, 255, 153);"
+ alink="#ffcc00" link="#66ff99" vlink="#00cc00">
+<h3> </h3>
+<center>
+<table bgcolor="#330000" border="4" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
+ cols="1" width="92%">
+ <tbody>
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <center>
+ <h1><a href="http://feistymeow.org/">Feisty Meow Concerns Codebase</a> Open Source Perl
+Scripts</h1>
+ <h2>Some Hopefully Useful GPL-Licensed Perl Code<br>
+ </h2>
+ </center>
+ <center>Contributed by Chris Koeritz (<a
+ href="mailto:%20koeritz@gruntose.com">Koeritz@Gruntose.COM</a>) <br>
+See the <a href="http://www.gruntose.com/Info/GNU/GPL.html">GNU Public
+License</a> for details of licensing.<span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br>
+ </center>
+ <h4>Caveats:</h4>
+ <ol>
+ <li>No warranty, express, implied or imagined, is offered for
+these files. If you destroy your life by running one of them, I
+will have sympathy, but that's about it.</li>
+ <li>Some of these shell scripts depend on environment variables.
+The most frequent case of this is FEISTY_MEOW_DIR, which should point to the
+top-level
+directory where the Feisty Meow scripts are stored on your
+machine. This variable is set by default when the scripts are in
+the ~/feisty_meow folder. Consult your operating
+system documentation if you are
+unfamiliar with the concept or management of environment variables.</li>
+ <li>These files are provided as possibly useful shell scripts
+rather than as full-fledged reusable and object oriented components.</li>
+ <li>Improvements and contributions are gladly accepted.
+They will be processed as fast as our schedule permits. Please
+send any changes to the Gruntose Curator at <a
+ href="mailto:%20fred@gruntose.com">fred@gruntose.com</a> .</li>
+ <li>These files are mostly portable between Unix and the
+various Windoze OSes, but in many cases you may want to fix the
+defaults or path names to make them more suitable for your own needs.</li>
+ <li>Some of the scripts invoke external programs that are
+available for most Unixes. For Windoze users, a set of GNU Unix
+utilities is available at "<a href="http://www.mingw.org/">http://www.mingw.org/</a>".</li>
+ <li>An alternative, but not recommended, GNU suite is
+at "<a href="http://www.cygwin.com/">http://www.cygwin.com/</a>".</li>
+ <li><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">Direct Cognition</span>:
+View the scripts directory itself rather than navigating with the links
+below: <a href=".">scripts</a>.</li>
+ </ol>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </tbody>
+</table>
+</center>
+<h3> </h3>
+<center>
+<table bgcolor="#330000" border="4" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
+ cols="1" width="92%">
+ <tbody>
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <h2>Library Files<br>
+ </h2>
+ <blockquote>
+ <h3><a href="../text/diff_lib.pl">diff_lib.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>The "differ" utilities can be used to compare two
+directories of text or binary files against each other. The two
+directories are presumably close in contents. This can be useful
+when one is revising a set of files and wants to synchronize an older
+copy against a newer version. Support for "<a href="#differ">differ.pl</a>"
+is provided
+here.</blockquote>
+ <h3> <a name="filename helper"></a><a
+ href="../files/filename_helper.pl">filename_helper.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Contains a handy set of utilities for manipulating
+filenames. These can help to make perl scripts portable across
+the two well-known types of filename separators ('/' and '\').
+They also provide support for ripping up filenames into their
+components.</blockquote>
+ <h3> <a href="../core/inc_num.pl">inc_num.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>This is a simple utility that manages a file with a
+number in it. This is somewhat more useful than it sounds.
+Functions are provided to get the current number and to change the
+number.</blockquote>
+ <h3> </h3>
+ <h3> <a href="../archival/shared_snarfer.pl">shared_snarfer.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>This library supports the "snarf" utilities.
+The
+utilities manipulate archive files with the ".snarf" extension.
+These
+packed
+snarf files are compressed chunks of directory hierarchies. Bob
+files
+are useful because they track a number per distinct "snarf" types that
+is
+used to make uniquely named new archives of the appropriate type.
+This
+number is an ever increasing integer that's stored in a well-known
+(configurable) location. When a snarf file is unpacked (using the
+"unsnarf" tool), the number is updated on the local machine so that the
+next generated file will
+be one greater than the previous number. If one is travelling
+between
+two machines with the same snarf file, this will have the effect of
+keeping
+the number updated on both sides.
+ </blockquote>
+ <h3><a href="../files/zap_the_dir.pl">zap_the_dir.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Support for the zapdirs utility. This library
+cleans out the directory that it is passed by removing files that are
+not considered important (using "<a href="#filename%20helper">filename_helper.pl</a>
+"). The list of important files is something you might want to
+look at to ensure that you won't get burned by zapdirs.</blockquote>
+ </blockquote>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </tbody>
+</table>
+</center>
+<h3> </h3>
+<center>
+<table bgcolor="#330000" border="4" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
+ cols="1" width="92%">
+ <tbody>
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <h2>Applications</h2>
+ <blockquote>
+ <h3> <a href="../text/add_cr.pl">add_cr.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Processes Unix format text files for pcdos by
+forcing the line endings to be Carriage Return plus Line Feed (CRLF).</blockquote>
+ <h4> </h4>
+ <h3><a href="../cgi/cgi_display.pl">cgi_display.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Turns the files passed on the command line into a
+stream of CGI compatible text output. The javascript show_file method
+(see the
+source for this page) is preferred since it is lighter weight and
+doesn't
+need cgi, but there are some situations where cgi is the only option
+(older
+browsers or requirements of no javascript).</blockquote>
+ <h4> </h4>
+ <h3> <a href="../files/change_endings.pl">change_endings.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Replaces the suffix of all filenames in the current
+directory
+with a different suffix. Suffix here is defined as the set of
+characters
+after the last period ('.') in the name. Note this will not work
+for
+names without suffices.</blockquote>
+ <h3> </h3>
+ <h3><a href="../text/cpdiff.pl">cpdiff.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Copies files from a source directory into a
+destination directory. The files are only copied when they are
+missing in the destination or when the destination version has
+different contents. The syntax looks like this:<br>
+ cpdiff source destination<br>
+The assumption is that the files in the source directory are somehow
+better, newer or more complete than the set of files in the destination.<br>
+ </blockquote>
+ <h3><a href="../text/cpdiffnow.pl">cpdiffnow.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote> Similar to cpdiff, but this utility sets the
+destination file's time stamp to "now". This should cause the new
+or changed files in the destination directory to be more recent than
+anything else in there. This is helpful sometimes for forcing
+compilation of modified source files.<br>
+ </blockquote>
+ <h4> </h4>
+ <h3><a href="../rev_control/cvs_fix.pl">cvs_fix.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Wraps the cygwin cvs command for pcdos/win32.
+ Any
+unfriendly backward slashes are flipped to be forward slashes.<br>
+ </blockquote>
+ <h3> </h3>
+ <h3><a name="differ"></a><a
+ href="../text/differ.pl">differ.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Compares two directory hierarchies and the files
+they
+contain. The first parameter is a directory
+to compare against "this" directory;
+every subdirectory "here" will be traversed in order to build the
+output file that shows the differences. An optional second
+argument can be used to specify a different directory than the current
+one as the source of the comparison (the first argument is always the
+destination of the comparison).</blockquote>
+ <h3> <a href="../files/filedump.pl">filedump.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Collects the contents of the files whose names are
+passed on the command line into one gigundo stream which is passed to
+standard output. The output can be piped into another file as desired.</blockquote>
+ <h3> <a href="../core/generate_aliases.pl">generate_aliases.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Performs some useful activities for the shell
+environment. Using the environment variable for FEISTY_MEOW_SCRIPTS (which
+is set in the appropriate startup files to be the shell scripts
+directory, where all this stuff lives), generate_aliases will create
+all of the aliases files for the combinations of operating systems and
+types of shells supported. Currently this includes Linux, Unix,
+PCDOS, OS/2 and MS-WIN32 (9x, NT, 2K, XP, etc) for
+supported operating systems. The shell languages supported are
+dos's command, nt's cmd, unix's sh and bash, and perl. This script will also look for
+any files ending in ".sh" or ".pl" and it will create aliases for them
+in forms appropriate to the different shells. The .zz_auto_gen
+subdirectory
+is created under the home directory as
+a storage place for the generated
+files.</blockquote>
+ <h4> </h4>
+ <h3> <a href="../text/new_sig.pl">new_sig.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Generates a signature file from the nechung
+database
+using the 'nechung' application. See the <a
+ href="http://feistymeow.org/">Feisty Meow Concerns Codebase</a> for the nechung
+application.
+ The database for nechung resides in the <a href="#download">whole Feisty Meow Concerns code package</a> in "feisty_meow/infobase".</blockquote>
+ <h3> </h3>
+ <h3> <a href="../files/renlower.pl">renlower.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Renames all of the files passed on the command line
+such that they are only in lower-case. Useful if you're tired of
+passing mistakenly re-capitalized names from a defective 8.3 OS (e.g.
+Doze95/98) to
+a file system where you care about the case.</blockquote>
+ <h3><a href="../processes/runner.pl">runner.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Finds all executable files in the current directory
+(and subdirectories) and runs them. The output of the programs is
+sent to standard output. Standard error is used to report which
+file is being worked on, plus the running programs' own standard error
+streams are merged into runner's standard error stream. This
+makes it nice to do something like:<br>
+ runner >runs.log<br>
+where the runs.log file will contain the output of each program that
+was executed and the console will be sent messages as each program is
+started and finished (and errors show up at the console also).<br>
+ </blockquote>
+ <h3> <a name="safedel"></a><a
+ href="../files/safedel.pl">safedel.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Makes deleting files and directories a little less
+nerve-wracking. If you substitute safedel as an alias for rm or
+del or deltree or whatever, it will make a zipped backup of the items
+before they are actually deleted. Safedel keeps track of a number
+that is attached to each zip to enforce uniquely numbered
+archives. They are stored in a directory named "zz_del_keep"
+that is stored under the temorary directory (specified by the
+environment
+variable named TMP). A report of the contents of the compressed
+trash
+is appended to a file named "zz_safedel.rpt" in the TMP directory.
+Occasional
+cleaning of the deleted files folder is recommend, but this utility has
+saved
+my various parts several times already.</blockquote>
+ <h4> </h4>
+ <h3> </h3>
+ <h3><a href="../archival/snarf_linux_config.pl">snarf_linux_config.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>A snarf utility that packages up the
+important configuration files in a Linux installation.</blockquote>
+ <h4> </h4>
+ <h3> <a href="../archival/snarf_light.pl">snarf_light.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>A selective snarf of the source hierarchy.
+This
+collects the code that I manage. As such, this is probably
+irrelevant to anyone but CAK.</blockquote>
+ <h3><a href="../archival/snarf_notes.pl">snarf_notes.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Gathers all "important" files from the home
+directory.
+ This
+is somewhat personally tuned but it includes files and directories that
+have
+"project", "notes", or "crucial" in their name.</blockquote>
+ <h3> </h3>
+ <h3> <a href="../archival/snarf_src.pl">snarf_src.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>A source code grabbing snarfer. The entire
+source
+code hierarchy is snarfed. Note that one should edit the
+hierarchy
+location to make it appropriate for your local source code.</blockquote>
+
+ <h3><a href="../files/summing_dir.pl">summing_dir.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Offers a directory listing along with total file
+sizes
+and disk free space.<br>
+ <br>
+ </blockquote>
+ <h3><a href="../build/synch_build.pl">synch_build.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>This is a helper utility that synchronizes the binary
+outputs from a build process with an existing installed location. Given a target directory, the executable
+programs and dynamic libraries that exist there will be synchronized
+with the build repository's versions. This is kind of a quickie
+upgrade process, as long as the files in the target location are not
+locked by other processes.<br>
+ </blockquote>
+ <h3> <a href="../archival/unsnarf.pl">unsnarf.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Uses the snarfer utilities to undo a previously
+snarfed file. A folder named "snarf_BASE" is created for the
+contents, where BASE
+is replaced with the basename of the snarf file (that is, without the
+".snarf"
+suffix). The number that tracks the snarf files of this type is
+updated
+such that the next snarf file will be at least one higher than this
+snarf's
+sorta
+unique number. The number will be managed correctly if you're
+always
+unsnarfing the most recent snarf files before creating any new snarfs.</blockquote>
+ <h4> </h4>
+ <h3> <a href="../files/whack_forever.pl">whack_forever.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Since all of my file deletion commands are aliases
+to <a href="#safedel">safedel</a>, it is hard to actually remove a
+file. If I'm really really sure that a file or directory needs to
+be
+permanently deleted, then this command can be used. It shows the
+names
+it is removing also, but it does _not_ ask for confirmation.</blockquote>
+ <h3> </h3>
+ <h3><a href="../security/y2038_check.pl">y2038_check.pl</a></h3>
+ <div style="margin-left: 40px;">Tests the system for survival
+past the year 2038, which is when the Unix time scale runs out of bits
+for the number of seconds since 1970 measured in a 32 bit integer.<br>
+ </div>
+ <h3><a href="../files/zapdirs.pl">zapdirs.pl</a></h3>
+ <blockquote>Removes empty directories and directories
+containing only
+unimportant crud (see "<a href="#filename%20helper">filename_helper.pl</a>").
+If there are no arguments, then the current directory is cleaned up;
+any subdirectories
+will be traversed into and removed if it seems appropriate.
+Otherwise,
+zapdirs operates on the arguments passed to it as if they are directory
+names
+to be cleaned.</blockquote>
+ </blockquote>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </tbody>
+</table>
+<h3> </h3>
+</center>
+</body>
+</html>
--- /dev/null
+
+
+these are bits of documentation that could be scavenged.
+++ /dev/null
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
-<html>
-<head>
- <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
- content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
- <meta name="Author" content="Fred T. Hamster">
- <meta name="generator"
- content="Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US) [Mozilla]">
- <meta name="Description"
- content="Open Source Perl for Your Perusement">
- <meta name="KeyWords"
- content="reusable, open source, perl, shell, script, recursive, diff, snarf, yeti, free, source code, example, filename, snarfer">
- <title>Feisty Meow Concerns Perl Scripts</title>
- <meta content="Fred T. Hamster" name="author">
- <meta
- content="Scripts for backing up hierarchies, generating documents from other documents, etc etc."
- name="description">
-</head>
-<body
- style="background-image: url(pics/celtic_destiny14.jpg); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(255, 255, 153);"
- alink="#ffcc00" link="#66ff99" vlink="#00cc00">
-<h3> </h3>
-<center>
-<table bgcolor="#330000" border="4" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
- cols="1" width="92%">
- <tbody>
- <tr>
- <td>
- <center>
- <h1><a href="http://feistymeow.org/">Feisty Meow Concerns Codebase</a> Open Source Perl
-Scripts</h1>
- <h2>Some Hopefully Useful GPL-Licensed Perl Code<br>
- </h2>
- </center>
- <center>Contributed by Chris Koeritz (<a
- href="mailto:%20koeritz@gruntose.com">Koeritz@Gruntose.COM</a>) <br>
-See the <a href="http://www.gruntose.com/Info/GNU/GPL.html">GNU Public
-License</a> for details of licensing.<span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br>
- </center>
- <h4>Caveats:</h4>
- <ol>
- <li>No warranty, express, implied or imagined, is offered for
-these files. If you destroy your life by running one of them, I
-will have sympathy, but that's about it.</li>
- <li>Some of these shell scripts depend on environment variables.
-The most frequent case of this is FEISTY_MEOW_DIR, which should point to the
-top-level
-directory where the Feisty Meow scripts are stored on your
-machine. This variable is set by default when the scripts are in
-the ~/feisty_meow folder. Consult your operating
-system documentation if you are
-unfamiliar with the concept or management of environment variables.</li>
- <li>These files are provided as possibly useful shell scripts
-rather than as full-fledged reusable and object oriented components.</li>
- <li>Improvements and contributions are gladly accepted.
-They will be processed as fast as our schedule permits. Please
-send any changes to the Gruntose Curator at <a
- href="mailto:%20fred@gruntose.com">fred@gruntose.com</a> .</li>
- <li>These files are mostly portable between Unix and the
-various Windoze OSes, but in many cases you may want to fix the
-defaults or path names to make them more suitable for your own needs.</li>
- <li>Some of the scripts invoke external programs that are
-available for most Unixes. For Windoze users, a set of GNU Unix
-utilities is available at "<a href="http://www.mingw.org/">http://www.mingw.org/</a>".</li>
- <li>An alternative, but not recommended, GNU suite is
-at "<a href="http://www.cygwin.com/">http://www.cygwin.com/</a>".</li>
- <li><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">Direct Cognition</span>:
-View the scripts directory itself rather than navigating with the links
-below: <a href=".">scripts</a>.</li>
- </ol>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </tbody>
-</table>
-</center>
-<h3> </h3>
-<center>
-<table bgcolor="#330000" border="4" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
- cols="1" width="92%">
- <tbody>
- <tr>
- <td>
- <h2>Library Files<br>
- </h2>
- <blockquote>
- <h3><a href="../text/diff_lib.pl">diff_lib.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>The "differ" utilities can be used to compare two
-directories of text or binary files against each other. The two
-directories are presumably close in contents. This can be useful
-when one is revising a set of files and wants to synchronize an older
-copy against a newer version. Support for "<a href="#differ">differ.pl</a>"
-is provided
-here.</blockquote>
- <h3> <a name="filename helper"></a><a
- href="../files/filename_helper.pl">filename_helper.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Contains a handy set of utilities for manipulating
-filenames. These can help to make perl scripts portable across
-the two well-known types of filename separators ('/' and '\').
-They also provide support for ripping up filenames into their
-components.</blockquote>
- <h3> <a href="../core/inc_num.pl">inc_num.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>This is a simple utility that manages a file with a
-number in it. This is somewhat more useful than it sounds.
-Functions are provided to get the current number and to change the
-number.</blockquote>
- <h3> </h3>
- <h3> <a href="../archival/shared_snarfer.pl">shared_snarfer.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>This library supports the "snarf" utilities.
-The
-utilities manipulate archive files with the ".snarf" extension.
-These
-packed
-snarf files are compressed chunks of directory hierarchies. Bob
-files
-are useful because they track a number per distinct "snarf" types that
-is
-used to make uniquely named new archives of the appropriate type.
-This
-number is an ever increasing integer that's stored in a well-known
-(configurable) location. When a snarf file is unpacked (using the
-"unsnarf" tool), the number is updated on the local machine so that the
-next generated file will
-be one greater than the previous number. If one is travelling
-between
-two machines with the same snarf file, this will have the effect of
-keeping
-the number updated on both sides.
- </blockquote>
- <h3><a href="../files/zap_the_dir.pl">zap_the_dir.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Support for the zapdirs utility. This library
-cleans out the directory that it is passed by removing files that are
-not considered important (using "<a href="#filename%20helper">filename_helper.pl</a>
-"). The list of important files is something you might want to
-look at to ensure that you won't get burned by zapdirs.</blockquote>
- </blockquote>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </tbody>
-</table>
-</center>
-<h3> </h3>
-<center>
-<table bgcolor="#330000" border="4" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
- cols="1" width="92%">
- <tbody>
- <tr>
- <td>
- <h2>Applications</h2>
- <blockquote>
- <h3> <a href="../text/add_cr.pl">add_cr.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Processes Unix format text files for pcdos by
-forcing the line endings to be Carriage Return plus Line Feed (CRLF).</blockquote>
- <h4> </h4>
- <h3><a href="../cgi/cgi_display.pl">cgi_display.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Turns the files passed on the command line into a
-stream of CGI compatible text output. The javascript show_file method
-(see the
-source for this page) is preferred since it is lighter weight and
-doesn't
-need cgi, but there are some situations where cgi is the only option
-(older
-browsers or requirements of no javascript).</blockquote>
- <h4> </h4>
- <h3> <a href="../files/change_endings.pl">change_endings.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Replaces the suffix of all filenames in the current
-directory
-with a different suffix. Suffix here is defined as the set of
-characters
-after the last period ('.') in the name. Note this will not work
-for
-names without suffices.</blockquote>
- <h3> </h3>
- <h3><a href="../text/cpdiff.pl">cpdiff.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Copies files from a source directory into a
-destination directory. The files are only copied when they are
-missing in the destination or when the destination version has
-different contents. The syntax looks like this:<br>
- cpdiff source destination<br>
-The assumption is that the files in the source directory are somehow
-better, newer or more complete than the set of files in the destination.<br>
- </blockquote>
- <h3><a href="../text/cpdiffnow.pl">cpdiffnow.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote> Similar to cpdiff, but this utility sets the
-destination file's time stamp to "now". This should cause the new
-or changed files in the destination directory to be more recent than
-anything else in there. This is helpful sometimes for forcing
-compilation of modified source files.<br>
- </blockquote>
- <h4> </h4>
- <h3><a href="../rev_control/cvs_fix.pl">cvs_fix.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Wraps the cygwin cvs command for pcdos/win32.
- Any
-unfriendly backward slashes are flipped to be forward slashes.<br>
- </blockquote>
- <h3> </h3>
- <h3><a name="differ"></a><a
- href="../text/differ.pl">differ.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Compares two directory hierarchies and the files
-they
-contain. The first parameter is a directory
-to compare against "this" directory;
-every subdirectory "here" will be traversed in order to build the
-output file that shows the differences. An optional second
-argument can be used to specify a different directory than the current
-one as the source of the comparison (the first argument is always the
-destination of the comparison).</blockquote>
- <h3> <a href="../files/filedump.pl">filedump.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Collects the contents of the files whose names are
-passed on the command line into one gigundo stream which is passed to
-standard output. The output can be piped into another file as desired.</blockquote>
- <h3> <a href="../core/generate_aliases.pl">generate_aliases.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Performs some useful activities for the shell
-environment. Using the environment variable for FEISTY_MEOW_SCRIPTS (which
-is set in the appropriate startup files to be the shell scripts
-directory, where all this stuff lives), generate_aliases will create
-all of the aliases files for the combinations of operating systems and
-types of shells supported. Currently this includes Linux, Unix,
-PCDOS, OS/2 and MS-WIN32 (9x, NT, 2K, XP, etc) for
-supported operating systems. The shell languages supported are
-dos's command, nt's cmd, unix's sh and bash, and perl. This script will also look for
-any files ending in ".sh" or ".pl" and it will create aliases for them
-in forms appropriate to the different shells. The .zz_auto_gen
-subdirectory
-is created under the home directory as
-a storage place for the generated
-files.</blockquote>
- <h4> </h4>
- <h3> <a href="../text/new_sig.pl">new_sig.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Generates a signature file from the nechung
-database
-using the 'nechung' application. See the <a
- href="http://feistymeow.org/">Feisty Meow Concerns Codebase</a> for the nechung
-application.
- The database for nechung resides in the <a href="#download">whole Feisty Meow Concerns code package</a> in "feisty_meow/database".</blockquote>
- <h3> </h3>
- <h3> <a href="../files/renlower.pl">renlower.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Renames all of the files passed on the command line
-such that they are only in lower-case. Useful if you're tired of
-passing mistakenly re-capitalized names from a defective 8.3 OS (e.g.
-Doze95/98) to
-a file system where you care about the case.</blockquote>
- <h3><a href="../processes/runner.pl">runner.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Finds all executable files in the current directory
-(and subdirectories) and runs them. The output of the programs is
-sent to standard output. Standard error is used to report which
-file is being worked on, plus the running programs' own standard error
-streams are merged into runner's standard error stream. This
-makes it nice to do something like:<br>
- runner >runs.log<br>
-where the runs.log file will contain the output of each program that
-was executed and the console will be sent messages as each program is
-started and finished (and errors show up at the console also).<br>
- </blockquote>
- <h3> <a name="safedel"></a><a
- href="../files/safedel.pl">safedel.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Makes deleting files and directories a little less
-nerve-wracking. If you substitute safedel as an alias for rm or
-del or deltree or whatever, it will make a zipped backup of the items
-before they are actually deleted. Safedel keeps track of a number
-that is attached to each zip to enforce uniquely numbered
-archives. They are stored in a directory named "zz_del_keep"
-that is stored under the temorary directory (specified by the
-environment
-variable named TMP). A report of the contents of the compressed
-trash
-is appended to a file named "zz_safedel.rpt" in the TMP directory.
-Occasional
-cleaning of the deleted files folder is recommend, but this utility has
-saved
-my various parts several times already.</blockquote>
- <h4> </h4>
- <h3> </h3>
- <h3><a href="../archival/snarf_linux_config.pl">snarf_linux_config.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>A snarf utility that packages up the
-important configuration files in a Linux installation.</blockquote>
- <h4> </h4>
- <h3> <a href="../archival/snarf_light.pl">snarf_light.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>A selective snarf of the source hierarchy.
-This
-collects the code that I manage. As such, this is probably
-irrelevant to anyone but CAK.</blockquote>
- <h3><a href="../archival/snarf_notes.pl">snarf_notes.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Gathers all "important" files from the home
-directory.
- This
-is somewhat personally tuned but it includes files and directories that
-have
-"project", "notes", or "crucial" in their name.</blockquote>
- <h3> </h3>
- <h3> <a href="../archival/snarf_src.pl">snarf_src.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>A source code grabbing snarfer. The entire
-source
-code hierarchy is snarfed. Note that one should edit the
-hierarchy
-location to make it appropriate for your local source code.</blockquote>
-
- <h3><a href="../files/summing_dir.pl">summing_dir.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Offers a directory listing along with total file
-sizes
-and disk free space.<br>
- <br>
- </blockquote>
- <h3><a href="../build/synch_build.pl">synch_build.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>This is a helper utility that synchronizes the binary
-outputs from a build process with an existing installed location. Given a target directory, the executable
-programs and dynamic libraries that exist there will be synchronized
-with the build repository's versions. This is kind of a quickie
-upgrade process, as long as the files in the target location are not
-locked by other processes.<br>
- </blockquote>
- <h3> <a href="../archival/unsnarf.pl">unsnarf.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Uses the snarfer utilities to undo a previously
-snarfed file. A folder named "snarf_BASE" is created for the
-contents, where BASE
-is replaced with the basename of the snarf file (that is, without the
-".snarf"
-suffix). The number that tracks the snarf files of this type is
-updated
-such that the next snarf file will be at least one higher than this
-snarf's
-sorta
-unique number. The number will be managed correctly if you're
-always
-unsnarfing the most recent snarf files before creating any new snarfs.</blockquote>
- <h4> </h4>
- <h3> <a href="../files/whack_forever.pl">whack_forever.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Since all of my file deletion commands are aliases
-to <a href="#safedel">safedel</a>, it is hard to actually remove a
-file. If I'm really really sure that a file or directory needs to
-be
-permanently deleted, then this command can be used. It shows the
-names
-it is removing also, but it does _not_ ask for confirmation.</blockquote>
- <h3> </h3>
- <h3><a href="../security/y2038_check.pl">y2038_check.pl</a></h3>
- <div style="margin-left: 40px;">Tests the system for survival
-past the year 2038, which is when the Unix time scale runs out of bits
-for the number of seconds since 1970 measured in a 32 bit integer.<br>
- </div>
- <h3><a href="../files/zapdirs.pl">zapdirs.pl</a></h3>
- <blockquote>Removes empty directories and directories
-containing only
-unimportant crud (see "<a href="#filename%20helper">filename_helper.pl</a>").
-If there are no arguments, then the current directory is cleaned up;
-any subdirectories
-will be traversed into and removed if it seems appropriate.
-Otherwise,
-zapdirs operates on the arguments passed to it as if they are directory
-names
-to be cleaned.</blockquote>
- </blockquote>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </tbody>
-</table>
-<h3> </h3>
-</center>
-</body>
-</html>
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+ : .oMMMMMMMMb. .. ` .\r
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+- |6.&MP:: !.,_. -\r
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+- ````:' _.:"?``\ `- .\r
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+ . /\r
+ -. - .'\r
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+ '--=&&MH##HMHH#"""\r
+\e[H .-:?,Z?:&$dHH##b\_\r
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+ ' -==pHMMH##HH#"""\r
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+i `9MMMMMMMMMT `|?"?\r
+: MMMMMMMMMH "`\\r
+: MMMMMMMMMH-.dH ,|\r
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+ '. ' `.\r
+ - . '\r
+ `.. .-\r
+ -. .-\r
+ '-.==p##HMMHp&#"""\r
+\e[H _v---:?&?:?&?&#b\_\r
+ ..' i: #M$MMMMMMMMMMMMMHo_\r
+ .. -]M#HMHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHo.\r
+ . ooP*&6&MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?.\r
+ . - &Rbbd-/`?:##HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMH?\r
+ - ,HMMMMM#od#boodMMMMHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMb\r
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+. `*"'"*HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMP' ' -d,J\r
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+`L .MMMMMMMMMMP ,d| :\r
+ *. ?MMMMMMMF' .MP /\r
+ | TMMMMMM' `"' /\r
+ `. `MMMP' ./\r
+ -. ` .\r
+ . . '\r
+ - . .-\r
+ -\ ..-\r
+ '-..=p####HMH&="""\r
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+ ..`" `:v +9P]MMMMMMMMMMHo_\r
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+ . " ,ooM*&&&HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHb.\r
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+ : .MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM/HMMMMM| `9MM'HL\r
+: {MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM\MM*'' `H[ `9|\r
+| `HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMb##| `F. :?\r
+H `"*"'"`#MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM? ' k\r
+M. MMMMMMMMMMMMM"' H\r
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+&MM| `MMMMMMMMMM, -\r
+`MM| dMMMMMMMMMM|.oH :\r
+ 9ML `HMMMMMMM? dH' -\r
+ Hi |MMMMMMP "' .'\r
+ T. `MMM#' -\r
+ `. ` .`\r
+ ` -\r
+ `.. . ..'\r
+ ... .-\r
+ '-. //######M#b~""\r
+\e[H _ooq=""''$b$_&?b\_\r
+ .-`^" "'o |&M:MMMMMMMMHo_\r
+ o/' -$Mb#MMMMMMMMMMMMMMHo.\r
+ /' .ooHP*&R&MMMMMMMMMMMMMM?.\r
+ .' `MRbod?|'`+?##9MMMMMMMMMH\\r
+ .` .,MMMMMMH#od##obdMMMMHMMMMMMb\r
+ - ?MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM$HMMH$ZP*HMMb\r
+ ? |MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM|9MMMMP "M6\\r
+.- dMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMb]M*' |R |\r
+1| `HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMd#| ?,:\r
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+ `H ` :\r
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+ `-\ . .-\r
+ ' ._ .-`\r
+ '-\. ,b#####p&**^`\r
--- /dev/null
+\e[A
\ No newline at end of file
--- /dev/null
+\r
+\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\e[A\r
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/bash
+
+cd /opt/azureus
+./azureus
+
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# BOINC - start and stop the BOINC client daemon on Unix
+#
+# Unix start/stop script to run the BOINC client as a daemon at
+# system startup, as the 'boinc' user (not root!).
+#
+# This version works on Red Hat Linux, Fedora Core, Mandrake, Debian,
+# and Slackware Linux, and should work on generic Linux systems
+# provided that they have 'pidof' (most do).
+# Metadata for chkconfig and the SUSE equivalent INIT info are included below.
+#
+# Usage: boinc { start | stop | status | restart }
+#
+###
+# chkconfig: 345 98 03
+# description: This script starts the local BOINC client as a daemon
+# For more information about BOINC (the Berkeley Open Infrastructure
+# for Network Computing) see http://boinc.berkeley.edu
+# processname: boinc
+# config: /etc/sysconfig/boinc
+#
+### BEGIN INIT INFO
+# Provides: boinc
+# Required-Start: $network
+# Required-Stop: $network
+# Default-Start: 3 4 5
+# Default-Stop: 0 1 2 6
+# Description: This script starts the local BOINC client as a daemon
+# For more information about BOINC (the Berkeley Open Infrastructure
+# for Network Computing) see http://boinc.berkeley.edu
+### END INIT INFO
+#
+# Eric Myers <myers@vassar.edu> - 27 July 2004
+# Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie NY
+# Eric Myers <myers@spy-hill.net>
+# Spy Hill Research, Poughkeepsie, New York
+# @(#) $Id: boinc,v 1.8 2007/09/02 01:05:35 myers Exp $
+########################################################################
+
+##
+# Defaults, which can be overridden in /etc/sysconfig/boinc (Red Hat)
+# or /etc/default/boinc (Debian)
+
+BOINCUSER=boinc
+BOINCDIR=/home/boinc
+BUILD_ARCH=i686-pc-linux-gnu
+BOINCEXE=/usr/local/bin/boinc_client
+
+
+# Log and error files (you should rotate these occasionally)
+LOGFILE=boinc.log
+ERRORLOG=error.log
+
+# Additional BOINC options:
+# Be wary of -allow_remote_gui_rpc, as it can open your machine up
+# to the world if you don't set a password, or if you set a poor one.
+# Should be okay if you are behind a NAT firewall.
+
+#BOINCOPTS="-allow_remote_gui_rpc" # opens up your machine to the world!
+
+
+# Mandrake 10.1 really wants a subsys lock file ...
+if [ -d /var/lock/subsys ]; then
+ LOCKDIR=/var/lock/subsys
+elif [ -d /var/lock ]; then
+ LOCKDIR=/var/lock
+fi
+
+# su on Linux seems to need this to be set to work properly in a script
+export TERM dumb
+
+
+##
+# Init script function library. This stuff is Red Hat specific,
+# but if the functions are not found we create our own simple replacements.
+# (The idea for replacing the functions comes from OpenAFS. Thanks guys!)
+
+if [ -f /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions ] ; then
+ . /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
+else
+ export PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
+ function echo_success () { echo -n " [ OK ] " ; }
+ function echo_failure () { echo -n " [FAILED] " ; }
+ function echo_warning () { echo -n " [WARNING] " ; }
+ function killproc() {
+ PID=$(pidof -s -x -o $$ -o $PPID -o %PPID $1)
+ [ $PID ] && kill $PID ; }
+fi
+
+
+## Look for any local configuration settings which override all above
+
+if [ -f /etc/sysconfig/boinc ]; then
+ . /etc/sysconfig/boinc
+elif [ -f /etc/default/boinc ]; then
+ . /etc/default/boinc
+fi
+
+
+## Verify the working directory exists:
+
+if [ ! -d $BOINCDIR ]; then
+ echo -n "Cannot find BOINC directory $BOINCDIR "
+ echo_failure
+ echo
+ exit 7
+fi
+
+
+# Some additional places to look for the client executable
+# (Should do this after init.d/functions and sysconfig/boinc, which sets PATH)
+
+export PATH=$BOINCDIR:/usr/local/bin:$PATH
+
+
+## Locate the executable, either boinc_client, boinc,
+## or boinc_M.mm_.... with highest version number
+## We only do this if BOINCEXE set above isn't found and executable.
+
+if [ ! -x $BOINCEXE ]; then
+ BOINCEXE=$(/usr/bin/which boinc_client 2>/dev/null)
+ if [ ! -x "$BOINCEXE" ]; then
+ BOINCEXE=$(/usr/bin/which boinc 2>/dev/null)
+ if [ ! -x "$BOINCEXE" ]; then
+ BOINCEXE=$(/bin/ls -1 $BOINCDIR/boinc_*_$BUILD_ARCH 2>/dev/null | tail -1 )
+ fi
+ fi
+fi
+
+if [ ! -x "$BOINCEXE" ]; then
+ echo -n "Cannot find an executable for the BOINC client."
+ echo_failure
+ echo
+ exit 2
+fi
+
+
+
+## Functions: $1 is one of start|stop|status|restart
+
+case "$1" in
+ start)
+ cd $BOINCDIR
+
+ if [ -f lockfile ] ; then
+ echo -n "Another instance of BOINC is running (lockfile exists)."
+ echo_failure
+ echo
+ exit 4
+ fi
+
+ if [ ! -d projects ] ; then
+ echo -n "The BOINC client requires initialization."
+ echo_warning
+ echo
+ fi
+
+ echo -n "Starting BOINC client as a daemon: "
+ su $BOINCUSER -c "$BOINCEXE $BOINCOPTS" >>$LOGFILE 2>>$ERRORLOG &
+ sleep 1
+ PID=$(pidof -s -x -o $$ -o $PPID -o %PPID $BOINCEXE)
+ if [ $PID ]; then
+ [ -d $LOCKDIR ] && touch $LOCKDIR/boinc
+ echo_success
+ else
+ echo_failure
+ fi
+ echo
+ ;;
+
+ stop)
+ cd $BOINCDIR
+ if [ ! -f lockfile -a ! -f $LOCKDIR/boinc ] ; then
+ echo -n "BOINC is not running (no lockfiles found)."
+ echo_success
+ else
+ echo -n "Stopping BOINC client daemon: "
+ killproc $BOINCEXE && echo_success || echo_failure
+ # clean up in any case
+ rm -f $BOINCDIR/lockfile
+ rm -f $LOCKDIR/boinc
+ fi
+ echo
+ ;;
+
+ restart)
+ $0 stop
+ $0 start
+ ;;
+
+ status)
+ PID=$(pidof -x -o $$ -o $PPID -o %PPID boinc_client)
+ if [ "$PID" == "" ]; then
+ PID=$(pidof -x -o $$ -o $PPID -o %PPID $BOINCEXE)
+ fi
+ if [ "$PID" != "" ]; then
+ echo "BOINC client is running (pid $PID)."
+ else
+ if [ -f $BOINCDIR/lockfile -o -f $LOCKDIR/boinc ]; then
+ echo "BOINC is stopped but lockfile(s) exist."
+ else
+ echo "BOINC client is stopped."
+ fi
+ fi
+ ;;
+
+ *)
+ echo "Usage: boinc {start|stop|restart|status}"
+ exit 1
+esac
+
+exit
+
+#EOF#
--- /dev/null
+
+# BOINC daemon configuration settings. The examples below are the defaults
+# you'd get if you left them out, so you only need the lines that are different.
+#
+BOINCUSER=fred
+BOINCDIR=/home/fred/BOINC
+#BUILD_ARCH=i686-pc-linux-gnu
+BOINCEXE=/home/fred/BOINC/boinc
+#LOGFILE=boinc.log
+#ERRORLOG=error.log
+
+#BOINCOPTS="-allow_remote_gui_rpc"
+# opens up your machine to the world!
+
+#LOCKDIR=/var/lock/subsys
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+the files in etc/sysconfig and etc/init.d should be copied into the
+real /etc directory.
+
+the file /etc/init.d/boinc starts the boinc client on system startup
+and the init process will ensure that it gets restarted if it crashes.
+
+the file /etc/sysconfig/boinc has configuration information for the
+boinc process. the user and path will need to be changed to make them
+appropriate for your installation.
+
+
+
+
--- /dev/null
+#
+# Choose-OS 0.81 example configuration file.
+#
+
+#
+# Traditional (version <= 0.41) lookalike interface.
+#
+#############################################################################
+
+# Do we wanna use a cooler color instead of light gray ? yeah.
+#
+color=lightcyan,brown
+
+# Wanna have another selection color ? yeah.
+#
+selection=green,black
+
+# Set a cooler banner? yeah.
+#
+banner=Booting the OS of your choice today, Sir!
+
+# Wanna see copyright 'n keyhelp ?? (Set this to off if U don't.)
+#
+infoline=on
+
+#
+# General stuff
+#
+#############################################################################
+
+# wait 60 secs before bootin' the first image
+#
+delay=14
+
+# Install the boot sector on /dev/hda (makes it MBR).
+#
+install=/dev/hda
+
+# Want emergency boot sector ?
+#
+#emergency=/dev/hda1
+
+#
+# Next are the boot images...
+#
+#############################################################################
+
+# a Linux kernel image
+#
+linux "Linux" {
+ image=/boot/vmlinuz
+ cmdline=vga=EXTENDED root=/dev/hda5 read-only
+ color=green
+ initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.5-15.img
+}
+# a DOS bootsector
+#
+bootsect "DOS" {
+ image=/dev/hda1
+ color=red
+}
+
--- /dev/null
+boot=/dev/hda
+map=/boot/map
+install=/boot/boot.b
+prompt
+timeout=50
+image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.5-15
+ label=linux
+ root=/dev/hda5
+ initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.5-15.img
+ read-only
+other=/dev/hda1
+ label=dos
+ table=/dev/hda
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+* * * * * /bin/rm -f $HOME'/C:\nppdf32Log\debuglog.txt'
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+USER=fred
+
+# backs up our databases on a weekly basis.
+28 4 * * 2 (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; mysqldump -u root '-pPASSWORD' --all-databases | gzip > /z/stuffing/archives/database_backup_$(hostname)_$(date_stringer).sql.gz) &>/tmp/database_backup_${USER}.log
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+USER=fred
+
+# backs up the maildir folder for fred monthly
+* * 1 * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; tar -czf /z/stuffing/archives/maildir_backup_$(date_stringer).tar.gz $HOME/Maildir) &>/tmp/maildir_backup_${USER}.log
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+USER=fred
+
+# regenerate the bookmarks pages.
+24 10 * * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/bookmarks/create_marks.sh ) &>>/tmp/zz_bookmarkingering_$USER.log
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+# this runs chkrootkit to demonstrate a bug in the vm kernel currently
+# provided by...?
+# who's the vendor?
+
+3 * * * * (/usr/sbin/chkrootkit -q &>/var/www/rootkit_report_quiet.txt )
+4 * * * * (/usr/sbin/chkrootkit -x &>/var/www/rootkit_report_expert.txt )
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+USER=fred
+
+20 4 * * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; cd $HOME/hoople/docs; make) &>>/tmp/zz_doxy_make_$USER.log
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+USER=fred
+
+# do a backup of the config files once a week.
+28 7 * * 4 (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; cd /z/stuffing/archives; perl $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/snarf_linux_config.pl) &>>/tmp/zz_linux_config_snarf_$USER.log
+
--- /dev/null
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# fix the mailman binaries.
+23 5 * * * chmod -R 02775 /var/lib/mailman/logs &>/dev/null
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+USER=fred
+
+14 7 * * * bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/database/backup_mysql_dbs.sh &>>/tmp/zz_backup_mysql_$USER.log
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+USER=fred
+
+* * * * * (export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; perl $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/text/new_sig.pl) &>>/tmp/zz_nechung_fortune_$USER.log
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+USER=fred
+
+# make sure opensim is started if we can't detect it as running.
+*/5 * * * * export FOOP=/tmp/opensim_restart_$USER.log; export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh &>>$FOOP ; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/opensim/maybe_restart_opensim.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+USER=fred
+
+# a crontab for periodically dumping the process state.
+* * * * * (export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/processes/show_hot_ones.sh) &>>/home/$USER/zz_hot_processes.log
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+USER=fred
+
+* * * * * (export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/multimedia/randomly_play.sh) &>>/tmp/zz_random_sound_$USER.log
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+# update the source code to the latest, every day at 3am or so.
+14 3 * * * (cd ~/hoople1 ; cvs update . ; cd ~/hoople2 ; svn update . ; cd ~/yeti ; svn update . ) &>/dev/null
+
+# this packs up our source code distributions once a day.
+32 6 * * * (source $HOME/yeti/scripts/core/profile.sh; bash $HOME/yeti/scripts/archival/pack_yeti.sh ; bash $HOME/yeti/scripts/archival/pack_hoople1.sh ; bash $HOME/yeti/scripts/archival/pack_hoople2.sh) &>$HOME/.tmp/zz_packing_cron.log
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+USER=jurgis
+
+# we need these for the XSEDE and GenesisII environment.
+GENII_INSTALL_DIR=/home/jurgis/xsede/code/GenesisII/trunk
+XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER=$GENII_INSTALL_DIR/xsede_tools
+GENII_USER_DIR=/home/jurgis/.tmp/dot-genesis-xcg3
+JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
+
+##############
+
+# variegated scheme: we run the container during non-working hours.
+
+# during non-weekday hours, make sure grid container is started if can't detect it as running.
+ # first is for weekdays, during non-working hours.
+#*/10 0-8,19-23 * * 1-5 export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/maybe_restart_container.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
+ # second is for weekends.
+#*/10 * * * 0,6 export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/maybe_restart_container.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
+
+# stop the container during working hours, so it doesn't hose up our desktop performance.
+#*/10 9-18 * * 1-5 export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/zap_genesis_javas.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
+
+##############
+
+# a fairly rude scheme; always stop the container.
+
+#*/5 * * * * export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/zap_genesis_javas.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
+
+##############
+
+#current scheme, always run it.
+*/5 * * * * export FOOP=/tmp/container_restarter_${USER}_$(hostname).log; set &>$FOOP ; bash $XSEDE_TESTS_FOLDER/library/maybe_restart_container.sh &>>$FOOP ; /bin/chmod g+w $FOOP
+
+##############
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+##############
+
+# backs up config files and important parts of home directories to off-machine storage.
+14 2 * * */7 (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/serene_backer_upper.sh) &>/tmp/offmachine_backup.log
+
+##############
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# this cron job updates the feisty meow repository on source forge based on
+# the real one at feistymeow.org.
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+USER=fred
+
+# update the source code to the latest, every day at 3am or so.
+14 */2 * * * (export LIGHTWEIGHT_INIT=true; source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/rev_control/push_repo_upstream.sh $HOME/repos/sf-feistymeow-trunk ) &>>/tmp/zz_nechung_fortune_$USER.log
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+# special for equanimity; get zooty informed of our IP so we can make
+# the back-connection and get home.
+14,28,42,56 * * * * (bash /home/fred/feisty_meow/scripts/security/tell_zooty_our_ip.sh serene.feistymeow.org fred fred ) &>>/tmp/zooty_tell_report.txt
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+# standard to synch to local machine.
+0,4,8,12,16,20,24,28,32,36,40,44,48,52,56 * * * * /usr/sbin/sntp -P no -r equanimity
+or
+0,4,8,12,16,20,24,28,32,36,40,44,48,52,56 * * * * /usr/bin/rdate -s -n equanimity
+
+# one machine on the network uses this version, to synch externally.
+0 0,4,8,12,16,20 * * * /usr/sbin/sntp -P no -r time.nist.gov
+or
+0 0,4,8,12,16,20 * * * /usr/bin/rdate -s -n time.nist.gov
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+USER=fred
+
+# the script writes the current time and current uptime to the log file.
+0 * * * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/system/write_uptime_report.sh) &>>/tmp/zz_uptime_report_$USER.log
+
--- /dev/null
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# fix the web directories for group access.
+0 * * * * chmod -R g+w /var/www &>/dev/null
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+# whack this troublesome process that can go cpu crazy on a logout.
+# so far this is the best solution to this major annoyance.
+*/3 * * * * killall knotify4 &>/dev/null
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+# m h dom mon dow command
+
+USER=fred
+
+# this packs up our archives once a day.
+32 6 0 * * (source $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/core/launch_feisty_meow.sh; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/pack_yeti.sh ; bash $HOME/feisty_meow/scripts/archival/pack_hoople.sh ) &>>/tmp/zz_packing_cron_$USER.log
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+# opensim select statement to find items in the prims table (items that still
+# exist in some sim or at least exist in the database) that are owned by
+# a particular avatar. the {uuid} below should be replaced with the UUID
+# that you care about showing prim ownership for.
+
+select * from prims where creatorid = '{uuid}'
+
+# this is a very similar select that shows the items which are NOT owned by
+# the avatar in question.
+
+select * from prims where creatorid != '{uuid}'
+
--- /dev/null
+
+# this sql statement fixes ownership for items that may have come in with
+# erroneous owner UUIDs due to second inventory and the vagaries of crossing
+# between grids.
+# this particular example is pretty brutal. it finds any item that is owned
+# by the old avatar ID {old_ID} and swaps out the owner with the {new_ID}
+# avatar. This task is made more difficult by the lack of a wildcard in
+# the SQL replace function, so we only stomp out one bogus ID at a time.
+
+UPDATE inventoryitems
+SET creatorid = replace(creatorid, '{old_ID}', '{new_ID}')
+WHERE creatorid == '{old_ID}';
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+# usb ram drive support on fairly common scsi interface mapping.
+/dev/sda1 /mnt/usb auto noauto,owner,user 0 0
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+# mount for zip disk on scsi device where it happens to show up on my machine.
+# look for a message in /var/messages to determine which adapter is right.
+/dev/sda4 /mnt/zip vfat noauto,rw,user,nosuid,sync,mode=0777
+
+
--- /dev/null
+# example dhcp configuration.
+
+default-lease-time 600;
+max-lease-time 1200;
+option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
+option broadcast-address 192.168.2.255;
+option routers 192.168.2.1;
+option domain-name-servers 14.28.42.1, 14.28.42.2;
+option domain-name "fredulocorp.com";
+
+subnet 192.168.2.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
+ range 192.168.2.200 192.168.2.253;
+}
+
+subnet 10.0.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
+}
+
+
+
--- /dev/null
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
+<profiles version="1">
+<profile kind="CodeFormatterProfile" name="cpp-fredstyle" version="1">
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_method_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_for" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_in_empty_block" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.lineSplit" value="98"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_member_access" value="0"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_base_types" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.keep_else_statement_on_same_line" value="false"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_switchstatements_compare_to_switch" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_constructor_initializer_list" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_brace_in_array_initializer" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_method_declaration_parameters" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_if" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_parenthesized_expression" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_exception_specification" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_base_types" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_body_declarations_compare_to_access_specifier" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_exception_specification" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_template_arguments" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_brace_in_block" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_method_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.use_tabs_only_for_leading_indentations" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_labeled_statement" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_colon_in_case" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.comment.min_distance_between_code_and_line_comment" value="2"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_array_initializer" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_enum_declarations" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_expressions_in_array_initializer" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_declarator_list" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_bracket" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_for" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_prefix_operator" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.tabulation.size" value="2"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_before_else_in_if_statement" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_enumerator_list" value="48"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_parenthesized_expression" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_parens_in_method_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_switch" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_declarator_list" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_parenthesized_expression" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_empty_lines" value="false"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_switchstatements_compare_to_cases" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.keep_empty_array_initializer_on_one_line" value="false"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_brace_in_method_declaration" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.put_empty_statement_on_new_line" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_brace_in_switch" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_cast" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_braces_in_array_initializer" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_method_declaration" value="next_line"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_while" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_question_in_conditional" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_semicolon" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_closing_angle_bracket_in_template_arguments" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_base_clause" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.indent_breaks_compare_to_cases" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_unary_operator" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.join_wrapped_lines" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_declarator_list" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_arguments_in_method_invocation" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.comment.never_indent_line_comments_on_first_column" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.cdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_while" value="insert"/>
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--- /dev/null
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--- /dev/null
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+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_question_in_conditional" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_question_in_wildcard" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_try" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_bracket_in_array_allocation_expression" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.preserve_white_space_between_code_and_line_comments" value="false"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_parenthesized_expression_in_throw" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_type_arguments" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.compiler.problem.enumIdentifier" value="error"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_switchstatements_compare_to_switch" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_ellipsis" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_block" value="end_of_line"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_for_inits" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_method_declaration" value="next_line"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.compact_else_if" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.wrap_before_or_operator_multicatch" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_array_initializer" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_for_increments" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.format_line_comment_starting_on_first_column" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_bracket_in_array_reference" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_after_annotation_on_field" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.indent_root_tags" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_enum_constant" value="end_of_line"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_enum_declarations" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_union_type_in_multicatch" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_explicitconstructorcall_arguments" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_brace_in_switch" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_method_declaration_parameters" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_superinterfaces" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_allocation_expression" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.tabulation.size" value="4"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_bracket_in_array_type_reference" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_after_opening_brace_in_array_initializer" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_closing_brace_in_block" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_bracket_in_array_reference" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_in_empty_enum_constant" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_angle_bracket_in_type_arguments" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_constructor_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_constructor_declaration_throws" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_if" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.clear_blank_lines_in_javadoc_comment" value="false"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_throws_clause_in_constructor_declaration" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_assignment_operator" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_assignment_operator" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_empty_lines" value="false"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_synchronized" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_closing_paren_in_cast" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_method_declaration_parameters" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_block_in_case" value="end_of_line"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.number_of_empty_lines_to_preserve" value="1"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_method_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_catch" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_constructor_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_method_invocation" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_bracket_in_array_reference" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_arguments_in_qualified_allocation_expression" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_and_in_type_parameter" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.compiler.compliance" value="1.7"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.continuation_indentation_for_array_initializer" value="1"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_brackets_in_array_allocation_expression" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_at_in_annotation_type_declaration" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_arguments_in_allocation_expression" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_cast" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_unary_operator" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_angle_bracket_in_parameterized_type_reference" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_brace_in_anonymous_type_declaration" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.keep_empty_array_initializer_on_one_line" value="false"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_in_empty_enum_declaration" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.keep_imple_if_on_one_line" value="false"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_constructor_declaration_parameters" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_closing_angle_bracket_in_type_parameters" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_at_end_of_file_if_missing" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_colon_in_for" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_labeled_statement" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_parameterized_type_reference" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_superinterfaces_in_type_declaration" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_binary_expression" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_enum_declaration" value="end_of_line"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_after_annotation_on_type" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_while" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.compiler.codegen.inlineJsrBytecode" value="enabled"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_try" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.put_empty_statement_on_new_line" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_after_label" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_after_annotation_on_parameter" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_angle_bracket_in_type_parameters" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_parens_in_method_invocation" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_before_while_in_do_statement" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_arguments_in_enum_constant" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.format_javadoc_comments" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.line_length" value="100"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_after_annotation_on_package" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.blank_lines_between_import_groups" value="1"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_enum_constant_arguments" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_semicolon" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_constructor_declaration" value="next_line"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.number_of_blank_lines_at_beginning_of_method_body" value="0"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_conditional" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_body_declarations_compare_to_type_header" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_annotation_type_member_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.wrap_before_binary_operator" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_body_declarations_compare_to_enum_declaration_header" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.blank_lines_between_type_declarations" value="1"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_synchronized" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_statements_compare_to_block" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_superinterfaces_in_enum_declaration" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.join_lines_in_comments" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_question_in_conditional" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_multiple_field_declarations" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_compact_if" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_for_inits" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_switchstatements_compare_to_cases" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_array_initializer" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_default" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_and_in_type_parameter" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_parens_in_constructor_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.blank_lines_before_imports" value="1"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_colon_in_assert" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.format_html" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_throws_clause_in_method_declaration" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_angle_bracket_in_type_parameters" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_bracket_in_array_allocation_expression" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_in_empty_anonymous_type_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_colon_in_conditional" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_angle_bracket_in_parameterized_type_reference" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_for" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_postfix_operator" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.format_source_code" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_synchronized" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_allocation_expression" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_constructor_declaration_throws" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_parameters_in_method_declaration" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_brace_in_array_initializer" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.compiler.codegen.targetPlatform" value="1.7"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_resources_in_try" value="80"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.use_tabs_only_for_leading_indentations" value="false"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_arguments_in_annotation" value="16"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.format_header" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.format_block_comments" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_enum_constant" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.alignment_for_enum_constants" value="49"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_new_line_in_empty_block" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_body_declarations_compare_to_annotation_declaration_header" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_parenthesized_expression" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_parenthesized_expression" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_catch" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_multiple_local_declarations" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_switch" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_comma_in_for_increments" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_method_invocation" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_colon_in_assert" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.brace_position_for_type_declaration" value="next_line"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_brace_in_array_initializer" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_between_empty_braces_in_array_initializer" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_opening_paren_in_method_declaration" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_semicolon_in_for" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_paren_in_catch" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_angle_bracket_in_parameterized_type_reference" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_multiple_field_declarations" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_closing_paren_in_annotation" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_parameterized_type_reference" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_method_invocation_arguments" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.comment.new_lines_at_javadoc_boundaries" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.blank_lines_after_imports" value="1"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_comma_in_multiple_local_declarations" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.indent_body_declarations_compare_to_enum_constant_header" value="true"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_after_semicolon_in_for" value="insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.never_indent_line_comments_on_first_column" value="false"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_semicolon_in_try_resources" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.insert_space_before_opening_angle_bracket_in_type_arguments" value="do not insert"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.never_indent_block_comments_on_first_column" value="false"/>
+<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.keep_then_statement_on_same_line" value="false"/>
+</profile>
+</profiles>
--- /dev/null
+
+# this is an example .emacs file with my preferred indentation for code.
+
+(setq c-default-style "linux"
+ c-basic-offset 2)
+
+
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# this could be invoked from rc.local to set up firewall filtering.
+
+# new firewalling setup.
+###ipchains -P forward DENY
+# this is too permissive. what are we hoping to block?
+###ipchains -A forward -j ACCEPT -b -s 14.28.42.0/24 -d 0.0.0.0/0
+###ipchains -A forward -j ACCEPT -b -s 14.28.42.128/24 -d 0.0.0.0/0
+###ipchains -A forward -j ACCEPT -p tcp -s 0.0.0.0/0 -d 14.28.42.3 25
+###ipchains -A forward -j ACCEPT -p tcp -s 0.0.0.0/0 -d 14.28.42.2 80
+
+# input/output rules to dictate valid sides. this can't be used
+# when there's a shunt around the gateway; that blocks the packets
+# from eth1 that really are from addresses besides 14.28.42.*.
+#ipchains -P input DENY
+#ipchains -A input -i eth0 -s 14.28.42.1 -j ACCEPT
+#ipchains -A input -i eth0 -s 14.28.42.71 -j ACCEPT
+#ipchains -A input -i eth0 -s ! 14.28.42.0/24 -j ACCEPT
+#ipchains -A input -i eth1 -s 14.28.42.0/24 -j ACCEPT
+
+# masquerade setup.
+#/sbin/depmod -a
+#/sbin/modprobe ip_masq_ftp
+#/sbin/modprobe ip_masq_raudio
+#/sbin/modprobe ip_masq_irc
+#ipchains -P forward DENY
+#ipchains -A forward -j MASQ -s 14.28.42.0/24 -d 0.0.0.0/0
+#ipchains -A forward -j MASQ -s 14.28.42.128/24 -d 0.0.0.0/0
+
--- /dev/null
+# Firewall configuration written by lokkit
+# Manual customization of this file is not recommended.
+# Note: ifup-post will punch the current nameservers through the
+# firewall; such entries will *not* be listed here.
+*filter
+:INPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
+:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
+:OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
+:RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT - [0:0]
+-A INPUT -j RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT
+
+# allow smtp.
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 25 --syn -j ACCEPT
+# allow ssh.
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 22 --syn -j ACCEPT
+
+# allow nfs.
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 111 --syn -j ACCEPT
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 111 -j ACCEPT
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 369 --syn -j ACCEPT
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 369 -j ACCEPT
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 530 --syn -j ACCEPT
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 530 -j ACCEPT
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 2049 --syn -j ACCEPT
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 2049 -j ACCEPT
+
+# allow SMB (netbios).
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 137 --syn -j ACCEPT
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 137 -j ACCEPT
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 138 --syn -j ACCEPT
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 138 -j ACCEPT
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 139 --syn -j ACCEPT
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp --dport 139 -j ACCEPT
+
+# accept anything from loopback adapter on our own host.
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
+
+# accept dns info going to the server.
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp -s 14.28.42.28 --sport 53 -d 0/0 -j ACCEPT
+
+# otherwise, reject all input.
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --syn -j REJECT
+-A RH-Lokkit-0-50-INPUT -p udp -m udp -j REJECT
+
+COMMIT
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+%o;%a/%A/%T_%t.m4a;%a/%A/%T_%t.mp3;%t.wav
+
+
+that puts the things in directories under artist,
+then under the album name, and
+the individual files are called:
+ track#_title
+so like
+1_tony wiggets.mp3
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# team_city_startup by Chris Koeritz
+#
+# /etc/init.d/team_city_startup
+#
+#uhhh... chkconfig: 2345 01 99
+# description: starts the Team City Agent as our buildor user.
+#
+### BEGIN INIT INFO
+# Provides: team_city_startup
+# Required-Start:
+# Required-Stop:
+# Default-Start: 3 4 5
+# Default-Stop: 0 1 2 6
+# Short-Description: Team City Agent initialization
+# Description: team city rc file. This rc script runs the agent as the
+# buildor user.
+### END INIT INFO
+
+usage() {
+ echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|kill}"
+}
+
+function teamcity_action()
+{
+ export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
+ export HOME=/home/buildor
+ export PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
+
+ # should become the buildor user and tell team city the proper action.
+ su -m -c "/home/buildor/teamcity_agent/bin/agent.sh $*" buildor
+}
+
+test -x ${PARSER} || exit 0 # by debian policy
+
+case "$1" in
+ start)
+ teamcity_action start
+ rc=$?
+ ;;
+ stop)
+ teamcity_action stop
+ rc=$?
+ ;;
+ kill)
+ teamcity_action stop kill
+ rc=$?
+ ;;
+ status)
+ procs_found=$(ps wuax | grep teamcity | grep -v grep)
+ if [ -z "$procs_found" ]; then
+ echo "Team City Agent is not running."
+ else
+ echo "Team City Agent is running."
+ fi
+ rc=$?
+ ;;
+ *)
+ usage
+ exit 1
+ ;;
+ esac
+exit $rc
+
+
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# tracd startup script by Chris Koeritz
+#
+# Note that this has been superceded by the (IMHO) much better approach of
+# running tracd from apache using mod_python.
+#
+# /etc/init.d/trac_startup
+#
+#uhhh... chkconfig: 2345 04 11
+# description: starts the trac daemon as the www-data user.
+#
+### BEGIN INIT INFO
+# Provides: trac_startup
+# Required-Start:
+# Required-Stop:
+# Default-Start: 3 4 5
+# Default-Stop: 0 1 2 6
+# Short-Description: trac server initialization
+# Description: Keeps the trac server running at our chosen port.
+### END INIT INFO
+
+usage() {
+ echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|kill}"
+}
+
+function trac_action()
+{
+# export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
+# export HOME=/home/buildor
+ export TRAC_PORT=24108
+ export PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
+
+ # should become www-data and start trac on our port.
+ su -m -c "tracd -d -b universalbuilds.com --port $TRAC_PORT /home/trac/ubuilds_project $*" www-data
+}
+
+test -x ${PARSER} || exit 0 # by debian policy
+
+case "$1" in
+ start)
+ trac_action start
+ rc=$?
+ ;;
+ stop)
+ trac_action stop
+ rc=$?
+ ;;
+ kill)
+ trac_action stop kill
+ rc=$?
+ ;;
+ status)
+ procs_found=$(ps wuax | grep tracd | grep -v grep)
+ if [ -z "$procs_found" ]; then
+ echo "tracd is not running."
+ else
+ echo "tracd is running."
+ fi
+ rc=$?
+ ;;
+ *)
+ usage
+ exit 1
+ ;;
+ esac
+exit $rc
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+>>> goes into /etc/inputrc:
+
+# Completed names which are symbolic links to
+# directories have a slash appended.
+set mark-symlinked-directories On
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+error /^FAIL:/
+
+error /^ERROR:/
+
+error /^FAILURE for/
+
+error /^LAMENESS for/
+
+ok /^SUCCESS for/
+
+ok /^OKAY:/
+
--- /dev/null
+# Log all kernel messages to the console.
+# Logging much else clutters up the screen.
+kern.* /dev/console
+kern.* /var/log/kernel.log
+
+# Log anything (except mail) of level info or higher.
+# Don't log private authentication messages!
+# Also don't log daemon messages (which go to daemon) or ppp messages (which
+# are somehow coming on local2?).
+*.info;kern.none;local2.none;daemon.none;mail.none;news.none;authpriv.none /var/log/messages
+
+# The authpriv file has restricted access.
+authpriv.* /var/log/secure
+
+# Log all the mail messages in one place.
+mail.* /var/log/mail.log
+
+# Everybody gets emergency messages, plus log them on another machine.
+*.emerg *
+
+# Save mail and news errors of level err and higher in a
+# special file.
+uucp,news.crit /var/log/spooler
+
+# logging for ppp.
+local2.*;daemon.notice /var/log/ppp
+daemon.* /var/log/daemon
+
+# example of breaking up a log facility into its components.
+#daemon.=debug /var/log/d.debug
+#daemon.=info /var/log/d.info
+#daemon.=notice /var/log/d.notice
+#daemon.=warning /var/log/d.warning
+#daemon.=err /var/log/d.err
+#daemon.=crit /var/log/d.crit
+#daemon.=alert /var/log/d.alert
+#daemon.=emerg /var/log/d.emerg
+
+# testing to find out what these are.
+local1.* /var/log/local1
+local3.* /var/log/local3
+local4.* /var/log/local4
+local5.* /var/log/local5
+local6.* /var/log/local6
+
+# Save boot messages also to boot.log
+local7.* /var/log/boot.log
+
+#
+# INN
+#
+news.=crit /var/log/news/news.crit
+news.=err /var/log/news/news.err
+news.notice /var/log/news/news.notice
+
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/sh
+#inspired by http://art.ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9744970&postcount=19
+#...and http://thecodecentral.com/2011/01/18/fix-ubuntu-10-10-suspendhibernate-not-working-bug
+# tidied by tqzzaa :)
+
+VERSION=1.1
+DEV_LIST=/tmp/usb-dev-list
+DRIVERS_DIR=/sys/bus/pci/drivers
+DRIVERS="ehci xhci" # ehci_hcd, xhci_hcd
+HEX="[[:xdigit:]]"
+MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS=2
+BIND_WAIT=0.1
+
+unbindDev() {
+ echo -n > $DEV_LIST 2>/dev/null
+ for driver in $DRIVERS; do
+ DDIR=$DRIVERS_DIR/${driver}_hcd
+ for dev in `ls $DDIR 2>/dev/null | egrep "^$HEX+:$HEX+:$HEX"`; do
+ echo -n "$dev" > $DDIR/unbind
+ echo "$driver $dev" >> $DEV_LIST
+ done
+ done
+}
+
+bindDev() {
+ if [ -s $DEV_LIST ]; then
+ while read driver dev; do
+ DDIR=$DRIVERS_DIR/${driver}_hcd
+ while [ $((MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS)) -gt 0 ]; do
+ echo -n "$dev" > $DDIR/bind
+ if [ ! -L "$DDIR/$dev" ]; then
+ sleep $BIND_WAIT
+ else
+ break
+ fi
+ MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS=$((MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS-1))
+ done
+ done < $DEV_LIST
+ fi
+ rm $DEV_LIST 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+case "$1" in
+ hibernate|suspend) unbindDev;;
+ resume|thaw) bindDev;;
+esac
--- /dev/null
+
+
+this file goes in /etc/pm/sleep.d as described in this article:
+http://thecodecentral.com/2011/01/18/fix-ubuntu-10-10-suspendhibernate-not-working-bug
--- /dev/null
+
+this is a meld config file explanation...
+meld is a great tool for comparing a large directory tree against another
+large directory tree (or even against 1 or two more trees).
+
+what we want out of this file is to have a list of items that will be ignored
+when meld does a comparison on our tree of java projects. the list provided
+below may or may not be useful to you, but some variant might be.
+
+to add a new filter that will get meld to ignore any files in any folder named
+in our list, open meld's settings via the menu path "Edit | Preferences | File Filters".
+
+once you're in that tab of the dialog, create a new filter called something like:
+ binary-code
+and add these folder names as values for the filter:
+ bin bin.eclipse subprojects bin-eclipse codegen genned-src genned-obj unit-test-reports
+
+any directory listed there will be ignored during comparisons and merges, which is
+more convenient than the alternative of seeing all the binaries that are different,
+in every compare. ugh.
+ --fred the hamster
+
+
--- /dev/null
+# personal storage areas.
+
+/fatty/walrus *.lachrymose.net(ro,no_root_squash,sync)
+/fatty/stuffing *.lachrymose.net(rw,no_root_squash,sync)
+/fatty/opsystems *.lachrymose.net(rw,no_root_squash,sync)
+
+# allow cd drive to be used remotely for installs, etc.
+/media/cdrom *(ro,sync)
+
--- /dev/null
+
+# nfs mounts to our server.
+
+pretzel:/fatty/opsystems /mnt/opsystems nfs exec,dev,suid,rw,user 0 0
+pretzel:/fatty/stuffing /stuffing nfs exec,dev,suid,rw,user 0 0
+pretzel:/fatty/walrus /walrus nfs exec,dev,suid,ro,user 0 0
+
+
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/bash
+#PBS -l nodes=1,mem=20m
+#PBS -M my-email@whereiwork.com
+
+##PBS -l ncpus=2
+##PBS -l nodes=4
+##PBS -l select=4:ncpus=1
+
+echo here is the nodefile:
+cat $PBS_NODEFILE
+
+echo here is pbs envir variable:
+echo $PBS_ENVIRONMENT
--- /dev/null
+
+this directory is related to PBS: portable batch system
+
+there is one example so far, a completely skeletal script that just
+prints out some facts about how it was run by pbs.
+
--- /dev/null
+// fred server for free for all.
+// version 0.18
+// last significant modification: 11/8/2003
+
+g_gametype 0
+ // g_gametype is 0 for free for all, 1 for team deathmatch, 2 for tournament,
+ // and 3 for capture the flag.
+
+fraglimit 42
+ // Sets the maximum number of frags before victory. Set this to zero to not
+ // have a frag limit.
+
+timelimit 14
+ // Set the timelimit for the game (in minutes). The person with the most
+ // points when the timer expires is the winner. Set this to zero if there
+ // should not be a time limit.
+
+sv_maxclients 10
+ // Set the maximum number of clients that can connect at once. This includes
+ // the bots that have been added to the game.
+
+sv_hostname "fredstonia"
+ // This is the name of this quake3 server.
+
+sv_allowDownload 0
+ // Allow auto-download since we are on a lan in this case. The client
+ // needs to have the 'cl_allowdownload' flag set to 1 for it to even try.
+
+sets "Administrator" "fred"
+sets "Email" "fred@gruntose.com"
+sets "URL" "http://www.gruntose.com"
+sets "Location" "Grunston"
+sets "CPU" "AMD Athlon 1Ghz"
+
+//set requirement for client password. 1=require password, 0=no password required (Default: 0)
+sv_privateClients 0
+
+//set password for private server "" for no password
+sv_privatePassword ""
+
+//set remote console password
+rconpassword ""
+//turn on/off pak cheat check. 1=on, 0=off (Default: 1)
+sv_pure 1
+
+//set max allowable rate for a client. 8000 to 10000 recommended. Max: 25000 (Default: 0)
+sv_maxRate 25000
+
+//add up to 4 additional master servers to report to (As you can see the ingame configs don't report to id automatically)
+sv_master1 ""
+sv_master2 ""
+sv_master3 ""
+sv_master4 ""
+sv_master5 ""
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// This is the list of maps that the server will rotate through. To change
+// a map, just change the name after 'map'. To add a new map, make sure that
+// you update the name after 'nextmap vstr' to point to it and that the last
+// map still wraps around to the first map.
+set m0001 "map 17+ ; set nextmap vstr m0002"
+set m0002 "map addict ; set nextmap vstr m0003"
+set m0003 "map adventuredm ; set nextmap vstr m0004"
+set m0004 "map alkdm13 ; set nextmap vstr m0005"
+set m0005 "map bk_thetruth ; set nextmap vstr m0006"
+set m0006 "map catq3dm02 ; set nextmap vstr m0007"
+set m0007 "map catq3dm03 ; set nextmap vstr m0008"
+set m0008 "map cpm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0009"
+set m0009 "map cpm1a ; set nextmap vstr m0010"
+set m0010 "map cpm2 ; set nextmap vstr m0011"
+set m0011 "map cpm4 ; set nextmap vstr m0012"
+set m0012 "map cpm5 ; set nextmap vstr m0013"
+set m0013 "map cpm6 ; set nextmap vstr m0014"
+set m0014 "map cpm7 ; set nextmap vstr m0015"
+set m0015 "map cpm9 ; set nextmap vstr m0016"
+set m0016 "map cpm11 ; set nextmap vstr m0017"
+set m0017 "map cpm13 ; set nextmap vstr m0018"
+set m0018 "map cpm14 ; set nextmap vstr m0019"
+set m0019 "map gon ; set nextmap vstr m0020"
+set m0020 "map hope ; set nextmap vstr m0021"
+set m0021 "map ik3dm2 ; set nextmap vstr m0022"
+set m0022 "map ktsdm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0023"
+set m0023 "map lae3dm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0024"
+set m0024 "map LDAQ3A03DM ; set nextmap vstr m0025"
+set m0025 "map LDAQ3A06DM ; set nextmap vstr m0026"
+set m0026 "map mvdm04 ; set nextmap vstr m0027"
+set m0027 "map obiwanshouse ; set nextmap vstr m0028"
+set m0028 "map ospca1 ; set nextmap vstr m0029"
+set m0029 "map ospctf1 ; set nextmap vstr m0030"
+set m0030 "map ospctf2 ; set nextmap vstr m0031"
+set m0031 "map ospdm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0032"
+set m0032 "map ospdm2 ; set nextmap vstr m0033"
+set m0033 "map ospdm3 ; set nextmap vstr m0034"
+set m0034 "map ospdm4 ; set nextmap vstr m0035"
+set m0035 "map ospdm5 ; set nextmap vstr m0036"
+set m0036 "map ospdm6 ; set nextmap vstr m0037"
+set m0037 "map ospdm7 ; set nextmap vstr m0038"
+set m0038 "map ospdm8 ; set nextmap vstr m0039"
+set m0039 "map ospdm9 ; set nextmap vstr m0040"
+set m0040 "map ospdm10 ; set nextmap vstr m0041"
+set m0041 "map ospdm11 ; set nextmap vstr m0042"
+set m0042 "map ospdm12 ; set nextmap vstr m0043"
+set m0043 "map pands ; set nextmap vstr m0044"
+set m0044 "map pjw3dm3 ; set nextmap vstr m0045"
+set m0045 "map pjw3tourney2 ; set nextmap vstr m0046"
+set m0046 "map pjw3tourney2f ; set nextmap vstr m0047"
+set m0047 "map polo3dm3 ; set nextmap vstr m0048"
+set m0048 "map polo3dm5 ; set nextmap vstr m0049"
+set m0049 "map pqarena ; set nextmap vstr m0050"
+set m0050 "map pureskillz1 ; set nextmap vstr m0051"
+set m0051 "map q3fex5 ; set nextmap vstr m0052"
+set m0052 "map q3mbd ; set nextmap vstr m0053"
+set m0053 "map q3mexx1 ; set nextmap vstr m0054"
+set m0054 "map q3tbdm4 ; set nextmap vstr m0055"
+set m0055 "map q3tbds1 ; set nextmap vstr m0056"
+set m0056 "map railroad ; set nextmap vstr m0057"
+set m0057 "map rdogdm4 ; set nextmap vstr m0058"
+set m0058 "map reloader ; set nextmap vstr m0059"
+set m0059 "map rqm3arena2 ; set nextmap vstr m0060"
+set m0060 "map shad3dm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0061"
+set m0061 "map simetrik ; set nextmap vstr m0062"
+set m0062 "map spk3dm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0063"
+set m0063 "map storm3tourney1 ; set nextmap vstr m0064"
+set m0064 "map tep ; set nextmap vstr m0065"
+set m0065 "map teqdm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0066"
+set m0066 "map teqdm2 ; set nextmap vstr m0067"
+set m0067 "map wintergames ; set nextmap vstr m0070"
+set m0068 "map yog3dm2 ; set nextmap vstr m0071"
+set m0069 "map yog3dm4 ; set nextmap vstr m0072"
+set m0070 "map yurch ; set nextmap vstr m0073"
+set m0071 "map ztn3dm1 ; set nextmap vstr m0074"
+set m0072 "map ztn3dm1-ho ; set nextmap vstr m0075"
+set m0073 "map ztn3dm2 ; set nextmap vstr m0001"
+
+// now start the server on the first map... after this point, the settings
+// apply to the game we have started. some settings will only work properly
+// after this point.
+vstr m0009
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+g_motd "The Fraggingest Place on Earth"
+ // the message of the day, played for people connecting.
+
+//set weapon respawn times for free for all in seconds. May need to decrease for large number of clients. (Default: 5)
+g_weaponrespawn 4
+
+//set voting. 1=on, 0=off (Default: 1)
+g_allowvote 1
+
+//set power multiples for quad damage (Default: 3)
+g_quadfactor 3
+
+//synchronous clients is necessary to allow client demo recording. Setting to 1 allows recording but play is not smooth and is not recommended for normal use. (Default: 0)
+g_synchronousClients 0
+
+//additions by Dekard- Anything with sets will be seen in the server settings in gamespy and in game for server settings.
+//If you are using special maps here would be a good place to add where to download them!!
+//sets "mappack" "http://www.myserver.com/mappack.zip"
+
+//reduce the zoom factor to allow farther zooming.
+zoom 10
+
+addbot bender
+addbot uriel
+addbot phobos
+addbot klesk
+addbot orbb
+addbot xaero
+addbot sandtrooper
+
--- /dev/null
+// test config file for dan's server.
+//set Gametype to 0 for Free for All Mode
+g_gametype 0
+//Free For All Settings Below
+//set ffa fraglimit. Set to 0 for no limit.
+fraglimit 42
+//set ffa timelimit. Set to 0 for no limit.
+timelimit 14
+//set Maximum number of clients
+sv_maxclients 8
+//set host name that shows up in server list. Change below to your server name preference and remove the //
+sv_hostname "fredstonia"
+//set message of the day that players see while connecting to the server. Must be set before level loads. Change below to your message of the day preference and remove the //
+g_motd "The Fraggingest Place on Earth"
+//set requirement for client password. 1=require password, 0=no password required (Default: 0)
+sv_privateClients 0
+//set password for private server "" for no password
+sv_privatePassword ""
+//set remote console password
+rconpassword ""
+//turn on/off pak cheat check. 1=on, 0=off (Default: 1)
+sv_pure 1
+//set max allowable rate for a client. 8000 to 10000 recommended. Max: 25000 (Default: 0)
+sv_maxRate 10000
+//add up to 4 additional master servers to report to (As you can see the ingame configs don't report to id automatically)
+sv_master1 ""
+sv_master2 ""
+sv_master3 ""
+sv_master4 ""
+sv_master5 ""
+//Set map selection, cycle order, and load first map for free for all
+set d1 "map metro ; set nextmap vstr d2"
+set d2 "map coralctf ; set nextmap vstr d3"
+set d3 "map addict ; set nextmap vstr d4"
+set d4 "map antilogic ; set nextmap vstr d5"
+set d5 "map bk_thetruth ; set nextmap vstr d6"
+set d6 "map bluemonday ; set nextmap vstr d7"
+set d7 "map falloutbunker ; set nextmap vstr d8"
+set d8 "map hydrogen ; set nextmap vstr d9"
+set d9 "map ik3dm1 ; set nextmap vstr d10"
+set d10 "map ik3dm2 ; set nextmap vstr d11"
+set d11 "map 17+ ; set nextmap vstr d12"
+set d12 "map yog3dm4 ; set nextmap vstr d13"
+set d13 "map lae3dm1 ; set nextmap vstr d14"
+set d14 "map q3mbd ; set nextmap vstr d15"
+set d15 "map teqdm1 ; set nextmap vstr d16"
+set d16 "map wintergames ; set nextmap vstr d17"
+set d17 "map obiwanshouse ; set nextmap vstr d18"
+set d18 "map she'k ; set nextmap vstr d1"
+vstr d1
+//set weapon respawn times for free for all in seconds. May need to decrease for large number of clients. (Default: 5)
+g_weaponrespawn 4
+//set voting. 1=on, 0=off (Default: 1)
+g_allowvote 1
+//set power multiples for quad damage (Default: 3)
+g_quadfactor 3
+//syncronous clients is necessary to allow client demo recording. Setting to 1 allows recording but play is not smooth and is not recommended for normal use. (Default: 0)
+g_syncronousClients 0
+//additions by Dekard- Anything with sets will be seen in the server settings in gamespy and in game for server settings.
+//If you are using special maps here would be a good place to add where to download them!!
+sets "Administrator" "fred"
+sets "Email" "fred@gruntose.com"
+sets "URL" "http://www.gruntose.com"
+sets "Location" "Grunston"
+sets "CPU" "AMD Athlon 1Ghz"
+//sets "mappack" "http://www.myserver.com/mappack.zip"
+
+//addbot stormtrooper
+addbot legoman
+addbot uriel
+addbot phobos
+addbot klesk
+addbot orbb
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+this is an example of running quake3 in dedicated server mode and with
+no console. the config file can be swapped out for other ones.
+
+nohup quake3 +set dedicated 1 +exec fred_free_for_all.cfg &
+
+the fred_...cfg file needs to be in the quake3/baseq3 directory unless
+the directory where it is stored is pointed at using q3 command line options
+that i don't know but which i have heard of.
+
+this just automates the copying of the config file before running quake.
+
+cp ~/feisty_meow/infobase/quake3/fred_free_for_all.cfg /usr/local/games/quake3/baseq3/ ; nohup quake3 +set dedicated 1 +exec fred_free_for_all.cfg
+
+
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/sh -e
+#
+# rc.local
+#
+# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
+# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
+# value on error.
+#
+# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
+# bits.
+#
+# By default this script does nothing.
+
+####
+
+# special for equanimity; get zooty informed of our IP so we can make
+# the back connection and get home.
+bash /home/fred/feisty_meow/scripts/security/tell_zooty_our_ip.sh &>/tmp/zooty_tell_report.txt &
+ # we put this in the background and hope it doesn't intrude too much.
+
+exit 0
--- /dev/null
+
+this directory provides a bunch of example configuration files for different
+services and programs.
+
+some of the files here are named "dot.something", and that generally should
+be translated to a real name of ".something". otherwise, these configuration
+example files would be hidden (since the start with a dot), which doesn't
+make a very good example.
+
--- /dev/null
+# gated example configuration.
+
+interfaces {
+ # passive keeps the route from dying if there's no communicating router.
+ interface eth0 passive ;
+ interface eth1 passive ;
+};
+
+rip yes {
+ interface all noripin noripout;
+ interface eth0 ripin ripout version 2 broadcast;
+ interface eth1 ripin ripout version 2 broadcast;
+};
+
+import proto rip {
+ all ;
+ default restrict ;
+};
+
+export proto rip {
+ proto direct ;
+ proto static metric 1;
+};
+
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# this could be invoked by the rc.local to set up routes.
+
+# add the routes for this machine.
+####/sbin/route >/root/route_list_before_add.txt
+# rip out bogus routes first.
+####/sbin/route del default
+####/sbin/route del -net 14.28.42.0 netmask 255.255.255.0
+####/sbin/route del -net 14.28.42.0 netmask 255.255.255.0
+# add in the correct routes.
+####/sbin/route add router eth0
+####/sbin/route add 14.28.42.71 eth0
+####/sbin/route add -net 14.28.42.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 eth1
+####/sbin/route add -net 14.28.42.128 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 14.28.42.5 eth1
+####/sbin/route add default gw 14.28.42.71
+####/sbin/route >/root/route_list_after_add.txt
+
+# add ipx routes.
+###/usr/bin/ipx_interface add eth1 802.2 0x2
+###/usr/bin/ipx_interface add eth1 802.2 0x3
+
--- /dev/null
+# This is the main Samba configuration file. You should read the
+# smb.conf(5) manual page in order to understand the options listed
+# here. Samba has a huge number of configurable options (perhaps too
+# many!) most of which are not shown in this example
+#
+# Any line which starts with a ; (semi-colon) or a # (hash)
+# is a comment and is ignored. In this example we will use a #
+# for commentry and a ; for parts of the config file that you
+# may wish to enable
+#
+# NOTE: Whenever you modify this file you should run the command "testparm"
+# to check that you have not many any basic syntactic errors.
+#
+#======================= Global Settings =====================================
+[global]
+
+# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name
+ workgroup = TwainNet
+
+# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
+ server string = Bartron the Gateway
+
+# This option is important for security. It allows you to restrict
+# connections to machines which are on your local network. The
+# following example restricts access to two C class networks and
+# the "loopback" interface. For more examples of the syntax see
+# the smb.conf man page
+; hosts allow = 192.168.1. 192.168.2. 127.
+ hosts allow = 14.28.42. 127.
+
+# if you want to automatically load your printer list rather
+# than setting them up individually then you'll need this
+ printcap name = /etc/printcap
+ load printers = yes
+
+# It should not be necessary to spell out the print system type unless
+# yours is non-standard. Currently supported print systems include:
+# bsd, sysv, plp, lprng, aix, hpux, qnx
+; printing = bsd
+
+# Uncomment this if you want a guest account, you must add this to /etc/passwd
+# otherwise the user "nobody" is used
+; guest account = pcguest
+
+# this tells Samba to use a separate log file for each machine
+# that connects
+ log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
+
+# Put a capping on the size of the log files (in Kb).
+ max log size = 100
+
+# Security mode. Most people will want user level security. See
+# security_level.txt for details.
+ security = user
+# Use password server option only with security = server
+; password server = <NT-Server-Name>
+
+# Password Level allows matching of _n_ characters of the password for
+# all combinations of upper and lower case.
+; password level = 8
+; username level = 8
+
+# You may wish to use password encryption. Please read
+# ENCRYPTION.txt, Win95.txt and WinNT.txt in the Samba documentation.
+# Do not enable this option unless you have read those documents
+ encrypt passwords = yes
+ smb passwd file = /etc/smbpasswd
+
+# Unix users can map to different SMB User names
+; username map = /etc/smbusers
+
+# Using the following line enables you to customise your configuration
+# on a per machine basis. The %m gets replaced with the netbios name
+# of the machine that is connecting
+; include = /etc/smb.conf.%m
+
+# Most people will find that this option gives better performance.
+# See speed.txt and the manual pages for details
+ socket options = TCP_NODELAY
+
+# Configure Samba to use multiple interfaces
+# If you have multiple network interfaces then you must list them
+# here. See the man page for details.
+; interfaces = 192.168.12.2/24 192.168.13.2/24
+
+# Configure remote browse list synchronisation here
+# request announcement to, or browse list sync from:
+# a specific host or from / to a whole subnet (see below)
+; remote browse sync = 192.168.3.25 192.168.5.255
+# Cause this host to announce itself to local subnets here
+; remote announce = 192.168.1.255 192.168.2.44
+
+# Browser Control Options:
+# set local master to no if you don't want Samba to become a master
+# browser on your network. Otherwise the normal election rules apply
+ local master = yes
+
+# OS Level determines the precedence of this server in master browser
+# elections. The default value should be reasonable
+ os level = 34
+
+# Domain Master specifies Samba to be the Domain Master Browser. This
+# allows Samba to collate browse lists between subnets. Don't use this
+# if you already have a Windows NT domain controller doing this job
+ domain master = yes
+
+# Preferred Master causes Samba to force a local browser election on startup
+# and gives it a slightly higher chance of winning the election
+ preferred master = yes
+
+# Use only if you have an NT server on your network that has been
+# configured at install time to be a primary domain controller.
+; domain controller = <NT-Domain-Controller-SMBName>
+
+# Enable this if you want Samba to be a domain logon server for
+# Windows95 workstations.
+ domain logons = yes
+
+# if you enable domain logons then you may want a per-machine or
+# per user logon script
+# run a specific logon batch file per workstation (machine)
+; logon script = %m.bat
+# run a specific logon batch file per username
+; logon script = %U.bat
+
+# Where to store roving profiles (only for Win95 and WinNT)
+# %L substitutes for this servers netbios name, %U is username
+# You must uncomment the [Profiles] share below
+; logon path = \\%L\Profiles\%U
+
+# All NetBIOS names must be resolved to IP Addresses
+# 'Name Resolve Order' allows the named resolution mechanism to be specified
+# the default order is "host lmhosts wins bcast". "host" means use the unix
+# system gethostbyname() function call that will use either /etc/hosts OR
+# DNS or NIS depending on the settings of /etc/host.config, /etc/nsswitch.conf
+# and the /etc/resolv.conf file. "host" therefore is system configuration
+# dependant. This parameter is most often of use to prevent DNS lookups
+# in order to resolve NetBIOS names to IP Addresses. Use with care!
+# The example below excludes use of name resolution for machines that are NOT
+# on the local network segment
+# - OR - are not deliberately to be known via lmhosts or via WINS.
+; name resolve order = wins lmhosts bcast
+
+# Windows Internet Name Serving Support Section:
+# WINS Support - Tells the NMBD component of Samba to enable it's WINS Server
+ wins support = yes
+
+# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
+# Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
+; wins server = w.x.y.z
+
+# WINS Proxy - Tells Samba to answer name resolution queries on
+# behalf of a non WINS capable client, for this to work there must be
+# at least one WINS Server on the network. The default is NO.
+; wins proxy = yes
+
+# DNS Proxy - tells Samba whether or not to try to resolve NetBIOS names
+# via DNS nslookups. The built-in default for versions 1.9.17 is yes,
+# this has been changed in version 1.9.18 to no.
+ dns proxy = no
+
+# Case Preservation can be handy - system default is _no_
+# NOTE: These can be set on a per share basis
+; preserve case = no
+; short preserve case = no
+# Default case is normally upper case for all DOS files
+; default case = lower
+# Be very careful with case sensitivity - it can break things!
+; case sensitive = no
+
+#============================ Share Definitions ==============================
+[homes]
+ comment = Home Directories
+ browseable = no
+ writable = yes
+
+# Un-comment the following and create the netlogon directory for Domain Logons
+[netlogon]
+ comment = Network Logon Service
+ path = /home/netlogon
+ guest ok = yes
+ writable = no
+ share modes = no
+
+
+# Un-comment the following to provide a specific roving profile share
+# the default is to use the user's home directory
+;[Profiles]
+; path = /home/profiles
+; browseable = no
+; guest ok = yes
+
+
+# NOTE: If you have a BSD-style print system there is no need to
+# specifically define each individual printer
+[printers]
+ comment = All Printers
+ path = /var/spool/samba
+ browseable = no
+# Set public = yes to allow user 'guest account' to print
+ guest ok = no
+ writable = no
+ printable = yes
+
+# This one is useful for people to share files
+;[tmp]
+; comment = Temporary file space
+; path = /tmp
+; read only = no
+; public = yes
+
+# A publicly accessible directory, but read only, except for people in
+# the "staff" group
+;[public]
+; comment = Public Stuff
+; path = /home/samba
+; public = yes
+; writable = yes
+; printable = no
+; write list = @staff
+
+# Other examples.
+#
+# A private printer, usable only by fred. Spool data will be placed in fred's
+# home directory. Note that fred must have write access to the spool directory,
+# wherever it is.
+;[fredsprn]
+; comment = Fred's Printer
+; valid users = fred
+; path = /homes/fred
+; printer = freds_printer
+; public = no
+; writable = no
+; printable = yes
+
+# A private directory, usable only by fred. Note that fred requires write
+# access to the directory.
+;[fredsdir]
+; comment = Fred's Service
+; path = /usr/somewhere/private
+; valid users = fred
+; public = no
+; writable = yes
+; printable = no
+
+# a service which has a different directory for each machine that connects
+# this allows you to tailor configurations to incoming machines. You could
+# also use the %u option to tailor it by user name.
+# The %m gets replaced with the machine name that is connecting.
+;[pchome]
+; comment = PC Directories
+; path = /usr/pc/%m
+; public = no
+; writable = yes
+
+# A publicly accessible directory, read/write to all users. Note that all files
+# created in the directory by users will be owned by the default user, so
+# any user with access can delete any other user's files. Obviously this
+# directory must be writable by the default user. Another user could of course
+# be specified, in which case all files would be owned by that user instead.
+;[public]
+; path = /usr/somewhere/else/public
+; public = yes
+; only guest = yes
+; writable = yes
+; printable = no
+
+# The following two entries demonstrate how to share a directory so that two
+# users can place files there that will be owned by the specific users. In this
+# setup, the directory should be writable by both users and should have the
+# sticky bit set on it to prevent abuse. Obviously this could be extended to
+# as many users as required.
+;[myshare]
+; comment = Mary's and Fred's stuff
+; path = /usr/somewhere/shared
+; valid users = mary fred
+; public = no
+; writable = yes
+; printable = no
+; create mask = 0765
+
+[top]
+ comment = BartronTop
+ path = /
+ valid users = fred
+ public = no
+ writable = yes
+ printable = no
+
+[stuffing]
+ comment = Stuffings
+ path = /home/fred/stuffing
+ public = no
+ writable = yes
+ printable = no
+ valid users = fred
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+##############
+#
+# fred's bastion of drives...
+#
+
+# shaggy's archive drive.
+#shaggy:/z/archivonia /z/archivonia nfs exec,dev,suid,rw,user 0 0
+
+# hal's buffalo drive.
+hal:/z/buffaloon /z/buffaloon nfs exec,dev,suid,rw,user 0 0
+
+# NAS mounts...
+
+#nfs not currently allowing writes. grrrrr.
+#vitalstore:/DataVolume/chunky /z/chunky nfs exec,dev,suid,rw,user 0 0
+#vitalstore:/DataVolume/stuffing /z/stuffing nfs exec,dev,suid,rw,user 0 0
+#vitalstore:/DataVolume/walrus /z/walrus nfs exec,dev,suid,ro,user 0 0
+
+//vitalstore/chunky /z/chunky cifs credentials=/etc/samba/vitalstore_cifs.txt,uid=1008,gid=1008 0 0
+//vitalstore/stuffing /z/stuffing cifs credentials=/etc/samba/vitalstore_cifs.txt,uid=1008,gid=1008 0 0
+//vitalstore/walrus /z/walrus cifs credentials=/etc/samba/vitalstore_cifs.txt,uid=1008,gid=1008 0 0
+//vitalstore/virtual-fred /z/fredgrid cifs credentials=/etc/samba/vitalstore_cifs.txt,uid=1008,gid=1008 0 0
+
+#
+##############
+
--- /dev/null
+
+//gulliver/build /home/fred/gullybuild cifs uid=1000,gid=1001,noauto,credentials=/etc/gulliver_credentials.txt 0 0
+ # in this example, a box named gulliver has an SMB share called "build".
+ # we are mounting that to a local directory /home/fred/gullybuild.
+ # the uid/gid items should be set to the actual user id and group id for
+ # whatever user will need to access and modify those files. the credentials
+ # file is used to specify authentication parameters for the share. an
+ # example of the credential file format is below.
+
+###############
+
+# example credentials file:
+# the information below is all that should be needed to access the share on
+# gulliver. note that the user can contain a windows domain.
+# this file does not go in /etc/fstab! it should be a separate file in the
+# /etc directory or some other safe place. the file permissions should only
+# allow root to read/write the file, such as when these three commands
+# are used to set the ownership and permissions:
+# chown root /etc/gulliver_credentials.txt
+# chgrp root /etc/gulliver_credentials.txt
+# chmod 600 /etc/gulliver_credentials.txt
+
+## /etc/gulliver_credentials.txt
+username=sluggocorp\dhughley
+password=semjendradok89
+workgroup=smezzo_group
+
--- /dev/null
+# This is the main Samba configuration file. You should read the
+# smb.conf(5) manual page in order to understand the options listed
+# here. Samba has a huge number of configurable options (perhaps too
+# many!) most of which are not shown in this example
+#
+# Any line which starts with a ; (semi-colon) or a # (hash)
+# is a comment and is ignored. In this example we will use a #
+# for commentry and a ; for parts of the config file that you
+# may wish to enable
+#
+# NOTE: Whenever you modify this file you should run the command "testparm"
+# to check that you have not many any basic syntactic errors.
+#
+#======================= Global Settings =====================================
+[global]
+
+# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name
+ workgroup = TwainNet
+
+# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
+ server string = TheWheel Code Archiver
+
+# This option is important for security. It allows you to restrict
+# connections to machines which are on your local network. The
+# following example restricts access to two C class networks and
+# the "loopback" interface. For more examples of the syntax see
+# the smb.conf man page
+; hosts allow = 192.168.1. 192.168.2. 127.
+ hosts allow = 14.28.42. 127.
+
+# if you want to automatically load your printer list rather
+# than setting them up individually then you'll need this
+ printcap name = /etc/printcap
+ load printers = yes
+
+# It should not be necessary to spell out the print system type unless
+# yours is non-standard. Currently supported print systems include:
+# bsd, sysv, plp, lprng, aix, hpux, qnx
+; printing = bsd
+
+# Uncomment this if you want a guest account, you must add this to /etc/passwd
+# otherwise the user "nobody" is used
+; guest account = pcguest
+
+# this tells Samba to use a separate log file for each machine
+# that connects
+ log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
+
+# Put a capping on the size of the log files (in Kb).
+ max log size = 50
+
+# Security mode. Most people will want user level security. See
+# security_level.txt for details.
+ security = user
+# Use password server option only with security = server
+; password server = <NT-Server-Name>
+
+# Password Level allows matching of _n_ characters of the password for
+# all combinations of upper and lower case.
+; password level = 8
+; username level = 8
+
+# You may wish to use password encryption. Please read
+# ENCRYPTION.txt, Win95.txt and WinNT.txt in the Samba documentation.
+# Do not enable this option unless you have read those documents
+ encrypt passwords = yes
+ smb passwd file = /etc/smbpasswd
+
+# The following are needed to allow password changing from Windows to
+# update the Linux sytsem password also.
+# NOTE: Use these with 'encrypt passwords' and 'smb passwd file' above.
+# NOTE2: You do NOT need these to allow workstations to change only
+# the encrypted SMB passwords. They allow the Unix password
+# to be kept in sync with the SMB password.
+; unix password sync = Yes
+; passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
+; passwd chat = *New*UNIX*password* %n\n *ReType*new*UNIX*password* %n\n *passwd:*all*authentication*tokens*updated*successfully*
+
+# Unix users can map to different SMB User names
+; username map = /etc/smbusers
+
+# Using the following line enables you to customise your configuration
+# on a per machine basis. The %m gets replaced with the netbios name
+# of the machine that is connecting
+; include = /etc/smb.conf.%m
+
+# Most people will find that this option gives better performance.
+# See speed.txt and the manual pages for details
+ socket options = TCP_NODELAY
+
+# Configure Samba to use multiple interfaces
+# If you have multiple network interfaces then you must list them
+# here. See the man page for details.
+; interfaces = 192.168.12.2/24 192.168.13.2/24
+
+# Configure remote browse list synchronisation here
+# request announcement to, or browse list sync from:
+# a specific host or from / to a whole subnet (see below)
+; remote browse sync = 192.168.3.25 192.168.5.255
+# Cause this host to announce itself to local subnets here
+; remote announce = 192.168.1.255 192.168.2.44
+
+# Browser Control Options:
+# set local master to no if you don't want Samba to become a master
+# browser on your network. Otherwise the normal election rules apply
+; local master = no
+
+# OS Level determines the precedence of this server in master browser
+# elections. The default value should be reasonable
+; os level = 33
+
+# Domain Master specifies Samba to be the Domain Master Browser. This
+# allows Samba to collate browse lists between subnets. Don't use this
+# if you already have a Windows NT domain controller doing this job
+; domain master = yes
+
+# Preferred Master causes Samba to force a local browser election on startup
+# and gives it a slightly higher chance of winning the election
+; preferred master = yes
+
+# Use only if you have an NT server on your network that has been
+# configured at install time to be a primary domain controller.
+; domain controller = <NT-Domain-Controller-SMBName>
+
+# Enable this if you want Samba to be a domain logon server for
+# Windows95 workstations.
+; domain logons = yes
+
+# if you enable domain logons then you may want a per-machine or
+# per user logon script
+# run a specific logon batch file per workstation (machine)
+; logon script = %m.bat
+# run a specific logon batch file per username
+; logon script = %U.bat
+
+# Where to store roving profiles (only for Win95 and WinNT)
+# %L substitutes for this servers netbios name, %U is username
+# You must uncomment the [Profiles] share below
+; logon path = \\%L\Profiles\%U
+
+# All NetBIOS names must be resolved to IP Addresses
+# 'Name Resolve Order' allows the named resolution mechanism to be specified
+# the default order is "host lmhosts wins bcast". "host" means use the unix
+# system gethostbyname() function call that will use either /etc/hosts OR
+# DNS or NIS depending on the settings of /etc/host.config, /etc/nsswitch.conf
+# and the /etc/resolv.conf file. "host" therefore is system configuration
+# dependant. This parameter is most often of use to prevent DNS lookups
+# in order to resolve NetBIOS names to IP Addresses. Use with care!
+# The example below excludes use of name resolution for machines that are NOT
+# on the local network segment
+# - OR - are not deliberately to be known via lmhosts or via WINS.
+; name resolve order = wins lmhosts bcast
+
+# Windows Internet Name Serving Support Section:
+# WINS Support - Tells the NMBD component of Samba to enable it's WINS Server
+; wins support = yes
+
+# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
+# Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
+; wins server = w.x.y.z
+
+# WINS Proxy - Tells Samba to answer name resolution queries on
+# behalf of a non WINS capable client, for this to work there must be
+# at least one WINS Server on the network. The default is NO.
+; wins proxy = yes
+
+# DNS Proxy - tells Samba whether or not to try to resolve NetBIOS names
+# via DNS nslookups. The built-in default for versions 1.9.17 is yes,
+# this has been changed in version 1.9.18 to no.
+ dns proxy = no
+
+# Case Preservation can be handy - system default is _no_
+# NOTE: These can be set on a per share basis
+; preserve case = no
+; short preserve case = no
+# Default case is normally upper case for all DOS files
+; default case = lower
+# Be very careful with case sensitivity - it can break things!
+; case sensitive = no
+
+#============================ Share Definitions ==============================
+[homes]
+ comment = Home Directories
+ browseable = no
+ writable = yes
+
+# Un-comment the following and create the netlogon directory for Domain Logons
+; [netlogon]
+; comment = Network Logon Service
+; path = /home/netlogon
+; guest ok = yes
+; writable = no
+; share modes = no
+
+
+# Un-comment the following to provide a specific roving profile share
+# the default is to use the user's home directory
+;[Profiles]
+; path = /home/profiles
+; browseable = no
+; guest ok = yes
+
+
+# NOTE: If you have a BSD-style print system there is no need to
+# specifically define each individual printer
+[printers]
+ comment = All Printers
+ path = /var/spool/samba
+ browseable = no
+# Set public = yes to allow user 'guest account' to print
+ guest ok = no
+ writable = no
+ printable = yes
+
+# This one is useful for people to share files
+;[tmp]
+; comment = Temporary file space
+; path = /tmp
+; read only = no
+; public = yes
+
+# A publicly accessible directory, but read only, except for people in
+# the "staff" group
+;[public]
+; comment = Public Stuff
+; path = /home/samba
+; public = yes
+; writable = yes
+; printable = no
+; write list = @staff
+
+# Other examples.
+#
+# A private printer, usable only by fred. Spool data will be placed in fred's
+# home directory. Note that fred must have write access to the spool directory,
+# wherever it is.
+;[fredsprn]
+; comment = Fred's Printer
+; valid users = fred
+; path = /homes/fred
+; printer = freds_printer
+; public = no
+; writable = no
+; printable = yes
+
+# A private directory, usable only by fred. Note that fred requires write
+# access to the directory.
+;[fredsdir]
+; comment = Fred's Service
+; path = /usr/somewhere/private
+; valid users = fred
+; public = no
+; writable = yes
+; printable = no
+
+# a service which has a different directory for each machine that connects
+# this allows you to tailor configurations to incoming machines. You could
+# also use the %u option to tailor it by user name.
+# The %m gets replaced with the machine name that is connecting.
+;[pchome]
+; comment = PC Directories
+; path = /usr/pc/%m
+; public = no
+; writable = yes
+
+# A publicly accessible directory, read/write to all users. Note that all files
+# created in the directory by users will be owned by the default user, so
+# any user with access can delete any other user's files. Obviously this
+# directory must be writable by the default user. Another user could of course
+# be specified, in which case all files would be owned by that user instead.
+;[public]
+; path = /usr/somewhere/else/public
+; public = yes
+; only guest = yes
+; writable = yes
+; printable = no
+
+# The following two entries demonstrate how to share a directory so that two
+# users can place files there that will be owned by the specific users. In this
+# setup, the directory should be writable by both users and should have the
+# sticky bit set on it to prevent abuse. Obviously this could be extended to
+# as many users as required.
+;[myshare]
+; comment = Mary's and Fred's stuff
+; path = /usr/somewhere/shared
+; valid users = mary fred
+; public = no
+; writable = yes
+; printable = no
+; create mask = 0765
+
+[top]
+ comment = TheWheelTop
+ path = /
+ valid users = fred
+ public = no
+ writable = yes
+ printable = no
+
+[data]
+ comment = Data
+ path = /home/fred/data
+ public = no
+ writable = yes
+ printable = no
+ valid users = fred
+
+[pinheader]
+ comment = zip drive
+ path = /mnt/zip
+ public = no
+ writable = yes
+ printable = no
+ valid users = fred
+
--- /dev/null
+
+nethack on
+
+logfile $HOME/.tmp/zz_screenlog_%t_%Y_%m_%d_%c.%n
+
+defscrollback 1024
+
+# Display the status line
+hardstatus on
+hardstatus alwayslastline
+hardstatus string "%{.kW}%-w%{.bW}%t [%n]%{-}%+w %=%{..G} %H %{..Y} %Y/%m/%d %c"
+
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# team_city_startup by Chris Koeritz
+#
+# /etc/init.d/team_city_startup
+#
+#uhhh chkconfig: 2345 01 99
+# description: Starts the Team City Agent as our swbuild user.
+#
+### BEGIN INIT INFO
+# Provides: team_city_startup
+# Required-Start:
+# Required-Stop:
+# Default-Start: 3 4 5
+# Default-Stop: 0 1 2 6
+# Short-Description: Team City Agent initialization
+# Description: team city rc file. This rc script runs the agent as the
+# swbuild user.
+### END INIT INFO
+
+usage() {
+ echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|kill}"
+}
+
+function teamcity_action()
+{
+ export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
+ export HOME=/home/swbuild
+
+ # should become the swbuild user and tell team city the proper action.
+ su -m -c "/home/swbuild/teamcity_agent/bin/agent.sh $*" swbuild
+}
+
+test -x ${PARSER} || exit 0 # by debian policy
+
+case "$1" in
+ start)
+ teamcity_action start
+ rc=$?
+ ;;
+ stop)
+ teamcity_action stop
+ rc=$?
+ ;;
+ kill)
+ teamcity_action stop kill
+ rc=$?
+ ;;
+ status)
+ procs_found=$(ps wuax | grep teamcity | grep -v grep)
+ if [ -z "$procs_found" ]; then
+ echo "Team City Agent is not running."
+ else
+ echo "Team City Agent is running."
+ fi
+ rc=$?
+ ;;
+ *)
+ usage
+ exit 1
+ ;;
+ esac
+exit $rc
+
+
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# (c) Copyright by Wolfgang Fuschlberger
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+# ( http://www.fsf.org/licenses/gpl.txt )
+#####################################################################
+
+# first Release: 2004-07-30
+RELEASE="2007-10-19"
+#
+# The latest version of the script is available at
+# http://www.fuschlberger.net/programs/ssh-scp-sftp-chroot-jail/
+#
+# Feedback is welcome!
+#
+# Thanks for Bugfixes / Enhancements to
+# Michael Prokop <http://www.michael-prokop.at/chroot/>,
+# Randy K., Randy D., Jonathan Hunter and everybody else.
+#####################################################################
+
+#
+# Features:
+# - enable scp and sftp in the chroot-jail
+# - use one directory (default /home/jail/) as chroot for all users
+# - create new accounts
+# - move existing accounts to chroot
+#####################################################################
+
+# path to sshd's config file: needed for automatic detection of the locaten of
+# the sftp-server binary
+SSHD_CONFIG="/etc/ssh/sshd_config"
+
+# Check if we are called with username or update
+if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
+ echo
+ echo "ERROR: Parameter missing. Did you forget the username?"
+ echo "-------------------------------------------------------------"
+ echo
+ echo "USAGE:"
+ echo "Create new chrooted account or"
+ echo "add existing User to chroot-jail:"
+ echo "-> $0 username"
+ echo
+ echo "or specify \$SHELL and path where the jail should be located:"
+ echo "-> $0 username [/path/to/chroot-shell [/path/to/jail]]"
+ echo "Default shell = /bin/chroot-shell"
+ echo "Default chroot-path = /home/jail"
+ echo "-------------------------------------------------------------"
+ echo
+ echo "Updating files in the chroot-jail:"
+ echo "-> $0 update [/path/to/chroot-shell [/path/to/jail]]"
+ echo "-------------------------------------------------------------"
+ echo
+ echo "To uninstall:"
+ echo " # userdel \$USER"
+ echo " # rm -rf /home/jail"
+ echo " (this deletes all Users' files!)"
+ echo " # rm -f /bin/chroot-shell"
+ echo " manually delete the User's line from /etc/sudoers"
+ exit
+fi
+
+if [ -z "$PATH" ] ; then
+ PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin
+fi
+
+echo
+echo Release: $RELEASE
+echo
+
+echo "Am I root? "
+if [ "$(whoami &2>/dev/null)" != "root" ] && [ "$(id -un &2>/dev/null)" != "root" ] ; then
+ echo " NO!
+
+Error: You must be root to run this script."
+ exit 1
+fi
+echo " OK";
+
+# Check existence of necessary files
+echo "Checking distribution... "
+if [ -f /etc/debian_version ];
+ then echo " Supported Distribution found"
+ echo " System is running Debian Linux"
+ DISTRO=DEBIAN;
+elif [ -f /etc/SuSE-release ];
+ then echo " Supported Distribution found"
+ echo " System is running SuSE Linux"
+ DISTRO=SUSE;
+elif [ -f /etc/fedora-release ];
+ then echo " Supported Distribution found"
+ echo " System is running Fedora Linux"
+ DISTRO=FEDORA;
+elif [ -f /etc/redhat-release ];
+ then echo " Supported Distribution found"
+ echo " System is running Red Hat Linux"
+ DISTRO=REDHAT;
+else echo -e " failed...........\nThis script works best on Debian, Red Hat, Fedora and SuSE Linux!\nLet's try it nevertheless....\nIf some program files cannot be found adjust the respective path in line 98\n"
+#exit 1
+fi
+
+# Specify the apps you want to copy to the jail
+if [ "$DISTRO" = SUSE ]; then
+ APPS="/bin/bash /bin/cp /usr/bin/dircolors /bin/ls /bin/mkdir /bin/mv /bin/rm /bin/rmdir /bin/sh /bin/su /usr/bin/groups /usr/bin/id /usr/bin/netcat /usr/bin/rsync /usr/bin/ssh /usr/bin/scp /sbin/unix_chkpwd"
+elif [ "$DISTRO" = FEDORA ]; then
+ APPS="/bin/bash /bin/cp /usr/bin/dircolors /bin/ls /bin/mkdir /bin/mv /bin/rm /bin/rmdir /bin/sh /bin/su /usr/bin/groups /usr/bin/id /usr/bin/nc /usr/bin/rsync /usr/bin/ssh /usr/bin/scp /sbin/unix_chkpwd"
+elif [ "$DISTRO" = REDHAT ]; then
+ APPS="/bin/bash /bin/cp /usr/bin/dircolors /bin/ls /bin/mkdir /bin/mv /bin/rm /bin/rmdir /bin/sh /bin/su /usr/bin/groups /usr/bin/id /usr/bin/nc /usr/bin/rsync /usr/bin/ssh /usr/bin/scp /sbin/unix_chkpwd"
+elif [ "$DISTRO" = DEBIAN ]; then
+ APPS="/bin/bash /bin/cp /usr/bin/dircolors /bin/ls /bin/mkdir /bin/mv /bin/rm /bin/rmdir /bin/sh /bin/su /usr/bin/groups /usr/bin/id /usr/bin/rsync /usr/bin/ssh /usr/bin/scp /sbin/unix_chkpwd"
+else
+ APPS="/bin/bash /bin/cp /usr/bin/dircolors /bin/ls /bin/mkdir /bin/mv /bin/rm /bin/rmdir /bin/sh /bin/su /usr/bin/groups /usr/bin/id /usr/bin/rsync /usr/bin/ssh /usr/bin/scp /usr/sbin/unix_chkpwd"
+fi
+
+# Check existence of necessary files
+echo "Checking for which... "
+#if [ -f $(which which) ] ;
+# not good because if which does not exist I look for an
+# empty filename and get OK nevertheless
+if ( test -f /usr/bin/which ) || ( test -f /bin/which ) || ( test -f /sbin/which ) || ( test -f /usr/sbin/which );
+ then echo " OK";
+ else echo " failed
+
+Please install which-binary!
+"
+exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "Checking for chroot..."
+if [ $(which chroot) ];
+ then echo " OK";
+ else echo " failed
+
+chroot not found!
+Please install chroot-package/binary!
+"
+exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "Checking for sudo..."
+if [ $(which sudo) ]; then
+ echo " OK";
+else
+ echo " failed
+
+sudo not found!
+Please install sudo-package/binary!
+"
+exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "Checking for dirname..."
+if [ $(which dirname) ]; then
+ echo " OK";
+else
+ echo " failed
+
+dirname not found!
+Please install dirname-binary (to be found eg in the package coreutils)!
+"
+exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "Checking for awk..."
+if [ $(which awk) ]; then
+ echo " OK
+";
+else
+ echo " failed
+
+awk not found!
+Please install (g)awk-package/binary!
+"
+exit 1
+fi
+
+# get location of sftp-server binary from /etc/ssh/sshd_config
+# check for existence of /etc/ssh/sshd_config and for
+# (uncommented) line with sftp-server filename. If neither exists, just skip
+# this step and continue without sftp-server
+#
+#if (test ! -f /etc/ssh/sshd_config &> /dev/null); then
+# echo "
+#File /etc/ssh/sshd_config not found.
+#Not checking for path to sftp-server.
+# ";
+#else
+if [ ! -f ${SSHD_CONFIG} ]
+then
+ echo "File ${SSHD_CONFIG} not found."
+ echo "Not checking for path to sftp-server."
+ echo "Please adjust the global \$SSHD_CONFIG variable"
+else
+ if !(grep -v "^#" ${SSHD_CONFIG} | grep -i sftp-server &> /dev/null); then
+ echo "Obviously no sftp-server is running on this system.
+";
+ else SFTP_SERVER=$(grep -v "^#" ${SSHD_CONFIG} | grep -i sftp-server | awk '{ print $3}')
+ fi
+fi
+
+#if !(grep -v "^#" /etc/ssh/sshd_config | grep -i sftp-server /etc/ssh/sshd_config | awk '{ print $3}' &> /dev/null); then
+APPS="$APPS $SFTP_SERVER"
+
+# Get accountname to create / move
+CHROOT_USERNAME=$1
+
+if ! [ -z "$2" ] ; then
+ SHELL=$2
+else
+ SHELL=/bin/chroot-shell
+fi
+
+if ! [ -z "$3" ] ; then
+ JAILPATH=$3
+else
+ JAILPATH=/home/jail
+fi
+
+# Exit if user already exists
+#id $CHROOT_USERNAME > /dev/null 2>&1 && { echo "User exists."; echo "Exiting."; exit 1; }
+
+# Check if user already exists and ask for confirmation
+# we have to trust that root knows what she is doing when saying 'yes'
+if ( id $CHROOT_USERNAME > /dev/null 2>&1 ) ; then {
+echo "
+-----------------------------
+User $CHROOT_USERNAME exists.
+
+Are you sure you want to modify the users home directory and lock him into the
+chroot directory?
+Are you REALLY sure?
+Say only yes if you absolutely know what you are doing!"
+ read -p "(yes/no) -> " MODIFYUSER
+ if [ "$MODIFYUSER" != "yes" ]; then
+ echo "
+Not entered yes. Exiting...."
+ exit 1
+ fi
+}
+else
+ CREATEUSER="yes"
+fi
+
+# Create $SHELL (shell for jailed accounts)
+if [ -f ${SHELL} ] ; then
+ echo "
+-----------------------------
+The file $SHELL exists.
+Probably it was created by this script.
+
+Are you sure you want to overwrite it?
+(you want to say yes for example if you are running the script for the second
+time when adding more than one account to the jail)"
+read -p "(yes/no) -> " OVERWRITE
+if [ "$OVERWRITE" != "yes" ]; then
+ echo "
+Not entered yes. Exiting...."
+ exit 1
+fi
+else
+ echo "Creating $SHELL"
+ echo '#!/bin/sh' > $SHELL
+ echo "$(which sudo) $(which chroot) $JAILPATH /bin/su - \$USER" \"\$@\" >> $SHELL
+ chmod 755 $SHELL
+fi
+
+# make common jail for everybody if inexistent
+if [ ! -d ${JAILPATH} ] ; then
+ mkdir -p ${JAILPATH}
+ echo "Creating ${JAILPATH}"
+fi
+cd ${JAILPATH}
+
+# Create directories in jail that do not exist yet
+JAILDIRS="dev etc etc/pam.d bin home sbin usr usr/bin usr/lib"
+for directory in $JAILDIRS ; do
+ if [ ! -d "$JAILPATH/$directory" ] ; then
+ mkdir $JAILPATH/"$directory"
+ echo "Creating $JAILPATH/$directory"
+ fi
+done
+echo
+
+# Comment in the following lines if your apache can't read the directories and
+# uses the security contexts
+# Fix security contexts so Apache can read files
+#CHCON=$(which chcon)
+#if [ -n "$CHCON" ] && [ -x $CHCON ]; then
+# $CHCON -t home_root_t $JAILPATH/home
+# $CHCON -t user_home_dir_t $JAILPATH/home/$CHROOT_USERNAME
+#fi
+
+# Creating necessary devices
+[ -r $JAILPATH/dev/urandom ] || mknod $JAILPATH/dev/urandom c 1 9
+[ -r $JAILPATH/dev/null ] || mknod -m 666 $JAILPATH/dev/null c 1 3
+[ -r $JAILPATH/dev/zero ] || mknod -m 666 $JAILPATH/dev/zero c 1 5
+[ -r $JAILPATH/dev/tty ] || mknod -m 666 $JAILPATH/dev/tty c 5 0
+
+# if we only want to update the files in the jail
+# skip the creation of the new account
+if [ "$1" != "update" ]; then
+
+# Modifiy /etc/sudoers to enable chroot-ing for users
+# must be removed by hand if account is deleted
+echo "Modifying /etc/sudoers"
+echo "$CHROOT_USERNAME ALL=NOPASSWD: $(which chroot), /bin/su - $CHROOT_USERNAME" >> /etc/sudoers
+
+# Define HomeDir for simple referencing
+HOMEDIR="$JAILPATH/home/$CHROOT_USERNAME"
+
+# Create new account, setting $SHELL to the above created script and
+# $HOME to $JAILPATH/home/*
+if [ "$CREATEUSER" != "yes" ] ; then echo "
+Not creating new User account
+Modifying User \"$CHROOT_USERNAME\"
+Copying files in $CHROOT_USERNAME's \$HOME to \"$HOMEDIR\"
+"
+usermod -d "$HOMEDIR" -m -s "$SHELL" $CHROOT_USERNAME && chmod 700 "$HOMEDIR"
+fi
+
+if [ "$CREATEUSER" = "yes" ] ; then {
+echo "Adding User \"$CHROOT_USERNAME\" to system"
+useradd -m -d "$HOMEDIR" -s "$SHELL" $CHROOT_USERNAME && chmod 700 "$HOMEDIR"
+
+# Enter password for new account
+if !(passwd $CHROOT_USERNAME);
+ then echo "Passwords are probably not the same, try again."
+ exit 1;
+fi
+echo
+}
+fi
+
+# Create /usr/bin/groups in the jail
+echo "#!/bin/bash" > usr/bin/groups
+echo "id -Gn" >> usr/bin/groups
+chmod 755 usr/bin/groups
+
+# Add users to etc/passwd
+#
+# check if file exists (ie we are not called for the first time)
+# if yes skip root's entry and do not overwrite the file
+if [ ! -f etc/passwd ] ; then
+ grep /etc/passwd -e "^root" > ${JAILPATH}/etc/passwd
+fi
+if [ ! -f etc/group ] ; then
+ grep /etc/group -e "^root" > ${JAILPATH}/etc/group
+# add the group for all users to etc/group (otherwise there is a nasty error
+# message and probably because of that changing directories doesn't work with
+# winSCP)
+ grep /etc/group -e "^users" >> ${JAILPATH}/etc/group
+fi
+
+# grep the username which was given to us from /etc/passwd and add it
+# to ./etc/passwd replacing the $HOME with the directory as it will then
+# appear in the jail
+echo "Adding User $CHROOT_USERNAME to jail"
+grep -e "^$CHROOT_USERNAME:" /etc/passwd | \
+ sed -e "s#$JAILPATH##" \
+ -e "s#$SHELL#/bin/bash#" >> ${JAILPATH}/etc/passwd
+
+# if the system uses one account/one group we write the
+# account's group to etc/group
+grep -e "^$CHROOT_USERNAME:" /etc/group >> ${JAILPATH}/etc/group
+
+# write the user's line from /etc/shadow to /home/jail/etc/shadow
+grep -e "^$CHROOT_USERNAME:" /etc/shadow >> ${JAILPATH}/etc/shadow
+chmod 600 ${JAILPATH}/etc/shadow
+
+# endif for =! update
+fi
+
+# Copy the apps and the related libs
+echo "Copying necessary library-files to jail (may take some time)"
+
+# The original code worked fine on RedHat 7.3, but did not on FC3.
+# On FC3, when the 'ldd' is done, there is a 'linux-gate.so.1' that
+# points to nothing (or a 90xb.....), and it also does not pick up
+# some files that start with a '/'. To fix this, I am doing the ldd
+# to a file called ldlist, then going back into the file and pulling
+# out the libs that start with '/'
+#
+# Randy K.
+#
+# The original code worked fine on 2.4 kernel systems. Kernel 2.6
+# introduced an internal library called 'linux-gate.so.1'. This
+# 'phantom' library caused non-critical errors to display during the
+# copy since the file does not actually exist on the file system.
+# To fix re-direct output of ldd to a file, parse the file and get
+# library files that start with /
+#
+
+# create temporary files with mktemp, if that doesn't work for some reason use
+# the old method with $HOME/ldlist[2] (so I don't have to check the existence
+# of the mktemp package / binary at the beginning
+#
+TMPFILE1=$(mktemp) &> /dev/null || TMPFILE1="${HOME}/ldlist"; if [ -x ${TMPFILE1} ]; then mv ${TMPFILE1} ${TMPFILE1}.bak;fi
+TMPFILE2=$(mktemp) &> /dev/null || TMPFILE2="${HOME}/ldlist2"; if [ -x ${TMPFILE2} ]; then mv ${TMPFILE2} ${TMPFILE2}.bak;fi
+
+for app in $APPS; do
+ # First of all, check that this application exists
+ if [ -x $app ]; then
+ # Check that the directory exists; create it if not.
+# app_path=$(echo $app | sed -e 's#\(.\+\)/[^/]\+#\1#')
+ app_path=$(dirname $app)
+ if ! [ -d .$app_path ]; then
+ mkdir -p .$app_path
+ fi
+
+ # If the files in the chroot are on the same file system as the
+ # original files you should be able to use hard links instead of
+ # copying the files, too. Symbolic links cannot be used, because the
+ # original files are outside the chroot.
+ cp -p $app .$app
+
+ # get list of necessary libraries
+ ldd $app >> ${TMPFILE1}
+ fi
+done
+
+# Clear out any old temporary file before we start
+for libs in $(cat ${TMPFILE1}); do
+ frst_char="$(echo $libs | cut -c1)"
+ if [ "$frst_char" = "/" ]; then
+ echo "$libs" >> ${TMPFILE2}
+ fi
+done
+for lib in $(cat ${TMPFILE2}); do
+ mkdir -p .$(dirname $lib) > /dev/null 2>&1
+
+ # If the files in the chroot are on the same file system as the original
+ # files you should be able to use hard links instead of copying the files,
+ # too. Symbolic links cannot be used, because the original files are
+ # outside the chroot.
+ cp $lib .$lib
+done
+
+#
+# Now, cleanup the 2 files we created for the library list
+#
+#/bin/rm -f ${HOME}/ldlist
+#/bin/rm -f ${HOME}/ldlist2
+/bin/rm -f ${TMPFILE1}
+/bin/rm -f ${TMPFILE2}
+
+# Necessary files that are not listed by ldd.
+#
+# There might be errors because of files that do not exist but in the end it
+# may work nevertheless (I added new file names at the end without deleting old
+# ones for reasons of backward compatibility).
+# So please test ssh/scp before reporting a bug.
+if [ "$DISTRO" = SUSE ]; then
+ cp /lib/libnss_compat.so.2 /lib/libnss_files.so.2 /lib/libnss_dns.so.2 /lib/libxcrypt.so.1 ${JAILPATH}/lib/
+elif [ "$DISTRO" = FEDORA ]; then
+ cp /lib/libnss_compat.so.2 /lib/libnsl.so.1 /lib/libnss_files.so.2 /lib/ld-linux.so.2 /lib/ld-ldb.so.3 /lib/ld-lsb.so.3 /lib/libnss_dns.so.2 /lib/libxcrypt.so.1 ${JAILPATH}/lib/
+ cp /lib/*.* ${JAILPATH}/lib/
+ cp /usr/lib/libcrack.so.2 ${JAILPATH}/usr/lib/
+elif [ "$DISTRO" = REDHAT ]; then
+ cp /lib/libnss_compat.so.2 /lib/libnsl.so.1 /lib/libnss_files.so.2 /lib/ld-linux.so.2 /lib/ld-lsb.so.1 /lib/libnss_dns.so.2 /lib/libxcrypt.so.1 ${JAILPATH}/lib/
+ # needed for scp on RHEL
+ echo "export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/kerberos/lib" >> ${JAILPATH}/etc/profile
+elif [ "$DISTRO" = DEBIAN ]; then
+ cp /lib/libnss_compat.so.2 /lib/libnsl.so.1 /lib/libnss_files.so.2 /lib/libcap.so.1 /lib/libnss_dns.so.2 ${JAILPATH}/lib/
+else
+ cp /lib/libnss_compat.so.2 /lib/libnsl.so.1 /lib/libnss_files.so.2 /lib/libcap.so.1 /lib/libnss_dns.so.2 ${JAILPATH}/lib/
+fi
+
+# if you are using a 64 bit system and have strange problems with login comment
+# the following lines in, perhaps it works then (motto: if you can't find the
+# needed library just copy all of them)
+#
+#cp /lib/*.* ${JAILPATH}/lib/
+#cp /lib/lib64/*.* ${JAILPATH}/lib/lib64/
+
+# if you are using PAM you need stuff from /etc/pam.d/ in the jail,
+echo "Copying files from /etc/pam.d/ to jail"
+cp /etc/pam.d/* ${JAILPATH}/etc/pam.d/
+
+# ...and of course the PAM-modules...
+echo "Copying PAM-Modules to jail"
+cp -r /lib/security ${JAILPATH}/lib/
+
+# ...and something else useful for PAM
+cp -r /etc/security ${JAILPATH}/etc/
+cp /etc/login.defs ${JAILPATH}/etc/
+
+if [ -f /etc/DIR_COLORS ] ; then
+ cp /etc/DIR_COLORS ${JAILPATH}/etc/
+fi
+
+# Don't give more permissions than necessary
+chown root.root ${JAILPATH}/bin/su
+chmod 700 ${JAILPATH}/bin/su
+
+exit
+
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Init Script to run stunnel in daemon mode at boot time.
+#
+# Author: Riccardo Riva - RPM S.r.l.
+# Revision 1.0 - 2010 November, 11
+
+#====================================================================
+# Run level information:
+#
+# chkconfig: 2345 99 99
+# description: Secure Tunnel
+# processname: stunnel
+#
+# Run "/sbin/chkconfig --add stunnel" to add the Run levels.
+# This will setup the symlinks and set the process to run at boot.
+#====================================================================
+
+#====================================================================
+# Paths and variables and system checks.
+
+# Source function library
+. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
+
+# Check that networking is up.
+#
+[ ${NETWORKING} ="yes" ] || exit 0
+
+# Path to the executable.
+#
+SEXE=/usr/bin/stunnel
+
+# Path to the configuration file.
+#
+CONF=/etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf
+
+# Check the configuration file exists.
+#
+if [ ! -f $CONF ] ; then
+ echo "The configuration file cannot be found!"
+exit 0
+fi
+
+# Path to the lock file.
+#
+LOCK_FILE=/var/lock/subsys/stunnel
+
+#====================================================================
+
+# Run controls:
+
+prog=$"stunnel"
+
+RETVAL=0
+
+# Start stunnel as daemon.
+#
+start() {
+ if [ -f $LOCK_FILE ]; then
+ echo "stunnel is already running!"
+ exit 0
+ else
+ echo -n $"Starting $prog: "
+ $SEXE $CONF
+ fi
+
+ RETVAL=$?
+ [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && success
+ echo
+ [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && touch $LOCK_FILE
+ return $RETVAL
+}
+
+# Stop stunnel.
+#
+stop() {
+ if [ ! -f $LOCK_FILE ]; then
+ echo "stunnel is not running!"
+ exit 0
+
+ else
+
+ echo -n $"Shutting down $prog: "
+ killproc stunnel
+ RETVAL=$?
+ [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ]
+ rm -f $LOCK_FILE
+ echo
+ return $RETVAL
+
+ fi
+}
+
+# See how we were called.
+case "$1" in
+ start)
+ start
+ ;;
+ stop)
+ stop
+ ;;
+ restart)
+ stop
+ start
+ ;;
+ condrestart)
+ if [ -f $LOCK_FILE ]; then
+ stop
+ start
+ RETVAL=$?
+ fi
+ ;;
+ status)
+ status stunnel
+ RETVAL=$?
+ ;;
+ *)
+ echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|condrestart|status}"
+ RETVAL=1
+esac
+
+exit $RETVAL
+
--- /dev/null
+; Sample stunnel configuration file by Michal Trojnara 2002-2009
+; Some options used here may not be adequate for your particular configuration
+; Please make sure you understand them (especially the effect of the chroot jail)
+
+; Certificate/key is needed in server mode and optional in client mode
+cert = /etc/ssl/certs/stunnel.pem
+;key = /etc/stunnel/mail.key
+
+; Protocol version (all, SSLv2, SSLv3, TLSv1)
+sslVersion = SSLv3
+
+; Some security enhancements for UNIX systems - comment them out on Win32
+chroot = /var/run/stunnel/
+setuid = nobody
+setgid = nobody
+; PID is created inside the chroot jail
+pid = /stunnel.pid
+
+; Some performance tunings
+socket = l:TCP_NODELAY=1
+socket = r:TCP_NODELAY=1
+;compression = zlib
+
+; Workaround for Eudora bug
+;options = DONT_INSERT_EMPTY_FRAGMENTS
+
+; Authentication stuff
+;verify = 2
+; Don't forget to c_rehash CApath
+; CApath is located inside chroot jail
+;CApath = /certs
+; It's often easier to use CAfile
+;CAfile = /etc/stunnel/certs.pem
+;CAfile = /etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt
+; Don't forget to c_rehash CRLpath
+; CRLpath is located inside chroot jail
+;CRLpath = /crls
+; Alternatively you can use CRLfile
+;CRLfile = /etc/stunnel/crls.pem
+
+; Some debugging stuff useful for troubleshooting
+debug = 7
+output = stunnel.log
+
+; Use it for client mode
+;client = yes
+
+; Service-level configuration
+
+; [pop3s]
+;accept = 995
+;connect = 110
+
+;[imaps]
+;accept = 993
+;connect = 143
+
+;[ssmtp]
+;accept = 465
+;connect = 25
+
+;[https]
+;accept = 443
+;connect = 80
+;TIMEOUTclose = 0
+
+; vim:ft=dosini
+
+[tracd]
+; port offering ssl trac visibility to the web.
+accept = 8042
+; port on localhost for service.
+connect = localhost:10042
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+copy the included files into /etc in the same hierarchy structure, which is:
+
+ etc/
+ etc/init.d
+ etc/init.d/stunnel
+ etc/stunnel
+ etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf
+
+fix permissions:
+
+ chmod 755 /etc/init.d/stunnel
+
+fix configuration:
+
+ modify /etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf to represent your desired tunneling
+ configuration. the example turns a trac install on localhost with standard
+ http protocol into a TLS version on the https protocol.
+
+run this command to get stunnel registered:
+
+ sudo /sbin/chkconfig --add stunnel
+
+afterwards the service should start with:
+
+ /etc/init.d/stunnel start
+
+if problems result from starting the service:
+
+ + maybe you need to fix the path in the /etc/init.d/stunnel script.
+ try running:
+ "which stunnel" (or "whence stunnel")
+ and updating the script with the path shown for stunnel.
+
+ + maybe there's a port conflict from another service?
+ check with the configuration files or ask the system administrators for
+ assistance. the telnet tool will connect to an arbitrary tcp service and
+ inform you if the connection succeeded, e.g. "telnet myhost 23230".
+ if it says "Connected to ...." then the connection was successful,
+ regardless of the type of tcp protocol actually on that port. if that
+ reports instead "unable to connect to remote host", then no answer was
+ received. if the telnet session just says "Trying ...." and never comes
+ back or takes a really long time, then a firewall may be blocking the
+ port or the machine may be down.
+
--- /dev/null
+### This file is an example password file for svnserve.
+### Its format is similar to that of svnserve.conf. As shown in the
+### example below it contains one section labelled [users].
+### The name and password for each user follow, one account per line.
+
+[users]
+# harry = harryssecret
+# sally = sallyssecret
+fred = passwdgoeshere
--- /dev/null
+### This file controls the configuration of the svnserve daemon, if you
+### use it to allow access to this repository. (If you only allow
+### access through http: and/or file: URLs, then this file is
+### irrelevant.)
+
+### Visit http://subversion.tigris.org/ for more information.
+
+[general]
+### These options control access to the repository for unauthenticated
+### and authenticated users. Valid values are "write", "read",
+### and "none". The sample settings below are the defaults.
+# anon-access = read
+# auth-access = write
+### The password-db option controls the location of the password
+### database file. Unless you specify a path starting with a /,
+### the file's location is relative to the directory containing
+### this configuration file.
+### If SASL is enabled (see below), this file will NOT be used.
+### Uncomment the line below to use the default password file.
+password-db = passwd
+### The authz-db option controls the location of the authorization
+### rules for path-based access control. Unless you specify a path
+### starting with a /, the file's location is relative to the the
+### directory containing this file. If you don't specify an
+### authz-db, no path-based access control is done.
+### Uncomment the line below to use the default authorization file.
+# authz-db = authz
+### This option specifies the authentication realm of the repository.
+### If two repositories have the same authentication realm, they should
+### have the same password database, and vice versa. The default realm
+### is repository's uuid.
+# realm = My First Repository
+
+[sasl]
+### This option specifies whether you want to use the Cyrus SASL
+### library for authentication. Default is false.
+### This section will be ignored if svnserve is not built with Cyrus
+### SASL support; to check, run 'svnserve --version' and look for a line
+### reading 'Cyrus SASL authentication is available.'
+# use-sasl = true
+### These options specify the desired strength of the security layer
+### that you want SASL to provide. 0 means no encryption, 1 means
+### integrity-checking only, values larger than 1 are correlated
+### to the effective key length for encryption (e.g. 128 means 128-bit
+### encryption). The values below are the defaults.
+# min-encryption = 0
+# max-encryption = 256
--- /dev/null
+
+https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Subversion
+
+
--- /dev/null
+#! /bin/sh
+### BEGIN INIT INFO
+# Provides: svnserve
+# Required-Start: $local_fs $syslog $remote_fs
+# Required-Stop: $local_fs $syslog $remote_fs
+# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
+# Default-Stop: 0 1 6
+# Short-Description: Start svnserve
+### END INIT INFO
+
+# Author: Michal Wojciechowski <odyniec@odyniec.net>
+
+PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
+DESC="svnserve"
+NAME=svnserve
+DAEMON=/usr/bin/$NAME
+DAEMON_ARGS="-d -r /z/repo"
+PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid
+SCRIPTNAME=/etc/init.d/$NAME
+
+[ -x "$DAEMON" ] || exit 0
+
+[ -r /etc/default/$NAME ] && . /etc/default/$NAME
+
+. /lib/init/vars.sh
+
+. /lib/lsb/init-functions
+
+do_start()
+{
+ start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON --test > /dev/null \
+ || return 1
+ start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON -- \
+ $DAEMON_ARGS \
+ || return 2
+}
+
+do_stop()
+{
+ start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=TERM/30/KILL/5 --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
+ RETVAL="$?"
+ [ "$RETVAL" = 2 ] && return 2
+ start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --retry=0/30/KILL/5 --exec $DAEMON
+ [ "$?" = 2 ] && return 2
+ rm -f $PIDFILE
+ return "$RETVAL"
+}
+
+case "$1" in
+ start)
+ [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME"
+ do_start
+ case "$?" in
+ 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
+ 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
+ esac
+ ;;
+ stop)
+ [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME"
+ do_stop
+ case "$?" in
+ 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
+ 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
+ esac
+ ;;
+ restart|force-reload)
+ log_daemon_msg "Restarting $DESC" "$NAME"
+ do_stop
+ case "$?" in
+ 0|1)
+ do_start
+ case "$?" in
+ 0) log_end_msg 0 ;;
+ 1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running
+ *) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start
+ esac
+ ;;
+ *)
+ # Failed to stop
+ log_end_msg 1
+ ;;
+ esac
+ ;;
+ *)
+ echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|restart|force-reload}" >&2
+ exit 3
+ ;;
+esac
+
+exit 0
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+# real time clock config.
+dev.rtc.max-user-freq=1024
+
--- /dev/null
+"id","summary","reporter","component","description"
+"","title","fred","compon","desc"
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Runs the trac server startup if it's not already going.
+# This is a lighter-weight solution than adding trac to init scripts,
+# and it can be run as a normal user with the trac repository in their
+# home directory.
+#
+# Author: Chris Koeritz
+
+source "$FEISTY_MEOW_SCRIPTS/core/functions.sh"
+
+# we only try to do something if trac is missing.
+if [ "$(psfind tracd)" ]; then
+ exit 0
+fi
+
+#...adjust this for where you have your repository.
+# this configuration also assumes that stunnel is routing the non-ssl trac
+# service to the web; the below does not make trac visible off-machine.
+tracd -s --hostname=localhost -p 7000 --basic-auth="MyTracSite,/home/trac/trac_sites/authFile," /home/trac/trac_sites/MyTracSite &
+
--- /dev/null
+
+fred:x:1008:
+
+fredhuff:x:14000:fred
+chronical:x:14001:fred
+zeno:x:14002:fred
+mojo:x:14003:fred
+sedge:x:14004:fred
+ddm:x:14005:fred
+glorpenz:x:14006:fred
+
+eepaw:x:14108:fred
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+fred:x:1008:1008:fred hamster,,,:/home/fred:/bin/bash
+
+fredhuff:x:14000:14000:Fred Huffhines,,,,:/home/fredhuff:/bin/bash
+chronical:x:14001:14001:Chronical Koolhoven,,,,:/home/chronical:/bin/bash
+zeno:x:14002:14002:Zeno Olifone,,,,:/home/zeno:/bin/bash
+mojo:x:14003:14003:mojopickle haystack,,,,:/home/mojo:/bin/bash
+sedge:x:14004:14004:sedgeweaver jupiter,,,,:/home/sedge:/bin/bash
+ddm:x:14005:14005:DharmaDrum Magic,,,,:/home/ddm:/bin/bash
+glorpenz:x:14006:14006:Glorpenz Caggles,,,,:/home/glorpenz:/bin/bash
+
+eepaw:x:14108:14108:eepaw mater,,,,:/home/eepaw:/bin/bash
--- /dev/null
+
+" cranks up the register saved buffer size to 1000 lines, since otherwise the cut buffer will only
+" preserve the default 50 lines for a paste to another file. this makes all registers go up to
+" this size though, so if you save to a lot of different ones, you will use more space in your
+" viminfo file.
+set viminfo='100,<1000,s10,h
+
+" tells vim not to make a backup of the file before editing it; this is living dangerously.
+set nobk
+
+" nocompatible|nocp turns off compatibility mode, allowing filename completion.
+set nocompatible
+
+" elflord just happens to be the color scheme i prefer. there are a bunch.
+colorscheme elflord
+
+" map the normal copy, cut and paste keys (ctrl-c, ctrl-x & ctrl-v) for vim.
+nmap <C-V> "+gP
+imap <C-V> <ESC><C-V>i
+vmap <C-C> "+y
+vmap <C-X> "+c
+
+" map ctrl-a to select all of the file. ctrl-i increments, whatever that is.
+noremap <C-I> <C-A>
+noremap <C-A> gggH<C-O>G
+inoremap <C-A> <C-O>gg<C-O>gH<C-O>G
+cnoremap <C-A> <C-C>gggH<C-O>G
+onoremap <C-A> <C-C>gggH<C-O>G
+snoremap <C-A> <C-C>gggH<C-O>G
+xnoremap <C-A> <C-C>ggVG
--- /dev/null
+\r
+this is a kind of useful compare filter for visual studio. it drops checking of a lot\r
+of commonly present files which in general one does not care about.\r
+\r
+note: this pattern will hide changes to AssemblyInfo files. we do that because these often\r
+are updated for versions and we don't want to see every one of those as being modified.\r
+\r
+!AssemblyInfo.cpp;!AssemblyInfo.cs;!logs\;!waste\;!generated\;!binaries\;!objects\;!lib\;!*_version.h;!*_version.rc;!obj\;!dll\;!exe\;!obj\;!pdb\;!install\;!*.user;!*.vspscc;!tests\;!*.fb2;!*.fxb;!*.fn2;!*.res;!html\;!*.pyc\r
--- /dev/null
+
+Redirect permanent /google "http://google.com"
+
+# so, given this file in a web directory at: http://frenziedogmatics.com/
+# a web browser pointed at: http://frenziedogmatics.com/google
+# would actually just show http://google.com instead.
+
+
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+[grab]
+ device = /dev/video0
+ text = "webcam %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
+# infofile = filename
+ fg_red = 255
+ fg_green = 255
+ fg_blue = 255
+ width = 320
+ height = 240
+ delay = 1
+ wait = 0
+# input = composite1
+ norm = pal
+ rotate = 0
+ top = 0
+ left = 0
+ bottom = 239
+ right = 319
+ quality = 85
+ trigger = 100
+ once = 0
+
+[velma]
+ host = velma
+ user = anonymous
+ pass = fred@
+ dir = incoming
+ file = webcam.jpeg
+ tmp = uploading.jpeg
+ passive = 1
+ debug = 0
+ auto = 0
+ local = 0
+ ssh = 0
+
+
--- /dev/null
+<html>
+<head>
+<script type="text/javascript">
+<!--
+function delayer(){
+ window.location.reload(true);
+}
+//-->
+</script>
+</head>
+<body onLoad="setTimeout('delayer()', 2321)">
+<h2>Webcamomatic Yo!</h2>
+<p>oof</p>
+
+<center><img src="webcam.jpeg"></center>
+
+<p>The horrendous new picture will be up shortly.</p>
+
+</body>
+</html>
+
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/bash
+# this is a simple shell that can be dropped in ~/.kde/Autostart to run a
+# fishtank on the root X window.
+# note: you must enable desktop | behavior | general | allow programs in
+# desktop window for the fishtank to show up.
+xfishtank -c deepblue -f 14 -b 28 -d &
+
+
--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/bash
+# this is a simple shell that can be dropped in ~/.kde/Autostart to show a
+# bunch of roaches on the root X window.
+# note: you must enable desktop | behavior | general | allow programs in
+# desktop window for the fishtank to show up.
+
+xroach -roaches 23 -rc purple -rgc green -speed 0.05 -squish &
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+how to fix your screensaver after ubuntu oneiric ocelot or later wipes
+xscreensaver out:
+
+this page has good info about most of what's needed:
+ http://www.webupd8.org/2011/10/things-to-tweak-after-installing-ubuntu.html
+
+this page shows how to get menu working again:
+ http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1865593
+
+
+this directory also has a file containing a slightly modified version of the
+fix for the gnome screenlock menu item. it's called screenlock_dbus.py.
--- /dev/null
+#!/usr/bin/python
+
+import dbus
+import dbus.service
+import dbus.glib
+import gobject
+import os
+import sys
+
+class ScreenDbusObj(dbus.service.Object):
+ def __init__(self):
+ # stuff the logging into a temporary and hidden directory.
+ try:
+ os.chdir(os.environ['HOME'] + "/.zz_temp_screenlock_menu")
+ print (os.environ['HOME'] + "/.zz_temp_screenlock_menu" + " was already there")
+ sys.stdout.flush()
+ except:
+ print (os.environ['HOME'] + "/.zz_temp_screenlock_menu" + " is not there yet")
+ sys.stdout.flush()
+ os.mkdir(os.environ['HOME'] + "/.zz_temp_screenlock_menu")
+ os.chdir(os.environ['HOME'] + "/.zz_temp_screenlock_menu")
+ print (os.environ['HOME'] + "/.zz_temp_screenlock_menu" + " is there now")
+ sys.stdout.flush()
+ print ("about to create a dbus")
+ sys.stdout.flush()
+ session_bus = dbus.SessionBus()
+ print ("about to setup a bus name")
+ sys.stdout.flush()
+ bus_name=dbus.service.BusName("org.gnome.ScreenSaver",bus=session_bus)
+ print ("about to init dbus service")
+ sys.stdout.flush()
+ dbus.service.Object.__init__(self,bus_name, '/org/gnome/ScreenSaver')
+ print ("after init dbus service")
+ sys.stdout.flush()
+
+ @dbus.service.method("org.gnome.ScreenSaver")
+ def Lock(self):
+ print ("saw the command to lock the screen, about to lock")
+ sys.stdout.flush()
+ os.system( "xscreensaver-command -lock" )
+ print ("issued xscreensaver request to lock the screen")
+ sys.stdout.flush()
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+ print ("into main of screeny")
+ sys.stdout.flush()
+ object=ScreenDbusObj()
+ print ("after creating the screen dbus object, about to go into loop")
+ sys.stdout.flush()
+ gobject.MainLoop().run()
+ print ("after loop, exiting from app")
+ sys.stdout.flush()
+
--- /dev/null
+ /--------\
+ /**********\
+ /........****\
+ /..........****\
+ /.....*.....*****\
+ |.........*******|
+ |........********|
+ |......**********|
+ \.....*****.*****/
+ \....**********/
+ \....********/
+ \ ........./
+ \--------/
+~
+liquid ball of fur
+dances with a beam of light,
+never catches it.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Om Muni Muni Maha Muni Yea Swaha
+~
+Gun dro nga tang yul nge nga
+Gewa ju jik dza nyon druk
+Nye nyon nyi shu shen gyur shi
+Sem chung nga jik di dak o.
+~
+religious letter games...
+
+ DEVIL
+ EVIL
+ GOOD
+ GOD
+~
+Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
+~
+Om Mani Padme Hum
+~
+Om Shanthi Om
+~
+Om A Ra Ba Tsa Na Di
+~
+om a ra ba tsa na di
+om a ra ba tsa na di
+om a ra ba tsa na di
+om a ra ba tsa na di
+om a ra ba tsa na di
+om a ra ba tsa na di
+om a ra ba tsa na di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di
+~
+Om Mani Padme Hum (Hail to the Lotus Jewel)
+~
+The paths are many, the truth is one
+~
+Mickey Mouse has no wife, no horse, no mustache
+~
+where you are is where you were when you are where you will be.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+don't let them immanentize your personal eschaton
+~
+nga tsho gyis rang gi gyo bar sems can song ba'i dgos.
+(we should be self-motivating sentient beings.)
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+The man in whom Tao
+Acts without impediment
+Harms no other being
+By his actions
+Yet he does not know himself
+To be "kind," to be "gentle"
+~
+When an archer is shooting for nothing
+He has all his skill.
+If he shoots for a brass buckle
+He is already nervous.
+If he shoots for a prize of gold
+He goes blind
+Or sees two targets--
+He is out of his mind!
+
+His skill has not changed. But the prize
+Divides him. He cares.
+He thinks more of winning
+Than of shooting--
+And the need to win
+Drains him of power.
+~
+By giving, resources; by ethics, bliss
+~
+One may lead a horse to water, but cannot make him think.
+~
+time does not exist
+~
+neither i nor you nor anything exists truly
+i, you and everything each have our own existence
+the view between the two extremes is the middle way
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Mickey Mouse and Mickey Rooney have something in common.
+~
+Natural language is hard.
+ -- (a prominent natural language scholar; do you know who? i don't.)
+~
+not this not this not this, what is it?
+~
+there it is.
+~
+ribong ra chos jan,
+med ba thal,
+sangs rgyas kyi tshad mas ma nges ba'i phyir.
+(the subject "horns of a rabbit" does not exist because it is not an object
+validly cognized by a buddha.)
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+what you don't see is what you get when you don't look. -- fred t. hamster
+~
+this bell's knelling is never quelled,
+ while service is rendered,
+tin staccato splattered over cupric strands,
+ spraying crazed meaning to distant lands.
+what is it?
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+It is hard to think of what one is doing when one is doing it.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+No program is so finished that a few bug fixes won't destroy it.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Words obscure meaning. -- fred t. hamster
+~
+There's a Ribong in my Attic, There's a Ribong in my Chair.
+There's a Ribong in my Dipstick, There's a Ribong in my Hair.
+In fact, there's a Ribong everywhere.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+In the context of a spreadsheet system, the user must ensure that the
+sheet is thoroughly spread onto the bed.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+nechung: unable to open fortunes.dat file. (just kidding)
+~
+are you only using half your brain?
+if you can only think in terms of logical conclusions, rational assumptions,
+and common sense OR
+if you can only think in terms of intuitive jumps, esthetic motivations,
+and the fluid nature of reality,
+then you probably are stuck on one side of your head. try moving into
+both halves.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+time has eight eyes and three elbows...
+and millions of clocks.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+i refuse to ignore what i cannot perceive. -- fred t. hamster
+~
+if you can't change your mind,
+are you sure you've still got one?
+~
+The only people who deserve to be called "Americans" are called "Indians".
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+you are contemplative and analytical by nature
+~
+annal nathrac
+uthvad bethos
+dochiel diende
+ -- Merlin in Excalibur
+~
+Charlottesville, Virginia: gravity well for the soul.
+~
+if one is always ambiguous enough, he is never wrong.
+but he never says anything either.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Protect Children, Feed Bunnies, Heal Sickness, Understand Reality
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Improve the environment and the government;
+feed politicians toxic waste.
+~
+alright, so it was a slow night.
+alright, so it was a slow knight.
+all night, what a slow knight.
+there's slightly white snow tonight.
+tight flights light from the height of night.
+a byte too trite.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+sasquatch in my breakfast cereal. -- fred t. hamster
+~
+"what i say is unimportant." -- david w andrews
+"i'll keep that in mind." -- chris koeritz
+~
+"are Israelis Catholic?" -- christine kelly
+~
+support the police,
+beat yourself up.
+ -- seen in April 1991 High Times
+~
+support the IRA,
+get bombed.
+ -- co-authored by dave and chris
+~
+we grow old as soon as we cease to love and trust.
+ -- Madame De Choiseul
+~
+marijuana is a natural mollifier.
+~
+I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the
+monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+few minds wear out;
+more rust out.
+ -- Christian N. Bovee
+~
+Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist,
+but the ability to start over.
+ -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
+~
+One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it.
+ -- French Proverb
+~
+The cobra will bite you whether you call it cobra or Mr. Cobra.
+ -- Indian Proverb
+~
+The first casualty when war comes is truth. -- Hiram Johnson, 1917
+~
+Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the
+love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity
+encourages.
+ -- Samuel Johnson, from The Idler, 1758
+~
+Luck sometimes visits a fool, but never sits down with him.
+ -- German Proverb
+~
+How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were? -- Satchel Page
+~
+Yeah, you got a point there man. Just let
+your hair grow and nobody'll ever find out.
+ -- Cheech Marin
+~
+Eloquence is vehement simplicity. -- Richard Cecil
+~
+Two of my correspondents labeled me 'self-righteous', by which
+they seem to have meant that they think they are righter
+than i think i am.
+ -- Wendell Berry
+~
+Every thought I have imprisoned in expression I must free by my deeds.
+ -- Kahlil Gibran
+~
+the other is a measure of the self. -- fred hamster
+~
+it is not who we are that defines us, but what we do.
+the actions we take are the real indication of where our minds
+and bodies are at, an expression of our being.
+when one does not act, one cannot harm,
+but by not acting when action could help another,
+there may be harm.
+~
+if what you are doing right now isn't broadening your mind
+or elevating your spirit through total awareness of the essence,
+then find that broadness! that elevation!
+if an activity doesn't wake you up and tickle you,
+then tickle yourself. that load which cannot be unburdened
+must be levitated.
+~
+the only people i don't like are those who don't want me to like them...
+and i try to like them when they're not paying attention.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+to george h. w. bush (on the occasion of our last meeting):
+ "you're a suit where a person should be."
+~
+The numbah uh bits in a compyooter word should NOT bee ayut, nor
+sixuhteeen, nor thirty tooo, mah frayends. For vayrilee, it should
+bee fifty! Theeuss would gayruntee that the sanctitty of our
+great nayshun would be forevah preeserved! Theyuh would be just
+one bit for each an every good stayett in this heyuh fahnnn nasyshun,
+the YOOnited Stayetts of AhhMayReekah!
+~
+Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
+ -- Lord Acton, Letter, 5 April 1887
+~
+No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean,
+for words are slippery and thought is viscous.
+ -- Henry B. Adams, "The Education of Henry Adams", 1907
+~
+One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible.
+ -- Henry B. Adams, "The Education of Henry Adams", 1907
+~
+It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
+ -- Alfred Adler, 1939
+~
+Good art is not what it looks like, but what it does to us.
+ -- Roy Adzak, quoted in "Contemporary Artists", 1977
+~
+A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety. -- Aesop
+~
+Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything. -- Aesop
+~
+We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified. -- Aesop
+~
+The paper burns, but the words fly away. -- Ben Joseph Akiba
+~
+Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never play cards with a man named Doc.
+And never lie down with a woman who's got more trouble than you.
+ -- Nelson Algren, "What Every Young Man Should Know"
+~
+Most of us spend the first 6 days of each week sowing wild oats,
+then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.
+ -- Fred Allen
+~
+Leisure time is that five or six hours when you sleep at night.
+ -- George Allen
+~
+I don't want to achieve immortality through my work.
+I want to achieve it through not dying.
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+The lion and the calf shall lie down together
+but the calf won't get much sleep.
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a
+large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.
+ -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
+~
+The difference between sex and death is that with death
+you can do it alone and no one is going to make fun of you.
+ -- Woody Allen, quoted in "New York Tribune", 1975
+~
+It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people.
+The good ones slept better... while the bad ones seemed
+to enjoy the waking hours much more.
+ -- Woody Allen, "Side Effects" 1981
+~
+Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
+ -- Muhammad Ali, in "Time", 1978
+~
+Doing easily what others find difficult is talent;
+doing what is impossible for talent is genius.
+ -- Henri-Frederic Amiel, "Journal", 1883
+~
+In any country there must be people who have to die. They are the
+sacrifices any nation has to make to achieve law and order.
+ -- Idi Amin Dada, 1976
+~
+God has been replaced, as he has all over the West,
+with respectability and air conditioning.
+ -- Imamu Amiri Baraka, "Home", 1966
+~
+Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity
+of opportunity to be otherwise.
+ -- Maya Angelou, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", 1969
+~
+Death is life's answer to the question 'Why?' -- Anonymous
+~
+God is not dead. He is alive and working on a less ambitious project.
+ -- Anonymous, 1975
+~
+In March July, October, May,
+The Ides are on the fifteenth day,
+The Nones the seventh: all other months besides
+Have two days less for Nones and Ides.
+ -- Anonymous
+~
+Never argue with a fool--people might not know the difference. -- Anonymous
+~
+Never go to sea with two chronometers; take one or three. -- Anonymous
+~
+The fewer clear facts you have in support of an opinion,
+the stronger your emotional attachment to that opinion.
+ -- Anonymous
+~
+Vote early and vote often. -- Anonymous, on US election banners, 1850's
+~
+You're never alone with schizophrenia. -- Anonymous
+~
+Resolved, that the women of this nation in 1876, have greater cause
+for discontent, rebellion and revolution than the men of 1776.
+ -- Susan B. Anthony
+~
+Women like silent men. They think they're listening. -- Marcel Archard
+~
+We make war that we may live in peace. -- Aristotle
+~
+What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. -- Aristotle
+~
+Wit is cultured insolence. -- Aristotle
+~
+That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. -- Neil Armstrong
+~
+What passes for optimism is most often the effect of an intellectual error.
+ -- Raymond Aron, "The Opium of the Intellectuals", 1957
+~
+We are still speaking the same language,
+but neither of us is hearing the other.
+ -- Hafez Assad, on Syrian relations with Egypt, in "Time", 3 April 1989
+~
+If Gary Hart had seen Fatal Attraction two years ago,
+he'd probably be President.
+ -- Bruce Babbitt, 1988 Presidential Campaign
+~
+Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. -- Francis Bacon, 1624
+~
+Rebellions of the belly are the worst. -- Francis Bacon
+~
+It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations.
+ -- Walter Bagehot, "Biographical Studies", 1863
+~
+Be careful what you set your heart upon--for it will surely be yours.
+ -- James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name" 1961
+~
+Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart;
+for his purity, by definition, is unassailable.
+ -- James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name" 1961
+~
+The future is like heaven--everyone exalts it,
+but no one wants to go there now.
+ -- James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name", 1961
+~
+It is easier to be a lover than a husband for the simple reason
+that it is more difficult to be witty every day
+than to say pretty things from time to time.
+ -- Honore de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829
+~
+Marriage must incessantly contend with a monster
+that devours everything: familiarity.
+ -- Honore de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829
+~
+The duration of passion is proportionate
+with the original resistance of the woman.
+ -- Honore de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829
+~
+It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time.
+ -- Tallulah Bankhead
+~
+Television is the first truly democratic culture--the first culture
+available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want.
+The most terrifying thing is what people do want.
+ -- Clive Barnes, in "New York Times", 1969
+~
+What is an adult? A child blown up by age.
+ -- Simone de Beauvoir, "La Femme rompue", 1967
+~
+Now comes the mystery.
+ -- Henry Ward Beecher, last words, 8 March 1887
+~
+Critics are like eunuchs in a harem: they know how it's done,
+they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves.
+ -- Brendan Behan
+~
+The most important things to do in this world are to get something
+to eat, something to drink and somebody to love you.
+ -- Brendan Behan, in "Weekend", 1968
+~
+Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
+ -- Hector Berlioz, "Almanach des lettres francaises"
+~
+So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
+ -- Psalms 90:10
+~
+The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. -- Psalms 111:10
+~
+Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
+ -- Proverbs 16:18
+~
+The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
+fools despise wisdom and instruction.
+ -- Proverbs 1:7
+~
+The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.
+ -- Ecclesiastes 9:11
+~
+No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate one and love the other,
+or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and riches.
+ -- Matthew 6:24
+~
+And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?
+ -- Matthew 6:27
+~
+Greater love hath no man than this,
+that a man lay down his life for his friends.
+ -- John 15:13
+~
+Spring beckons! All things to the call respond;
+the trees are leaving and cashiers abscond.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
+~
+Beauty, n: the power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
+~
+Belladonna, n. In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison.
+A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
+~
+Bore, n: a person who talks when you wish him to listen.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
+~
+Conservative, n: a statesman who is enamoured of existing evils, as
+distinguished from a Liberal who wishes to replace them with others.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
+~
+Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are,
+not as they ought to be.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
+~
+Marriage, n: the state or condition of a community
+consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves,
+making in all, two.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
+~
+Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
+~
+Politeness, n: The most acceptable hypocrisy.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
+~
+Yankee, n: In Europe, an American.
+In the Northern States of our Union, a New Englander.
+In the Southern States the word is unknown. (See DAMYANK.)
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
+~
+The wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one that gets the grease.
+ -- Josh Billings, "The Kicker"
+~
+People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
+ -- Otto von Bismarck
+~
+Universal suffrage is the government of a house by its nursery.
+ -- Otto von Bismarck
+~
+The first sign of a nervous breakdown is when you start
+thinking your work is terribly important.
+ -- Milo Bloom
+~
+An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes
+which can be made, in a narrow field.
+ -- Niels Bohr
+~
+The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the
+opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.
+ -- Niels Bohr
+~
+If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. -- Derek Bok, 1978
+~
+The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
+ -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
+~
+Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed.
+If I fail, no one will say, 'She doesn't have what it takes.'
+They will say, 'Women don't have what it takes.'
+ -- Clare Boothe Luce
+~
+Censorship, like charity, should begin at home,
+but unlike charity, it should end there.
+ -- Clare Boothe Luce
+~
+No good deed goes unpunished. -- Clare Boothe Luce
+~
+When in doubt, mumble; when in trouble, delegate; when in charge, ponder.
+ -- James H. Boren
+~
+Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. -- Victor Borge
+~
+Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand,
+but we must build as if the sand were stone.
+ -- Jorge Luis Borges, 1972
+~
+We never know whether we are victors or whether we are defeated.
+ -- Jorge Luis Borges, "Borges On Writing", 1974
+~
+It is possible to store the mind with a million facts
+and still be entirely uneducated.
+ -- Alec Bourne, "A Doctor's Creed"
+~
+Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue
+to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant
+may prove to be our executioner.
+ -- General Omar Bradley
+~
+Grub first, then ethics. -- Bertolt Brecht
+~
+I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it.
+ -- Ashleigh Brilliant
+~
+Please don't ask me what the score is, I'm not even sure what the game is.
+ -- Ashleigh Brilliant
+~
+To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first,
+and call whatever you hit the target.
+ -- Ashleigh Brilliant
+~
+No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.
+ -- Jacob Bronowski, in "Encounter", 1971
+~
+Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.
+ -- Sam Brown, in "Washington Post", 1977
+~
+Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow.
+ -- Matthew Browne, "Lilliput Levee"
+~
+As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically
+reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children.
+ -- Anita Bryant, 1977
+~
+Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.
+ -- William F. Buckley
+~
+Before you kill something make sure you have something better
+to replace it with; something better than political opportunist
+slamming hate horsesh*t in the public park.
+ -- Charles Bukowski, "Notes of a Dirty Old Man", 1969
+~
+We love your adherence to democratic principles.
+ -- George HW Bush speaking to Ferdinand Marcos, June 1981
+~
+The final lesson of Viet Nam is that no great nation
+can long afford to be sundered by a memory.
+ -- George HW Bush, 1989 Inaugural Address
+~
+The caribou love [the Alaska oil pipeline].
+They run up against it, and they have babies.
+ -- George HW Bush, 1988 and again "New York Times", 3 April 1989
+~
+It would be inappropriate for the President of the United States
+to try to fine-tune for the people of Hungary how they ought to eat -
+how the cow ought to eat the cabbage, as we say in the United States.
+ -- George HW Bush, quoted in "Philadelphia Inquirer", 13 July 1989
+~
+An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less.
+ -- Nicholas Murray Butler
+~
+Friendship is like money, easier made than kept. -- Samuel Butler
+~
+The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.
+ -- Samuel Butler, "The Fair Haven", 1873
+~
+Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense
+to know how to lie well.
+ -- Samuel Butler, "Notebooks" 1912
+~
+Marriage is distinctly and repeatedly excluded from heaven.
+Is this because it is thought likely to mar the general felicity?
+ -- Samuel Butler, "Notebooks" 1912
+~
+One was never married, and that's his hell; another is, and that's his plague.
+ -- Robert Burton, 1651
+~
+For truth is always strange; stranger than fiction.
+ -- Lord Byron, "Don Juan", 1818
+~
+The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds;
+and the pessimist fears this is true.
+ -- James B. Cabell, "The Silver Stallion" 1926
+~
+Men willingly believe what they wish. -- Julius Caesar
+~
+What is life? An illusion, a shadow, a story.
+And the greatest good is little enough:
+for all life is a dream, and dreams themselves are only dreams.
+ -- Pedro Calderon de la Barca, "Life is a Dream"
+~
+It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies.
+ -- Arthur Calwell, 1968
+~
+An honest politician is one who when he is bought will stay bought.
+ -- Simon Cameron
+~
+Every revolutionary ends up either by becoming an oppressor or a heretic.
+ -- Albert Camus, "The Rebel", 1951
+~
+When I sell liquor, its called bootlegging; when my patrons serve
+it on a silver tray on Lake Shore Drive, it's called hospitality.
+ -- Al Capone
+~
+You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun
+than you can with a kind word alone.
+ -- Al Capone
+~
+Anyone who can walk to the welfare office can walk to work.
+ -- Al Capp, in "Esquire", 1970
+~
+It is long accepted by the missionaries that morality is inversely
+proportional to the amount of clothing people wore.
+ -- Alex Carey
+~
+"Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be,
+and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic!"
+ -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
+~
+Because of the greatness of the Shah, Iran is an island of stability
+in the Middle East.
+ -- Jimmy Carter, 31 December 1977
+~
+Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie!" till you can find a rock.
+ -- Wynn Catlin
+~
+As long as people will accept crap,
+it will be financially profitable to dispense it.
+ -- Dick Cavett, in "Playboy", 1971
+~
+Everything beautiful has its moment and then passes away.
+ -- Luis Cernuda, "Las Ruinas"
+~
+A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience.
+ -- Miguel de Cervantes
+~
+I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women,
+French to men, and German to my horse.
+ -- Charles V, King of France
+~
+In some cases non-violence requires more militancy than violence.
+ -- Cesar Chavez
+~
+He who asks is a fool for five minutes,
+but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
+ -- Chinese proverb
+~
+The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out.
+ -- Chinese proverb
+~
+I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly,
+or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.
+ -- Chuang Tzu
+~
+I like a man who grins when he fights. -- Winston Churchill
+~
+I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us.
+Pigs treat us as equals.
+ -- Winston Churchil
+~
+It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+Man will occasionally stumble over the truth,
+but most times he will pick himself up and carry on.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings;
+the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.
+ -- Winston Churchill, Speech, January 1952
+~
+Preparation, knowledge, and discipline can deal with any form of danger.
+ -- Tom Clancy, "The Hunt for Red October", 1984
+~
+Who will protect the public when the police violate the law?
+ -- Ramsey Clark
+~
+It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God,
+but to create him.
+ -- Arthur C. Clarke
+~
+Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.
+ -- Arthur C. Clarke
+~
+Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
+ -- Arthur C. Clarke, "Profiles of the Future", 1962
+~
+You're either part of the solution or part of the problem.
+ -- Eldridge Cleaver, 1968
+~
+The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less.
+ -- Eldridge Cleaver, "Soul on Ice", 1968
+~
+America is the only nation in history which miraculously
+has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without
+the usual interval of civilization.
+ -- Georges Clemenceau, 1 December 1945
+~
+War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military.
+ -- Georges Clemenceau
+~
+When you have nothing to say, say nothing. -- Charles Caleb Colton
+~
+I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
+ -- Confucius
+~
+If we don't know life, how can we know death? -- Confucius
+~
+Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
+ -- Confucius
+~
+Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance. -- Confucius
+~
+What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others. -- Confucius
+~
+When we see persons of worth, we should think of equaling them;
+when we see persons of a contrary character,
+we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.
+ -- Confucius
+~
+Imprisoned in every fat man a thin man is wildly signaling to be let out.
+ -- Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945
+~
+Slums may well be breeding grounds of crime,
+but middle class suburbs are incubators of apathy and delirium.
+ -- Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945
+~
+Truth is a river that is always splitting up into arms that reunite.
+Islanded between the arms the inhabitants argue for a lifetime
+as to which is the main river.
+ -- Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945
+~
+Always be nice to those younger than you, because they are the ones
+who will be writing about you.
+ -- Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983
+~
+Youth is a period of missed opportunities.
+ -- Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983
+~
+The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet.
+ -- Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983
+~
+You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
+ -- Joseph Conrad, "Lord Jim", 1900
+~
+The horror! The horror!
+ -- Joseph Conrad, "Heart of Darkness", 1902
+~
+I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and
+invigorating climate, but most of all because of her indomitable people.
+ -- Calvin Coolidge, Speech, 21 September 1928
+~
+Don't talk unless you can improve the silence. -- Laurence Coughlin
+~
+A man feared that he might find an assassin;
+Another that he might find a victim.
+One was more wise than the other.
+ -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
+~
+I stood upon a high place, and saw, below, many devils,
+running, leaping, and carousing in sin.
+One looked up, grinning, and said, "Comrade! Brother!"
+ -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
+~
+I walked in a desert.
+And I cried,
+"Ah, God, take me from this place!"
+A voice said, "It is no desert."
+I cried, "Well, but---
+"The sand, the heat, the vacant horizon."
+A voice said, "It is no desert."
+ -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
+~
+I was in the darkness;
+I could not see my words
+Nor the wishes of my heart.
+Then suddenly there was a great light---
+"Let me into the darkness again."
+ -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
+~
+A man said to the universe, "Sir, I exist." "However," replied the universe,
+"the fact has not created in me a sense of obligation."
+ -- Stephan Crane, "War is Kind", 1899
+~
+There is growing evidence that smoking has pharamacological ...
+effects that are of real value to smokers.
+ -- Joseph F. Cullman III (Pres. of Phillip Morris)
+ Annual Report to Stockholders, 1962
+~
+There are no atheists in the foxholes.
+ -- William Thomas Cummings, 1942
+~
+Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days.
+An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to
+make it meaningful: a meaningful friend, or a meaningful day.
+ -- the 14th Dalai Lama, interview in "TIME", 11 April 1988
+~
+The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time
+of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.
+ -- Dante
+~
+The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents,
+and the second half by our children.
+ -- Clarence Darrow
+~
+There is no such thing as justice--in or out of court.
+ -- Clarence Darrow, Interview, April 1936
+~
+When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President;
+I'm beginning to believe it.
+ -- Clarence Darrow
+~
+The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is,
+in fact, a return to the idealised past.
+ -- Robertson Davies, "A Voice from the Attic", 1960
+~
+There is no such thing as a nonracial society
+in a multiracial country.
+ -- F. W. de Klerk, President of South Africa,
+ quoted in _Time_, 11 September 1989
+~
+There are a million ways to lose a work day,
+but not even a single way to get one back.
+ -- Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, _Peopleware_, 1987
+~
+People are always talking about tradition, but they forget we have
+a tradition of a few hundred years of nonsense and stupidity, that
+there is a tradition of idiocy, incompetence and crudity.
+ -- Hugo Demartini, in "Contemporary Artists", 1977
+~
+Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly
+and safely insane every night of our lives.
+ -- William Dement, in "Newsweek", 1959
+~
+We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them
+to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up.
+ -- Phyllis Diller
+~
+I never deny, I never contradict. I sometimes forget.
+ -- Benjamin Disraeli
+~
+There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
+ -- Benjamin Disraeli
+~
+Youth is a blunder, manhood a struggle, old age a regret.
+ -- Benjamin Disraeli, "Coningsby" 1844
+~
+The average Ph.D. thesis is nothing but a transference of bones
+from one graveyard to another.
+ -- J. Frank Dobie, "A Texan in England", 1945
+~
+Love built on beauty, soon as beauty dies.
+ -- John Donne, "Elegy II, The Anagram"
+~
+Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself,
+but talent instantly recognizes genius.
+ -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Valley of Fear", 1914
+~
+One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do
+and always a clever thing to say.
+ -- Will Durant, in "Reader's Digest", 1972
+~
+Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
+ -- Will Durant, in "National Enquirer", 1980
+~
+A man's got to know his limitations.
+ -- Clint Eastwood in "Magnum Force", 1973
+~
+History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely
+once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
+ -- Abba Eban, 1970
+~
+Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
+ -- Thomas Alva Edison, "Life", 1932
+~
+There is no substitute for hard work.
+ -- Thomas Alva Edison, "Life", 1932
+~
+To err is human but to really foul things up requires a computer.
+ -- Paul Ehrlich, in "The Farmers Almanac, 1978"
+~
+Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present,
+but an equation is something for eternity.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it
+is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us
+any closer to the secret of the Old One. I, at any rate, am convinced that He
+does not throw dice.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+God may be subtle. But He is not malicious.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war
+fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people
+of the earth will be killed.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+I never think of the future--it comes soon enough.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+The important thing is not to stop questioning.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has
+merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his
+tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand
+this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signls here, they
+receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+Before God we are all equally wise--and equally foolish.
+ -- Albert Einstein, "Cosmic Religion"
+~
+The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.
+ -- Albert Einstein, "Life", 1950
+~
+Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and
+the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.
+ -- Albert Einstein, "Ideas and Opinions", 1954
+~
+A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.
+ -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
+~
+I think that people want peace so much that one of these days
+government had better get out of their way and let them have it.
+ -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
+~
+In the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy as a prisoner's chains.
+ -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
+~
+We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.
+ -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
+~
+What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight -
+it's the size of the fight in the dog.
+ -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958
+~
+This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.
+ -- T. S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men", 1925
+~
+The greatest task before civilization at present is to make machines
+what they ought to be, the slaves, instead of the masters of men.
+ -- Havelock Ellis, "Little Essays of Love and Virtue", 1922
+~
+The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum.
+ -- Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923
+~
+The sun and the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago...
+had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.
+ -- Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923
+~
+What we call "morals" is simply blind obedience to words of command.
+ -- Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923
+~
+Always do what you are afraid to do. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters
+compared to what lies within us.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+When it is dark enough you can see the stars.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Journal", 20 December 1822
+~
+A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.
+Before him, I may think aloud.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841
+~
+I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841
+~
+To be great is to be misunderstood.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841
+~
+I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Journal", May 1849
+~
+Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Conduct of Life", 1860
+~
+Hitch your wagon to a star.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Conduct of Life", 1860
+~
+A wise man first determines what is within his control;
+all else is then irrelevant.
+ -- Epictetus
+~
+We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
+ -- Epictetus
+~
+War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.
+ -- Desiderius Erasmus
+~
+A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.
+ -- Paul Erdos
+~
+A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way
+that everyone believes he has the biggest piece.
+ -- Ludwig Erhard, in "The Observer", 1958
+~
+There's a difference between beauty and charm. A beautiful woman
+is one I notice. A charming woman is one who notices me.
+ -- John Erskine
+~
+Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do
+with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
+ -- Susan Ertz
+~
+Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
+ -- Euripides
+~
+The best of seers is he who guesses well.
+ -- Euripides
+~
+The camera cannot lie. But it can be an accessory to untruth.
+ -- Harold Evans, "Pictures on a Page", 1978
+~
+Passions are fashions.
+ -- Clifton Fadiman
+~
+When you read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before.
+You see more in you than there was before.
+ -- Clifton Fadiman, "Any Number Can Play", 1957
+~
+The only accident [at Three Mile Island] is that this thing leaked out.
+You could have avoided this whole thing by not saying anything.
+ -- Craig Faust (control-room operator at TMI), 1979,
+ quoted from "Loose Talk"
+~
+If people really liked to work, we'd still be plowing the land with sticks
+and transporting goods on our backs.
+ -- William Feather
+~
+A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.
+ -- James Feibleman, "Understanding Philosophy", 1973
+~
+The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
+ -- Fanny Fern, "Willis Parton"
+~
+Computer: a million morons working at the speed of light.
+ -- David Ferrier
+~
+The first principle is that you must not fool yourself -
+and you are the easiest person to fool.
+ -- Richard Feynman, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"
+~
+Anybody who hates children and dogs can't be all bad. -- W. C. Fields
+~
+I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally. -- W. C. Fields
+~
+It isn't what they say about you, it's what they whisper. -- Errol Flynn
+~
+Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
+ -- Henry Ford
+~
+The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the poor,
+to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
+ -- Anatole France
+~
+I am responsible only to God and history.
+ -- Francisco Franco
+~
+I still believe that people are really good at heart.
+I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation
+consisting of confusion, misery and death.
+ -- Anne Frank
+~
+Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other.
+ -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac
+~
+In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.
+ -- Benjamin Franklin, 1789
+~
+Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
+ -- Sigmund Freud
+~
+Clothe an idea in words and it loses its freedom of movement.
+ -- Egon Friedell
+~
+The news is the one thing the networks can point to with pride.
+Everything else they do is crap--and they know it.
+ -- Fred Friendly, 1980
+~
+The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.
+ -- Erich Fromm
+~
+A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather
+and ask for it back when it begins to rain.
+ -- Robert Frost
+~
+A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday
+but never remembers her age.
+ -- Robert Frost
+~
+A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.
+ -- Robert Frost
+~
+A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.
+ -- Robert Frost
+~
+The world is full of willing people;
+some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.
+ -- Robert Frost
+~
+The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
+But I have promises to keep,
+And miles to go before I sleep,
+And miles to go before I sleep.
+ -- Robert Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", 1923
+~
+We compound our suffering by victimising each other.
+ -- Athol Fugard, in "The Observer", 1971
+~
+The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun.
+ -- R. Buckminster Fuller
+~
+The most important thing about Spaceship Earth -
+an instruction book didn't come with it.
+ -- R. Buckminster Fuller, quoted in "Contemporary Architects", 1980
+~
+It's not your blue blood, your pedigree or your college degree.
+It's what you do with your life that counts.
+ -- Millard Fuller, in "Time", 16 January 1989
+~
+Getting divorced just because you don't love a man is
+almost as silly as getting married just because you do.
+ -- Zsa Zsa Gabor
+~
+If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
+ -- John Kenneth Galbraith
+~
+Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.
+ -- John Kenneth Galbraith
+~
+Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing
+between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
+ -- John Kenneth Galbraith
+~
+The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises
+in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral
+justification for selfishness.
+ -- John Kenneth Galbraith
+~
+In economics, the majority is always wrong.
+ -- John Kenneth Galbraith, in "Saturday Evening Post", 1968
+~
+One of the greatest pieces of economic wisdom is to know what you do not know.
+ -- John Kenneth Galbraith, in "Time", 1961
+~
+I could prove God statistically. -- George Gallup
+~
+He who awaits much can expect little.
+ -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
+ "El Coronel no Tiene quien le Escriba"
+~
+Si Dios no hubiera descansado el domingo
+habria tenido tiempo de terminar el mundo.
+(If God hadn't rested on Sunday,
+He would have had time to finish the world.)
+ -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
+ "Los Funerales de Mam Grande", 1974
+~
+No creo en Dios, pero le tengo miedo.
+(I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of Him.)
+ -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "El Amor en los Tiempos de Calera", 1985
+~
+The true statesman is the one who is willing to take risks.
+ -- Charles de Gaulle, 1967
+~
+A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs. -- German Proverb
+~
+If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars.
+ -- J. Paul Getty
+~
+I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant,
+and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.
+ -- Kahlil Gibran
+~
+Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.
+ -- Andre Gide
+~
+In hell there is no other punishment than to begin over
+and over again the tasks left unfinished in your lifetime.
+ -- Andre Gide
+~
+The secret of success is sincerity.
+Once you can fake that you've got it made.
+ -- Jean Giraudoux
+~
+Expecting something for nothing is the most popular form of hope.
+ -- Arnold Glasow
+~
+All things are only transitory. -- Goethe
+~
+We are not abandoning our convictions, our philosophy or traditions,
+nor do we urge anyone to abandon theirs.
+ -- Mikhail Gorbachev, UN address, 7 December 1988
+~
+The truest wild beasts live in the most populous places.
+ -- Baltasar Gracian, "The Art of Worldly Wisdom" 1647
+~
+Thirty days hath November,
+April, June, and September,
+February hath twenty-eight alone,
+And all the rest have thirty-one.
+ -- Richard Grafton, 1562
+~
+I think when a person has been found guilty of rape
+he should be castrated. That would stop him pretty quick.
+ -- Billy Graham, 1974
+~
+The illusion that times that were are better than those that are,
+has probably pervaded all ages.
+ -- Horace Greeley, "The American Conflict", 1864-1866
+~
+If you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.
+ -- Motto of the Green Berets
+~
+Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.
+ -- Graham Greene, 1981
+~
+Figures won't lie, but liars will figure.
+ -- Charles H. Grosvenor
+~
+It's round the world I've traveled; it's round the world I've roamed;
+but I've yet to see an outlaw drive a family from its home.
+ -- Woody Guthrie, "Pretty Boy Floyd"
+~
+Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
+ -- Alex Hamilton, "The Listener", 1978
+~
+The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers.
+ -- R. W. Hamming, "Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers", 1973
+~
+War will cease when men refuse to fight.
+ -- Fridtjof Hansen
+~
+Licker talks mighty loud w'en it gets loose fum de jug.
+ -- Joel C. Harris, "Uncle Remus: Plantation Proverbs"
+~
+Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has
+just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.
+ -- Sydney Harris
+~
+In times like these, it is helpful to remember
+that there have always been times like these.
+ -- Paul Harvey
+~
+The probability of anything happening is in inverse ratio to its desirability.
+ -- John W. Hazard, "Changing Times" 1957
+~
+Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater. -- William Hazlitt
+~
+Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained
+with the greatest violence.
+ -- Hebrew Proverb
+~
+Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity,
+and some people have mediocrity thrust upon them.
+ -- Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
+~
+Plain women know more about men than beautiful ones do.
+But beautiful women don't need to know about men.
+It's the men who have to know about beautiful women.
+ -- Katherine Hepburn
+~
+Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived
+and how he died that distinguish one man from another.
+ -- Ernest Hemingway, quoted in "Sunday Times", 1966
+~
+Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased
+at the price of chains and slavery?
+ -- Patrick Henry
+~
+All is flux, nothing stays still. -- Heraclitus
+~
+Nothing endures but change. -- Heraclitus
+~
+Some actions have an end but no beginning; some begin but do not end.
+It all depends upon where the observer is standing.
+ -- Frank Herbert
+~
+I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that
+brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass
+over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner
+eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
+Only I will remain.
+ -- Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965
+~
+Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks. -- Herodotus
+~
+If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of
+fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.
+ -- Herodotus
+~
+There's nothing in the middle of the road
+but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.
+ -- Jim Hightower, in "Time", 3 April 1989
+~
+To do nothing is also a good remedy. -- Hippocrates
+~
+Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.
+ -- Alfred Hitchcock, in "The Observer", 1960
+~
+In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is
+and what a messy thing it is to kill a man.
+ -- Alfred Hitchcock, 1966
+~
+The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.
+ -- Adolf Hitler
+~
+What luck for the rulers that men do not think.
+ -- Adolf Hitler
+~
+Never tolerate the establishment of two continental powers in Europe.
+ -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
+~
+Strength lies not in defense but in attack.
+ -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
+~
+Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.
+ -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
+~
+The great masses of the people... will more easily
+fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.
+ -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
+~
+You can discover what your enemy fears most
+by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
+ -- Eric Hoffer, in "The Faber Book of Aphorisms", 1964
+~
+The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. -- Abbie Hoffman
+~
+Justice is incidental to law and order. -- J. Edgar Hoover
+~
+Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero!
+(Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow!)
+ -- Horace
+~
+Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
+(It is sweet and honorable to die for one's country.)
+ -- Horace
+~
+He has half the deed done who has made a beginning. -- Horace
+~
+Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled. -- Horace
+~
+Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
+ -- Elbert Hubbard
+~
+Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men. -- Kin Hubbard
+~
+When a fellow says it ain't the money but
+the principle of the thing, it's the money.
+ -- Kin Hubbard
+~
+Now and then an innocent man is sent to the legislature.
+ -- Kin Hubbard, "Abe Martin's Broadcast", 1930
+~
+Habit is the nursery of errors. -- Victor Hugo
+~
+We believe that to err is human. To blame it on someone else is politics.
+ -- Hubert H. Humphrey
+~
+The right to be heard does not automatically
+include the right to be taken seriously.
+ -- Hubert H. Humphrey, 1965
+~
+A woman has to be twice as good as a man to go half as far. -- Fannie Hurst
+~
+The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from
+ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference,
+and undernourishment.
+ -- Robert Hutchins, "Great Books" 1954
+~
+Maybe this world is another planet's Hell. -- Aldous Huxley
+~
+The most distressing thing that can happen to a prophet
+is to be proved wrong. The next most distressing thing is
+to be proved right.
+ -- Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World Revisited", 1956
+~
+Experience is not what happens to you.
+It is what you do with what happens to you.
+ -- Aldous Huxley, in "Reader's Digest", 1956
+~
+Technological progress has merely provided us with more
+efficient means for going backwards.
+ -- Aldous Huxley, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", 1956
+~
+A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.
+ -- Henrik Ibsen, "An Enemy of the People", 1882
+~
+The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.
+ -- Henrik Ibsen, "An Enemy of the People", 1882
+~
+There is always something to upset the most careful of human calculations.
+ -- Ihara Saikaku
+~
+Few rich men own their own property. The property owns them.
+ -- Robert G. Ingersoll
+~
+To think contrary to one's era is heroism.
+But to speak against it is madness.
+ -- Eugene Ionesco
+~
+The will to win is worthless if you don't get paid for it. -- Reggie Jackson
+~
+It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.
+ -- Clive James, in "The Observer", 1976
+~
+A great many people think they are thinking
+when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
+ -- William James
+~
+The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.
+ -- William James
+~
+El amor es un camino que de repente aparece y de tanto caminarlo se te pierde.
+ -- Victor Jara, "El Amor es un Camino"
+~
+In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to Liberty.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson
+~
+I think [a black]... could scarcely be found capable of
+tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson, "Notes on Virginia", 1787
+~
+It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless,
+of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.
+ -- Jerome K. Jerome
+~
+To seek permission is to seek denial. -- Steve Jobs
+~
+Men are like wine--some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age.
+ -- Pope John XXIII, 1978
+~
+I never trust a man unless I've got his pecker in my pocket.
+ -- Lyndon B. Johnson
+~
+If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River,
+the headline that afternoon would read: PRESIDENT CAN'T SWIM.
+ -- Lyndon B. Johnson
+~
+No member of our generation who wasn't a Communist
+or a dropout in the thirties is worth a damn.
+ -- Lyndon B. Johnson, 1960
+~
+Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
+ -- Samuel Johnson, 7 April 1775
+~
+The heart has its prisons that intelligence cannot unlock.
+ -- Marcel Jouhandeau, "De la grandeur"
+~
+Do you not know, my son, with what little understanding the world is ruled?
+ -- Pope Julius III
+~
+An ounce of emotion is equal to a ton of facts. -- John Junor
+~
+In the fight between you and the world, back the world. -- Franz Kafka
+~
+There are two cardinal sins from which all the others spring:
+impatience and laziness.
+ -- Franz Kafka
+~
+The more things change, the more they remain the same.
+ -- Alphonse Karr, "Les Guepes", January 1849
+~
+You do not destroy an idea by killing people; you replace it with a better one.
+ -- Edward Keating
+~
+Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.
+ -- John Keats, Correspondence, 1819
+~
+College isn't the place to go for ideas. -- Hellen Keller
+~
+We have met the enemy and he is us. -- Walt Kelly in "POGO"
+~
+If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.
+ -- Florynce Kennedy, 1976
+~
+Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.
+ -- John F. Kennedy
+~
+Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.
+ -- John F. Kennedy
+~
+We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind
+in the history of the world--or to make it the last.
+ -- John F. Kennedy
+~
+And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you;
+ask what you can do for your country.
+ -- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961
+~
+If a free society cannot help the many who are poor,
+it cannot save the few who are rich.
+ -- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961
+~
+Those who make peaceful revolution impossible
+will make violent revolution inevitable.
+ -- John F. Kennedy, 12 March 1962
+~
+Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
+ -- Robert F. Kennedy
+~
+Some men see things as they are and say why?
+I dream things that never were and say 'Why not?'
+ -- Robert F. Kennedy, quoted in "Esquire", 1969
+~
+Without feeling there's no reason to live.
+ -- Andre Kertesz, photographer, 1894-1985
+~
+In the long run we are all dead.
+ -- John Maynard Keynes, "The General Theory", 1936
+~
+In a fight you don't stop to choose your cudgels. -- Nikita Khruschev
+~
+Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build
+bridge even when there are no rivers.
+ -- Nikita Khruschev
+~
+Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
+ -- Soren Kierkegaard, "Life"
+~
+Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
+ -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
+~
+It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me,
+but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
+ -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
+~
+Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the
+the philanthropist to over-look the circumstances of
+economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
+ -- Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963
+~
+The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort,
+but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
+ -- Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963
+~
+He travels the fastest who travels alone.
+ -- Rudyard Kipling
+~
+Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.
+ -- Rudyard Kipling
+~
+The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
+ -- Henry Kissinger
+~
+Television--a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well-done.
+ -- Ernie Kovacs
+~
+Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.
+ -- Jonathan Kozol
+~
+Credulity is the man's weakness, but the child's strength.
+ -- Charles Lamb
+~
+People don't ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather
+have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts.
+ -- Robert Keith Leavitt
+~
+It is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it.
+ -- Robert E. Lee, December 1862
+~
+To light a candle is to cast a shadow.
+ -- Ursula K. Le Guin, "A Wizard of Earthsea", 1975
+~
+When smashing monuments, save the pedestals--they always come in handy.
+ -- Stanislaw Lec
+~
+It is true that liberty is precious--so precious that it must be rationed.
+ -- Nikolai Lenin
+~
+The world began without man, and it will complete itself without him.
+ -- Claude Levi-Strauss, "Tristes Tropiques", 1955
+~
+Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive,
+but what they conceal is vital.
+ -- Aaron Levenstein
+~
+Ask a man which way he is going to vote, and he will probably tell you.
+Ask him, however, why, and vagueness is all.
+ -- Bernard Levin, in "Daily Mail", 1964
+~
+A real diplomat is one who can cut his neighbor's throat
+without having his neighbor notice it.
+ -- Trygve Lie
+~
+He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help. -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+Nearly all men can stand adversity,
+but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+The ballot is stronger than the bullet. -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong
+impulse to see it tried on him personally.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+You can fool all the people some of the time,
+and some of the people all the time,
+but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee,
+and just as hard to sleep after.
+ -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
+~
+Where all men think alike, no one thinks very much.
+ -- Walter Lippmann
+~
+I have always thought the actions of men the best
+interpreters of their thoughts.
+ -- John Locke
+~
+Winning is not everything. It's the only thing.
+ -- Vince Lombardi, 1965
+~
+The ignorant man always adores what he cannot understand.
+ -- Cesare Lombroso, "The Man of Genius"
+~
+Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
+ -- Joe Louis, 1965
+~
+In war there is no substitute for victory.
+ -- General Douglas MacArthur, Speech, 19 April 1951
+~
+There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity.
+ -- General Douglas MacArthur, 1955
+~
+Caminante, son tus huellas el camino, y nada m s;
+caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.
+ -- Antonio Machado, "Proverbios y cantares, VI"
+~
+It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.
+ -- Niccolo Machiavelli
+~
+All our knowledge merely helps us to die a more painful death
+than the animals that know nothing.
+ -- Maurice Maeterlinck
+~
+The atom bomb is a paper tiger...
+Terrible to look at but not so strong as it seems.
+ -- Mao Zedong
+~
+Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
+ -- Mao Zedong, "Quotations from Chairman Mao", 1966
+~
+Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
+ -- Mao Zedong, "Quotations from Chairman Mao", 1966
+~
+An optimist is a guy that has never had much experience.
+ -- Donald R. Perry Marquis, "archy and mehitabel", 1927
+~
+Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.
+ -- Karl Marx
+~
+Religion... is the opium of the masses.
+ -- Karl Marx, "Critique of the Hegelian Philosophy of Right", 1844
+~
+Unrecognized faults lead to wasted efforts
+ -- Joanot Martorell, "Tirant lo Blanc", 1490
+~
+Impropriety is the soul of wit.
+ -- Somerset Maugham
+~
+Love is only the dirty trick played on us
+to achieve continuation of the species.
+ -- W. Somerset Maugham, "A Writer's Notebook" 1949
+~
+I feel like a fugitive from the law of averages.
+ -- William H. Mauldin, "Up Front" 1944
+~
+Having two bathrooms ruined the capacity to co-operate.
+ -- Margaret Mead
+~
+The people here [in Nicaragua] are amazingly friendly, when you
+figure we're here to overthrow their government.
+ -- Richard Melton, US Ambassador to Nicaragua
+~
+A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence
+and yet keep both ears to the ground.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+The American public knows what it wants,
+and deserves to get it good and hard.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+There's always an easy solution to every human problem -
+neat, plausible, and wrong.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+Time is the great legalizer, even in the field of morals.
+ -- H. L. Mencken, "A Book of Prefaces", 1917
+~
+Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life,
+there is actually no truth to be discovered;
+there is only error to be exposed.
+ -- H. L. Mencken, "Prejudices, Third Series", 1922
+~
+The older I grow the more I distrust
+the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
+ -- H. L. Mencken, "Prejudices, Third Series", 1922
+~
+Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking.
+ -- H. L. Mencken, "A Mencken Chrestomathy", 1949
+~
+Conservatives are not necessarily stupid,
+but most stupid people are conservatives.
+ -- John Stuart Mill
+~
+He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.
+ -- John Stuart Mill
+~
+A good listener is not only popular everywhere,
+but after a while he gets to know something.
+ -- Wilson Mizner
+~
+Gambling: The sure way of getting nothing for something.
+ -- Wilson Mizner
+~
+I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.
+ -- Wilson Mizner
+~
+Some of the greatest love affairs I've known
+have involved one actor, unassisted.
+ -- Wilson Mizner
+~
+When you take stuff from one writer it's plagiarism;
+but when you take it from many writers, it's research.
+ -- Wilson Mizner
+~
+I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it.
+ -- Marilyn Monroe
+~
+Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in,
+and those inside equally desperate to get out.
+ -- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
+~
+The value of life lies not in the length of days,
+but in the use we make of them...
+Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not
+on your tale of years, but on your will.
+ -- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, 1580
+~
+Obstacles are those frightful things you see
+when you take your eyes off the goal.
+ -- Hannah More
+~
+Only the sinner has the right to preach.
+ -- Christopher Morley
+~
+There is only one success, to be able to spend your life in your own way.
+ -- Christopher Morley
+~
+You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.
+ -- John Morley, "Rousseau", 1876
+~
+Any party which takes credit for the rain
+must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the draught.
+ -- Dwight Morrow
+~
+If the nation's economists were laid end to end,
+they would point in all directions.
+ -- Arthur H. Motley
+~
+As a student I learned from wonderful teachers
+and ever since then I've thought everyone is a teacher.
+ -- Bill Moyers, interviews on "Fresh Air", 1991
+~
+Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation.
+ -- Edward R. Murrow
+~
+Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.
+ -- Edward R. Murrow
+~
+The big majority of Americans, who are comparatively well off,
+have developed an ability to have enclaves of people living in the
+greatest misery without almost noticing them.
+ -- Gunnar Myrdal
+~
+Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death
+should not be an even greater one.
+ -- Vladimir Nabokov, quoted in "Time", 1981
+~
+The speed of exit of a civil servant is directly proportional
+to the quality of his service.
+ -- Ralph Nader, "The Spoiled System"
+~
+Everybody is interesting for an hour, but few people can last more than two.
+ -- V. S. Naipul, interview in "Time", 10 July 1989
+~
+If you wish to be a success in the world,
+promise everything, deliver nothing.
+ -- Napoleon
+~
+In politics stupidity is not a handicap.
+ -- Napoleon
+~
+Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.
+ -- Napoleon
+~
+A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.
+ -- Napoleon, "Maxims" 1804-1815
+~
+History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.
+ -- Napoleon, "Maxims" 1804-1815
+~
+Women are nothing but machines for producing children.
+ -- Napolean, quoted in "The Book of Insults", 1978
+~
+Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker.
+ -- Ogden Nash
+~
+Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
+ -- George Jean Nathan
+~
+Nobody believes the official spokesman ...
+but everybody trusts an unidentified source.
+ -- Ron Nesen, 1977
+~
+Lack of will power has caused more failure than
+lack of intelligence or ability.
+ -- Flower A. Newhouse
+~
+Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.
+ -- Howard W. Newton
+~
+If I have seen far, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
+ -- Sir Isaac Newton
+~
+O God, give us serenity to accept what cannot be changed,
+courage to change what should be changed,
+and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
+ -- Reinhold Niebuhr, sermon, 1934
+~
+Democracy is finding proximate solutions to insoluble problems.
+ -- Reinhold Niebuhr
+~
+ They [Nazis] came first for the Communists,
+and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
+ Then they came for the Jews,
+and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
+ Then they came for the Catholics,
+and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
+ Then they came for me,
+and by that time there was no one left to speak up.
+ -- Martin Niemueller
+~
+In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+One should die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly.
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+What does not destroy me, makes me strong.
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil", 1885-1886
+~
+A ship is always referred to as "she"
+because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder.
+ -- Chester Nimitz, Speech, 13 February 1940
+~
+I have nothing to hide.
+ -- Richard Nixon
+~
+I would have made a good pope.
+ -- Richard Nixon
+~
+Voters quickly forget what a man says.
+ -- Richard Nixon
+~
+Your President is no crook!
+ -- Richard Nixon
+~
+Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth -
+to see it like it is, and tell it like it is -
+to find the truth, to speak the truth, and live the truth.
+ -- Richard Nixon, accepting the Presidential Nomination, 1968
+~
+When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.
+ -- Richard Nixon, in interview with David Frost, 19 May 1977
+~
+Laws were made to be broken.
+ -- Christopher North
+~
+Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly upon our own point of view.
+ -- Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Return of the Jedi"
+~
+There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.
+ -- Kenneth H. Olson, President of DEC,
+ Convention of the World Future Society, 1977
+~
+The optimist thinks that this is the best of all possible worlds,
+and the pessimist knows it.
+ -- J. Robert Oppenheimer, "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" 1951
+~
+Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.
+ -- George Orwell
+~
+Liberal--a power worshipper without power.
+ -- George Orwell
+~
+On the whole human beings want to be good,
+but not too good and not quite all the time.
+ -- George Orwell, collected essays
+~
+All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
+ -- George Orwell, "Animal Farm" 1945
+~
+Big Brother Is Watching You
+ -- George Orwell, "1984", 1948
+~
+Who controls the past controls the future.
+Who controls the present controls the past.
+ -- George Orwell, "1984", 1948
+~
+At 50 everyone has the face he deserves.
+ -- George Orwell, "Journals", 1949
+~
+Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives,
+but on balance life is suffering and only the very young
+or the very foolish imagine otherwise.
+ -- George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant", 1950
+~
+It is convenient that there be gods,
+and, as it is convenient, let us believe there are.
+ -- Ovid, "Ars Amatoria"
+~
+To be loved, be lovable.
+ -- Ovid, "Ars Amatoria"
+~
+The chief product of an automated society
+is a widespread and deepening sense of boredom.
+ -- Cyril Parkinson
+~
+It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as
+to fill the time available for its completion.
+ -- C. Northcote Parkinson, in "The Economist", 1955
+~
+The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
+ -- Ellen Parr
+~
+If all men knew what others say of them,
+there would not be four friends in the world.
+ -- Blaise Pascal, 1656
+~
+Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed.
+ -- Blaise Pascal, "Pensees", 1670
+~
+Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor
+of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply... For fear will
+rob him of all if he gives too much.
+ -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
+~
+God forgives us... Who am I not to forgive?
+ -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
+~
+I have one great fear in my heart, that one day
+when they [the whites of South Africa] have turned to loving,
+they will find we [the blacks] are turned to hating.
+ -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
+~
+Then what is it worth, this mining industry? And why should it
+be kept alive, if it is only our poverty that keeps it alive? ...
+Is it we that must be kept poor so that others may stay rich?
+ -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
+~
+What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another?
+ -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
+~
+Who knows for what we live, and struggle, and die? ...
+Wise men write many books, in words too hard to understand.
+But this, the purpose of our lives, the end of all our struggle,
+is beyond all human wisdom.
+ -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
+~
+Yet [white] men [of South Africa] were afraid,
+with a fear that was deep, deep in the heart,
+a fear so deep that they hid their kindness, ...
+They were afraid because they were so few.
+And fear could not be cast out, but by love.
+ -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
+~
+To give up the task of reforming society is to
+give up one's responsibility as a free man.
+ -- Alan Paton, 1967
+~
+Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often
+discover what they lack.
+ -- George S. Patton
+~
+Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do
+and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
+ -- George S. Patton, "War As I Knew It", 1947
+~
+Assuming that either the left wing or the right wing gained
+control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles.
+ -- Pat Paulsen
+~
+Public office is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
+ -- Boies Penrose, 1931
+~
+An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow
+why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.
+ -- Laurence J. Peter
+~
+Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices.
+ -- Laurence Peter
+~
+Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear
+but forgetting where you heard it.
+ -- Laurence Peter
+~
+In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.
+ -- Laurence Peter, "The Peter Principle" 1969
+~
+Democracy is a process by which the people are free
+to choose the man who will get the blame.
+ -- Laurence Peter, "Peter's Quotations", 1977
+~
+Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear
+but forgetting where you heard it.
+ -- Laurence Peter, "Peter's Quotations", 1977
+~
+A man who is always ready to believe what is told him will never do well.
+ -- Gaius Petronius, "Satyricon"
+~
+Difference of religion breeds more quarrels than difference of politics.
+ -- Wendell Phillips, Speech, 7 November 1860
+~
+Sometimes democracy must be bathed in blood.
+ -- Augusto Pinochet
+~
+The measure of man is what he does with power.
+ -- Pittacus
+~
+If everybody's behavior can be explained by simple stupidity and greed,
+there's no point in assuming a conspiracy.
+ -- P. J. Plauger
+~
+I don't need a friend who changes when I change
+and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.
+ -- Plutarch
+~
+Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater.
+ -- Roman Polanski
+~
+Under capitalism man exploits man; under socialism the reverse is true.
+ -- Polish proverb
+~
+Amusement is the happiness of those who cannot think.
+ -- Alexander Pope
+~
+If you do not raise your eyes you will think you are the highest point.
+ -- Antonio Porchia, "Voces", 1968
+~
+One lives in the hope of becoming a memory.
+ -- Antonio Porchia, "Voces", 1968
+~
+They talk most who have the least to say.
+ -- Matthew Prior
+~
+A city is a large community where people are lonesome together.
+ -- Herbert Prochnow
+~
+A good workman is known by his tools.
+ -- Proverb
+~
+Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret,
+especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous.
+ -- William Proxmire
+~
+Maxim 914: Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.
+ -- Publilius Syrus
+~
+Maxim 1070: I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.
+ -- Publilius Syrus
+~
+Practice is the best of all instructors.
+ -- Publilius Syrus
+~
+If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
+ -- J. Danforth Quayle
+~
+There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense.
+In other words, a good offense wins.
+ -- J. Danforth Quayle, on "Star Wars",
+ quoted in "Time", 19 September 1988
+~
+Happy campers you have been, happy campers you are,
+and happy campers you will always be.
+ -- J. Danforth Quayle, on arrival in American Samoa,
+ quoted in "Time", 8 May 1989
+~
+I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and
+the only regret I have was that I didn't study
+Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.
+ -- J. Danforth Quayle, quoted in "Time", 8 May 1989
+~
+What a waste it is to lose one's mind or not to have a mind.
+How true it is.
+ -- J. Danforth Quayle, addressing the United Negro
+ College Fund, quoted in "Time", 26 June 1989
+~
+Mars is essentially in the same orbit [as the Earth]...
+We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water.
+If there is water, there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.
+ -- J. Danforth Quayle, interviewed on Cable Network
+ News, 11 August 1989
+~
+Religions tend to disappear with man's good fortune.
+ -- Raymond Queneau, "A Model History"
+~
+I have been staying in Moscow for only 24 hours,
+but already I feel almost at home.
+ -- Hashemi Rafsanjani, in "New York Times",
+ 22 June 1989
+~
+A nuclear power plant is infinitely safer than eating,
+because 300 people choke to death on food every year.
+ -- Dixy Lee Ray, 1977, quoted from "Loose Talk"
+~
+Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.
+ -- Ronald Reagan
+~
+Growing and decaying vegetation in this land are responsible
+for 93 percent of the oxides of nitrogen.
+ -- Ronald Reagan
+~
+If you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all.
+ -- Ronald Reagan
+~
+Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards,
+if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.
+ -- Ronald Reagan
+~
+Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?
+ -- Ronald Reagan
+~
+Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite
+at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
+ -- Ronald Reagan, "Saturday Evening Post" 1965
+~
+I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964
+and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary.
+ -- Ronald Reagan, 20 October 1965
+~
+I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
+ -- Ronald Reagan, 1968
+~
+All the wastes in a year from a nuclear power plant
+can be stored under a desk.
+ -- Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Burlington Free Press", 15 February 1980
+~
+History shows that when the taxes of a nation approach about 20% of the
+people's income, there begins to be a lack of respect for government....
+When it reaches 25%, there comes an increase in lawlessness.
+ -- Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Time", 14 April 1980
+~
+Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released
+by vegetation. So let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough
+emissions standards for man-made sources.
+ -- Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Sierra", 10 September 1980
+~
+I have just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever;
+we begin bombing in 5 minutes.
+ -- Ronald Reagan, weekly radio address, 11 August 1984
+~
+Facts are stupid things.
+ -- Ronald Reagan, 1988 Republican Convention
+~
+The scientists split the atom; now the atom is splitting us.
+ -- Quentin Reynolds, in "Quote & Unquote", 1970
+~
+The streets are safe in Philadelphia,
+it's only the people who make them unsafe.
+ -- Frank Rizzo
+~
+We need excellence in public education and if the teachers can't do it,
+we'll send in a couple of policemen.
+ -- Frank Rizzo, Philadelphia Bulletin, Oct 19, 1973
+~
+One of the weaknesses of our age is our apparent inability
+to distinguish our needs from our greeds.
+ -- Don Robinson, quoted in "Reader's Digest", 1963
+~
+If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind,
+give it more thought.
+ -- Dennis Roch
+~
+We always love those who admire us,
+but we do not always love those whom we admire.
+ -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
+~
+Wit sometimes enables us to act rudely with impunity.
+ -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
+~
+Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches
+beyond their own understanding.
+ -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
+~
+Old people like to give good advice,
+as solace for no longer being able to provide bad examples.
+ -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
+~
+Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done
+as the fear of the consequences.
+ -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
+~
+The reason that lovers never weary each other
+is because they are always talking about themselves.
+ -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
+~
+Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are
+for finishing it.... You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing
+would fall flat in a week.
+ -- Will Rogers
+~
+Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
+ -- Will Rogers
+~
+Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.
+ -- Will Rogers
+~
+There is nothing as stupid as an educated man
+if you get him off the thing he was educated in.
+ -- Will Rogers
+~
+There's no trick to being a humorist when you have
+the whole government working for you.
+ -- Will Rogers
+~
+This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session
+as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.
+ -- Will Rogers
+~
+We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb
+and clap as they go by.
+ -- Will Rogers
+~
+Everything is funny as long as it is happening to someone else.
+ -- Will Rogers, "The Illiterate Digest", 1924
+~
+I never met a man I didn't like.
+ -- Will Rogers, speech, June 1930
+~
+Half our life is spent trying to find something to do
+with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
+ -- Will Rogers, "The Autobiography of Will Rogers", 1949
+~
+The world is an enormous injustice.
+ -- Jules Romains
+~
+We've sent a man to the moon, and that's 29,000 miles away. The center
+of the Earth is only 4,000 miles away. You could drive that in a week,
+but for some reason nobody's ever done it.
+ -- Andy Rooney
+~
+No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
+ -- Eleanor Roosevelt, "This is My Story", 1937
+~
+The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those
+who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.
+ -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
+~
+It is common sense to take a method and try it.
+If it fails, admit it frankly and try another.
+But above all, try something.
+ -- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Speech, 22 May 1932
+~
+The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
+ -- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1st Inaugural Address, 1933
+~
+A technique is a trick that works.
+ -- Gian-Carlo Rota
+~
+One half of the children born die before their eighth year.
+This is nature's law; why try to contradict it?
+ -- Jean Jacques Rousseau, "Emile, ou de l'education", 1762
+~
+People who know little are usually great talkers,
+while men who know much say little.
+ -- Jean Jacques Rousseau, "Emile, ou de l'education", 1762
+~
+Never trust anyone over thirty. -- Jerry Rubin, 1966
+~
+The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always
+so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
+ -- Bertrand Russell
+~
+Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -
+more than ruin, more even than death.
+ -- Bertrand Russell, "Selected Papers"
+~
+You can outdistance that which is running after you,
+but not what is running inside you.
+ -- Rwandan proverb
+~
+A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you.
+ -- Francoise Sagan
+~
+Women and elephants never forget an injury.
+ -- Saki, "Reginald", 1904
+~
+A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.
+ -- Saki, "The Square Egg", 1924
+~
+Neither soldiers nor money can defend a king
+but only friends won by good deeds, merit, and honesty.
+ -- Sallust, "De bello Iugurthino"
+~
+Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves,
+spits on its hands and goes to work.
+ -- Carl Sandburg, in "New York Times", 1959
+~
+In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes
+when you awake in the morning.
+ -- Carl Sandburg, in "New York Post", 1960
+~
+A man's feet should be planted in his country,
+but his eyes should survey the world.
+ -- George Santayana
+~
+Skepticism, like chastity, should not be relinquished too readily.
+ -- George Santayana
+~
+Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
+ -- George Santayana
+~
+When the rich make war it's the poor that die.
+ -- Jean-Paul Sartre, "Le Diable et le bon Dieu", 1951
+~
+Tolerance means excusing the mistakes others make.
+Tact means not noticing them.
+ -- Arthur Schnitzler
+~
+Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision
+for the limits of the world.
+ -- Arthur Schopenhauer, "Studies in Pessimism"
+~
+There's a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker.
+ -- Charles M. Schulz
+~
+Comment is free, but facts are sacred.
+ -- C. P. Scott, c.1900
+~
+They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist---
+ -- General John B. Sedgwick, last words, 1864
+~
+They that govern the most make the least noise.
+ -- John Seldon, 1689
+~
+People will swim through sh*t if you put a few bob in it.
+ -- Peter Sellers
+~
+It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.
+ -- Seneca, "Epistles"
+~
+There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
+ -- Seneca, "On Tranquility of the Mind"
+~
+Every reign must submit to a greater reign. -- Seneca, "Thyestes"
+~
+Singing makes all the sad people happy because it is the voice of happiness.
+ -- Joseph Shabalala
+~
+A government that robs Peter to pay Paul
+can always depend upon the support of Paul.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+Every person who has mastered a profession is a skeptic concerning it.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior
+to all others because you were born in it.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman, but believing what he read made him mad.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+We've already established what you are, ma'am.
+Now we're just haggling over the price.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw, "The Rejected Statement"
+~
+He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw, "Man and Superman", 1903
+~
+Lack of money is the root of all evil.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw, "Man and Superman", 1903
+~
+Liars ought to have good memories.
+ -- Algernon Sidney
+~
+All reformers, however strict their social conscience,
+live in houses just as big as they can pay for.
+ -- Logan Pearsall Smith
+~
+I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
+ -- Socrates
+~
+I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
+ -- Socrates
+~
+The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
+ -- Socrates
+~
+If God had meant there to be more than 2 factors of production,
+He would have made it easier for us to draw three-dimensional diagrams.
+ -- Robert Solow
+~
+Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art.
+ -- Susan Sontag
+~
+Care of the poor is incumbent on society as a whole.
+ -- Spinoza, 1677
+~
+If you want a thing well done, do it yourself.
+ -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon
+~
+A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.
+ -- Joseph Stalin
+~
+The writer is the engineer of the human soul.
+ -- Joseph Stalin
+~
+Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party.
+ -- Joseph Stalin, Speech, 19 April 1923
+~
+Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union.
+ -- Joseph Stalin, 1935
+~
+Must the hunger become anger and the anger fury before anything will be done?
+ -- John Steinbeck
+~
+Time is the only critic without ambition.
+ -- John Steinbeck, "Writers at Work', 1977
+~
+There are really not many jobs that actually require a penis or a
+vagina, and all other occupations should be open to everyone.
+ -- Gloria Steinem
+~
+A hungry man is not a free man.
+ -- Adlai Stevenson
+~
+In America, any boy may become president and I suppose
+that's just one of the risks he takes.
+ -- Adlai Stevenson
+~
+Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact
+that sometimes he has to eat them.
+ -- Adlai Stevenson
+~
+The time to stop a revolution is at the beginning, not the end.
+ -- Adlai Stevenson, 9 September 1952
+~
+The cruelest lies are often told in silence.
+ -- Robert Louis Stevenson, "Virginibus Puerisque", 1881
+~
+Success always necessitates a degree of ruthlessness.
+Given the choice of friendship or success, I'd probably choose success.
+ -- Sting (Gordon Summer), 1980
+~
+If God, as some now say, is dead, He no doubt died of trying
+to find an equitable solution to the Arab-Jewish problem.
+ -- I. F. Stone, 1967
+~
+Ninety per cent of everything is crap.
+ -- Theodore Sturgeon
+~
+There is nothing in this world constant but inconstancy.
+ -- Swift
+~
+Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and
+thinking what no one else has thought.
+ -- Albert Szent-Gyorgi
+~
+And you may ask yourself "Am I right? Am I wrong?"
+And you may say to yourself "MY GOD! WHAT HAVE I DONE?"
+ -- The Talking Heads
+~
+The nice thing about standards is that there are
+so many of them to choose from.
+ -- Andrew S. Tanenbaum
+~
+A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, will tell you.
+ -- Bert Taylor, "The So-Called Human Race", 1922
+~
+The hunger for love is much more difficult
+to remove than the hunger for bread.
+ -- Mother Teresa, quoted in "Time", 4 December 1989
+~
+El infierno es el lugar donde no se ama.
+(Hell is the place where love is not found.)
+ -- Santa Teresa
+~
+If you want anything said, ask a man.
+If you want anything done, ask a woman.
+ -- Margaret Thatcher
+~
+You don't tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.
+ -- Margaret Thatcher, 1976
+~
+Under a government which imprisons any unjustly,
+the true place for a just man is also a prison.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+That government is best which governs least.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience" 1849
+~
+The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau, "Walden", 1854
+~
+If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
+perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau, "Walden", 1854
+~
+The savage in man is never quite eradicated.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau, "Journal", 26 September 1859
+~
+I think that maybe if women and children
+were in charge we would get somewhere.
+ -- James Thurber
+~
+It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
+ -- James Thurber
+~
+You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
+ -- James Thurber, "The Thurber Carnival", 1945
+~
+The Law of Raspberry Jam--The wider any culture is spread,
+the thinner it gets.
+ -- Alvin Toffler, "The Culture Consumers", 1964
+~
+The trouble with the rat-race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.
+ -- Lily Tomlin
+~
+The function of genius is not to give new answers,
+but to pose new questions--which time and mediocrity can solve.
+ -- Hugh Trevor-Roper, "Men and Events"
+~
+The dictatorship of the Communist Party is maintained
+by recourse to every form of violence.
+ -- Leon Trotsky, "Terrorism and Communism", 1924
+~
+If you can't convince them, confuse them.
+ -- Harry S. Truman
+~
+If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
+ -- Harry S. Truman
+~
+It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
+ -- Harry S. Truman
+~
+Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.
+ -- Harry S. Truman, "Memoirs, Vol. II", 1955
+~
+A President cannot always be popular.
+ -- Harry S. Truman, "Memoirs, Vol. II", 1955
+~
+It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job;
+it's a depression when you lose yours.
+ -- Harry S. Truman, 1958
+~
+Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.
+ -- Harry S. Truman, 1959
+~
+A little more moderation would be good. Of course,
+my life hasn't exactly been one of moderation.
+ -- Donald Trump, in "Time", 16 January 1989
+~
+I like thinking big. If you're going to be thinking
+anything, you might as well think big.
+ -- Donald Trump, in "Time", 16 January 1989
+~
+The more laws and order are made prominent,
+the more thieves and robbers there will be.
+ -- Lao Tsu
+~
+Words divide us, action unites us.
+ -- Slogan of the Tupamaros
+~
+If I had any humility I would be perfect.
+ -- Ted Turner
+~
+Man is the only animal that blushes--or needs to.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand
+to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished
+at how much he had learned in seven years.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority,
+it is time to reform.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority,
+it's time to pause and reflect.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear.
+ -- Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson", 1894
+~
+Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy
+you must have somebody to divide it with.
+ -- Mark Twain, "Following the Equator", 1897
+~
+Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.
+ -- Mark Twain, Correspondence, 1908
+~
+Good politics are often inextricably intertwined.
+ -- Morris Udall, "Too Funny to Be President", 1988
+~
+Lord, give us the wisdom to utter words that are gentle and tender,
+for tomorrow we may have to eat them.
+ -- Morris Udall, quoted in "Sierra", May/June 1989
+~
+To fall into a habit is to begin to cease to be.
+ -- Miguel de Unamuno, "The Tragic Sense of Life", 1913
+~
+Nada muere, todo baja del rio del tiempo al mar de la eternidad y alli queda.
+ -- Miguel de Unamuno, "Ver con los Ojos y Otros Relatos Novelescos"
+~
+No es acaso todo esto un sueno de Dios o de quien sea,
+que se desvanecera en cuanto El despierte,
+y por eso le rezamos y elevamos a El canticos a himnos,
+para adormecerle, para cunar su sueno?
+ -- Miguel de Unamuno, "Niebla", 1914
+~
+Nadie tiene mas imaginacion que la realidad.
+ -- Miguel de Unamuno, "El Espejo de la Muerte", 1941
+~
+The Vice Presidency is sort of like the last cookie on the plate.
+Everybody insists he won't take it, but somebody always does.
+ -- Bill Vaughan
+~
+Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.
+(And perhaps at some later date it will be pleasant to remember these things.)
+ -- Virgil
+~
+Time is flying never to return.
+ -- Virgil
+~
+It is not enough to succed. Others must fail.
+ -- Gore Vidal
+~
+There's a lot to be said for being noveau riche,
+and the Reagans mean to say it all.
+ -- Gore Vidal, in "The Observer", 1981
+~
+A witty saying proves nothing. -- Voltaire
+~
+If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. -- Voltaire
+~
+Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft...
+and the only one that can be mass-produced with unskilled labor.
+ -- Wernher von Braun
+~
+We are what we pretend to be. -- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
+~
+One's company, two's a crowd and three's a party.
+ -- Andy Warhol, in "Exposures", 1979
+~
+The sports page records people's accomplishments;
+The front page nothing but their failures.
+ -- Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren
+~
+My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us
+to occupy the land until Jesus returns.
+ -- James Watt, in "The Washington Post", 24 May 1981
+~
+If you worry about your customers,
+you won't have to worry about money.
+ -- Les Welch, in "Bicycle USA", March/April 1990
+~
+I passionately hate the idea of being with it,
+I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.
+ -- Orson Welles, 1966
+~
+I never loved another person the way I loved myself. -- Mae West
+~
+Too much of a good thing is wonderful. -- Mae West
+~
+When choosing between two evils, I always like to take
+the one I've never tried before.
+ -- Mae West, in "Klondike Annie" 1936
+~
+Do I contradict myself?
+Very well then I contradict myself,
+(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
+ -- Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass", 1855
+~
+There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes.
+ -- Dr. Who
+~
+No man is rich enough to buy back his past.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about,
+and that is not being talked about.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
+ -- Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Grey", 1891
+~
+Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them;
+sometimes they forgive them.
+ -- Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Grey", 1891
+~
+There is no sin except stupidity.
+ -- Oscar Wilde, "The Critic as Artist", 1891
+~
+We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
+ -- Oscar Wilde, "Lady Windermere's Fan", 1892
+~
+Relations are simply a tedious pack of people,
+who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live,
+nor the smallest instinct about when to die.
+ -- Oscar Wilde, "The Importance of Being Earnest", 1895
+~
+Hindsight is always 20:20.
+ -- Billy Wilder
+~
+Voters do not decide issues. They decide *who* will decide issues.
+ -- George F. Will, in "Newsweek", 1976
+~
+Anyone can hate. It costs to love.
+ -- John Williamson
+~
+Only the winners decide what were war crimes.
+ -- Gary Wills, in "New York Times", 1975
+~
+Not-really-trying is just as much effort as trying-really-hard.
+The only difference... is that not-really-trying receives no reward.
+ -- A. N. Wilson, "Incline Our Hearts", 1989
+~
+If you think nobody cares if you're alive,
+try missing a couple of car payments.
+ -- Earl Wilson
+~
+You can't expect to hit the jackpot if you don't
+put a few nickels in the machine.
+ -- Flip Wilson, 1971
+~
+Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others.
+ -- Jonathan Winters in "The Twilight Zone"
+~
+The limits of my language means the limits of my world.
+ -- Ludwig Wittgenstein
+~
+Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses
+possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting
+the figure of man at twice its natural size.
+ -- Virginia Woolf, "A Room of One's Own", 1929
+~
+TV is chewing gum for the eyes.
+ -- Frank Lloyd Wright
+~
+I believe that in the end the truth will conquer.
+ -- John Wycliffe
+~
+Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
+ -- William Butler Yeats
+~
+He who is conceived in a cage yearns for the cage.
+ -- Yevgeny Yevtushenko, 1968
+~
+It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!
+ -- Emiliano Zapata
+~
+Most people wouldn't know music if it came up and bit them on the ass.
+ -- Frank Zappa
+~
+One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you
+only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds.
+ -- Frank Zappa, 1979
+~
+Progress might be a circle, rather than a straight line.
+ -- Eberhard Zeidler, in "Contemporary Architects", 1980
+~
+Once when I was in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, I met a
+mysterious old stranger. He said he was about to die and
+wanted to tell someone about the treasure. I said, "Okay, as
+long as it's not a long story. Some of us have a plane to catch,
+you know." He started telling his story, about the treasure
+and his life and all, and I thought "This story isn't too long".
+But then, he kept going, and I started thinking, "Uh-oh, this
+story is getting long." But then the story was over, and I said
+to myself: "You know, that story wasn't too long after all".
+I forgot what the story was about, but there was a good movie
+on the plane. It was a little long though.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I believe in making the world safe for our children,
+but not for our children's children, because i don't
+believe children should be having sex.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+In weightlifting, I don't think that sudden uncontrolled urination should
+automatically disqualify you.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Blow ye winds, like the trumpet blows, but without that noise.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+When the age of the Vikings came to a close, they must have sensed it.
+Probably, they gathered together one evening, slapped each other on the
+back and said, "Hey, good job".
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I can still recall old Mister Barnslow getting out every morning and nailing
+a fresh load of tadpoles to that old board of his. Then he'd spin it round
+and round, like a wheel of fortune, and no matter where it stopped he'd yell
+out, "Tadpoles! Tadpoles is a winner!" We all thought he was crazy. But
+then, we had some growing up to do.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If I ever opened a trampoline store, I don't think I'd call it Trampo-Land,
+because you might think it was a store for tramps, which is not the
+impression we are trying to convey with our store. On the other hand, we
+would not prohibit tramps from browsing, or testing the trampolines, unless
+a tramp's gyrations seemed to be getting out of control.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep both Dracula
+_and_ Superman away.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Too bad you can't just grab a tree by the very tiptop and bend it clear to
+the ground and then let her fly, because I bet you'd be amazed at all the
+stuff that comes flying out.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+ I remember that fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew
+what was coming.
+ "You don't have to tell me," I said. "I am off the team, aren't I?"
+ "Well," said the coach, "You never were really _on_ the team. You
+made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet
+is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the
+ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at
+inappropriate times."
+ It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought, something is
+brewing inside the head of the coach. He sees something inside of me,
+some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the
+handcuffs go on.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+When I heard that trees grow a new "ring" for each year they live, I thought,
+we humans are kind of like that; we grow a new layer of skin each year; and
+after many years we are thick and unwieldy from all our skin layers.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you're in a boxing match, try not to let the other guy's glove touch your
+lips, because you don't know where that glove has been.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+It's too bad that whole families have been torn apart by something as
+simple as wild dogs.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Marta says the interesting thing about fly fishing is that it's two lives
+connected by a thin strand. Come on, Marta. Grow up.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+The old pool shooter had many a game in his life. But now it was time to
+hang up the cue. When he did, all the other cues came crashing to the floor.
+"Sorry," he said with a smile.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If I ever do a book on the Amazon, I hope I am able to bring a certain
+lightheartedness to the subject, in a way that tells the reader we are going
+to have fun with this thing.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Even though he was an enemy of mine, I had to admit that what he had
+accomplished was a brillant piece of stratagy. First, he punched me, then
+he kicked me, then he punched me again.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+The sound of fresh rain run-off splashing from the roof reminded me of the
+sound of urine splashing into a filthy Texaco latrine.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I think somebody should come up with a way to breed a very
+large shrimp. That way, you could ride him, then, after you
+camped at night, you could eat him. How about it, science?
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I scrambled to the top of the precipice where Nick was waiting. "That was
+fun," I said. "You bet it was", said Nick. "Lets climb higher." "No," I
+said, "I think we should be heading back now." "We have time," Nick
+insisted. I said we didn't, and Nick said we did. We argued back and forth
+like that for about 20 minutes, then finally decided to head back. I didn't
+say it was an interesting story.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Some folks say it was a miracle. Saint Francis suddenly appeared and knocked
+the pitch clean over the fence. But I think it was just a lucky swing.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Too bad there's not such a thing as a _golden_ skunk, because you'd probably
+be _proud_ to be sprayed by one.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And, at the same
+time unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between, plus some things I
+can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing". This is truth, to me.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I bet a fun thing would be to go way back in time to where there was going to
+be an eclipse and tell the cave men, "If I have come to destroy you, may the
+sun be blotted out from the sky". Just then the eclipse would start, and
+they'd probably try to kill you or something, but then you could explain about
+the rotation of the moon and all, and everyone would get a good laugh.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I think in one of my previous lives I was a mighty king, because I like
+people that do what I say.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Today I accidentally stepped on a snail on the sidewalk in front of our
+house. And I thought, I too am like that snail. I build a defensive wall
+around myself, a "shell" if you will. But my shell isn't made out of a hard,
+protective substance. Mine is made out of tinfoil and paper bags.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+A man doesn't automatically get my respect. He has to get down in the dirt
+and beg for it.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you're ever stuck in some thick undergrowth, in your underwear, don't
+stop and start thinking of what other words have "under" in them, because
+that's probably the first sign of jungle madness.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Sometimes the beauty of the world is so overwhelming, I just want to throw
+back my head and gargle. Just gargle and gargle, and I don't care who hears
+me, because I am beautiful.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Fear can sometimes be a useful emotion. For instance, let's say you're an
+astronaut on the moon and you fear that your partner has been turned into
+Dracula. The next time he goes out for the moon pieces, wham!!, you just
+slam the door behind him and blast off. He might call you on the radio and
+say he's not Dracula, but you just say, "Think again, bat man."
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I wish scientists would come up with a way to make a dogs a lot bigger, but
+with a smaller head. That way, they'd still be good as watchdogs, but they
+wouldn't eat so much.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I bet for an Indian, shooting an old fat pioneer woman in the back with an
+arrow, and she fires her shotgun into the ground as she falls over, is like
+the top thing you can do.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I think a good movie would be about a guy who's a brain scientist but he gets
+hit on the head and it damages the part of the brain that makes you want
+to study the brain.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I wouldn't be surprised if someday some fishermen caught a big shark and cut
+it open, and there inside was a whole person. Then they cut the person open,
+and in him is a little baby shark. And in the baby shark there isn't a
+person, because it would be too small. But there's a little doll or
+something, like a Johnny Combat little toy guy--something like that.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+It makes me mad when I go to all the trouble of having Marta cook up about
+a hundred drumsticks, then the guy at Marineland says, "You can't throw
+chicken to the dolphins. They eat fish." Sure they eat fish, if that is all
+you give them. Man, wise up.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If the Vikings were around today, they would probably be amazed at how much
+glow-in-the-dark stuff we have, and how we take so much of it for granted.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+It's not good to let any kid near a container that has a skull and
+crossbones on it, because there might be a skeleton costume inside and the
+kid could put it on and really scare you.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you had a school for professional fireworks people, I don't think you
+could cover fuses in just one class. It's just too rich a subject.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+People think it would be fun to be a bird because you could fly. But they
+forget the negative side, which is the preening.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If I lived back in the Wild West days, instead of carrying a six-gun in my
+holster, I'd carry a soldering iron. That way, if some smart-aleck cowboy
+said something like "Hey, look. He's carrying a soldering iron!" and started
+laughing, and everybody else started laughing, I could just say, "That's
+right, it's a soldering iron. The soldering iron of justice." Then everybody
+would be real quiet and ashamed, because they made fun of the soldering iron
+of justice, and I could probably hit them up for a free drink.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+When I think back on all the blessings I have been given in my life, I can't
+think of a single one, unless you count that rattlesnake that granted me
+all those wishes.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I hope in the future Americans are thought of as a warlike, vicious people,
+because I bet a lot of high schools would pick "Americans" as their mascot.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Sometimes I think the world has gone completely mad. And then I think, "Aw,
+who cares?" And then I think "Hey, what's for supper?"
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you ever discover that what you're seeing is a play within a play, just
+slow down, take a deep breath, and hold on for the ride of your life.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I can see why it would be prohibited to throw most things off the top of
+the Empire State Building, but what's wrong with little bits of cheese?
+They probably break down into their various gases before they even hit.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you're a circus clown, and you have a dog that you use in your act, I
+don't think it's a good idea to to dress the dog up like a clown, because
+people see that and they think, "Forgive me, but that's just too much".
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Here's a good joke to do during an earthquake: straddle a big crack in the
+ground, and if it opens wider, go "Whoa! Whoa!" and flail your arms around,
+like you're going to fall in.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you ever go temporarily insane, don't shoot somebody, like a lot of people
+do. Instead, try to get some weeding done, because you'd really be suprised.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+It makes me mad when people say I turned and ran like a scared rabbit. Maybe
+it was like an angry rabbit, who was running to go fight in another fight,
+away from the first fight.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I think a good way to get into a movie is to show up where they're making the
+movie, then stick a big cactus plant onto your buttocks and start yowling
+and running around. Everyone would think it was funny, and the head movie guy
+would say, "Hey, let's put him in the movie."
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Instead of having "answers" on a math test, they should just call them
+"impressions", and if you got a different "impression", so what, can't we
+all be brothers?
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If God dwells inside us, like some people say, I sure hope He likes
+enchiladas, because that's what He's getting!
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Probably to a shark, about the funniest thing there is a wounded seal,
+trying to swim to shore, because _where_does_he_think_he's_going_?!
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Perhaps, if I am very lucky, the feeble efforts of my lifetime will someday
+be noticed, and maybe, in some small way, they will be acknowledged as the
+greatest works of genius ever created by Man.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine,
+which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself:
+"Mankind." Basically, it's made up of two separate words--"mank" and "ind."
+What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I hope if dogs ever take over the world, and they choose a king, they don't
+just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some good
+ideas.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+It takes a big man to cry, but it takes an even bigger man to laugh at
+that man.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I guess we were all guilty, in a way. We all shot him, we all skinned him,
+and we all got a complimentary bumper sticker that said, "I helped skin
+Bob."
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I bet the main reason the police keep people away from a plane crash is
+they don't want anybody walking in and lying down in the crash stuff, then,
+when somebody comes up, act like they just woke up and go, "What was
+THAT?!"
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Ambition is like a frog sitting on a Venus Flytrap. The flytrap can bite
+and bite, but it won't bother the frog because it only has little tiny
+plant teeth. But some other stuff could happen and it could be like
+ambition.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I'd rather be rich than stupid.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you were a poor Indian with no weapons, and a bunch of conquistadors
+came up to you and asked where the gold was, I don't think it would be a
+good idea to say, "I swallowed it. So sue me."
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of danger,
+screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes, Mr. Brave Man, I
+guess I'm a coward.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I bet one legend that keeps recurring throughout history, in every culture,
+is the story of Popeye.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+When you go in for a job interview, I think a good thing to ask is if they
+ever press charges.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography,
+and the dancers hit each other.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+What is it that makes a complete stranger dive into an icy river to save a
+solid gold baby? Maybe we'll never know.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+We tend to scoff at the beliefs of the ancients. But we can't scoff at
+them personally, to their faces, and this is what annoys me.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Probably the earliest flyswatters were nothing more than some sort of
+striking surface attached to the end of a long stick.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I think someone should have had the decency to tell me the luncheon was
+free. To make someone run out with potato salad in his hand, pretending
+he's throwing up, is not what I call hospitality.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've
+wondered where this started, and I think it goes back to the time I went to
+the circus, and a clown killed my dad.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+As I bit into the nectarine, it had a crisp juiciness about it that was
+very pleasurable-until I realized it wasn't a nectarine at all, but A HUMAN
+HEAD!!!
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Most people don't realize that large pieces of coral, which have been
+painted brown and attached to the skull by common wood screws, can make a
+child look like a deer.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We
+might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Better not take a dog on the space shuttle, because if he sticks his head
+out when you're coming home his face might burn up.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+You know what would make a good story? Something about a clown who makes
+people happy, but inside he's real sad. Also, he has severe diarrhea.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Sometimes when I feel like killing someone, I do a little trick to calm
+myself down. I'll go over to the persons house and ring the doorbell.
+When the person comes to the door, I'm gone, but you know what I've left on
+the porch? A jack-o-lantern with a knife stuck in the side of it's head with
+a note that says "You." After that I usually feel a lot better, and no
+harm done.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you're a horse, and someone gets on you, and falls off, and then gets
+right back on you, I think you should buck him off right away.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you ever teach a yodeling class, probably the hardest thing is to keep
+the students from just trying to yodel right off. You see, we build to
+that.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe
+you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey,
+free dummy.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I'd like to see a nude opera, because when they hit those high notes, I bet
+you can really see it in those genitals.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Anytime I see something screech across a room and latch onto someone's
+neck, and the guy screams and tries to get it off, I have to laugh, because
+what is that thing?
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+He was a cowboy, mister, and he loved the land. He loved it so much he
+made a woman out of dirt and married her. But when he kissed her, she
+disintegrated. Later, at the funeral, when the preacher said, "Dust to
+dust," some people laughed, and the cowboy shot them. At his hanging, he
+told the others, "I'll be waiting for you in heaven--with a gun."
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+The memories of my family outings are still a source of strength to me. I
+remember we'd all pile into the car-I forget what kind it was-and drive and
+drive. I'm not sure where we'd go, but I think there were some trees there.
+The smell of something was strong in the air as we played whatever sport we
+played. I remember a bigger, older guy we called "Dad." We'd eat some stuff,
+or not, and then I think we went home. I guess some things never leave you.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is
+"God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to
+tell him is "probably because of something you did."
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Contrary to what most people say, the most dangerous animal in the world is
+not the lion or the tiger or even the elephant. It's a shark riding on an
+elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+As we were driving, we saw a sign that said "Watch for Rocks." Martha said
+it should read "Watch for Pretty Rocks." I told her she should write in
+her suggestion to the highway department, but she started saying it was a
+joke-- just to get out of writing a simple letter! And I thought I was lazy!
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my
+little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out
+warehouse. "Oh, no," I said, "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried,
+but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started
+to drive over to the the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you saw two guys named Hambone and Flipper, which one would you think
+liked dolphins the most? I'd say Flippy, wouldn't you? You'd be wrong,
+though. It's Hambone.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Laurie got offended because I used the word "puke."
+But to me, that's what her dinner tasted like.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+We used to laugh at Grandpa when he'd head off and go fishing. But we
+wouldn't be laughing that evening when he'd come back with a whore he
+picked up in town.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I wish a robot would get elected president. That way, when he came to
+town, we could all take a shot at him and not feel too bad.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+As the evening sky faded from a salmon color to a sort of flint gray, I
+thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, and how gray he was, and
+how I named him Flint.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you're a young Mafia gangster out on your first date, I bet it's real
+embarrassing if someone tries to kill you.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first
+instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell
+on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+If you go parachuting, and your parachute doesn't open, and your friends
+are all watching you fall, I think a funny gag would be to pretend you were
+swimming.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+When I was a kid, my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school
+we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of
+us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I think people tend to forget that trees are living creatures. They're
+sort of like dogs. Huge, quiet, motionless dogs, with bark instead of fur.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Another major social development of the time was the Temperance
+Movement, led by Carrie Nation, who headed an organization called
+Scary Looking Women with Hatchets. They would swoop down upon saloons
+and smash all the whiskey bottles, then go back to their headquarters,
+fire up reefers as big as Roman candles, and laugh until dawn. This
+resulted in so much social turmoil that in 1918 Congress decided to
+have a total prohibition on alcohol, which was approved early on a
+Saturday morning by a vote of 9-2, with 416 members unable to attend
+because of severe headaches. Thus began the nation's "Noble
+Experiment," which was eventually judged to be a noble failure and
+replaced by the current sensible and coherent alcohol policy of
+showing public-service TV announcements wherein professional sports
+figures urge people not to drink, interspersed with TV commercials
+wherein professional sports figures urge people to drink.
+ -- from "Dave Barry Slept Here", 1989
+~
+1. Tao
+
+The Tao that can be known is not Tao.
+The substance of the World is only a name for Tao.
+Tao is all that exists and may exist;
+The World is only a map of what exists and may exist.
+
+One experiences without Self to sense the World;
+One experiences with Self to understand the World.
+The two experiences are the same within Tao;
+They are distinct only within the World.
+Neither experience conveys Tao
+Which is infinitely greater and subtler than the World.
+~
+2. Qualities
+
+When Beauty is ascribed to the World
+Ugliness has been learned;
+When Good is ascribed to the World
+Evil has been learned.
+
+In this way:
+Alive and dead are abstracted from growth;
+Difficult and easy are abstracted from progress;
+Long and short are abstracted from contrast;
+High and low are abstracted from position;
+Song and speech are abstracted from harmony;
+After and before are abstracted from sequence.
+
+For this reason the sage controls without instruction,
+And teaches without words.
+He lets all things rise and fall,
+Nurtures, but does not interfere,
+Gives without demanding,
+And is content.
+~
+3. Control without Action
+
+Not praising the worthy prevents cheating
+Not esteeming the rare prevents theft
+Not flaunting beauty prevents lust
+
+So the sage controls people by:
+Emptying their hearts,
+Filling their bellies,
+Weakening their ambitions,
+And strengthening their bodies.
+
+If people lack knowledge and desire
+The crafty among them can not act;
+If no action is taken
+Then all live in peace.
+~
+4. Properties of Tao
+
+Tao is a depthless vessel;
+Used by the Self, it is not filled by the World;
+It cannot be cut, knotted, dimmed or stilled;
+Its depths are hidden, ubiquitous and eternal;
+I don't know where it came from,
+But it came before Nature.
+~
+5. Nature
+
+Nature is not kind;
+It treats all things impartially.
+The Sage is not kind,
+And treats all people impartially.
+
+Nature is like a bellows
+Empty, yet supplying all needs,
+The more it moves, the more it yields;
+The sage draws upon Tao in the same way
+And so can not be exhausted.
+~
+6. Heart
+
+Like a riverbed, the heart is never filled
+It is an ineffable female
+Whose entrance is the root of the World;
+Tao is ever present within it:
+Draw upon it and it will never fail.
+~
+7. Self
+
+Nature is everlasting
+Because it does not have a Self.
+
+In the same way the sage
+Serves his Self last and finds it served first,
+Regards his body as accidental and finds it endures;
+Because his Self does not require service
+He is content.
+~
+8. Intimacy
+
+The best of man is like water,
+Which benefits all things, and does not contend with them,
+Which flows in places that others disdain,
+Where it holds fast to Tao.
+
+So the sage:
+In dwelling holds fast to the land,
+In feeling holds fast to the heart,
+In dealing holds fast to men,
+In talking holds fast to truth,
+In governing holds fast to order,
+In crafting holds fast to competence,
+In acting holds fast to opportunity;
+So he does not contend, and is without blame.
+~
+9. Hubris
+
+Stretch a bow to its limit and it is soon broken;
+Temper a blade to its sharpest and it is soon blunted;
+Amass the greatest treasure and it is soon stolen;
+Claim credit and honour and you will soon fall;
+Retire once your purpose is achieved--this is the best way.
+~
+10. Love
+
+Embracing Tao, can you become embraced?
+Supple, breathing gently, can you become newborn?
+Clearing your vision, can you become clear?
+Nurturing your beloved, can you become impartial?
+Opening your heart, can you become female?
+Knowing the world, can you embrace Tao?
+
+Bearing and nurturing,
+Creating but not owning,
+Giving without demanding,
+Controlling without authority.
+This is love.
+~
+11. Wealth and Worth
+
+Thirty spokes meet at a nave;
+Because of the hole we may use the wheel.
+Clay is moulded into a vessel;
+Because of the hollow we may use the cup.
+Walls are built around a hearth
+Because of the doors we may use the house.
+Thus wealth comes from what is,
+But worth from what is not.
+~
+12. Distraction
+
+Too much color blinds the eye
+Too much tone deafens the ear
+Too much taste dulls the palate
+Too much play maddens the mind
+Too much desire tears the heart.
+
+The sage provides for the belly but not for the senses;
+He lets go of sensation and accepts substance.
+~
+13. Anxiety
+
+The mythic masters said: "Praise and blame cause anxiety;
+The objects of hope and fear are within your Self."
+
+"Praise and blame cause anxiety"
+For you must hope and fear to receive or to lose them.
+
+"The objects of hope and fear are within your Self"
+For, without Self, neither fortune nor disaster can befall.
+
+Therefore:
+He who regards the World as the Self is able to control the World;
+He who loves the World as the Self is able to nurture the World.
+~
+14. The Continuity of Tao
+
+Looked at but cannot be seen--it is beyond form;
+Listened to but cannot be heard--it is beyond sound;
+Grasped at but cannot be touched--it is beyond reach;
+Depthless things evade definition,
+And blend into a single mystery.
+
+In its rising there is no light,
+In its falling there is no darkness,
+A continuous thread beyond description,
+Lining what can not exist,
+Its form formless,
+Its image nothing,
+Its name mystery,
+Meet it, it has no face,
+Follow it, it has no back.
+
+Understand the past, but attend the present;
+In this way you know the continuity of Tao,
+Which is its essence.
+~
+15. The Mythic Masters
+
+The Mythic Masters of Tao had understanding
+So profound they can not be understood.
+
+Because they cannot be understood
+I can only describe their appearance:
+Cautious, like one crossing thin ice,
+Hesitant, like one who fears danger,
+Modest, like one who is a guest,
+Smooth, like melting ice,
+Genuine, like unshaped wood,
+Empty, like a riverbed,
+Opaque, like muddy water.
+
+He who can lie still while the mud settles,
+And remain still until the water flows
+Does not seek fulfillment
+And may transcend Nature.
+~
+16. Transcending Nature
+
+Empty the Self completely;
+Embrace perfect peace.
+The World will rise and move;
+Watch it return to rest.
+All the flourishing things
+Will return to their source.
+
+This return is peaceful;
+It is the way of Nature,
+An eternal decay and renewal.
+Understanding this brings enlightenment,
+Ignorance of this brings misery.
+
+Who understands Nature's way becomes all-cherishing;
+Being all-cherishing he becomes impartial;
+Being impartial he becomes magnanimous;
+Being magnanimous he becomes part of Nature;
+Being part of Nature he becomes one with Tao;
+Being one with Tao he becomes immortal:
+Though his body will decay, Tao will not.
+~
+17. Rulers
+
+The best rulers are scarcely known by their subjects;
+The next best are loved and praised;
+The next are feared;
+The next despised:
+They have no faith in their subjects,
+So their subjects become unfaithful to them.
+
+When the best kings achieve their purpose
+Their subjects claim the achievement as their own.
+~
+18. Loss of Tao
+
+When Tao is forgotten
+Duty and justice arise;
+Then wisdom and sagacity are born
+Along with hypocrisy.
+
+When family relationships dissolve
+Then respect and devotion arise;
+When a nation falls to chaos
+Then loyalty and patriotism are born.
+~
+19. Simplicity
+
+If we could discard wisdom and sagacity
+Then people would profit a hundredfold;
+If we could discard duty and justice
+Then loving relationships would form;
+If we could discard artifice and profit
+Then corruption and theft would disappear -
+Yet such remedies treat only symptoms
+And so are inadequate.
+
+People need personal remedies:
+Reveal your naked Self,
+Embrace your original nature,
+Bind your self-interest,
+Control your desire.
+~
+20. Loneliness
+
+I know nothing and nothing troubles me.
+I see no difference between yes and no.
+I see no difference between good and evil.
+I do not fear what the people fear in the night.
+
+The people are merry as if at a tremendous party
+Or playing in the park at springtime;
+But I am tranquil and wandering,
+Like a newborn before it learns to smile,
+Lonely, with no true home.
+
+The people have enough and to spare,
+But I have nothing,
+And my heart is foolish,
+Muddled and cloudy.
+
+The people are bright and certain,
+Where I am dim and confused;
+The people are clever and wise,
+Where I am dull and ignorant,
+Aimless as a wave drifting over the sea,
+Attached to nothing.
+
+The people are busy with purpose,
+Where I am impractical and uncouth.
+I am apart from all other people
+Yet I am sustained by Nature, their mother.
+~
+21. Expressions of Tao
+
+Love is expressed by following Tao.
+
+Tao is evasive and intangible
+But expresses all form and substance;
+Tao is dark and subtle
+But expresses Nature;
+Nature is unchanging,
+But expresses sensation.
+
+Since before knowledge
+Tao has expressed these things.
+How do I know?
+By faith in my senses.
+~
+22. Contention and Contentment
+
+Accept and you become whole,
+Bend and you straighten,
+Empty and you fill,
+Decay and you renew,
+Want and you acquire,
+Fulfill and you become confused.
+
+The sage embraces the one
+As the World embraces Tao;
+He does not display himself, so is clearly seen,
+Does not justify himself, so is famed,
+Does not boast, so is credited,
+Does not glory, so excels,
+Does not contend, and so no one contends against him.
+
+The mythic masters said, "Accept and you become whole",
+Once whole, the World is your home.
+~
+23. Talk and Trust
+
+Nature says only a few words:
+High wind does not last long,
+Nor does heavy rain.
+If Nature's words do not last
+Why should those of man?
+
+To follow Tao, become Tao; Tao will embrace you.
+To give love, become love; love will embrace you.
+To lose Tao, become lost; loss will embrace you.
+You must trust in order to be trusted.
+~
+24. Tumors
+
+If you stand on tiptoe you can not stand steady;
+If you stride too long you can not stride well;
+If you display yourself you can not be clearly seen;
+If you justify yourself you can not be respected;
+If you promote yourself you can not be believed;
+If you pride yourself you can not excel.
+These behaviours are dregs and tumors,
+Disgusting things avoided by love.
+~
+25. Four Infinities.
+
+Before the World exists
+There is mystery:
+Silent, depthless,
+Alone, unchanging,
+Ubiquitous and ever moving,
+The mother of the World.
+I can not know its name, so I call it Tao;
+I can not know its limit, so I call it infinite.
+
+Being infinite, it flows away forever
+Flowing away forever, it will return to the Self.
+
+For the Self follows the way of the World
+The World follows the way of Nature
+And Nature follows the way of Tao.
+Tao is its own way.
+
+Tao is infinite,
+Therefore Nature is infinite,
+Therefore the World is infinite,
+Therefore the Self is infinite.
+There are four infinities,
+And the Self is one of them.
+~
+26. Gravity and Calm
+
+Gravity is the root of Lightness,
+Calm, the master of Haste
+
+The commander of a great fleet should not act lightly or hastily.
+Acting lightly, he loses touch with the World,
+Acting hastily, he loses control of the Self.
+
+The sage will travel all day without losing his vehicles.
+Surrounded by desirable things,
+He remains calm and unattached.
+~
+27. Attention
+
+A good traveller leaves no trail to be followed
+A good speaker leaves no questions to be asked
+A good accountant leaves no workings to be checked
+A good container leaves no lock to be opened
+A good fastener leaves no knots to be unravelled
+
+So the sage nurtures all men
+And abandons no one.
+He accepts everything
+And rejects nothing.
+He attends to the smallest details.
+
+So the strong must guide the weak,
+For the weak are raw material to the strong.
+If the guide is not respected
+Or the material is not nurtured
+Confusion will result, no matter how clever one is.
+This is the essence of subtlety.
+~
+28. Being the Female
+
+Knowing the male, being the female,
+Being the course through which flows the World,
+One possesses unfailing Love
+And exists again as a newborn.
+
+Knowing the light, being the dark,
+Being the World,
+One becomes unerring Love
+And returns to Tao.
+
+Knowing honour, being humble,
+Being the valley of the World,
+Love suffices,
+And one becomes as unshaped wood.
+
+When wood is shaped it becomes tools.
+Used by the sage, tools become powerful;
+A good carpenter wastes little.
+~
+29. Blindness
+
+Those who wish to change the World
+According with their desire
+Cannot succeed.
+
+The World is shaped by Tao;
+It cannot be shaped by the Self.
+If one tries to shape it, one damages it;
+If one tries to possess it, one loses it.
+
+So:
+Sometimes things will flourish,
+And sometimes they will not.
+Sometimes life is hard
+And sometimes it is easy.
+Sometimes people are strong
+And sometimes they are weak.
+Sometimes you get where you are going
+And sometimes you fall by the way.
+
+The sage is never extreme, extravagant, or complacent.
+~
+30. Violence
+
+Powerful men are well advised not to use violence,
+For violence has a habit of returning;
+Thorns and weeds grow wherever an army goes,
+And lean years follow a great war.
+
+A general is well advised
+To achieve nothing more than his orders,
+No matter how strong his army;
+To carry out his orders
+But not glory, boast or be proud;
+To do what is dictated by necessity,
+But not by bloodlust;
+For even the fiercest force will weaken with time,
+And then its violence will return, and kill it.
+~
+31. Tools of Violence
+
+Soldiers are tools of violence, feared by all;
+The sage will not employ them.
+His purpose is creation;
+Their purpose is destruction.
+
+Weapons are tools of violence, not of the wise man;
+He uses them when there is no choice
+For he values peace and tact,
+And does not delight in conquest.
+
+For who delights in conquest
+Delights in the slaughter of men;
+Who delights in the slaughter of men
+Cannot control them.
+
+Slaughters should be mourned
+And conquest should be celebrated with a funeral.
+~
+32. Shape
+
+Tao has no true definition.
+Like unshaped wood, it has no use;
+If a ruler understands this
+His whole country flourishes and obeys
+In harmony with his Self,
+Just as sweet rain falls
+Needing no instruction
+To slake the thirst of all.
+
+When Tao is shaped by use,
+The shape gains a name in the World;
+One should not keep too many names
+Lest their shapes stop up the Self;
+Instead let Tao flow through the Self into the World
+As water courses down a riverbed into the sea.
+~
+33. Virtues
+
+He who understands the World is learned;
+He who understands the Self is enlightened.
+He who conquers the World has strength;
+He who conquers the Self has love.
+He who is contented has riches;
+He who is determined has purpose.
+He who maintains his home will long endure
+He who maintains his influence will live long after death.
+~
+34. Tao Favours Nothing
+
+Infinite Tao flows everywhere, creating and destroying,
+Implementing all the World, attending to the tiniest details,
+Claiming nothing in return.
+
+It nurtures all things,
+Though it does not control them;
+It has no intention
+So it seems inconsequential.
+
+It is the substance of all things;
+Though it does not control them;
+It has no exception
+So it seems all-important.
+
+Because it favours no finite thing,
+It is infinite.
+~
+35. Peace
+
+Tao lacks art and flavour;
+It can neither be seen nor heard,
+Yet its application cannot be exhausted.
+
+So, if you offer music and food
+Strangers may stop with you;
+But if you accord with the shape of Tao
+The people of the World will keep you
+In safety, health, community, and peace.
+~
+36. Playing Poker
+
+To reduce someone's influence, first cause it to expand;
+To reduce someone's force, first cause it to increase;
+To overthrow someone, first cause them to be exalted;
+To take something from someone, first give it to them.
+
+This is the subtlety by which the weak overcome the strong,
+For fish should not leave their depths;
+And soldiers should not leave their camouflage.
+~
+37. Quieting the Heart
+
+Tao does not act, yet leaves nothing undone.
+If the Self understands this
+All things of the World will naturally flourish;
+Flourishing, they will be restrained by Nature.
+
+Nature does not possess desire;
+Without desire, the heart becomes quiet,
+And so the whole World may be made tranquil.
+~
+38. Religion
+
+The kind act without self-interest;
+The just act to serve self-interest;
+The religious act to reproduce self-interest.
+
+When Tao is lost, there is love;
+When love is lost, there is kindness;
+When kindness is lost, there is justice;
+And when justice is lost, there is religion.
+
+Well established hierarchies are not easily uprooted;
+Closely held beliefs are not easily released;
+So religions enthrall generation after generation.
+
+Religion is the dissolution of love and trust,
+The beginning of confusion.
+Belief is a colourful hope or fear,
+The origin of folly.
+
+The sage goes by knowledge, not by hope;
+He dwells in the fruit, not the flower;
+He accepts the former, and rejects the latter.
+~
+39. Wholeness
+
+In mythic times things were whole:
+All the sky was clear,
+All the earth was stable,
+All the mountains were strong,
+All the riverbeds were full,
+All of nature was alive,
+All the rulers were supported.
+
+For without clarity the sky tears;
+Without stability the earth cracks;
+Without strength the mountain collapses;
+Without water the riverbed stagnates;
+Without life nature dies back;
+And without support rulers fall.
+
+So the ruler depends upon his subjects,
+The noble depend upon the humble;
+Rulers call themselves orphaned, lonely or disabled,
+To win the people's sympathy,
+For wholeness gains no support.
+
+So there is weakness in power,
+And power in weakness;
+Rather than tinkle like jade,
+One should clatter like stones.
+~
+40. Application of Tao
+
+The motion of Tao is to return;
+The use of Tao is to accept;
+All things are made of Tao,
+And Tao is made of nothing.
+~
+41. Taoism
+
+When the strong learn Tao, they practice it diligently;
+When the average learn Tao, they practice it sometimes;
+When the weak learn Tao, they laugh out loud;
+Those who do not laugh do not learn at all.
+
+Therefore is it said:
+Who understands Tao seems foolish;
+Who progresses in Tao seems to fail;
+Who follows Tao seems to wander.
+
+For the greatest force appears vulnerable;
+The brightest truth appears coloured;
+The richest character appears incomplete;
+The strongest heart appears meek;
+The most beautiful nature appears fickle;
+
+For the square, perfected, has no corner;
+Art, perfected, has no meaning;
+Sex, perfected, has no climax;
+Form, perfected, has no shape.
+
+So Tao can not be sensed or known:
+It transmits sensation and transcends knowledge.
+~
+42. Harmony
+
+Tao bears love;
+Love bears restraint;
+Restraint bears acceptance;
+Acceptance bears the World;
+All things begin with love and end with restraint,
+But it is acceptance that brings harmony.
+
+As others teach, I teach:
+"Those without harmony end with violence";
+This is my teacher.
+~
+43. Overcoming the Impossible
+
+The soft overcomes the hard;
+The formless penetrates the impenetrable;
+Therefore I value taking no action.
+
+Teaching without words,
+Work without action,
+Are understood by no one.
+~
+44. Contentment
+
+Fame or Self: which is dearer?
+Self or wealth: which is more valuable?
+Profit or loss: which is more torturous?
+
+Great love incurs great expense,
+And great wealth incurs great theft,
+But great contentment incurs no loss.
+
+Therefore:
+He who knows when to stop
+Does not continue into danger,
+And may long endure.
+~
+45. Quiet
+
+Great perfection seems imperfect,
+But does not decay;
+Great abundance seems empty,
+But does not fail.
+
+Great truth seems contradictory;
+Great cleverness seems stupid;
+Great eloquence seems awkward.
+
+Action overcomes contentment,
+But stillness overcomes desire;
+Therefore calm and quiet control the World.
+~
+46. Desire
+
+When the World is not in accord with Tao,
+Horses bear soldiers through the countryside;
+When the World is in accord with Tao,
+Horses bear horse-manure through the countryside.
+
+There is no greater curse than desire;
+There is no greater misery than discontent;
+There is no greater ailment than greed;
+He who is content to be content shall always be content.
+~
+47. Knowledge and Experience
+
+Without taking a step outdoors
+You know the whole World.
+Without taking a look out the window
+You see the colour of the sky.
+
+The more you experience,
+The less you know.
+The sage wanders without knowing,
+Looks without seeing,
+Accomplishes without acting.
+~
+48. Knowledge
+
+The follower of knowledge acquires as much as he can every day;
+The follower of Tao loses as much as he can every day.
+
+By attrition he reaches a state of inaction
+Wherein he does nothing, but leaves nothing undone.
+
+To conquer the world, do nothing;
+If you must do something,
+The world remains beyond conquest.
+~
+49. The Worlds of Others
+
+The sage does not distinguish between Self and World;
+Therefore the needs of people in the World are as his own.
+
+He is good to those who are good;
+He is also good to those who are not good;
+For love is goodness.
+He trusts those who are trustworthy;
+He also trusts those who are not trustworthy;
+For love is trust.
+
+He is in harmony with the World;
+Therefore he nurtures the Worlds of others
+As a mother does her children.
+~
+50. Life and Death
+
+Death enters life as man enters woman.
+
+The limits of man:
+Thirty years of growth;
+Thirty years of decay;
+Thirty years inbetween;
+So death and life reproduce themselves.
+
+He who would prolong his life
+Will not meet tigers or rhinoceri in the wilds,
+Nor soldiers in battle
+So the rhinoceros sees no place in him for its horn,
+The tiger no place for its claw,
+The soldier no place for a weapon;
+So death finds no place to enter his life.
+~
+51. Love
+
+Tao bears us,
+Love nurtures us,
+Nature shapes us,
+Circumstance completes us.
+
+We worship Tao and honour love;
+For worship of Tao and honour of love
+Are performed just by being alive.
+
+Tao bears us,
+Love nurtures, develops, cares for,
+Shelters, comforts and makes a home for us.
+
+Making without controlling,
+Giving without demanding,
+Guiding without interfering,
+Helping without profiting,
+This is love.
+~
+52. Restraint
+
+The origins of the World are its mother;
+Know the mother, and you understand the child;
+Know the child, and you embrace the mother,
+Who will not perish when you die.
+
+Reserve your judgments and words
+And you maintain your influence;
+Draw conclusions and speak your mind
+And your cause is lost.
+
+As seeing detail is clarity,
+So maintaining tact is strength;
+Keep your eyes and mind open
+So that you may not regret your actions;
+This is restraint.
+~
+53. Distractions
+
+With but a small understanding
+One may follow Tao like a main road,
+Fearing only to leave it;
+Following a main road is easy,
+But being sidetracked is also easy.
+
+For when palaces are kept up
+Fields are left to weeds
+And granaries empty.
+
+Wearing fine clothes,
+Bearing sharp swords,
+Glutting with food and drink,
+Hoarding wealth and possessions -
+These are the ways of theft
+And deviations from Tao.
+~
+54. Go by Love
+
+Love does not think of love
+For this reason is it strong;
+It does not act,
+Yet leaves nothing undone.
+Desire is intent upon love
+For this reason is it weak;
+It always acts,
+Yet gets nothing done.
+
+Nurture love in the Self, and love will be genuine;
+Nurture love in the family, and love will be abundant;
+Nurture love in the community, and love will multiply;
+Nurture love in the culture, and love will flourish;
+Nurture love in the World, and love will be ubiquitous.
+
+Therefore:
+Judge a person by their love;
+Judge a family by its love;
+Judge a community by its love;
+Judge a culture by its love;
+Judge the World by its love.
+How can I know the love of the World?
+By judging my Self.
+~
+55. Love and Nature
+
+Who is filled with love is like a newborn.
+Wasps will not sting him;
+Tigers will not eat him;
+Hawks will not tear out his eyes.
+
+His bones are soft, yet his sinews are supple,
+So his grip is strong;
+He has no wife, yet his manhood is healthy,
+So his vigour is unspoiled;
+He sings all day yet his voice remains sweet
+So his harmony is perfect.
+
+To approach Nature is to know harmony;
+To achieve Nature is to be enlightened;
+But to surpass Nature invites calamity
+For emotion will burst the lungs
+And exhaustion will age the heart:
+The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long.
+~
+56. Impartiality.
+
+He who knows does not speak;
+He who speaks does not know.
+
+Reserve your judgments and words;
+Dull your wit and simplify your purpose;
+Be humble as earth and a part of Nature.
+
+In this way
+Friendship and enmity,
+Profit and loss,
+Honour and disgrace,
+Will not affect you.
+The impartial Self is of most benefit to the World.
+~
+57. Government
+
+A nation is best governed by innocence;
+A war is best waged by treachery;
+The World is best controlled by inaction;
+How do I know?
+
+Because:
+The more property and taxes there are,
+The more poverty prevails;
+The more guns and knives there are,
+The more chaos prevails;
+The more arts and sciences there are,
+The more deceit prevails;
+The more rules and regulations there are,
+The more theft prevails.
+
+Therefore the sage says:
+I take no action, and the people become civilized;
+I wage no war, and the people become just;
+I transact no business, and the people become wealthy;
+I have no desire, and the people become innocent.
+~
+58. Be Forgiving
+
+When government is lazy and blunt
+The people are kind and honest;
+When government is efficient and severe
+The people are discontented and deceitful.
+
+Misery may yield happiness;
+Happiness may conceal misery.
+Who can say which will be for the best?
+Nothing is straightforward.
+Honesty is ever corrupted;
+Kindness is ever seduced;
+Men have been like this for a long time.
+
+So the sage is firm but not cutting,
+Pointed but not piercing,
+Straight but not inflexible,
+Brilliant but not blinding.
+~
+59. Restraint
+
+Manage a great nation
+As you would cook a delicate fish.
+
+When directing men to a purpose
+The sage is restrained;
+Restraint allows time to prepare and strengthen,
+To build loving relationships;
+With sufficient strength and love all resistance is overcome;
+When all resistance is overcome his purpose is achieved.
+
+Who can achieve his purpose is able to direct men
+And his influence upon them long endures.
+Deeply rooted and firmly established,
+His vision lives on even after death.
+~
+60. Emotions
+
+Because the sage follows Tao his emotions do no hurt;
+It is not that they lose their power;
+But that they do not hurt others;
+Because they do not hurt others,
+He does not hurt others:
+Because his emotions do no hurt,
+His relations with people are loving.
+~
+61. International Relations
+
+A nation acts as a hierarchy, a meeting place, and a female.
+A female seduces a male by being cool,
+Being cool is a means of submission.
+
+If a large country submits to a small country
+It will seduce the small country;
+If a small country submits to a large country
+It will seduce the large country;
+The large will submit in order to control
+And the small will submit in order to prosper.
+
+Therefore:
+It is in the interests of a large country to give shelter,
+And in the interests of a small country to give service;
+If both would achieve their purposes,
+Both must submit.
+~
+62. Sin
+
+Tao is the source of all things,
+The treasure of the saint,
+And the refuge of the sinner.
+
+Fine words win honour
+And fine acts win respect,
+But if a man sins, do not abandon him;
+And if a man wins power, do not bribe him;
+Just be still and present accordance with Tao.
+
+Why do saints treasure Tao?
+Because it is easily found by seeking,
+And absolves every sin.
+It is the most valuable gift.
+~
+63. Confront Difficulty
+
+Practise no-action;
+Attend to do-nothing;
+Taste the flavorless,
+Attend the small,
+Multiply the few,
+Return love for hate.
+
+Deal with difficulty while it is yet easy;
+Deal with the great while it is yet small;
+
+The difficult develops naturally from the easy
+And the great from the small;
+So the sage, by dealing with the small
+Achieves the great.
+
+He who finds it easy to promise finds it hard to deliver;
+He who takes things lightly makes things hard;
+The sage confronts difficulty, and so has none.
+~
+64. Care at Beginning and End
+
+What lies still is easy to grasp;
+What is far off is easy to plan for;
+What is cold is easy to shatter;
+What is small is easy to disperse.
+
+Yet
+A tree broader than a man can embrace is born of a tiny shoot;
+A dam taller than a river can overflow is born of a clod of earth;
+A journey of a thousand miles begins at the spot under one's feet.
+
+Therefore deal with things before they happen;
+Create order before there is confusion.
+
+Yet he who acts, spoils;
+He who grasps, loses.
+People often fail on the verge of success.
+Take care at the end as at the beginning,
+So that you may avoid failure.
+
+The sage desires no desire,
+Values no valuable,
+Knows no knowledge,
+But gives the people what they can not find
+And helps all things accord with Nature
+Without interfering.
+~
+65. Understanding History
+
+The mythic masters of Tao did not want to make people wise,
+But to keep them ignorant;
+For it is difficult to govern people who know too much.
+
+To govern a nation by imparting knowledge to its people
+Destroys the nation.
+To govern a nation by decreasing the knowledge of its people
+Serves the nation.
+
+Understanding these two paths is understanding history;
+Understanding history gives clarity of vision
+By which one may see through deceit.
+~
+66. Lead by Following
+
+How does the river carve out the valley?
+By flowing beneath it.
+Thereby the river is master of the valley.
+
+In order to master people
+One must speak as their servant;
+So when the sage is elevated to power
+People do not feel oppressed.
+
+In order to lead people
+One must follow them;
+So when the sage restrains people
+They do not feel hindered.
+
+Thus the popularity of the sage does not fail,
+He does not seem superior, so no one wishes to usurp him.
+~
+67. Three Treasures
+
+It may seem that my teaching means nothing;
+It describes the infinite, so of course it means nothing;
+If it meant something it would long since have been refuted.
+
+Yet I have three treasures, which I follow and commend to you:
+The first is love.
+By which one finds courage.
+The second is restraint.
+By which one finds strength.
+The third is not contending.
+By which one finds influence.
+
+Those who are fearless, but without love,
+Strong, but without restraint,
+Or influential, yet contentious,
+Are doomed.
+
+Only love conquers all and is defeated by none.
+It is Nature's finest tool and sharpest weapon.
+~
+68. Using Men
+
+A good soldier does not use violence;
+A good fighter does not use anger;
+A good conqueror does not use attack;
+A good ruler does not use authority;
+So not contending is the best way to use men.
+~
+69. Ambush
+
+There is a saying among soldiers:
+It is easier to lose a yard than take an inch.
+
+In this way one may deploy troops without marshalling them,
+Reveal weapons without exposing them,
+Assault the foe without charging them,
+And apply force without aggression.
+
+Conversely there is no disaster like underestimating your enemy;
+For false confidence will lose you your most valued assets.
+When two equally matched forces meet
+The general who conserves life will win.
+~
+70. Individuality
+
+My words are easy to understand
+And my actions are easy to perform
+Yet no man can understand or perform them.
+
+My words have logic; my actions have meaning;
+Yet these cannot be known and I cannot be known.
+
+We are each unique; no man understands another.
+Though the sage wears coarse clothes, his heart is jade.
+~
+71. Sickness
+
+Who knows what he knows is healthy;
+Who ignores what he ignores is sick;
+Who grows sick of sickness recovers;
+The sage is never sick, but always sick of sickness.
+~
+72. Friendship
+
+When people do not fear, they are easily conquered.
+
+Praise their goods and children
+And they will not dislike yours.
+Know your superiority,
+But do not tell it to them;
+Love your home,
+But do not let them know;
+Reject what is yours
+And accept what is theirs.
+~
+73. Fate
+
+Who is brave and bold may die;
+Who is brave and subtle may live.
+Which course best serves one's purpose?
+Fate favours some and destroys others.
+The sage does not know why.
+
+Fate does not contend, yet all things are conquered by it;
+It does not ask, yet all things answer to it;
+It does not call, yet all things come to it;
+It does not plan, yet all things are determined by it.
+
+Fate's hands are vast, its fingers spread wide,
+Yet none slip through its grasp.
+~
+74. Tyranny
+
+People do not fear death, so do not threaten them with death.
+
+If people feared death, and you executed all who did not love you
+There would be no people left but you and the executioner.
+You would then need to kill him.
+You would then need to chop off your own hand.
+~
+75. Extremis
+
+If rulers take too much grain
+People rapidly starve;
+If rulers take too much freedom
+People easily rebel;
+If rulers take too much happiness.
+People gladly die.
+
+By not interfering the sage improves the people's lives.
+~
+76. Flexibility
+
+Man is born soft and tender,
+But dies hard and stiff.
+Plants and animals, in life, are supple and juicy;
+In death, brittle and dry.
+So hardness and stiffness are attributes of death,
+And softness and tenderness attributes of life.
+
+Just as a sapless tree splits and decays
+A strong but inflexible force will meet defeat;
+So the hard and mighty lie beneath our feet
+While the tender and weak toss in the breeze above.
+~
+77. Balance
+
+Is the movement of Nature not unlike drawing a bow?
+What is higher descends and what is lower ascends;
+What is longer shortens and what is shorter lengthens;
+Nature's way decreases those who have more than they need
+So to increase those who need more than they have.
+
+It is not so with Man.
+Man decreases those who need more than they have
+So to increase those who have more than they need.
+
+The sage works regardless of personal reward or recognition;
+To benefit the World is to benefit the Self.
+~
+78. Accept Responsibility
+
+Nothing in the World is as yielding as water;
+Nor can anything better overcome the hardened.
+
+Just as the yielding overcomes the hardened,
+The weak may overcome the strong;
+Yet they do not.
+
+For the sage says:
+"Who accepts responsibility for his people rules the country;
+Who accepts responsibility for the World rules the World"
+Yet his words are not understood.
+~
+79. Reconciliation
+
+When conflict is reconciled, some hatred remains;
+How can this be put right?
+
+The sage accepts less than is due
+And does not blame or punish;
+Love seeks agreement
+Where justice seeks payment.
+
+The mythic masters said: "Nature is impartial;
+Therefore it serves those who serve all."
+~
+80. Utopia
+
+Imagine that there is a small country with few people;
+Who have a hundred times more than they need;
+Who love life and do not wander far;
+Who own ships but do no foreign trade;
+Who own weapons but do not threaten war;
+Who are literate but keep no histories;
+Who cook well, dress beautifully, dwell safely
+And delight in their own culture,
+But live within cock crow of their neighbours.
+
+People in such a place would never leave.
+~
+81. The Sage
+
+Truth is not rhetorical;
+Therefore rhetoric is not true;
+Lovers do not contend;
+Therefore competitors do not love;
+The enlightened keep no knowledge;
+Therefore the learned are not enlightened.
+
+The sage does not aim to increase himself;
+But the more he does for others the more he is satisfied;
+And the more he gives the more he gets.
+
+The best way is to benefit all and harm none;
+So the sage achieves his purpose without contention.
+~
+Minds are like parachutes, they only function when they're open.
+ -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar, aka Lord Dewar
+~
+ /--------\
+ /**********\
+ /........****\
+ /..........****\
+ /.....*.....*****\
+ |.........*******|
+ |........********|
+ |......**********|
+ \.....*****.*****/
+ \....**********/
+ \....********/
+ \ ........./
+ \--------/
+~
+ .-~~~-,
+ ( )
+ ( )
+ -^x^- ( )
+ /~ ~\ ( )
+ | | ( )
+ | | ( )
+ | __ _, (~~~~-( )
+ /\/\ (. ).) `_'_', ( )
+ C __) (.( .)-( )
+ | /~~~ \ (_ ( )
+ / \ ~====' /_____/` D)
+ /`-_ `---' \ |
+ .__|~-/^\-~|_/_ |^^^^^^^|| |
+ __. ||/.\ | |OooooO
+ \ ---. \ | | \ _
+ _- ,`_'_' .~\ \|__ __|-____ / )
+ < -(. ).) > \ ( .\ (. ) \(_/ )
+ ~- _) \_- ooo @ (_) @ \(_//.
+ / /_C (-.____) /((O)/ \ ._/\~_.
+/ |_\ / / /\\\\`-----'' _|>o< |__
+| \ooooO ( \ \\ \\___/ \ `_'_', /
+ \ \__-| \ `)\\-^\\ ^--. /_(.(.)- _\
+ \ \ ) |-`--.`--=\-\ /-//_ ' ( c D\
+ \_\_) |-___/ / \ V /.~ \/\\\ (@)___/ ~|
+ / | / | |. /`\\_/\/ / /
+ / | ( C`-'` / | \/ (/ /
+/_________- \ `C__-~ | / (/ /
+ | | | \__________| \ (/
+~
+ === ======
+ === OO =====
+ === OO =====
+ === =====
+ ===
+ #################### ##
+ #################### ##
+ ### ##
+ #### ##
+ ### ### ##
+ ###### ### ### ##
+# # ### ### ##
+ # # ### ### ##
+ ## ### ### ##
+ ## ### ### ##
+ ### ### #####
+ ### ### ####
+ ### #### ###
+ ########## ##
+~
+ /\
+ __ /||\ __
+ |\\ || //|
+ \\ || //
+ \\ || //
+ \\ || //
+ / \\||// \
+ <=============**==============>
+ \ //||\\ /
+ // || \\
+ // || \\
+ // || \\
+ |// || \\|
+ `-- \||/ --'
+ \/
+~
+[Reuters 8/16/92] SHANGHAI--A 24-year-old bus passenger, Dong Huibo, died
+in the street, after tangling with one of the city's dreaded woman bus
+conductors. His nightmare began inside the bus when the ticketpuncher
+snarled an insult about the shape of his backside. She swore at him,
+slapped his face and broke his glasses, made a grab for his testicles, then
+stood back and aimed a vicious kick at his private parts. As he scrambled
+out of a window, the driver--also a woman--slammed her foot on the
+accelerator pedal and sent him flying. (From: Di Bi Cao)
+~
+-----------------------------------------
+|@@@@@@@^^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^@@@@@@@@|
+|@@@@@@^ ~^ @ @@ @ @ @ I ~^@@@@@@|
+|@@@@@ ~ ~~ ~I @@@@@|
+|@@@@' ' _,w@< @@@@|
+|@@@@ @@@@@@@@w___,w@@@@@@@@ @ @@@|
+|@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ I @@@|
+|@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@*@[ i @@@|
+|@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@[][ | ]@@@|
+|@@@@ ~_,,_ ~@@@@@@@~ ____~ @ @@@|
+|@@@@ _~ , , `@@@~ _ _`@ ]L J@@@|
+|@@@@ , @@w@ww+ @@@ww``,,@w@ ][ @@@@|
+|@@@@, @@@@www@@@ @@@@@@@ww@@@@@[ @@@@|
+|@@@@@_|| @@@@@@P' @@P@@@@@@@@@@@[|c@@@@|
+|@@@@@@w| '@@P~ P]@@@-~, ~Y@@^'],@@@@@@|
+|@@@@@@@[ _ _J@@Tk ]]@@@@@@|
+|@@@@@@@@,@ @@, c,,,,,,,y ,w@@[ ,@@@@@@@|
+|@@@@@@@@@ i @w ====--_@@@@@ @@@@@@@@|
+|@@@@@@@@@@`,P~ _ ~^^^^Y@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@|
+|@@@@^^=^@@^ ^' ,ww,w@@@@@ _@@@@@@@@@@|
+|@@@_xJ~ ~ , @@@@@@@P~_@@@@@@@@@@@@|
+|@@ @, ,@@@,_____ _,J@@@@@@@@@@@@@|
+|@@L `' ,@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@|
+|@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@|
+-----------------------------------------
+~
+ . /\
+ . / \
+ / /
+ . / /
+ . / /
+ . / /
+ _ / /
+ \\ / /
+ \\/---/
+ \\ /
+ / \\/
+ / /
+ \ /
+ \/
+~
+Ronald Wilson Reagan can be rearranged into Insane Anglo Warlord
+and George Herbert Walker Bush into Huge Berserk Rebel Warthog, and of
+course H. Ross Perot can be rearranged into Sport Horse and Short Poser.
+~
+HSIN-HSIN-MING (AFFIRMING FAITH IN MIND)
+
+wong@rkna50.riken.go.jp (Wong Weng Fai) posted a version of this,
+and I thought I would send another, longer version. This is from
+(if my memory serves) Roshi Kapleau's "Zen--Dawn in the West",
+so I assume it is his translation.
+~
+The Great Way is not difficult
+For those who do not pick and choose.
+~
+When preferences are cast aside
+The Way stands clear and undisguised.
+~
+But even slight distinctions made
+Set Heaven and Earth far apart.
+~
+If you would clearly see the truth,
+Discard opinions pro and con.
+~
+To founder in like and dislike
+Is nothing but the mind's disease.
+~
+And not to see the Way's deep truth
+Disturbs the Mind's essential peace.
+~
+The Way is perfect like vast space,
+Where there's no lack and no excess.
+~
+Our choice to choose and to reject
+Prevents our seeing this simple truth.
+~
+Both striving for the outer world
+As well as for the inner void
+Condemns us to entangled lives.
+~
+Just calmly see that all is One
+And by themselves false views will go.
+~
+Attempts to stop activity
+Only fill you with activity.
+~
+Remaining in duality
+You'll never know of unity.
+~
+And not to know this unity
+Lets conflict lead you far astray.
+~
+When you assert that things are real,
+You miss their true reality.
+But to assert that things are void
+Also misses reality.
+~
+The more you talk and think on this,
+The further from the truth you'll be.
+~
+Cut off all useless thoughts and words
+And there's nowhere you cannot go.
+Returning to the root itself,
+You'll find the meaning of all things.
+~
+If you pursue appearances,
+You overlook the primal source.
+~
+Awakening is to go beyond
+Both emptiness as well as form.
+~
+All changes in this empty world
+Seem real because of ignorance.
+~
+Do not go searching for the truth,
+Just let those fond opinions go.
+~
+Abide not in duality;
+Refrain from all pursuit of it.
+~
+If there's a trace of right and wrong,
+True Mind is lost, confused, distraught.
+~
+From One-Mind comes duality,
+But cling not even to this one.
+~
+When this One-Mind rests undisturbed,
+Then nothing in the world offends.
+~
+And when nothing can give offense,
+Then all obstructions cease to be.
+~
+If all thought-objects disappear,
+The thinking subject drops away.
+~
+For things are things because of mind,
+As mind is mind because of things.
+~
+These two are merely relative,
+And both at source are emptiness.
+~
+In emptiness these are not two,
+Yet in each are contained all forms.
+~
+Once coarse and fine are seen no more,
+Then how can there be taking sides?
+~
+The Great Way is without limit,
+Beyond the easy and the hard.
+~
+But those who hold to narrow views
+Are fearful and irresolute;
+Their frantic haste just slows them down.
+~
+If you're attached to anything,
+You surely will go far astray.
+~
+Just let go now of clinging mind,
+And all things are just as they are.
+In essence nothing goes or stays.
+~
+See into the true self of things,
+And you're in step with the Great Way,
+Thus walking freely and undisturbed.
+~
+But live in bondage to your thoughts,
+And you will be confused, unclear.
+~
+This heavy burden weighs you down-
+O why keep judging good and bad?
+~
+If you would walk the highest way,
+Do not reject the sense domain.
+~
+For as it is, whole and complete,
+This sense world is enlightenment.
+~
+The wise do not strive after goals,
+But fools themselves in bondage put.
+~
+The One Way knows no differences;
+The foolish cling to this and that.
+To seek Great Mind with thinking mind
+Is certainly a grave mistake.
+~
+From small mind comes rest and unrest,
+But mind awakened transcends both.
+~
+Delusion spawns dualities-
+These dreams are naught but flowers of air-
+Why work so hard at grasping them?
+~
+Both gain and loss, and right and wrong-
+Once and for all get rid of them.
+~
+When you are no longer asleep,
+All dreams will vanish by themselves.
+~
+If mind does not discriminate,
+All things are as they are, as one.
+~
+To go to this mysterious source
+Frees us from all entanglements.
+~
+When all is seen with "equal mind",
+To our self-nature we return.
+~
+This single mind goes right beyond
+All reasons and comparisons.
+~
+Stop movement and there's no movement,
+Stop rest and no-rest comes instead.
+~
+When rest and no-rest cease to be,
+Then even Oneness disappears.
+This ultimate Finality's
+Beyond all laws; can't be described.
+~
+With single mind one with the Way,
+All ego-centered strivings cease.
+~
+Doubts and confusion disappear,
+And so true faith pervades our life.
+~
+There is no thing that clings to us,
+And nothing that is left behind.
+~
+All's self-revealing, void and clear,
+Without exerting power of mind.
+~
+Thought cannot reach this state of truth;
+Here feelings are of no avail.
+~
+In this true world of emptiness,
+Both self and other are no more.
+~
+To enter this true empty world,
+Immediately affirm "Not-Two".
+~
+In this "Not-Two" all is the same,
+With nothing separate or outside.
+~
+The wise in all times and places
+Awaken to this primal truth.
+~
+The Way's beyond all space, all time;
+One instant is ten thousand years.
+~
+Not only here, not only there,
+Truth's right before your very eyes.
+~
+Distinctions such as large and small
+Have relevance for you no more.
+~
+The largest is the smallest too;
+Here limitations have no place.
+~
+What is is not, what is not is;
+If this is not yet clear to you,
+You're still far from the inner truth.
+~
+One thing is all, all things are one.
+Know this and all's whole and complete.
+~
+When faith and mind are not separate,
+And not separate are mind and faith,
+This is beyond all words, all thought.
+~
+For here there is
+ no yesterday,
+ no tomorrow,
+ no today.
+~
+You don't understand because you are a technocrat, an engineer.
+You work with your hands.
+I however am a visionary. I work with my mouth.
+ -- Random HBO Movie
+~
+So we'll go to the top of the toppest blue space,
+The Official Katroo Birthday Sounding-Off Place!
+Come on! Open your mouth and sound off at the sky!
+Shout loud at the top of your voice,
+ "I AM I!
+ ME!
+ I am I!
+ And I may not know why
+ But I know that I like it.
+ _Three cheers_! I AM I!"
+ -- Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
+~
+no!
+try not.
+do,
+or do not.
+there is no try.
+ -- Yoda
+~
+Human conduct is ever unreliable
+until man is anchored in the Divine,
+Everything in future will improve
+if you are making a spiritual effort now.
+ -- Swami Sri Yukteswar
+~
+A strange weed this be
+what's restoreth my vitality.
+ -- Popeye
+~
+Q: Is an opinion true or false?
+A: Depends on whether it's mine or yours....
+ -- egocentrist
+~
+Would anyone ever admit that an opinion was wrong?
+Wouldn't most people change the opinion instead,
+having then a new, well-considered, and more correct opinion?
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Through the dark of future past,
+The magician longs to see.
+One chants out between two worlds,
+"Fire, walk with me!"
+~
+It's really very simple... I found wearing women's clothes... relaxed me.
+ -- Dennis Bryson
+~
+the first differentiation between reality as conceived and reality as it IS
+consists of an analogy: conceptions of reality (all ideas entertained by a
+knower) are maps, while reality is the territory being mapped.
+whether or not two individuals can be said to live in the same territory
+is unclear, because their conceptions may be different enough that their maps
+of reality are very different. it is also unclear whether there can be said
+to be two individuals at all--if the self and other are one, then all
+distinctions between selves ultimately disappear in the final analysis.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+This message partially funded by the Apathy Partnership of Earth (APE).
+~
+Styrofoam never dies for as long as you live.
+ -- Deputy Andy Brennan, Twin Peaks
+~
+?
+!
+ -- Aleister Crowley
+~
+Q:
+ What's subtlety?
+A:
+ A dog howling at the moon,
+ not because he's a dog,
+ but because he wants to.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+I want to share something with you, the three
+little sentences that will get you through life:
+ #1. Cover for me,
+ #2. Ooh, good idea boss!
+ #3. It was like that when I got here...
+ -- Homer Simpson to Bart
+~
+you wouldn't know the truth if it bit off your nose, stuck a gasoline
+nozzle into the gaping wound, filled you up with high octane, and
+lit a match.
+~
+In a world where children blow up children,
+everyone's a threat.
+ -- psycho cop, on Star Trek: The Next Generation
+~
+world systems
+=============
+environments based in chaotic realms inevitably concern themselves less with
+conservation of mass or energy, ignore laws regarding increasing entropy,
+cease to be rational or defined. chaotic ones within orderly realms still
+recall this power and warp the space where they stand.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+ ____ . _ .
+ /# /_\_ |\_|/__/|
+ | |/o\o\ / / \/ \ \
+ | \\_/_/ /__|O||O|__ \
+ / |_ | "I do solemnly swear by the sacred |/_ \_/\_/ _\ |
+| ||\_ ~| bedpan to fix the patient, and | | (____) | ||
+| ||| \/ ease his wretched suffering, even \/\___/\__/ //
+| |||_ until all hope is lost." (_/ ||
+ \// | | ||
+ || | | ||\
+ ||_ \ \ //_/
+ \_| o| \______//
+ /\___/ __ || __||
+ / ||||__ (____(____)
+ (___)_)
+~
+When they came for the Fourth Amendment I didn't say anything
+ because I had nothing to hide.
+When they came for the Second Amendment I didn't say anything
+ because I didn't own a gun.
+When they came for the Fifth and Sixth Amendments I didn't say anything
+ because I had committed no crimes.
+When they came for the First Amendment I couldn't say anything.
+
+(taken from the Urine Nation News, spring/summer 1993, number 12, page 1)
+~
+The bother of doing
+something may be great,
+but the bother of not doing it
+while continuing to think about it
+is even greater.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Then we sat on the sand for some time and observed,
+how the oceans that covered the world were perturbed,
+by the tides from the orbiting moon overhead,
+"How relaxing the sound of the waves is," you said.
+I began to expound upon tidal effects,
+when you asked me to stop, looking somewhat perplexed,
+so I did not explain why the sunset turns red,
+and we watched the occurrence in silence instead.
+ -- By Data
+~
+ Ode to Spot
+Felis catus, Your visual, olfactory,
+is your taxonomic nomenclature, and auditory senses,
+an endothermic quadruped, contribute to your hunting skills,
+carnivorous by nature? and natural defenses.
+
+I find myself intrigued A tail is quite essential
+by your subvocal oscillations, for your acrobatic talents,
+a singular development you would not be so agile,
+of cat communications, if you lacked its counterbalance,
+that obviates your basic and when not being utilized,
+hedonistic predilection, to aid in locomotion,
+for a rhythmic stroking of your fur it often serves to illustrate,
+to demonstrate affection. the state of your emotion.
+
+ Oh Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display,
+ connote a fairly well developed cognitive array,
+ and though you are not sentient, Spot,
+ and do not comprehend, I nonetheless consider you
+ a true and valued friend.
+
+ -- By Data
+~
+There is no secret to excel in playing the shakuhachi.
+Blow not intensely, but from your heart.
+Although technique is secondary, it helps to express your true self.
+If we are natural, we make fine sound.
+If we have an open mind, our sound will be mellow.
+If we have right attitudes toward life,
+our music will be acceptable to everyone.
+Take care of your sound as you would care for yourself.
+ -- Koga
+~
+You can't save money by spending it. Beware claims to the contrary.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.
+This is true because the mind is the governing aspect of human life.
+If the river flows clearly and cleanly through the proper channel,
+all will be well along its banks.
+
+The Integral Way depends on decreasing, not increasing:
+ To correct your mind, rely on not-doing.
+Decrease thinking and clinging to complications;
+ keep your mind detached and whole.
+Eliminate mental muddiness and obscurity;
+ keep your mind crystal clear.
+Avoid daydreaming and allow your pure original insight to emerge.
+Quiet your emotions and abide in serenity.
+Don't go crazy with the worship of idols, images, and ideas;
+ this is like putting a new head on top of the head you already have.
+
+Remember: if you can cease all restless activity,
+ your integral nature will appear.
+
+ -- Hua Hu Ching -- 45
+~
+Dualistic thinking is a sickness.
+Religion is a distortion.
+Materialism is cruel.
+Blind spirituality is unreal.
+
+Chanting is no more holy than listening to the
+ murmur of a stream, counting prayer beads no more
+ sacred than simply breathing, religious robes no
+ more spiritual than work clothes.
+
+If you wish to attain oneness with the Tao, don't get
+ caught up in spiritual superficialities.
+Instead, live a quiet and simple life, free of ideas and
+ concepts.
+Find contentment in the practice of undiscriminating
+ virtue, the only true power.
+Giving to others selflessly and anonymously, radiating
+ light throughout the world and illuminating your
+ own darkness, your virtue becomes a sanctuary for
+ yourself and all beings.
+
+This is what is meant by embodying the Tao.
+
+ -- Hua Hu Ching -- 47
+~
+ ________________ _______________
+ / \ / / \ \
+ / / \ \ \ | - - \
+ | | | / - \ |
+ / / \ \
+ | ___\ \| | / / \____________ \ \
+ | / | | \ |
+ | | __ | | \ \
+/ | \ | | \ |
+| | \ | | ==== | |
+| | __ | | (o-) _ | |
+| __\ (_o) | / \ | |
+| | | Heh Heh Heh / ) ) | |
+ \ || \ / Huh Huh Huh / ) / | |
+ | |__ \ / \ |___ - | |
+ | | (*___\ / \ *' | |
+ | | _ | / \ |____ | |
+ | | //_______| ####\ | |
+ | / |_|_|_|___/\ ------ |_/
+ \| \ - | | |
+ | _----_______/ \_____ |
+ | / \ |
+ |_____/ \__________|
+
+ "Beavis and Butthead are catching up in the poles."
+ "Yeah, our poles are rising."
+~
+The chief cause of problems is solutions. -- Eric Severeid
+~
+[CND, 12/15/93] A women trafficking gang, consisting of 69 members, was
+rounded up by the Inner Mongolia police, the Inner Mongolian Daily said.
+The gang, operating in several nearby provinces, enticed a total of 200
+unemployed women to make the journey to Inner Mongolia with the promise
+of good jobs and shelter. The women, ranging from 15 to 41, then were sold
+as wives or servants to local peasants who had difficulties in finding
+a spouse.
+ -- Daluo Jia
+~
+ A genuine ASCII stereogram!
+Here's an ASCII single image random dot stereogram for your enjoyment. To
+get the 3d effect, you need to diverge (unfocus) your eyes such that two
+adjacent letters in the same row come together. To help you focus, try to
+make the two capital O's at the top look like three. Once you've done that,
+the rest of the image should jump out of the screen at you!
+ O O
+n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n
+f f f f f f f f f f f f f f
+e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
+a a a a a a a a a a a a a a
+a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a
+r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
+r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
+~
+Try moving your head back from the screen and moving it about a bit
+once you have focused on the image to increase the stereo effect even
+more.
+
+ O O
+. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+ . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+ . . . . . . . . . . .
+ . . . . . . . . .
+ . . . . . . . . .
+ . . . . . . .
+ . . . . . . .
+. . . . . . .
+| | | | | | |
+| | | | | | |
+| | | | | | |
+| | | | | | |
+| | | | | | |
+| | | | | | |
+ . . . . . . .
+ . . . . . . .
+ . . . . . . . . .
+ . . . . . . . . .
+ . . . . . . . . . . .
+ . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+~
+ The following a 3-d Maze (3x4) consisting of the following objects:
+circle, square, asterisk, hour-glass, triangle, and a square with two lines
+in it. The rules are as follows: You can 'warp' from one part of the maze to
+another by matching similar objects. Each 'warp' counts as one move. You
+can also travel along the lines, if there is a line. This also counts as one
+move. (I got the idea of this from a GAMES magazine I read a LONG time ago)
+Try to go from "START" to "END" in the least amount of moves. I would give
+out a prize to somebody, if I could think of one(that doesn't cost anything,
+of course!). (Take this as a first maze...I didn't plan it out, and it's not
+very difficult.) I would suggest that people that have worked with
+stereograms EXTENSIVELY try this, as it is hard to move your eyes around and
+still keep focused on the 3-D image. E-mail me the number of moves it took
+you and the path you followed (e.g. 6 Sqauare -warp- Asterisk Circle...etc.),
+I'll post the list of people that reply to it within the next week and got
+the lowest number of moves. Good luck!!
+ X X
+[qL|[NYcUCdH>,(&[qL|[NYcUCdH>,(&[qL|[NYcUCdH>,(&[qL|[NYcUCdH>,(&[qL|[NYcUCdH>,(
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+=V\idlNwT]T;S"1(=V\idlNwT;S"1(=V\ic|dlNwT;1(=V\ic|dlN<fwT;1(=V\iclN;h<fwT;1(=V\
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+ ________________ _______________ _______________
+ /_______________/\ /_______________\ /\______________\
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+ ************************* ***********
+ ************************ **********
+ ********************* *********
+ **************** ***
+ * ******
+~
+ . ,.
+ T."-._..---.._,-"/|
+ l|"-. _.v._ (" |
+ [l /.'_ \; _~"-.`-t
+ Y " _(o} _{o)._ ^.|
+ j T ,-<v>-. T ]
+ \ l ( /-^-\ ) ! !
+ \. \. "~" ./ /c-..,__
+ ^r- .._ .- .-" `- . ~"--.
+ > \. \
+ ] ^. \
+ 3 . "> . Y -Row
+ ,.__.--._ _j \ ~ . ; |
+( ~"-._~"^._\ ^. ^._ I . l
+ "-._ ___ ~"-,_7 .Z-._ 7" Y ; \ _
+ /" "~-(r r _/_--._~-/ / /,.--^-._ / Y
+ "-._ '"~~~>-._~]>--^---./____,.^~ ^.^ !
+ ~--._ ' Y---. \./
+ ~~--._ l_ ) \
+ ~-._~~~---._,____..--- \
+ ~----"~ \
+ \
+~
+ |\_ \|\||
+ -' | `. -- ||||/
+ /7 `-._ /7 |||||/
+/ `-.____/ |||||||/`-.____________
+\-'_ \-' ||||||||| `-._
+ -- `-. -/||||||||\ `` -`.
+ |\ /||||||\ \_ | `\\
+ | \ \_______...-//|||\|________...---'\ \ \\
+ | \ \ || | \ ``-.__--. | \ | ``-.__--.
+ | |\ \ / | |\ \ ``---'/ / | | ``---'
+ _/ / _| ) __/_/ / _| ) __/ / _| |
+ /,__/ /,__/ /,_/,__/_/,__/ /,__/ /,__/ tbk
+
+~
+
+ ooooooo
+ o o o o o o o o "o "$" "
+ o " o "o
+ o o " "" o
+ " " " " " $$ooo o"
+ o"o"o o " o "
+ " " $o $"o"$ " "
+ oo$$$oo " " $ $o $ " o
+ o $$"$$$$$o oo$$$$$$$$oo o"oo"oo o
+ o$$"$$o$$$$$$"$o$o$o$o$o$$o "o$ "o $ "o
+ $$"$o$$o"$"$$$o$$o$o$o$o$$$o$$$o $ $ $" o
+ $$"$o$o$"$"$"$o$o$o$o$o$o$$$o$o$"o "o"oo"
+ " "$o$$o$o"$"$"$$"$o$o$o$o$o"$"$o"$"$o "o o"
+ $o$o$o$"$"$$o$"$$$$o$o$o$"$$o$"$"$oo $
+ "o$o"$"$$o$o$"$"$"$o$o"$$o$o$"$"$"$
+ $"$$o$o$o$"$"$"$$$$$o$o$o"$"$"$o$
+ o "$o$o$o$o$"$"$o$o"$o$$o$"$"$"$o$
+ $o "o$o$o"$"$"$o$"$$o$o$"$"$"$$o"
+ $$ $$$$$$$$$"$o$$o$o$o$$"$"$o"$$
+ $" $$$$$$$o$"$$o$o$o$o$"$"$"$$o
+ o o$$$$$$$o"$o$o$"$$o"$"$"$"o$"
+ oo$$$$$$$o$"$o$o$"$o$"$"$"$"$
+ $$$$$$$$$$o$"$o$o$"$o$"$"$$""
+ $$o$$$$$o$o"$$o$o$"$o$"$$"
+ o $$o$$$"o$o$"$o$o$"$o$"$o$
+ $$$"$o"$$o$o$$"$$o$$o"
+ " """" """"$"$o$$"$
+ o "$$"$$"$$o o$$o
+ o o o $"$$$"$$"$oo"$o$o$$$o
+ o o $$$o$$"$$"$$$$$o$$o"$o$
+ " o$$o$"$"$$$$o$"o$o$"$"$$
+ " " $$""o$$$$"$o$"$$$$$$$$$$"" "
+ o ooo$$"o$$$"$$"$$"$$$$$$$$""
+ o o$o$"$$"" $" $o$o$o$
+ $ " o$"$"$ $o$o$
+ "o "o" " " $ "$$$$"$$ o o$$$$"o o "o "o "o
+" " o " "o" """o""$$$$$$o o $$o$ " " "o "o o
+ " " " " " " $$" $" " " o
+ o""""$""""" oo$$ $$ o " "
+ o "o oo " " $oo $$
+ "o " o oo"o$o $" o
+ o """""""" "o "o o"""" " "
+ o $ o" $"
+ " "$ooooooooooooooo o " "
+ " o
+ " " " "
+
+~
+Aw mom, you act like I'm not even wearing a bungie cord! -- Calvin
+~
+ PROBLEM SOLVING
+ P R O C E S S
+
+
+ YES ============================= NO
+ +-----------|| Does the Darn Thing work? ||-----------+
+ | ============================= |
+ V V
++----------+ +---------+ +---------+
+| Don't | NO | Does | +-------+ YES | Did you |
+| mess | +---| anyone |<------| YOU |<---------| mess |
+| with it! | | | know? | | MORON | | with it |
++----------+ | +---------+ +-------+ +---------+
+ | V | YES | NO
+ | +------+ +-----------+ |
+ | | HIDE | V V
+ | | IT | +--------+ +-----------+
+ | +------+ | YOU | YES | WILL THEY |
+ | | +------->| POOR |<------------| CATCH YOU?|
+ | | | |BASTARD!| +-----------+
+ | | | |________| | NO
+ | | | | |
+ | | | V V
+ | | | +---------------+ +-----------+
+ | | | NO | CAN YOU BLAME | |DESTROY THE|
+ | | +------| SOMEONE ELSE? | | EVIDENCE |
+ | | +---------------+ +-----------+
+ | | | YES |
+ | | v |
+ | | ============================ |
+ | +---->|| N O ||<---------+
+ +------------>|| P R O B L E M ||
+ ============================
+~
+ ,a,
+ ,ad8""Y8a,
+ ,ad8"" "Y8a,
+ ,ad8"" "Y8a,
+ ,ad8"" "Y8a,
+ ,ad8"" ,ad8a, "Y8a,
+ ,ad8"" ,ad8"" 8"Y8a, "Y8a,
+ ,ad8"" ,ad8"" 8 "Y8a, "Y8a,
+ ,ad8"" ,ad8"" 8 "Y8a, "Y8a,
+ ,gPPR8, ,ad8"" ,ad88a, "Y8a, "Y8a,
+dP' `Yb ,ad8"" ,ad8"" "Y8a, ,ad8"" ,ad8"8
+8) (8,ad8"" ,ad8"" Y888"" ,ad8"" 8
+Yb d8P" ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8"" 8
+ "8ggg8" ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,8
+ ,gPPR8, ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
+ dP' `Yb ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
+ 8) (8,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
+ Yb d8P" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
+ "8ggg8" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
+ ,gPPR8, ,ad8""
+ dP' `Yb ,ad8""
+ 8) (8,ad8""
+ Yb d8P"
+ "8ggg8"
+~
+ .... NO! ... ... MNO! ...
+ ..... MNO!! ...................... MNNOO! ...
+ ..... MMNO! ......................... MNNOO!! .
+.... MNOONNOO! MMMMMMMMMMPPPOII! MNNO!!!! .
+ ... !O! NNO! MMMMMMMMMMMMMPPPOOOII!! NO! ....
+ ...... ! MMMMMMMMMMMMMPPPPOOOOIII! ! ...
+ ........ MMMMMMMMMMMMPPPPPOOOOOOII!! .....
+ ........ MMMMMOOOOOOPPPPPPPPOOOOMII! ...
+ ....... MMMMM.. OPPMMP .,OMI! ....
+ ...... MMMM:: o.,OPMP,.o ::I!! ...
+ .... NNM:::.,,OOPM!P,.::::!! ....
+ .. MMNNNNNOOOOPMO!!IIPPO!!O! .....
+ ... MMMMMNNNNOO:!!:!!IPPPPOO! ....
+ .. MMMMMNNOOMMNNIIIPPPOO!! ......
+ ...... MMMONNMMNNNIIIOO!..........
+ ....... MN MOMMMNNNIIIIIO! OO ..........
+ ......... MNO! IiiiiiiiiiiiI OOOO ...........
+ ...... NNN.MNO! . O!!!!!!!!!O . OONO NO! ........
+ .... MNNNNNO! ...OOOOOOOOOOO . MMNNON!........
+ ...... MNNNNO! .. PPPPPPPPP .. MMNON!........
+ ...... OO! ................. ON! .......
+ ................................
+~
+ ------ _____
+ / \ ___\ ___/ ___
+ --/- ___ / \/ / / / \
+ / / \__ //_ \
+ / \ / ___ |
+ | ___ \/+--/ /
+ \__ \ \ /
+ \__ | /
+ \ /____ / / | /
+ _____/ ___ \/ /\
+ \__ / / | |
+ / \____/ \ / //
+ // / / // / /\ /-_-/\//-__-
+ / / // / \__// / / / //
+ // / / // / // / // /
+ /// // / / / // / //
+ // // // / // / /
+ / / / / / / / /
+ /// / / / // // / // //
+ /// / / / / / /
+/// / // / / // / / / /
+ // /// / /// / /
+ / / // /// /
+~
+ _________
+ /|\ /|\
+ / | \ / | \
+ /__|__/ \__|__\
+|\ | | | | /|
+| \ |----|--| / |
+| /\-\---|---/\ |
+|/_____|\|_____\|
+ \ | \ / | /
+ \ | / \ | /
+ \|/ \|/
+ --------
+
+~
+ ____
+ /.../\
+ /.../##\
+ /.../####\
+ /.../######\
+ /.../###/\###\
+ /.../###/ \###\
+ /.../###/\ \###\
+ /.../###/ \ \###\
+ /.../###/ \ \###\
+ /.../###/ \ \###\
+ /.../###/ \ \###\
+ /.../###/ \ \###\
+ /.../###/ \ \###\
+ /.../###/______________\ \###\
+ /........................\ \###\
+ /..........................\ \###\
+----------------------------- \###/
+\ \#/
+ \_________________________________/
+
+~
+___. .. . _ .. . ___. .__ . . _ . . __ __ _ __ _ . .___
+ | | ||\||- ||\| | | ||_)|\| | ||\| | ||_)| ||_) | || | |
+ ` `-`` ``- `` ` ``` ` `-`` \` ` `-`` ` ``` `-`` \`-`| `-``-` `
+~
+ . .
+ ... :``..':
+ : ````.' :''::'
+ ..:.. : .'' :
+``. `: .' :
+ : : : :
+ : : : :
+ : : : :
+ : : :..''''``::.
+ : ...:..' .''
+ .' .' .::::'
+ :..'''``:::::::
+ ' `::::
+ `::.
+ `::
+ :::.
+ ..:```.:'`. ::'`.
+ ..' `:.: ::
+ .: .:``:::
+ .: ..'' :::
+ : .'' ::
+ : ::
+ :
+ :
+ .
+~
+ ;;;;: ==;; :==== :+++=;; ::;=i===+: :=;;=+: ,,,,:==+;
+ =tt;;: i+; ++++ :ii=: :::i++= ==;;+: :::=;+; ,
+:; iIt=: ;t+; ii=;::;+;=+; +;=; ;i+i, ==;=+; :,;;;i : ,
+:: :tIi: +i+ =+::=;;,;;;+; +;=; :=i==+;,:,;=;;+= ::;=;++ : ;
+ ,i; iIt: t+= :+=,,,,::: ;,+;=;;: ;:,,;==;+=;+= ::;;=i; : ;ii
+ RYi +Yt: ++i :i;,::==;; ;:i;=;;: ======+=i=++ :;=tYY: : :tt
+ VXY= =Yi; :t=+ it==+It;; ;:+:=;:: :,;;=:=+==+ :;tYVY :: =Iii
+ tVYt ;Yt, i+= +t+;=iI,; ;:;:;;:= :i :=;+ :;i+tt : :Iti
+ iYY: :Yi, :i+: :t+;++i:; ;,;,;;;= :t +=+ ;i+ii :: =Y+
+ =YY= ;Vi I++ :++=;==;;; +,=,,,,+ ;i;::;it, :i+t=;;: +I+
+ IX+ =V; +i+=;;==;::,:::,,t,+,,,,;;iiii+iIiX=:=+ii;:;: iI+
+ iXi =VItYIi=+======;;::;;ii;:,,,,,;iittiYV+XXttiit+, Yt
+ IVYXYYIYi+;;;;;;;;;;;;;+it+:::::::=====+IttIItiitMBttti
+ +tVVVttti+;::;;======+YBBVVVVXRVti+++==+IXIiYi+iRWWi+i=
+ +=ttYVIi= ....,,,,+iIRWWWWWWWMBBRYI+....... +YMBYX==++
+ ==+t: .;;===::,,:,,;=iIIItIIt=:,,:::===iii=;.,iXY+i;i
+ t;+.IIY+++iii++;===:==++++I,:;;:,:=iiVXIBVRt+;,.IXY;t
+ ii+, =itIItY==+tt+=+++;=ti;=;+M+i=;;=;=i+=it+tVti+==;.itI= +=ii
+ i:===iIttIii+,:,, ,,:+++;t=t;V++;=;=;:,, ,,:;+IYii+==;.+Y+Ii===:i
+ ti iii=i;;,, ;i: =i ,;.i=t=I=;Ri=, ,; ,it: ,:.,==;;;i+=YYttt,
+ iit :Y++IIIIi+;;,,,,,,:;:i+;I=i;=II=;:;;;;;;;;;+++tIt+ii;iII; iYi=
+ t= iV+tYYYVYVt===;;;===ii+=ti+=+=iii+==+;=+=IYVXRitYYItYXtVt= :+=
+ Yi XX+iYYYVYR+i+++===;tIti=i+ttit;;=+====+;=IRVRRXtIIYM+YYI+ ++=I
+ tt==Y+iYYYVYRI+++++=+IIti+++tt+=iYI+;;==+=+ttMMMRBXiiYi=+YYIt=;;
+ t+iY:;iYYYYXRYi+++++Yt+iIt=+iItVXYYtIXBXYYVRWWWBXIi++=+=X+ ;It
+ ti;I iYYYIYYVVRI++++i+ti++=:,;;++IX+YWWWMBWWWXYYi+++=;t:;IItY
+ tt:,+;YYYYYYYYX+++====:::;=:;;;::++iYRWWBYt+tt+==++==:=;:=+
+ tYYYYIYYt++++=;=YYI+;,,BYBBYIi++iii+=+I+++++;=I
+ +YYYYYYt+++==iYYII;ittitVBBXBI+++==+i++=+=;=:i
+ +YYYIYt+++iBt=:,...:;;=++itXXI++==i++==;;ii:
+ IYYYI=;+=iitI;,;.,=iitIiiI;++=+++===;=:I;
+ YYYt==tittIi;+:::=+tItIBIt+=+i++==;+=;+
+ iYYIIIttt+=;=::::::=++ti+++=i==;+i=:=
+ tIYYIIIVi++;;:::=+;+IYt+=;;IVY+:,;
+ ;,ttIYIY++ii;=;==Y+iVYt===YIi;;Ii
+ ;=:,:=iI====;;;;:=;;+ii=+i+iIttIi
+ :==+++,;=;::::::::=;=+t++==it+iti
+
+ Tutankhamen
+~
+ __
+ /\ \
+ / \ \
+ / /\ \ \
+ / / /\ \ \
+ / /_/ \ \ \
+ / \ \ / \ \
+ / /\ \ \/ /\ \ \
+ / / /\ \/ / /\ \ \
+ / / / \ / / \ \ \
+ / / / __ \/_/ \ \ \
+ / / / /\ \ Pat \ \ \
+ / / / / \ \ Taylor / \ \
+ / / / / /\ \ \ / /\ \ \
+ / / / / / /\ \ \ / / /\ \_\
+ / / / / /_/ \ \_\ / / / \/_/
+ / / / / \ \ / / / / / / __ __
+ / / / / /\ \ \/ / / / / / /\_\ /\ \
+ / / / / / /\ \/ / / / / / / / / \ \ \
+ / / /_/ / / \ / / / / / / / /____\_\ \
+/ / /__\/ / / / / / / / / / /__________\
+\/_______/ / / / / / / \/_____________/
+ / / / / / /
+ / / /_/ / /
+ / / /__\/ /
+ \/_______/
+~
+ _ ,d8b_
+ ,aP88b, P" "8.
+ ,8" "bb88db, lb
+ dl " "b, .B'
+ "b. "b ,9'
+ "b "b
+ .J) "b.
+ .d "8a.
+ 8 ,d' "9
+ d8 " "b
+ 88 d B
+ 88 MP P
+ 88 'ba+
+ "8 YP
+ "8 d P
+ ba_b, "b."b, .d'
+ L;;PMMMbaa_ "d88ad8'
+ L.n;;;;;"YMba.""8.
+ ,V;;;;;;;;;;"Man,8b.
+ gd;;;;;;;;;;;;;"Mb;Mb.
+ gd;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;"Mb,
+ d8b;;;;;;;;b;;;;;;;;;;;"b,
+ 7P"8ba;;;;;B;;;;;;;;;;;;"Na
+ 8" "8b;;a";;;;;;;;;;;;;lB.
+ B "8b,d;;paaaaaaqaL;;;"B
+,B P" """' ""Y8bmdMb
+dP dP "ba,
+8 B' "ba
+8, B "ba_
+"b B b8_
+ B 78 8^"8,
+ P d" "8 "8,
+ 6. aP B, 6J
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+ "8bP"8.P "ba. .P 8P
+ 'W8 "8ba. B"
+ 8. l8 .8"
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+ d8'b. B. XP'
+ d" "ba. P XP
+ .8 "ba_ ad8ba
+ l8 'Bb, aP"_ "8.
+ '8 .adP""9a .d" d lb
+ l .ad" "ad" f" lP
+ 8 ' "b 88 l' ;l"
+ 8a 'l ll l lB
+ 8b lb "8.'l. "P
+ '9 P' lb.' 8"
+ '98P 8ba _aP"
+ '""'
+~
+ ,oood8888888888booo,
+ ,oo8" "8bo,
+ ,o8" `8b,
+ ,od8' `8b,
+ ,od8 `8ba
+ od8' `8b
+ ,o8 `8b
+ ,o8 ,ad'8b 8b
+ d8 ,dP' 8 8b
+ ,8 ,od88 8' 8,
+ 8' d8' 8baa `8
+ :8 ,P `8P 8:
+ 8 ood8'ba aP' 8
+ Y, o8' aP' dP
+ `Y, o' ,aa 8 ,8'
+ Y8, d8aaaaaP' ba 8Y
+ Y8o Y8' 888 dY
+ `Y8 ,8 `P dY'
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+ `Yb d8P' a88P ,dP
+ boood8P' 8P' oP'
+ oodP""""' a8P,d8'
+ ,odP""' a8
+ ,dP' o'
+ dP d8
+ d8' 8
+ od' o d8
+ ,d8' 8 o ,8
+ &8 8a 8 8 ,8
+ $' 8 d8 8' 8'
+ $ 8 o 8' 8' 8
+ $ oo 8' `""booooooob 8' ooo 8
+ $ o$"$o ,P o 8 8 d8"""" 8 `8
+ $' d$' d8 od do d8 d8 8 `8 8
+ $' d$' dP 8' d8 d8' 8 8 `8 `b
+ $' od$ dP ,8' d8' d8 8b 8 `"b 8b
+$' od' d"' od od 88 `8 "8 `8 `8,
+$ od' 8 8' `8 8b 8 8 "o `8,
+$oo"" 8b 8 `8o 8bo "8 8b 8b 8b
+ " 8b 8' 8o $$$ "8 8 `b `"oo
+ Yb `b `8"$$$" 8b 8b 8b $$o
+ `8 `b 8o "b `$o$$$$"
+ 8 `$$ `o o$$
+ `$o$$$P" `"$""""
+~
+happiness is a state of mind
+more than anything else,
+but so is everything else.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.
+ -- W. C. Fields
+~
+Famous last words:
+ 1) "Don't worry, I can handle it."
+ 2) "You and what army?"
+ 3) "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't be a cop."
+~
+For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.
+ -- Ashleigh Brilliant
+~
+Pittsburgh Driver's Test
+No. 7:
+ The car directly in front of you has a flashing right tail light but
+ a steady left tail light. This means:
+
+(a) one of the tail lights is broken; you should blow your horn to call
+ the problem to the driver's attention.
+(b) the driver is signaling a right turn.
+(c) the driver is signaling a left turn.
+(d) the driver is from out of town.
+
+
+(The correct answer is (d). Tail lights are used in some foreign
+ countries to signal turns.)
+~
+Famous last words:
+
+ 1. Don't unplug it, it will just take a moment to fix.
+ 2. Let's take the shortcut, he can't see us from there.
+ 3. What happens if you touch these two wires tog--
+ 4. We won't need reservations.
+ 5. It's always sunny there this time of the year.
+ 6. Don't worry, it's not loaded.
+ 7. They'd never (be stupid enough to) make him a manager.
+~
+Certainly there are things in life that money can't buy,
+but it's very funny--Did you ever try buying them without money?
+ -- Ogden Nash
+~
+Lactomangulation, n.:
+ Manhandling the "open here" spout on a milk carton so badly
+ that one has to resort to using the "illegal" side.
+ -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
+~
+If the code and the comments disagree, then both are probably wrong.
+ -- Norm Schryer
+~
+Experience is what causes a person to make new mistakes instead of old ones.
+~
+Every creature has within him the wild, uncontrollable urge to punt.
+~
+The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
+human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of
+ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that
+we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction,
+have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of
+dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and
+of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the
+revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a
+new dark age.
+ -- H. P. Lovecraft
+~
+ "Krusty non-toxic Cologne
+ 'The smell of the big top'
+ Warning: Use in a well ventilated area.
+ May stain furniture.
+ Prolonged use may cause chemical burns."
+ -- The Simpsons
+~
+a girlfriend is a bottle of wine,
+a wife is a wine bottle.
+~
+The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common.
+Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts
+to fit their views... which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to
+be one of the facts that needs altering.
+ -- Doctor Who, "Face of Evil"
+~
+In the beginning was The Plan
+And then came The Assumptions
+And the Assumptions were without form
+And The Plan was completely without substance
+And the darkness was upon the face of the workers.
+And they spoke amongst themselves, saying
+ "It is a crock of sh*t, and it stinketh."
+And the workers went unto their Supervisors and sayeth,
+ "It is a pail of dung and none may abide the odor thereof."
+And the Supervisors went unto their Managers and sayeth unto them,
+ "It is a container of excrement and it is very stong
+Such that none may abide by it."
+And the Managers went unto the Directors and sayeth,
+ "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength."
+And the Directors spoke amongst themselves, saying one to another,
+ "It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong."
+And the Directors went unto the Vice Presidents and sayeth unto them,
+ "It promotes growth and is very powerful."
+And the Vice Presidents went unto the President and sayeth unto Him,
+ "This new Plan will actively promote the growth and efficiency
+ Of this Company, and these Areas in particular."
+And the President looked upon The Plan,
+And saw that it was good, and The Plan became Policy.
+This is how sh*t happens.
+~
+be unafraid to think fully on a small matter. -- fred t. hamster
+~
+The late Dudjom Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma sect of the Tibetan Buddhist
+tradition, wrote one book on the evils of tobacco. He detailed a number of
+problems, both physical and spiritual, which would derive from the use of
+tobacco. Interestingly, he claims the origin of the plant to be a demoness
+who vowed to take rebirth as a plant to afflict humankind.
+ -- Neal J. King
+~
+be unafraid to walk across the water. -- fred t. hamster
+~
+ _
+ _ / \ o
+ / \ | | o o o
+ | | | | _ o o o o
+ | \_| | / \ o o o
+ \__ | | | o o
+ | | | | ______ ~~~~ _____
+ | |__/ | / ___--\\ ~~~ __/_____\__
+ | ___/ / \--\\ \\ \ ___ <__ x x __\
+ | | / /\\ \\ )) \ ( " )
+ | | -------(---->>(@)--(@)-------\----------< >-----------
+ | | // | | //__________ / \ ____) (___ \\
+ | | // __|_| ( --------- ) //// ______ /////\ \\
+ // | ( \ ______ / <<<< <>-----<<<<< / \\
+ // ( ) / / \` \__ \\
+ //-------------------------------------------------------------\\
+
+Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels
+start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and
+then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas... with the
+music at top volume and at least a pint of ether.
+ -- H. S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"
+~
+dude, i have your tickets
+for the grateful briquettes
+on saturday the 20th.
+they are 30 apiece
+so get out your wallets
+i need the rental lease
+or be hit with mallets
+for my friend has no peace
+and i have no ballots.
+without which you get no tickets
+for my friend has no spigots
+disgorging money in hiccups
+in the land of honey and pickups.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Some people imagine that only the person who physically carries out the
+killing is creating a negative karmic effect, and that the person who just
+gave the orders is not--or, if he is, then only a little. But you
+should know that the same karmic result comes to everyone involved,
+including even anyone who just felt pleased about it--and therefore how
+much more so the person who actually ordered that the killing be carried
+out. Each person gets the whole karmic result of killing one animal. It
+is not as if one act of killing could be divided up among many people.
+
+ From the Nying-ma _kunzang lama'i shelung_ (The Words of My Perfect Teacher)
+ written by Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887), (Padmakara translation group,
+ trans., New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994, 104.)
+~
+did you hear about the professor that got some human lips grafted onto his
+anus? then when his students were kissing butt, they could get some response.
+and he can also now wear a hat on his ass and sit on his head, and no one
+knows the difference...
+~
+Alpha:
+Software undergoes alpha testing as a first step in getting user
+feedback. Alpha is Latin for "doesn't work."
+~
+Beta:
+Software undergoes beta testing shortly before it's released. Beta is
+Latin for "still doesn't work."
+~
+Computer:
+Instrument of torture. The first computer was invented by Roger
+"Duffy" Billingsly, a British scientist. In a plot to overthrow Adolf
+Hitler, Duffy disguised himself as a German ally and offered his
+invention as a gift to the surly dictator. The plot worked. On April
+8, 1945, Adolf became so enraged at the "Incompatible File Format"
+error message that he shot himself. The war ended soon after Hitler's
+death, and Duffy began working for IBM.
+~
+CPU:
+Central propulsion unit. The CPU is the computer's engine. It
+consists of a hard drive, an interface card and a tiny spinning wheel
+that's powered by a running rodent--a gerbil if the machine is a 286,
+a ferret if it's a 386 and a ferret on speed if it's a 486.
+~
+Default Directory:
+Black hole. Default directory is where all files that you need
+disappear to.
+~
+Error message:
+Terse, baffling remark used by programmers to place blame on users for
+the program's shortcomings.
+~
+File:
+A document that has been saved with an unidentifiable name. It helps
+to think of a file as something stored in a file cabinet--except when
+you try to remove the file, the cabinet gives you an electric shock
+and tells you the file format is unknown.
+~
+Hardware:
+Collective term for any computer-related object that can be kicked or
+battered.
+~
+Help:
+The feature that assists in generating more questions. When the help
+feature is used correctly, users are able to navigate through a series
+of Help screens and end up where they started from without learning
+anything.
+~
+Input/Output:
+Information is input from the keyboard as intelligible data and output
+to the printer as unrecognizable junk.
+~
+Interim Release:
+A programmer's feeble attempt at repentance.
+~
+Memory:
+Of computer components, the most generous in terms of variety, and the
+skimpiest in terms of quantity.
+~
+Printer:
+A joke in poor taste. A printer consists of three main parts: the
+case, the jammed paper tray and the blinking red light.
+~
+Programmers:
+Computer avengers. Once members of that group of high school nerds
+who wore tape on their glasses, played Dungeons and Dragons, and
+memorized Star Trek episodes; now millionaires who create
+"user-friendly" software to get revenge on whoever gave them noogies.
+~
+Reference Manual:
+Object that raises the monitor to eye level. Also used to compensate
+for that short table leg.
+~
+Scheduled Release Date:
+A carefully calculated date determined by estimating the actual
+shipping date and subtracting six months from it.
+~
+User-Friendly:
+Of or pertaining to any feature, device or concept that makes perfect
+sense to a programmer.
+~
+Users:
+Collective term for those who stare vacantly at a monitor. Users are
+divided into three types: novice, intermediate and expert.
+ - Novice Users--People who are afraid that simply pressing a key
+ might break their computer.
+ - Intermediate Users--People who don't know how to fix their computer
+ after they've just pressed a key that broke it.
+ - Expert Users--People who break other people's computers.
+~
+ X X X X
+H8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@S
+FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/
+DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$
+UKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ
+JKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH
+JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH
+&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^J
+KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)
++J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*
+H8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@S
+FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/
+DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$
+UKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ
+JKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH
+JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH
+FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/
+DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$
+UKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ
+JKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH
+JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH
+&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^J
+~
+;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;itIRXItIt=:;iVRIIII:;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:+ItXRYtIIi;IIRXiII+=;;:::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;::;==+ittYRViII+iiRRtIIiiti++=;;::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;::;=+iitIIiitIXViII+tYRtIII=iIYIti++=;::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:;=+iitIi+=;;=+ttYYtIiiiYIII+==;;=+tItii+=::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:;=+itIt+:;=+itt++=ttitt+tiiII+iti++=;;+IIii+=::;;;;;;;;;;;;+V=;;
+;;;;;;;;;;;;::=+itIt;;=+itt+;;=+iiii+i==tiII==;=iti++=:=IIii+;::;;;;;;;;;+YMRt;
+;;;;;;;;;;;::=+itY;:=+itt=;+itIYIt+;;+Iiiii+IIt+=;=tt++=:+Yti+=::;;;;;;;:WXXWt;
+;;;;;;;;;;,;+iiII;;=+iI=;+itYI+;;++tIItIYtiIiiYYti+;+Ii+=;=Yti+=::;;;;;;+RBRM;;
+;;;;;;;;;::=+iIY;;+itI;=itYY+;+=tXtIIIIWWIIIIt:+YIt+;=Ii+=;=Yti+=,;;;;;;YMBWY=+
+;;;;;;;;;,;+itY=;=+iI==itYI;=it=BMIIIiMB=;IIIt+=iVt+=;=t++=:iYii+;,;;;;=XXWWVMY
+;;;;;;;;::=iiII:;+iIt;+iIV;;+titV.:IIiMt.;YYVRBBBBBY++:Iti+;:YIi+=,;;;iXXRWWBi;
+;;;;;;;;,;+iYV+:=++t;;==tt,+YYIII;:ii+IVRBXRBRRRBBBX=+;+t++;:IIi+==+iIItYYVt;;;
+;;;;;;;;::+IWWIVXRYi++ii=i;RXXXXtiXXXMMV=;+iRMWWWMYti+;tti=;=titIIIIIti=;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;,=XWWXMWXViItt+iYiYMWWWMY+MVBMW+;;MWWBViIYt+==tiiIIIIIIti+=;:;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;,;tRY+ittt+tIVBIIVt:=tIYVVYVBRV==XWRt;;iIiitIIIIIItti++=::;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;;,+++iiiI+YRYi;+itYY+;=+ittiiIIYBBBiitIIIIIIIIii=:IIii+;,;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;;:;;,;i+VBMX+tI+;+itIYt==ittVRWWWWIIIIItItti+++;;IIii+;,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;;;;,,:tYYYYi=+itt+;=+iiIIIIYWWWWWWIIIII=itii+;:+Itii+:,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;;;;::,==iIIIi=;=+iiiIIIIIItWWRMWWWVIII+ii+=;;+IIii+=::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;;;::,,,:;+IIIIt+iIIIIItiiiMWWXWWWWMiII==;;+tItii+=::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;;,:,,,,,,:;iIIIIIIti+;;;+IWWWXWWWWWYIi+tIYtii+=;::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;;,,:::,,,::::=itiiiIII+itIWWWMWWWWWXI+tiii+=;:::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+;;;;;;;;;;;:,,:,,:;;;;;:IYIIItiIItMWWWWWWWWWXI;=;;:::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
+~
+ _
+ _|_|_
+ ^/ . ..\^
+ ___[=========]___
+ ___-==++""" . /. . . \ . """++==-___
+ __-+"" __\ .. . . | .. . | . . . /__ ""+-__
+ /\__+-"" `-----=====\_ <O> _/=====-----' ""-+__/\
+ _/_/ ""="" \_\_
+ /_/ \_\
+ // | \\
+/") \ | / ("\
+\O\ \*/ /O/
+ \_) ---**O**--- (_/
+ /*\
+ / | \
+ |
+~
+WHY GOD NEVER RECEIVED TENURE AT ANY UNIVERSITY
+
+1. He had only one major publication.
+2. It had no references.
+3. It wasn't published in a refereed journal.
+4. Some even doubt he wrote it himself.
+5. It may be true that he created the world,
+ but what has he done since then?
+6. His cooperative efforts have been quite limited.
+7. The scientific community has had a hard time
+ replicating his results.
+8. He never applied to the Ethics Board
+ for permission to use human subjects.
+9. When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it up
+ by drowning the subjects.
+10. When subjects didn't behave as predicted,
+ he deleted them from the sample.
+11. He rarely came to class, just told students
+ to read the Book.
+12. Some say he had his son teach the class.
+13. He expelled his first two students for learning.
+14. Although there were only ten requirements,
+ most students failed his tests.
+15. His office hours were infrequent and usually
+ held on a mountaintop.
+~
+When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully
+because we know the faces of our future generations are looking up
+at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them.
+ -- Oren Lyons, Onondaga Nation
+~
+When the shoe fits,
+the foot is forgotten...
+ -- Chuang Tzu
+~
+Talent, will, and genius are natural phenomena, like volcanoes,
+lakes, mountains, winds, stars, clouds.
+ -- George Sand -- 1874
+~
+Creeping Featurism is the desire to add every technologically possible
+feature to a product whether or not the market needs it or will pay
+for it.
+ -- Leu Platt, CEO Hewlett Packard
+~
+everybody's equal, but nobody's the same. -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.
+ -- A. C. Benson
+~
+The successful mother sets her children free
+and becomes more free herself in the process.
+ -- Robert J. Havinghurst
+~
+No amount of energy will take the place of thought.
+A strenuous life with its eyes shut is a kind of wild insanity.
+ -- Henry Van Dyke
+~
+It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong.
+ -- Longfellow
+~
+It's strange the way the imagination, having exhausted one field,
+turns for rest and reinvigoration to another.
+ -- Ellen Glasgow
+~
+Men travel faster now, but I do not know if they go to better things.
+ -- Willa Cather
+~
+People who do not understand themselves have a craving for understanding.
+ -- Dr. Wilhem Stekel
+~
+Love is the greatest refreshment of life.
+ -- Pablo Picasso
+~
+An idea isn't responsible for the people who believe it.
+ -- Don Marquis
+~
+I want to find someone on the earth so intelligent
+that he welcomes opinions which he condemns.
+ -- John Jay Chapman
+~
+You can exert no influence if you are not susceptible to influence.
+ -- Carl G. Jung
+~
+The greater the difficulty
+the more glory in surmounting it.
+ -- Epicurus
+~
+Society is always engaged in a vast conspiracy to preserve itself--at the
+expense of the new demands of each new generation.
+ -- John Haynes Holmes
+~
+The only thing that is really difficult is to prove what one believes.
+ -- Paul Cezanne
+~
+There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for
+all one's life--reciprocity.
+ -- Confucious
+~
+Each time we make a decision, it is determined by the good or evil forces,
+respectively, which are dominant.
+ -- Erich Fromm
+~
+We taste and feel and see the truth.
+We do not reason ourselves into it.
+ -- W. B. Yeats
+~
+You inside and the wind outside, tangled on the window blind, tell me why you
+treated me so unkind. Down where the sun don't shine I'm lonely and I call
+your name, no place to go ain't that a shame....
+ -- Jerry Garcia
+~
+The point of living, and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough
+to believe the best is yet to come.
+ -- Peter Ustinov
+~
+"Observing formations of pigs flying south for the winter is several orders
+ of magnitude more likely than having two competing C[++] compilers deal
+ with more than eight lines of source code the same way."
+ -- Steve Rimmer -- windows columnist
+~
+If asses were rainbows, we'd all have a pot of gold.
+ -- Walrus
+~
+the bird sings
+i laugh inside
+i have mined
+the branches.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Good judgment is a result of experience.
+Experience is a result of poor judgment.
+ -- Anonymous
+~
+in programming, insanity is not a handicap.
+ -- the walrus
+~
+ you
+ have
+ the
+ ideal
+ job
+~
+you don't have to get mad every time you have the right to. -- fred t. hamster
+~
+It's actually quite straightforward, but first you must be familiar
+with the 9 Palaces and 24 Directions.
+ -- Feng Shui
+~
+Every fairly intelligent person realizes that
+the price of respectability is a muffled soul
+bent on the trivial and mediocre.
+ -- Walter Lippman
+~
+People will admit to anything on the Internet. -- fred t. hamster
+~
+If all the beasts were gone, men would die
+from great loneliness of spirit,
+for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man.
+All things are connected.
+Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth.
+ -- Chief Seathl (Seattle) of Suwamish tribe,
+ State of Washington, 1855
+~
+keep doing good, but don't be a do-gooder. -- fred t. hamster
+~
+All systems of thought confine their thinkers within the accepted boundaries.
+To free the mind from this conceptual jail, step back from and outside of the
+system; detachment enables both sides of the system (that which is within
+and that which is not within) to be perceived and dealt with as an object
+of knowledge.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+That which exists requires no reaffirmation by the mind; it simply is.
+It is that which does not exist that needs constant renewing contact by
+the mind; else it would fade from its only sphere of influence, the internal
+stage upon which it dances and captures the imagination.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Everyone's entitled to their own opinions, no matter how stupid.
+ -- Frank Zappa (paraphrase unfortunately... know the exact quote?)
+~
+i love to program.
+i live to program.
+i am the beaver who reincarnated as a carpenter.
+i am the squirrel who came back as jimmy carter.
+if there's anything more fun than programming (where i actually use my brain
+mainly and not my body), then i don't want to know what it is.
+algorithms are my bread.
+objects are my butter.
+state machines are my toaster.
+library hierarchies are my table.
+my house is composed of invisible data and my nation rides along cables.
+i really need a girlfriend.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+every religion constitutes a view of reality and a view of the world.
+each one might suit a particular person differently.
+for any religion to claim that it is the one true religion is ridiculous
+because it asserts that its one way of viewing reality is the only correct
+one. surely this is a bad case of religious egotism or selfishness.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+talking about dharma is like making a home movie. when you watch it later,
+you see it, you hear it, and yet it isn't really there and the vital
+experience of being there is missing. but when you are there... you know
+it and feel it in a way your brain can't accurately record for later
+playback.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Deja Fu: The feeling that somehow, somewhere, you've been kicked in the
+head like this before.
+~
+A day without sunshine is like night.
+~
+There is a CD out entitled "The Worst of Jefferson Airplane". If you buy
+this, take it home, play it, and enjoy it, should you take it back and
+demand a refund?
+~
+College is a fountain of knowledge... and the students are there to drink.
+~
+A polar bear is a rectangular bear after a coordinate transform.
+~
+Some people say that I must be a horrible person, but that's not true.
+I have the heart of a young boy--in a jar on my desk.
+ -- Stephen King, 3/8/90
+~
+He who dies with the most toys, is, nonetheless, still dead.
+~
+Photons have mass? I didn't know they were catholic!
+~
+If you had everything, where would you keep it?
+~
+I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone
+has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.
+ -- Supposedly an English Professor, Ohio University
+~
+What was sliced bread the greatest thing since?
+~
+When aiming for the common denominator, be prepared
+for the occasional division by zero.
+~
+When you're swimmin' in the creek
+And an eel bites your cheek
+That's a moray!
+ -- Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
+~
+Q: How many surrealists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
+A: Two. One to hold the giraffe and the other to fill the bathtub with
+brightly colored machine tools.
+~
+"... one of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that, lacking
+zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of their C programs."
+ -- Robert Firth
+~
+Grabel's Law: 2 is not equal to 3--not even for very large values of 2.
+~
+Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" until you can find a rock.
+~
+There are two major products to come out of Berkeley: LSD and BSD.
+We don't believe this to be a coincidence.
+~
+If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet,
+what happen if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+One night I walked home very late and fell asleep in somebody's satellite
+dish. My dreams were showing up on TV's all over the world.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+My dental hygienist is cute. Every time I visit, I eat a whole package of
+Oreo cookies while I'm in the waiting room. Sometimes she has to cancel
+the rest of the afternoon's appointments.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I've
+forgotten this before.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+Smoking cures weight problems... eventually.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I have an inferiority complex. But it's not a very good one.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I was in the supermarket the other day, and I met a lady in the aisle where
+they keep the generic brands. Her name was 'woman'.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I had a friend who was a clown. When he died, all his friends went to the
+funeral in one car.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I'd like to sing you a song now about my old girlfriend. It's
+called, 'They'll Find Her When the Leaves Blow Away 'Cause I'm
+Not Raking 'Til Spring.'
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, 'Did you sleep good?'
+I said, 'No, I made a few mistakes.'
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+The other day, I was walking my dog around my building... on the ledge.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+Some people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I spilled spot remover on my dog. He's gone now.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+Referring to a glass of water: I mixed this myself. Two parts H, one
+part O. I don't trust anybody!
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I went to the cinema, and the prices were: Adults $5.00, children $2.50.
+So I said, 'Give me two boys and a girl.'
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I went to a restaurant that serves 'breakfast at any time.' So I ordered
+French Toast during the Renaissance.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+There's a pizza place near where I live that sells only slices. In the back
+you can see a guy tossing a triangle in the air.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I went to a general store. They wouldn't let me buy anything specifically.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy
+was locking the front door. I said, 'Hey, the sign says you're open 24
+hours.' He said, 'Yes, but not in a row.'
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+There was a power outage at a department store yesterday. Twenty people
+were trapped on the escalators.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I bought my brother some gift-wrap for Christmas. I took it to the Gift Wrap
+Department and told them to wrap it, but in a different print so he would
+know when to stop unwrapping.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I was born by Cesarean section... But not so you'd notice. It's just that
+when I leave a house, I go out through the window.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+When I was little, my grandfather used to make me stand in a closet for five
+minutes without moving. He said it was elevator practice.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I didn't get a toy train like the other kids. I got a toy subway instead.
+You couldn't see anything, but every now and then you'd hear this rumbling
+noise go by.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+Last week the candle factory burned down. Everyone just stood around and
+sang 'Happy Birthday'.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+A wino asked me for change... I gave him my shirt.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I bought this thing for my car. You put it on your car, it sends out this
+little noise, so when you drive through the woods, deer won't run in front
+of your car. I installed it backwards by accident... Driving down the
+street with a herd of deer chasing me.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+The ice cream truck in my neighborhood plays 'Helter Skelter'.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+The sky already fell. Now what?
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+My girlfriend and I went on a picnic. I don't know how she did it, but she
+got poison ivy on the brain. When it itched, the only way she could scratch
+it was to think about sandpaper.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+Trees that grow in smoggy cities are needed to make carbon paper.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+What's another word for Thesaurus?
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had any firearms
+with me. I said, 'Well, what do you need?'
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+Why doesn't the fattest man in the world become a hockey goalie?
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+You know how it is when you decide to lie and say the check is in the mail,
+and then you remember it really is?
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I've been doing a lot of abstract painting lately, extremely abstract. No
+brush, no paint, no canvas, I just think about it.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+My watch is three hours fast, and I can't fix it. So I'm going to move to
+New York.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+When I die, I'm leaving my body to science fiction.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+One time I went to a museum where all the work on display had been done by
+children. They had all the paintings up on refrigerators.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+When I was a little kid we had a sand box. It was a quicksand box. I was
+an only child... Eventually.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+One day I got on the bus, and when I stepped in, I saw the most gorgeous
+blond Chinese girl. I sat beside her. I said, 'Hi', And she said, 'Hi',
+and then I said, 'Nice day, isn't it?' And she said, 'I saw my analyst
+today and he says I have a problem. So I asked, 'What's the problem?'
+She replied, 'I can't tell you. I don't even know you.' I said, 'Well,
+sometimes it's good to tell your problems to a perfect stranger on a bus.'
+So she said, 'Well, my analyst said I'm a nymphomaniac and I only like
+Jewish cowboys... By the way, my name is Denise.' I said, 'Hello, Denise.
+My name is Bucky Goldstein.'
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+Today I was arrested for scalping low numbers at the deli. I sold a #3 for
+28 bucks.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID that he just
+whipped out a quarter?
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+I'm writing an unauthorized autobiography.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+What happens if you put a slinky on an escalator?
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+If you tell a joke in the forest, but nobody laughs, was it a joke?
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer?
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+In Vegas, I got into a long argument with the man at the roulette wheel over
+what I considered to be an odd number.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+Is "tired old cliche" one?
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+My aunt gave me a walkie-talkie for my birthday. She says if I'm good,
+she'll give me the other one next year.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+At an October re-trial in Leeds, England, jurors took about an
+hour to acquit police officer Andrew Whitfield, 30, of stealing a
+calculator worth about $4. The cost of the trial, plus the original
+mistrial, plus keeping Whitfield on paid suspension for 14 months
+as required by law, was about $158,000.
+ -- News of the Weird -- Compiled by Chuck Shepard
+~
+Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world,
+I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that but not
+with those flies and death and stuff.
+ -- Mariah Carey
+~
+Question:
+ If you could live forever, would you and why?
+Answer:
+ I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because
+ if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we
+ cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever.
+ -- Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss Universe contest
+~
+Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions
+in the brain as marijuana... The researchers also discovered other
+similarities between the two, but can't remember what they are.
+ -- Matt Lauer on NBC's Today show, August 22
+~
+I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law.
+ -- David Dinkins, New York City Mayor, answering accusations that he
+ failed to pay his taxes.
+~
+Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your
+life.
+ -- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson
+ for a federal anti-smoking campaign
+~
+I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body.
+ -- Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward
+~
+Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates
+in the country.
+ -- Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, D.C.
+~
+Beginning in February 1976 your assistance benefits will be discontinued...
+Reason:
+ it has been reported to our office that you expired on January 1, 1976.
+ -- Letter from the Illinois Department of Public Aid
+~
+The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history... This century's
+history... We all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century.
+ -- Dan Quayle, then Indiana senator and Republican vice-presidential
+ candidate during a news conference in which he was asked his opinion
+ of the Holocaust.
+~
+I've always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly
+underpolluted.
+ -- Lawrence Summers, chief economist of the World Bank, explaining why
+ we should export toxic wastes to Third World countries
+~
+After finding no qualified candidates for the position of principal,
+the school board is extremely pleased to announce the appointment of
+David Steele to the post.
+ -- Philip Streifer, Superintendent of Schools, Barrington, Rhode Island
+~
+The doctors X-rayed my head and found nothing.
+ -- Dizzy Dean explaining how he felt after being hit on the head
+ by a ball in the 1934 World Series
+~
+ there are some who believe that intelligence can only be won at the cost of
+other's intelligence; that is, there is no way to be intelligent without being
+more intelligent than someone else. i hypothesize that talking to this kind
+of person is a very draining experience because all that they are interested
+in is proving how much smarter they are than you are.
+ i believe that people who want to increase intelligence everywhere are easy
+to talk to; they want you to know what they know and vice-versa, not to prove
+that they are the most intelligent person in the room.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+You are 97% water; the other 3% keeps you from drowning.
+ -- P. E. Morris
+~
+It got to the end of our show, so I was just wandering around. I had
+this maternity dress on and a white face and I was doing unattractive
+things, spitting on people, things like that.
+ -- Iggy Pop, sept. 22, 1968, several minutes before he signed his first
+ record contract.
+~
+The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive
+valiantly; who know the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and speed
+themselves in a worthy cause; who at the best, know the triumph of high
+achievement; and who, at the worst, if they fail, fail while daring
+greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid
+souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
+ -- Theodore Roosevelt
+~
+I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian
+because I hate plants.
+ -- A. Whitney Brown
+~
+My young brother asked me what happens after we die. I told him we get
+buried under a bunch of dirt and worms eat our bodies. I guess I should
+have told him the truth--that most of us go to Hell and burn eternally,
+but I didn't want to upset him.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 10
+~
+When I go to heaven, I want to see my grandpa again. But he better have
+lost the nose hair and the old-man smell.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 5
+~
+I once heard the voice of God. It said "Vrrrrmmmm." Unless it was just
+a lawn mower.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 11
+~
+I don't know about you, but I enjoy watching paint dry. I imagine that
+the wet paint is a big freshwater lake that is the only source of water
+for some tiny cities by the lake. As the lake gets drier, the population
+gets more desperate, and sometimes there are water riots. Once there was
+a big fire and everyone died.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 13
+~
+I like to go down to the dog pound and pretend that I've found my dog.
+Then I tell them to kill it anyway because I already gave away all of
+his stuff. Dog people sure don't have a sense of humor.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 14
+~
+I believe you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I
+don't have any clean laundry because, come on, who wants to wash clothes
+on the last day of their life?
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
+~
+It sure would be nice if we got a day off for the president's birthday,
+like they do for the queen. Of course, then we would have a lot of people
+voting for a candidate born on July 3 or December 26, just for the long
+weekends.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 8
+~
+As you make your way through this hectic world of ours, set aside a few
+minutes each day. At the end of the year, you'll have a couple of days
+saved up.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 7
+~
+Democracy is a beautiful thing, except for that part about letting just
+any old yokel vote.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 10
+~
+Home is where the house is.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 6
+~
+Often, when I am reading a good book, I stop and thank my teacher. That
+is, I used to, until she got an unlisted number.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
+~
+It would be terrible if the Red Cross Bloodmobile got into an accident.
+No, wait. That would be good because if anyone needed it, the blood would be
+right there.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 5
+~
+Give me the strength to change the things I can, the grace to accept the
+things I cannot, and a great big bag of money.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 13
+~
+I bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 13
+~
+For centuries, people thought the moon was made of green cheese. Then
+the astronauts found that the moon is really a big hard rock. That's what
+happens to cheese when you leave it out.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 6
+~
+Think of the biggest number you can. Now add five. Then, imagine if you
+had that many Twinkies. Wow, that's five more than the biggest number
+you could come up with!
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 6
+~
+The only stupid question is the one that is never asked, except maybe
+"Don't you think it is about time you audited my return?" or "Isn't it morally
+wrong to give me a warning when, in fact, I was speeding?"
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
+~
+Once, I wept for I had no shoes. Then I came upon a man who had no feet.
+So I took his shoes. I mean, it's not like he really needed them, right?
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
+~
+I often wonder how come John Tesh isn't as popular a singer as some
+people think he should be. Then, I remember it's because he sucks.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
+~
+If we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world
+peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the
+looting started.
+ -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
+~
+Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
+~
+Lobotomies for republicans? Why be redundant?
+~
+The last time we mixed politics and religion,
+people got burned at the stake.
+~
+Eschew Obfuscation.
+~
+Minimum wage for politicians.
+~
+inova,
+i dancing nude green
+proton, i
+(a haiku-style anagram for "inova engineering and production")
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
+~
+A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
+~
+Eagles may soar, but weasels aren't sucked into jet engines.
+~
+Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
+~
+A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
+~
+He who hesitates is probably right.
+~
+Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with.
+~
+The colder the X-ray table, the more of your body is required on it.
+~
+To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles.
+~
+Two wrongs are only the beginning.
+~
+You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.
+~
+The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
+~
+Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life.
+~
+The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
+~
+A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
+~
+Change is inevitable... except from vending machines.
+~
+Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow.
+~
+Half the people you know are above average.
+~
+99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
+~
+42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
+~
+If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
+~
+Oh, yeah, what are you gonna do? Release the dogs? Or
+the bees? Or the dogs with bees in their mouth and when
+they bark, they shoot bees at you?
+ -- Homer Simpson
+~
+Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not
+whether you win or lose... it's how drunk you get.
+ -- Homer Simpson
+~
+Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably.
+The lesson is, never try.
+ -- Homer Simpson
+~
+It's not easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but
+somehow I managed to fit in eight hours of TV a day.
+ -- Homer Simpson
+~
+Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What
+ about bacon?
+Lisa: No.
+Homer: Ham?
+Lisa: No!
+Homer: Pork chops?
+Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal!
+Homer: Heh heh heh... ooh... yeah.... right, Lisa. A wonderful...
+ magical animal.
+~
+Marge: Do you want your son to be Chief Justice of the
+ Supreme Court, or a sleazy male stripper?
+Homer: Can't he be both, like the late Earl Warren?
+Marge: Earl Warren was never a stripper!
+Homer: Oh, now who's being naive?
+~
+Homer: But every time I learn something new, it pushes out
+ something old! Remember that time I took a home
+ wine-making course and forgot how to drive?
+Marge: That's because you were drunk!
+Homer: And how!
+~
+Oh, Lisa, you and your stories: Bart's a vampire, beer
+kills brain cells. Now let's go back to that...
+building...thingie... where our beds and TV... is.
+ -- Homer Simpson
+~
+Operator! Give me the number for 911!
+ -- Homer Simpson
+~
+Lenny: Hey, Homer? What do I tell the boss?
+Homer: Tell him I'm going to the back seat of my car with
+ the woman I love, and I won't be back for ten minutes!
+~
+Big brother representative: Now, Mr. Simpson, may I ask why
+ you're here?
+Homer's brain: Don't say revenge. Don't say revenge.
+Homer: Ummm... revenge?
+Homer's brain: Okay, that's it. I'm outta here.
+(step step step step step...slam)
+~
+Homer: Okay, brain. You don't like me, and I don't like
+ you, but let's get through this thing and then I can
+ continue killing you with beer.
+Homer's Brain: It's a deal!
+~
+Homer: But Marge! I was a political prisoner!
+Marge: How were you a political prisoner?
+Homer: I kicked a giant mouse in the butt! Do I have to
+ draw you a picture?
+~
+Homer: Bart, a woman is like a beer. They look good, they
+ smell good, and you'd step over your own mother just
+ to get one! (chugs beer)
+~
+Old man: Take this doll, but beware; it carries a terrible curse.
+Homer: Ooo, that's bad.
+Old man: But it comes with a free serving of frozen yogurt!
+Homer: That's good!
+Old man: The frozen yogurt is also cursed.
+Homer: That's bad.
+Old man: But it comes with your choice of toppings!
+Homer: That's good!
+Old man: The toppings contain potassium benzoate...
+Homer: ...?
+Old man: That's bad.
+Homer: Can I go now?
+~
+Getting out of jury duty is easy. The trick is to say
+you're prejudiced against all races.
+ -- Homer Simpson
+~
+Homer's brain: Use reverse psychology.
+Homer: Oh, that sounds too complicated.
+Homer's brain: Okay, don't use reverse psychology.
+Homer: Okay, I will!
+~
+Homer: When I first heard that Marge was joining the police academy, I thought
+ it would be fun and zany, like that movie--Spaceballs. But instead it was
+ dark and disturbing. Like that movie--Police Academy.
+~
+Marge: Homer, did you call the audience "Chicken"?
+Homer: No! I swear on this bible!
+Marge: That's not a bible. That's a book of carpet samples.
+Homer: Mmmm... fuzzy.
+~
+Lisa: Dad, we did something very bad!
+Homer: Did you wreck the car?
+Bart: No.
+Homer: Did you raise the dead?
+Lisa: Yes.
+Homer: But the car's okay?
+Bart & Lisa: Uh-huh.
+Homer: All right then.
+~
+Mmmmm... reprocessed pig fat... -- Homer Simpson
+~
+(praying): Dear Lord, the gods have been good to me. As
+an offering, I present these milk and cookies. If you
+wish me to eat them instead, please give me no sign
+whatsoever... thy will be done (munch munch munch).
+ -- Homer Simpson
+~
+Homer: (On George HW Bush) I didn't vote for him!
+Marge: You didn't vote for anybody.
+Homer: I voted for Prell to go back to the old glass bottle.
+ Then I became deeply cynical.
+~
+What's the point of going out? We're just going to
+wind up back here anyway.
+ -- Homer Simpson
+~
+I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer.
+ -- Homer Simpson
+~
+All right, brain, I don't like you and you don't like me--so let's
+just do this and I'll get back to killing you with beer.
+ -- Homer Simpson
+~
+You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline;
+it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear
+weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
+ -- Frank Zappa
+~
+Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to
+keep your mouth shut.
+ -- Ernest Hemmingway
+~
+Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has
+taken out of me.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+He was a wise man who invented beer.
+ -- Plato
+~
+Time is never wasted when you're wasted all the time.
+ -- Catherine Zandonella
+~
+A woman drove me to drink and I didn't even have the decency to thank her.
+ -- W. C. Fields
+~
+"Sir, if I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee."
+ -- Lady Nancy Astor speaking to Winston Churchill
+"Madam, if I were your husband, I would drink it."
+ -- Churchill's reply
+~
+If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs.
+ -- David Daye
+~
+Work is the curse of the drinking class.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
+ -- Henny Youngman
+~
+Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
+ -- Benjamin Franklin
+~
+If you ever reach total enlightenment while drinking beer, I bet it
+makes beer shoot out your nose.
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is
+beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but
+the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.
+ -- Dave Barry
+~
+The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.
+ -- Humphrey Bogart
+~
+Why is American beer served cold? So you can tell it from urine.
+ -- David Moulton
+~
+People who drink light "beer" don't like the taste of beer; they just
+like to pee a lot.
+ -- Capital Brewery, Middleton, WI
+~
+Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world.
+ -- Kaiser Wilhelm
+~
+Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and
+oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital
+ingredient in beer.
+ -- Dave Barry
+~
+I drink to make other people interesting.
+ -- George Jean Nathan
+~
+They who drink beer will think beer.
+ -- Washington Irving
+~
+An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with
+his fools.
+ -- For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemmingway
+~
+You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
+ -- Dean Martin
+~
+I will not carve gods.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not spank others.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not aim for the head.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not barf unless I'm sick.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not expose the ignorance of the faculty.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I saw nothing unusual in the teacher's lounge.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not conduct my own fire drills.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+Funny noises are not funny.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not snap bras.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not fake seizures.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+This punishment is not boring and pointless.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+My name is not Dr. Death.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not defame New Orleans.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not prescribe medication.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not bury the new kid.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not teach others to fly.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not bring sheep to class.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+A burp is not an answer.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+Teacher is not a leper.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+Coffee is not for kids.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not eat things for money.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not yell "She's Dead" at roll call.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+The principal's toupee is not a Frisbee.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not call the principal "spud head".
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+Goldfish don't bounce.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+Mud is not one of the 4 food groups.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+No one is interested in my underpants.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not sell miracle cures.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will return the seeing-eye dog.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I do not have diplomatic immunity.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not charge admission to the bathroom.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+The cafeteria deep fryer is not a toy.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+All work and no play makes Bart a dull boy.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not say "Springfield" just to get applause.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I am not authorized to fire substitute teachers.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+My homework was not stolen by a one-armed man.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not go near the kindergarten turtle.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I am not deliciously saucy.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+Organ transplants are best left to professionals.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+The Pledge of Allegiance does not end with "Hail Satan".
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not celebrate meaningless milestones.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+There are plenty of businesses like show business.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+Five days is not too long to wait for a gun.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not waste chalk.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not skateboard in the halls.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+Underwear should be worn on the inside.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will never win an emmy.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+I will not torment the emotionally frail.
+ -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
+~
+Bitter, unsuccessful middle aged loser wallowing in an unending sea of inert,
+drooping loneliness looking for 24 year old needy leech-like hanger-on to
+abuse with dull stories, tired sex and Herb Alpert albums.
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+Me--trying to sleep on the bus station bench, pleading with you to give me a
+cigarette; you--choking on my odor, tripping over your purse trying to get
+away; at the last moment, our eyes meeting. Yours were blue.
+Can I have a dollar?
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+Imp and angel. Disembodied head in jar, 24, seeks pixie goddess to fiddle with
+while Rome burns. You bring marshmallows. No. I make joke. You like laugh?
+I like comebacks and confessions. Send photo of someone else.
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+I am spitting kitty. Ftt Fttttttt. I am angry bear. Grrrrr. I am large
+watermelon seed stuck in your nose. Zermmmmmmmmmm. I am small biting spider
+in your underwear. Yub yub yub. No mimes.
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+Three toed mango peeler searching for wicked lesbian infielder. Like screaming
+and marking territory with urine? Let's make banana enchiladas together in my
+bathtub. You bring the salsa.
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+Mongoloid spastic underwear model with extra limb (you guess where?) in search
+of bottlenosed dolphin and extra prickly cactus juice. Soup is good food.
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+I like eating mayonnaise and peanut butter sandwiches in the rain, watching
+Barney Miller reruns, peeing on birds in the park and licking strangers on the
+subway; you eat beets raw, have climbed Kilimanjaro, and sweat freely and
+often. Must wear size five shoes.
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+Timber! Falling downward is the lumber of my love. You grind your axe of
+passion into my endangered headlands. Don't make me into a bureau. I want
+to be lots and lots of toothpicks.
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+Small lumpy squid monkey seeks healthy woman with no identifying scars, any
+age. Must have all limbs. Recommend appreciation of high-pitched, screeching
+noises. Must like being bored and lonely. Must not touch the squids, EVER.
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+There is a little place in the jumbled sock drawer of my heart where you
+match up all the pairs, throw out the ones with holes in them, and buy me
+some of those neat dressy ones with the weird black and red geometrical
+designs on them.
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+Mmmm Pez! Rabid Wonder Woman fan looking for someone in satin tights,
+fighting for our rights and the old red, white 'n blue. You look like
+Linda Carter? Big plus. Know all words to theme song? Marry me.
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+Sanctimonious mordacious raconteur seeking same for hijinks and hiballs.
+SJM 27 wants to look someone in the eye so don't be tall. Or, if you can't
+help it, enjoy laying down. Wanna swim upstream?
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+Remember that summer you spent with your parents in Hawaii and how mad you
+were that they made you go? And how you were hopelessly bored until you saw
+the most gorgeous man you'd ever encountered strolling down the beach looking
+at you, skillfully removing your skimpy bikini with his piercing eyes? And
+how you spent the last month imagining him taking you in every possible way,
+masturbating feverishly day and night, wishing he would reappear, but he never
+did because you were 15 and he would have gone to jail? That was me, and
+you just turned 18.
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+Angry, simple-minded, balding, partially blind ex-circus flipper boy with a
+passion for covering lovers in sour cream and gravy seeks exotic, heavily
+tattooed piercing fanatic, preferably hairy, either sex, for whippings,
+bizarre sex and fashion consulting. No freaks.
+ -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
+ by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
+~
+A freshman at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho
+Falls Science Fair, April 26. He was attempting to show how conditioned
+we have become to the alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear
+of everything in our environment. In his project he urged people to sign
+a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical
+"dihydrogen monoxide." And for plenty of good reasons, since
+
+ 1. it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting;
+ 2. it is a major component in acid rain;
+ 3. it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state;
+ 4. accidental inhalation can kill you;
+ 5. it contributes to erosion;
+ 6. it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes;
+ 7. it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients.
+
+He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical. Forty-three said
+yes, six were undecided, and only one knew that the chemical was water. The
+title of his prize winning project was, "How Gullible Are We?".
+The conclusion is obvious.
+~
+If you ever see me getting beaten by the police, put down the video camera
+and come help me.
+ -- Bobcat Goldthwait
+~
+I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because
+it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive,
+but I have photographs of her.
+ -- Ellen DeGeneres
+~
+I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other
+one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they
+are always locking three.
+ -- Elayne Boosler
+~
+Ever wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?
+ -- John Mendoza
+~
+Relationships are hard. It's like a full-time job, and we should treat it like
+one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you
+two weeks' notice. There should be severance pay and before they leave you,
+they should have to find you a temp.
+ -- Bob Ettinger
+~
+I don't know what's wrong with my television set. I was getting C-Span and
+the Home Shopping Network on the same station. I actually bought a
+congressman.
+ -- Bruce Baum
+~
+I had a linguistics professor who said that it's man's ability to use language
+that makes him the dominant species on the planet. That may may be. But I
+think there's one other thing that separates us from animals. We aren't
+afraid of vacuum cleaners.
+ -- Jeff Stilson
+~
+Did you ever walk in a room and forget why you walked in? I think that's how
+dogs spend their lives.
+ -- Sue Murphy
+~
+Maybe there is no actual place called hell. Maybe hell is just having to
+listen to our grandparents breathe through their noses when they're eating
+sandwiches.
+ -- Jim Carrey
+~
+The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering
+from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they
+are okay, then it's you.
+ -- Rita Mae Brown
+~
+Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image
+there. I think if you've got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe
+laundry isn't your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body
+before you do the wash.
+ -- Jerry Seinfeld
+~
+USA Today has come out with a new survey: Apparently three out of four people
+make up 75 percent of the population.
+ -- David Letterman
+~
+A lady came up to me on the street and pointed at my suede jacket. 'You know
+a cow was murdered for that jacket?' she sneered. I replied in a psychotic
+tone, 'I didn't know there were any witnesses. Now I'll have to kill you too.'
+ -- Jake Johansen
+~
+I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific.
+ -- Lily Tomlin
+~
+The Swiss have an interesting army. Five hundred years without a war. Pretty
+impressive. Also pretty lucky for them. Ever see that little Swiss Army knife
+they have to fight with? Not much of a weapon there. Corkscrews. Bottle
+openers. "Come on, buddy, let's go. You get past me, the guy in back of me,
+he's got a spoon. Back off. I've got the toe clippers right here."
+ -- Jerry Seinfeld
+~
+Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I'm halfway through my
+fishburger and I realize, Oh my God... I could be eating a slow learner.
+ -- Lynda Montgomery
+~
+Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography.
+ -- Paul Rodriguez
+~
+Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom
+and democracy--but that could change.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/22/89
+~
+One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that
+one word is 'to be prepared'.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 12/6/89
+~
+May our nation continue to be the beakon of hope to the world.
+ -- The Quayles' 1989 Christmas card
+~
+Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+We don't want to go back to tomorrow, we want to go forward.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the
+future.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+The future will be better tomorrow.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+We're going to have the best-educated American people in the world.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a
+tremendous impact on history.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle to Sam Donaldson, 8/17/89
+~
+We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm
+commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+I am not part of the problem. I am a Republican.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+When I have been asked during these last weeks who caused the riots and
+the killing in L.A., my answer has been direct and simple: Who is to blame
+for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings?
+The killers are to blame.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/20/92 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)
+~
+Murphy Brown is doing better than I am. At least she knows she still has a job
+next year.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 8/18/92
+~
+We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/22/90
+~
+For NASA, space is still a high priority.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/5/90
+~
+Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/18/90
+~
+The American people would not want to know of any misquotes that Dan Quayle
+may or may not make.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+We're all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the
+mistakes we may or may not have made.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities
+in our air and water that are doing it.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+[It's] time for the human race to enter the solar system.
+ -- Vice President Dan Quayle
+~
+Public speaking is very easy.
+ -- Dan Quayle to reporters in 10/88
+~
+We have to believe in free will. We've got no choice.
+ -- Isaac B. Singer
+~
+The president has kept all of the promises he intended to keep.
+ -- Clinton aide George Stephanopolous speaking on "Larry King Live"
+~
+The police are not here to create disorder.
+They're here to preserve disorder.
+ -- Former Chicago mayor Daley
+ during the infamous 1968 convention
+~
+Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from overseas.
+ -- Former Australian cabinet minister Keppel Enderbery
+~
+It is wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.
+ -- Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle
+~
+The internet is a great way to get on the net.
+ -- Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole
+~
+It is bad luck to be superstitious.
+ -- Andrew Mathis
+~
+It's like an Alcatraz around my neck.
+ -- Boston mayor Menino on the shortage of city parking spaces
+~
+They're multipurpose. Not only do they put the clips on, but they take
+them off.
+ -- Pratt & Whitney spokesperson explaining why the company charged the
+ Air Force nearly $1,000 for an ordinary pair of pliers
+~
+We're going to turn this team around 360 degrees.
+ -- Jason Kidd, upon his drafting to the Dallas Mavericks
+~
+I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers.
+We are the president.
+ -- Hillary Clinton commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents
+~
+When more and more people are thrown out of work, unemployment results.
+ -- Former U.S. President Calvin Coolidge
+~
+China is a big country, inhabited by many chinese.
+ -- Former French President Charles de Gaulle
+~
+That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and
+i'm just the one to do it.
+ -- A congressional candidate in Texas
+~
+Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.
+ -- Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
+~
+Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.
+ -- General William Westmoreland, during the war in Viet Nam
+~
+If you let that sort of thing go on, your bread and butter will be cut
+right out from under your feet.
+ -- Former British foreign minister Ernest Bevin
+~
+Almonds and peaches are members of the Rosaceae family (roses) and are
+both in the subfamily Amygdaloideae, which also includes plums, cherries
+and apricots.
+~
+The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe.
+~
+Charlie Brown's father was a barber.
+~
+Nutmeg is toxic and can cause fatal overdoses just from eating too much.
+~
+Of the six men who made up the Three Stooges, three of them were real
+brothers (Moe, Curly and Shemp).
+~
+In Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie," mime Marcel Marceau is the only person who
+has a speaking role.
+~
+Pulp Fiction cost $8 million to make--$5 million going to actor's salaries.
+~
+A full seven percent of the entire Irish barley crop goes to the
+production of Guinness beer.
+~
+Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los
+Angeles de Porciúncula" or "The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of Angels,
+of Porziuncola", although its official name is simply "El Pueblo de
+la Reina de Los Angeles".
+~
+A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
+~
+An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
+~
+Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
+~
+Deborah Winger did the voice of E.T.
+~
+In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed
+on an analog watch is 10:10.
+~
+Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.
+~
+Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
+~
+The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint--no two lions have the same
+pattern of whiskers.
+~
+Bob Dylan's given name is Robert Allen Zimmerman.
+~
+Research by the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth in
+2003 demonstrated that goldfish have a memory-span of at least three
+months and can distinguish between different shapes, colours and sounds.
+~
+The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
+~
+It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog
+throws up it's stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of it's
+mouth. Then the frog uses it's forearms to dig out all of the stomach's
+contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.
+~
+Bingo is the name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box.
+~
+ABBA got their name by taking the first letter from each of their first
+names (Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, Anni-frid.)
+~
+The Beatles song "Dear Prudence" was written about Mia Farrow's sister,
+Prudence, when she wouldn't come out and play with Mia and the Beatles
+at a religious retreat in India.
+~
+The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
+~
+The name for Oz in the "Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator,
+Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N and O-Z, hence "Oz."
+~
+Horses and rabbits cannot normally vomit, but have been observed in
+extreme cases appearing to vomit. For example, horses with severe colic
+can produce fermented stomach contents, and rabbits have been observed
+expelling stomach contents due to over-eating or health issues.
+~
+Virgina Woolf liked to write standing up.
+Mark Twain often wrote while lying down.
+~
+Testimonial from Col. George Harvey, Mark Twain's publisher:
+ I think that perhaps the funniest thing about Mark Twain now is not
+his writing, but his bed. He lies in bed a good deal; he says he has
+formed the habit. His bed is the largest one I ever saw, and on it is
+the weirdest collection of objects you ever saw, enough to furnish a
+Harlem flat--books, writing materials, clothes, any and everything that
+could foregather in his vicinity.
+ He looks quite happy rising out of the mass, and over all prowls a
+huge black cat of a very unhappy disposition. She snaps and snarls and
+claws and bites, and Mark Twain takes his turn with the rest; when she
+gets tired of tearing up manuscript she scratches him and he bears it
+with a patience wonderful to behold.
+ -- interview subtitled "Mark Twain's Bed," Washington Post,
+ March 26, 1905, p. F12
+~
+Testimonial from Katy Leary, Mark Twain's servant:
+ Mr. Clemens borrowed a kitten one time, called Bambino, from Clara, who
+had him in the sanitarium, and had trained him to wash his own face in the
+bowl every morning--which shows that he was a very smart little cat. He
+used to have this kitten up in his room at the Fifth Avenue house and he
+taught it to put out a light, too. He had a tiny little lamp to light his
+cigars with at the head of the bed, and after he got all fixed and didn't
+want the light any more, he taught that cat to put his paw on the light
+and put it out. Bambino would jump on the bed, look at Mr. Clemens to see
+if he was through with the light, and when Mr. Clemens would bow twice to
+him, he'd jump over on to that table quick, and put his little paw right
+on the lamp! Mr. Clemens was always showing him off; he did that for a lot
+of people that come there to call.
+ One night he got kind of gay, when he heard some cats calling from the
+back fence, so he found a window open and he stole out. We looked high
+and low but couldn't find him. Mr. Clemens felt so bad that he advertised
+in all the papers for him. He offered a reward for anybody that would
+bring the cat back. My goodness! the people that came bringing cats to
+that house! A perfect stream! They all wanted to see Mr. Clemens, of
+course.
+ Two or three nights after, Katherine heard a cat meowing across the
+street in General Sickles' back yard, and there was Bambino--large as
+life! So she brought him right home. Mr. Clemens was delighted and then
+he advertised that his cat was found! But the people kept coming just
+the same with all kinds of cats for him--anything to get a glimpse of
+Mr. Clemens!
+ -- A Lifetime with Mark Twain, by Mary Lawton
+~
+If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to
+yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because
+for the creator there is no poverty and no poor, indifferent place.
+ -- Rainer Maria Rilke
+~
+Compassion is the chief and perhaps the only law of human existence.
+ -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky
+~
+If we concede that human life can be governed by reason, the possibility of
+life is destroyed.
+ -- Leo Tolstoy
+~
+What an abyss of uncertainty, whenever the mind feels overtaken by itself;
+when it, the seeker, is at the same time the dark region through which it
+must go seeking, and where all its equipment will avail nothing. Seek? More
+than that: create. It is face to face with something which does not yet exist,
+to which it alone can give reality and substance, which it alone can bring into
+the light of day.
+ -- Marcel Proust
+~
+As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+I believe that everything depends on attention. I only see you if I pay
+attention. I only exist, in my own eyes, if I pay attention to myself.
+ -- Nadia Boulanger
+~
+The sex was so good that even the neighbors had a cigarette.
+~
+If you smoke after sex, you're doing it too fast.
+~
+I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
+~
+If ignorance is bliss, you must be orgasmic.
+~
+Good girls get fat, bad girls get eaten.
+~
+The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.
+~
+A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory.
+~
+I need someone really bad... are you really bad?
+~
+If, a two letter word for futility.
+~
+Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
+~
+To all you virgins, thanks for nothing.
+~
+The more you complain, the longer God lets you live.
+~
+My kid had sex with your honor student.
+~
+Don't hit me. My lawyer's in jail.
+~
+If something goes without saying, LET IT!
+~
+If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.
+~
+IRS: We've got what it takes to take what you've got.
+~
+Hard work has a future payoff, laziness pays off now.
+~
+Life's a buffet... so eat me!
+~
+Montana--At least our cows are sane!
+~
+Jesus died for my sins and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
+~
+Mean people rule!
+~
+Guns don't kill people, postal workers do.
+~
+Born again pagan.
+~
+God must love stupid people, he made so many.
+~
+I said "no" to drugs, but they just wouldn't listen.
+~
+The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
+~
+There's too much youth, how about a fountain of smart.
+~
+Forget about World Peace... Visualize Using Your Turn Signal!
+~
+Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear.
+~
+I know what you're thinking, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
+~
+Don't drink and drive, you might hit a bump and spill your drink.
+~
+Elvis is dead, and I'm not feeling too good myself.
+~
+Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.
+~
+Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.
+~
+Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes.
+~
+Always be nice to your children because they are
+the ones who will choose your rest home.
+ -- Phyllis Diller
+~
+I like you, but I wouldn't want to see you working with subatomic particles.
+~
+Sex on television can't hurt you unless you fall off.
+~
+I'm not offended by all the dumb blond jokes because I know I'm not
+dumb... and I also know that I'm not blond.
+ -- Dolly Parton
+~
+You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a
+smart woman with a dumb guy.
+ -- Erica Jong
+~
+I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home
+which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog which growls
+every morning, a parrot which swears all afternoon and a cat that
+comes home late at night.
+ -- Marie Corelli
+~
+I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house.
+ -- Zsa Zsa Gabor
+~
+I want to have children, but my friends scare me. One of my friends told
+me she was in labor for 36 hours. I don't even want to do anything that
+feels GOOD for 36 hours.
+ -- Rita Rudner
+~
+I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on.
+ -- Roseanne
+~
+I think--therefore I'm single.
+ -- Lizz Winstead
+~
+Behind every successful man is a surprised woman.
+ -- Maryon Pearson
+~
+Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as
+assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly
+promoted as a male schlemiel.
+ -- Bella Abzug
+~
+I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on
+how to combine marriage and a career.
+ -- Gloria Steinem
+~
+Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they
+should live next door and just visit now and then.
+ -- Katharine Hepburn
+~
+God is my favorite fictional character.
+ -- Homer Simpson
+~
+Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.
+ -- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
+~
+I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
+ -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
+~
+I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the
+best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't
+last out the year.
+ -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
+~
+But what... is it good for?
+ -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968,
+ commenting on the microchip
+~
+This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a
+means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.
+ -- Western Union internal memo, 1876
+~
+The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for
+a message sent to nobody in particular?
+ -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment
+ in the radio in the 1920s
+~
+The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than
+a 'C,' the idea must be feasible.
+ -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's
+ paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service
+ (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
+~
+Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?
+ -- H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927
+~
+I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary
+Cooper.
+ -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone
+ With The Wind"
+~
+A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say
+America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.
+ -- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies
+~
+We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.
+ -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962
+~
+If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The
+literature was full of examples that said you can't do this.
+ -- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M
+ "Post-It" Notepads
+~
+So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built
+with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll
+give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for
+you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they
+said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'
+ -- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P
+ interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer
+~
+Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and
+the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He
+seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools.
+ -- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary
+ rocket work
+~
+You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your
+muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life. You just have to
+accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight
+training.
+ -- Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unsolvable" problem by
+ inventing Nautilus
+~
+Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're
+crazy.
+ -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill
+ for oil in 1859
+~
+Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.
+ -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929
+~
+Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
+ -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy,
+ Ecole Superieure de Guerre
+~
+Everything that can be invented has been invented.
+ -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899, arguing
+ that the office should be closed
+~
+Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.
+ -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872
+~
+The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion
+of the wise and humane surgeon.
+ -- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary
+ to Queen Victoria 1873
+~
+640K ought to be enough for anybody.
+ -- Attributed to Bill Gates, 1981, but he asserts that he did not say this.
+~
+Three things are certain:
+Death, taxes, and lost data.
+Guess which has occurred.
+~
+Everything is gone;
+Your life's work has been destroyed.
+Squeeze trigger (yes/no)?
+~
+Windows NT crashed.
+I am the Blue Screen of Death.
+No one hears your screams.
+~
+Seeing my great fault
+Through darkening blue windows
+I begin again
+~
+The code was willing,
+It considered your request,
+But the chips were weak.
+~
+Printer not ready.
+Could be a fatal error.
+Have a pen handy?
+~
+A file that big?
+It might be very useful.
+But now it is gone.
+~
+Errors have occurred.
+We won't tell you where or why.
+Lazy programmers.
+~
+Server's poor response
+Not quick enough for browser.
+Timed out, plum blossom.
+~
+Chaos reigns within.
+Reflect, repent, and reboot.
+Order shall return.
+~
+Login incorrect.
+Only perfect spellers may
+enter this system.
+~
+This site has been moved.
+We'd tell you where, but then we'd
+have to delete you.
+~
+Wind catches lily
+scatt'ring petals to the wind:
+segmentation fault
+~
+ABORTED effort:
+Close all that you have.
+You ask way too much.
+~
+First snow, then silence.
+This thousand dollar screen dies
+so beautifully.
+~
+With searching comes loss
+and the presence of absence:
+"My Novel" not found.
+~
+The Tao that is seen
+Is not the true Tao, until
+You bring fresh toner.
+~
+The Web site you seek
+cannot be located but
+endless others exist
+~
+Stay the patient course
+Of little worth is your ire
+The network is down
+~
+A crash reduces
+your expensive computer
+to a simple stone.
+~
+There is a chasm
+of carbon and silicon
+the software can't bridge
+~
+Yesterday it worked
+Today it is not working
+Windows is like that
+~
+To have no errors
+Would be life without meaning
+No struggle, no joy
+~
+You step in the stream,
+but the water has moved on.
+This page is not here.
+~
+No keyboard present
+Hit F1 to continue
+Zen engineering?
+~
+Hal, open the file
+Hal, open the damn file, Hal
+open the, please Hal
+~
+Out of memory.
+We wish to hold the whole sky,
+But we never will.
+~
+Having been erased,
+The document you're seeking
+Must now be retyped.
+~
+The ten thousand things
+How long do any persist?
+Netscape, too, has gone.
+~
+Rather than a beep
+Or a rude error message,
+These words: "File not found."
+~
+Serious error.
+All shortcuts have disappeared.
+Screen. Mind. Both are blank.
+~
+Indecision may or may not be my problem.
+ -- Jimmy Buffet
+~
+If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you.
+This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+If you want to know what God thinks about money, just look at the people He
+gives it to.
+ -- Old Irish Saying
+~
+I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage.
+They've experienced pain and bought jewelry.
+ -- Rita Rudner
+~
+I would love to speak a foreign language but I can't.
+So I grew hair under my arms instead.
+ -- Sue Kolinsky
+~
+The second day of a diet is always easier than the first.
+By the second day you're off it.
+ -- Jackie Gleason
+~
+Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's
+life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if
+there is a man on base.
+ -- Dave Barry
+~
+Somebody hits me, I'm going to hit him back. Even if it does look like he
+hasn't eaten in a while.
+ -- Charles Barkley, after blatantly elbowing an Angolan basketball
+ opponent in the Olympics.
+~
+I think that's how Chicago got started. A bunch of people in New York said,
+'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough.
+Let's go west.'
+ -- Richard Jeni
+~
+The show business newspaper Daily Variety reported in December that John
+Kricfalusi, creator of TV's "The Ren & Stimpy Show," was threatening legal
+action against the producers of the Comedy Central show "South Park" for
+ripping off a cartoon character. According to Kricfalusi, his character
+"Nutty the Friendly Dump," an animated piece of excrement, must have been
+the basis for "South Park"'s "Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo," a holiday-
+dressed, singing, dancing piece of excrement.
+~
+If a man is standing in the middle of the forest speaking and there is
+no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?
+~
+If a deaf person swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?
+~
+If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is
+it considered a hostage situation?
+~
+Is there another word for synonym?
+~
+Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice?"
+~
+When sign makers go on strike, is anything written on their signs?
+~
+Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all?"
+~
+Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
+~
+What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?
+~
+If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?
+~
+Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
+~
+Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone
+will clean them?
+~
+If a stealth bomber crashes in a forest, will it make a sound?
+~
+If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
+~
+Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
+~
+Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?
+~
+If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to
+remain silent?
+~
+Why do they put Braille on the drive-through bank machines?
+~
+How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign?
+~
+Why do they sterilize the needles for lethal injections?
+~
+Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
+~
+Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?
+~
+Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about puppies.
+ -- Gene Hill
+~
+In dog years, I'm dead.
+ -- Unknown
+~
+Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in
+case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in
+your ear.
+ -- Dave Barry
+~
+(of dogs)
+I wonder what goes through his mind when he sees us peeing in his water bowl.
+ -- Penny Ward Moser
+~
+Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend,
+and inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
+ -- Aldous Huxley
+~
+A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times
+before lying down.
+ -- Robert Benchley
+~
+Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? I think that is
+how dogs spend their lives.
+ -- Sue Murphy
+~
+Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomniac who stays up all night
+wondering if there really is a Dog?
+ -- Unknown
+~
+I think animal testing is a terrible idea; they get all nervous and give
+the wrong answers.
+ -- Unknown
+~
+I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts
+to bite people themselves.
+ -- August Strindberg
+~
+Ever consider what they [our pets] must think of us? I mean, here we come
+back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul--chicken, pork, half
+a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!
+ -- Anne Tyler
+~
+My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to 99 cents a can.
+That's almost $7.00 in dog money.
+ -- Joe Weinstein
+~
+If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known
+will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.
+ -- James Thurber
+~
+You enter into a certain amount of madness when you marry a person with pets.
+ -- Nora Ephron
+~
+Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are
+wonderful.
+ -- Ann Landers
+~
+Women and cats will do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get
+used to the idea.
+ -- Robert A. Heinlein
+~
+In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have
+a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.
+ -- Dereke Bruce, Taipei, Taiwan
+~
+When a man's best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem.
+ -- Edward Abbey
+~
+Cat's Motto: No matter what you've done wrong, always try to
+make it look like the dog did it.
+ -- Unknown
+~
+Money will buy you a pretty good dog, but it won't buy
+the wag of his tail... No one appreciates the very
+special genius of your conversation as the dog does.
+ -- Christopher Morley
+~
+A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
+ -- Josh Billings
+~
+Man is a dog's idea of what God should be.
+ -- Holbrook Jackson
+~
+The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.
+ -- Andrew A. Rooney
+~
+He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life,
+his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat
+of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
+ -- Unknown
+~
+Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog
+would go in.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.
+ -- Unknown
+~
+Things that upset a terrier may pass virtually unnoticed by a Great Dane.
+ -- Smiley Blanton
+~
+I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt,
+and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.
+ -- John Steinbeck
+~
+There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.
+ -- Ben Williams
+~
+One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men.
+No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.
+ -- Elbert Hubbard
+~
+(AP) Tokyo: Tokyo commuter Katsuo Katugoru caused havoc on a crowded tube
+train when his inflatable underpants unexpectedly went off. The rubber
+underwear was made by Katsuo himself, and designed to inflate to 30 times
+their original size in the event of a tidal wave.
+"I am terrified of water, and death by drowning is my greatest fear" said
+Katsuo, 48. "Unfortunately I set them off accidently while looking for a
+boiled sweet on a rush hour train. They were crushing everybody in the
+carriage until a passenger stabbed them with a pencil."
+~
+Kindness cannot be taught by harshness--
+not by any amount of harshness.
+ -- Raymond M. Smullyan / The Tao is Silent
+~
+Reno versus Gates:
+Full employment for lawyers
+Until end of time
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Inflate your tires by all means, but then hide your bicycle pump where it
+cannot tempt you.
+ -- attributed to a spokesman for the Nakhon Ratchasima hospital
+~
+Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it
+holds the universe together....
+ -- Carl Zwanzig
+~
+There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the
+Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced
+by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which
+states that this has already happened.
+ -- Douglas Adams
+~
+Only two things are infinite, the universe and
+human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+Astronomers say the universe is finite, which is a comforting thought for
+those people who can't remember where they leave things.
+ -- Unknown
+~
+In answer to the question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that
+our Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time.
+ -- Edward P. Tryon
+~
+It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception,
+is composed of others.
+ -- John Andrew Holmes
+~
+Technology is a way of organizing the universe so
+that man doesn't have to experience it.
+ -- Max Frisch
+~
+The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.
+ -- Kilgore Trout (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)
+~
+I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough
+to find your way around Chinatown.
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people
+very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
+ -- Douglas Adams
+~
+The crux... is that the vast majority of the
+mass of the universe seems to be missing.
+ -- William J. Broad
+~
+Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build
+bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce
+bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
+ -- Rich Cook
+~
+There is a coherent plan in the universe,
+though I don't know what it's a plan for.
+ -- Fred Hoyle
+~
+We are an impossibility in an impossible universe. -- Ray Bradbury
+~
+My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed.
+ -- Christopher Morley
+~
+I'm worried that the universe will soon need replacing.
+It's not holding a charge.
+ -- Edward Chilton
+~
+The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe
+is that it has never tried to contact us.
+ -- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)
+~
+As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using
+individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and
+employees will receive their cards in two weeks.
+ -- pointy haired boss contest. (This was the winning quote from
+ Fred Dales at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington)
+~
+What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter.
+ -- pointy haired boss contest. (Lykes Lines Shipping)
+~
+E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used
+only for company business.
+ -- pointy haired boss contest. (Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)
+~
+This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important
+interfere with it.
+ -- pointy haired boss contest
+ (Advertising/Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)
+~
+Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule. No one will believe
+you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now,
+go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them.
+ -- pointy haired boss contest
+ (R&D supervisor, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing / 3M Corp.)
+~
+My Boss spent the entire weekend retyping a 25-page proposal that only needed
+corrections. She claims the disk I gave her was damaged and she couldn't edit
+it. The disk I gave her was write-protected.
+ -- pointy haired boss contest. (CIO of Dell Computers)
+~
+Quote from the Boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what 'I' say."
+ -- pointy haired boss contest. (Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)
+~
+"How About Friday?" My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for
+Monday. When I told my Boss, he said she died so that I would have to miss
+work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her
+burial to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me."
+ -- pointy haired boss contest. (Shipping executive, FTD Florists)
+~
+"We know that communication is a problem, but the company is
+not going to discuss it with the employees."
+ -- pointy haired boss contest
+ (Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)
+~
+We recently received a memo from senior management saying: "This is to inform
+you that a memo will be issued today regarding the subject mentioned above."
+ -- pointy haired boss contest. (Microsoft, Legal Affairs Division)
+~
+One day my Boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project
+I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said "If
+I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!"
+ -- pointy haired boss contest
+ (New business manager, Hallmark Greeting Cards)
+~
+Speaking the Same Language: As director of communications I was asked to
+prepare a memo reviewing our company's training programs and materials. In
+the body of the memo one of the sentences mentioned the "pedagogical approach"
+used by one of the training manuals. The day after I routed the memo to the
+executive committee, I was called into the HR director's office and told that
+the executive vice president wanted me out of the building by lunch. When I
+asked why, I was told that she wouldn't stand for "perverts" (pedophilia)?
+working in her company. Finally he showed me her copy of the memo, with her
+demand that I be fired--and the word "pedagogical" circled in red. The HR
+manager was fairly reasonable, and once he looked the word up in his
+dictionary, and made a copy of the definition to send back to her, he told me
+not to worry. He would take care of it. Two days later a memo to the entire
+staff came out--directing us that no words which could not be found in the
+local Sunday newspaper could be used in company memos. A month later, I
+resigned. In accordance with company policy, I created my resignation memo
+by pasting words together from the Sunday paper.
+ -- pointy haired boss contest. (Taco Bell Corporation)
+~
+This gem is the closing paragraph of a nationally-circulated memo from a large
+communications company: "(Company name) is endeavorily determined to promote
+constant attention on current procedures of transacting business focusing
+emphasis on innovative ways to better, if not supersede, the expectations of
+quality!"
+ -- pointy haired boss contest. (Lucent Technologies)
+~
+Marriage isn't a word, it's a sentence.
+ -- unknown, seen on back of Charlottesville, VA cab
+~
+Have you ever noticed... Anybody going slower than you is an idiot,
+and anyone going faster than you is a f*cking maniac?
+ -- George Carlin
+~
+You have to stay in shape. My grandmother, she started walking five
+miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 today and we don't know where
+the hell she is.
+ -- Ellen DeGeneres
+~
+I'm not into working out. My philosophy: No pain, no pain.
+ -- Carol Leifer
+~
+I have a great diet. You're allowed to eat anything you want, but you
+must eat it with naked fat people.
+ -- Ed Bluestone
+~
+I went into a McDonald's yesterday and said, "I'd like some fries."
+The girl at the counter said, "Would you like some fries with that?"
+ -- Jay Leno
+~
+The reason most people play golf is to wear clothes they would not be
+caught dead in otherwise.
+ -- Roger Simon
+~
+I'm desperately trying to figure out why kamikaze pilots wore helmets.
+ -- Dave Edison
+~
+If it weren't for electricity we'd all be watching television by candlelight.
+ -- George Gobel
+~
+Don't spend two dollars to dry clean a shirt. Donate it to the
+Salvation Army instead. They'll clean it and put it on a hanger.
+Next morning buy it back for seventy-five cents.
+ -- Billiam Coronel
+~
+Suppose you were an idiot... And suppose you were a member of
+Congress... But I repeat myself.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student. At least
+they can find Kuwait.
+ -- A. Whitney Brown
+~
+My mom said she learned how to swim. Someone took her out in the lake
+and threw her off the boat. That's how she learned how to swim. I
+said, "Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim."
+ -- Paula Poundstone
+~
+I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up
+something else.
+ -- Lily Tomlin
+~
+What do people mean when they say the computer went down on me?
+ -- Marilyn Pittman
+~
+Why is it that when we talk to God we're said to be praying, but when
+God talks to us we're schizophrenic?
+ -- Lily Tomlin
+~
+When you look at Prince Charles, don't you think that someone in the
+Royal family knew someone in the Royal family?
+ -- Robin Williams
+~
+Where lipstick is concerned, the important thing is not color, but to
+accept God's final word on where your lips end.
+ -- Jerry Seinfeld
+~
+[Modern economists are] "used to measuring the 'standard of living' by
+the amount of annual consumption, assuming all the time that a man who
+consumes more is 'better off' than a man who consumes less. A Buddhist
+economist would consider this approach excessively irrational: since
+consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to
+obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption...
+The less toil there is, the more time and strength is left for artistic
+creativity. Modern economics, on the other hand, considers consumption
+to be the sole end and purpose of all economic activity."
+ -- E. F. Schumacher (1911-1977), from "Small Is Beautiful:
+ A Study of Economics As If People Mattered", 1973.
+~
+As a net is made up of a series of ties, so everything in this world
+is connected by a series of ties. If anyone thinks that the mesh of
+a net is an independent, isolated thing, he is mistaken. It is called
+a net because it is made up of a series of interconnected meshes, and
+each mesh has its place and responsibility in relation to other meshes.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+When debugging, suspect the more complicated code,
+but keep an eye on the simple code lest it get too cocky.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
+ -- Douglas Adams
+~
+As I let go of my feelings of guilt, I am in touch
+with my inner sociopath.
+~
+I have the power to channel my imagination into ever-soaring
+levels of suspicion and paranoia.
+~
+I assume full responsibility for my actions, except the ones
+that are someone else's fault.
+~
+I no longer need to punish, deceive, or compromise myself,
+unless I want to stay employed.
+~
+In some cultures what I do would be considered normal.
+~
+I honor my personality flaws for without them
+I would have no personality at all.
+~
+Joan of Arc heard voices, too.
+~
+I am grateful that I am not as judgmental as all those
+censorious, self-righteous people around me.
+~
+I need not suffer in silence while I can still
+moan, whimper, and complain.
+~
+As I learn the innermost secrets of people around me, they
+reward me in many ways to keep me quiet.
+~
+When someone hurts me, I know that forgiveness is cheaper
+than a lawsuit, but not nearly as gratifying.
+~
+The first step is to say nice things about myself.
+The second is to do nice things for myself, the third,
+to find someone to buy me nice things.
+~
+As I learn to trust the universe,
+I no longer need to carry a gun.
+~
+I am at one with my duality.
+~
+Blessed are the flexible,
+for they can tie themselves into knots.
+~
+Only a lack of imagination saves me from
+immobilizing myself with imaginary fears.
+~
+I will strive to live each day as
+if it were my 50th birthday.
+~
+I honor and express all facets of my being,
+regardless of state and local laws.
+~
+Today I will gladly share my experience and advice, for there
+are no sweeter words than "I told you so."
+~
+False hope is better than no hope at all.
+~
+A good scapegoat is almost as good as a solution.
+~
+Just for today, I will not sit in my living room all day in my
+underwear in the Hollywood Cafe. Instead, I will move my
+computer into the bedroom.
+~
+Who can I blame for my problems?
+Just give me a minute.
+I'll find someone.
+~
+Why should I waste my time reliving the past when
+I can spend it worrying about the future?
+~
+The complete lack of evidence is the surest
+sign that the conspiracy is working.
+~
+I am learning that criticism is not nearly as
+effective as sabotage.
+~
+Becoming aware of my character defects leads me
+naturally to the next step of blaming my parents.
+~
+To have a successful relationship I must learn to
+make it look like I'm giving as much as I'm getting.
+~
+I am willing to make the mistakes if someone else
+is willing to learn from them.
+~
+Before I criticize a man, I walk a mile in
+his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's
+a mile away and barefoot.
+~
+Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
+~
+Canadian = unarmed American with health care.
+~
+Mohandas K. Gandhi's list of "Seven Blunders Of The World That Lead
+To Violence":
+ Wealth without work
+ Science without humanity
+ Pleasure without conscience
+ Worship without sacrifice
+ Knowledge without character
+ Politics without principle
+ Commerce without morality
+~
+`Tis the longest Purse Conquers the longest Sword.
+ -- Daniel Defoe
+~
+A Man that will lie still, should never hope to rise;
+he that will lie in a Ditch and pray, may depend upon it he
+shall lie in the Ditch and die.
+ -- Daniel Defoe
+~
+He that has Truth on his Side, is a fool, as well
+as a Coward, if he is afraid to own it because of
+the Currency or Multitude of other Men's Opinions.
+ -- Daniel Defoe
+~
+Writers' earnings are the reward of industry and the prize of learning.
+ -- Daniel Defoe
+~
+Absolute necessity forces many a poor distressed
+person to do things which his very soul abhors.
+ -- Daniel Defoe
+~
+The rising greatness of the British nation
+is not owing to war and conquests,
+to enlarging its dominion by the sword,
+or subjecting the people of other countries to our power;
+but it is owing to trade.
+An estate is a pond, trade is a spring,
+conquest is a Thing attended with Difficulty, Hazard,
+Expense, and a Possibility of Miscarriage.
+ -- Daniel Defoe
+~
+24 hours in a day. 24 beers in a case. coincidence?
+ -- Stephen Wright
+~
+When Human Folk at Table Eat,
+A Kitten must not mew for meat,
+Or Jump to grab it from the Dish
+(Unless it happens to be fish).
+ -- Oliver Herford
+~
+When I am at peace with myself, and in good spirits--for
+instance, on a journey, in a carriage, or after a good meal,
+or while taking a walk, or at night when I can't sleep--then
+thoughts flow into me most easily and at their best. Where
+they come from and how -- that I cannot say; nor can I do
+anything about it.
+ -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
+~
+It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has
+become easy to me. I assure you no one has given so much
+care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely
+a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently
+and diligently studied.
+ -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
+~
+If one has talent it pushes for utterance and torments
+one; it will out. And then one is out without questioning.
+And, look you, there is nothing in this thing of learning
+out of books. Here, here and here [the ear, the head, the
+heart] is your school. If everything is right there, then
+take your pen and down with it; afterwards ask the opinion
+of a man who knows his business.
+ -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
+~
+It is no just function of government to prohibit what is not wrong.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better
+than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not
+your counsel or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you.
+May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you
+were our countrymen.
+ -- Samuel Adams
+~
+You may call, you may call,
+But the little black cats won't hear you,
+The little black cats are maddened,
+By the green light of the moon.
+ -- Elizabeth Coatsworth
+~
+on exception handling...
+ the point is to create dependable systems. some languages are better than
+others for this. some languages provide no support for verification, although
+the semantics of most programming constructs are well established. exceptions
+predate much of the work done in formal verification of the last 30 years.
+many people have tried (with varying degrees of success) to fit exceptions into
+the grand scheme and make them verifiable. flaviu cristian has shown how
+exception handlers can be fitted with preconditions for their activation and
+postconditions for their completion.
+ however, an attempt to postfit a system with hooks for verifiability will
+fail if the system is very large. and programming in this manner is simply a
+living hell. the programmer is not generally equipped to set up all of his
+handlers for this type of reasoning, even if he has a clear idea for when the
+handlers are to be invoked.
+ what is needed is a general language structure that is capable of embodying
+the reasons and the services of the exception-like items in the system.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+why aren't programs published in better boxes?
+thicker cardboard, smaller profiles, thin like coffee table books,
+packaged with only essentials and fitting together well...
+you'd be proud to have a software library if the damn boxes weren't
+so flimsy and didn't take up so much room.
+~
+Here's a thought... The government should only be allowed to test urine for
+drugs if they collect the pee in their own mouths.
+~
+the drug war is a war on liberty that cannot possibly be won without the
+utter removal of all rights or at least the indefinite suspension thereof.
+urine testing is the best emblem of this horrible war; it makes the police
+look like a bunch of perverted urine sniffers. it is not cost effective
+for testing large numbers of people and it is insanely easy to fake if one
+wants to anyway. we need to stop the drug war and start the war on ignorance.
+this ignorance is an ignorance of the REAL scientifically determined results
+of using the drugs in question. studies show that marijuana, for example,
+DOES have therapeutic results and that it is almost completely HARMLESS.
+smoke inhalation is not harmless, but there are other ways to get stoned than
+by inhaling burning vapors. the root ignorance that MUST be warred upon is
+an ignorance of the fact that people should leave each other alone and not
+be such shrieking paranoid shrews about what their neighbors are doing.
+put down your goddamned binoculars, you nosy cretin, and get to the business
+of living your own life.
+~
+drug prices are caused to soar by the organized crime elements
+that are behind the drug war (and behind the republican party).
+organized crime at the same time causes the war to look just as
+ridiculous as the carrie nation hatchet smashing of beer kegs so
+that people will buy more drugs and think that governmental
+authority is a crock. who benefitted from the intense CAMP
+activity in california? the mafia, because prices on marijuana
+soared. who got screwed by CAMP? the people, who made their
+honest living off of growing marijuana, which at the time was
+our nation's largest commodity. it's time to toss the republican
+crooks out of office on their asses. american patriots smoke pot:
+george washington, thomas jefferson, benjamin franklin, and thou,
+if you like. unamerican creeps are against marijuana and against
+the right of the america people to control their own destiny.
+i think it really is that simple.
+~
+ode to a petty tyrant...
+ what you don't seem to realize is that productivity is mood dependent.
+you seem to think that i need to be degraded repeatedly as some form of
+character builder, but what if someone came to this school as your student
+who had already been degraded enough in his life? what if every time you
+were cutting on them in some sly tricky sarcastic form you were in fact
+rubbing a sore spot and only inflaming their opinions as to your anus-nature?
+ did you realize that one of your students comes back to the office
+and just swears and swears at the computer he's working at? this wasn't
+because the machine was bad, or his program was bad, or he was bad,
+but because he was mad at _you_.
+ the solution, i think, is to respect people a whole lot more. we're
+not here for professors to deride us. this isn't some f*cking fraternity
+with you chumps as the chief hazing marshalls. we're here to learn and if
+our learning is colored with hues of condemnation and abuse, it diminishes
+you, it diminishes us, and it diminishes the whole search for truth and
+knowledge.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+i don't believe the druidic and grecian universities had this
+same kind of "cut him up, slice and dice!" attitude that prevails
+at our fine american universities in this day and age. that
+attitude is surely a holdover from roman times, when the
+patriarchal society demanded discipline and obedience from all
+of its members, especially those with license to think. this
+approach is impractical these days (because it doesn't work
+very well), except at the higher levels in education, where
+it is still fervently practiced. root it out, toss it away;
+we don't need authoritarian learning, we need to follow the truth
+back to all its origins and forward to the myriad potential fruits.
+your rule book stopped being effective a long time ago.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+on artistic and technical integrity...
+in the beginning, i had a totally egotistical attitude that the rest of the
+world was screwed and i was right. this is actually somewhat correct, because
+one must have his own voice and thoughts, except for the fact that i was not
+_that_ correct and the world was not _that_ wrong. but at least what i chose
+to say and what i chose to be were right for me. over the past few years i
+have sought to learn the phd game, but i have been doing it by suppressing
+my own voice and allowing others to tell me what i should say. this is
+fundamentally f*cked, because now i have become dependent on them as my voice
+instead of relying on the tao to guide the research and for my own voice to
+speak what needs to be said. is it any wonder that i have devolved to this
+state of being unable to say anything on my own? after years of thinking for
+myself, i have allowed myself to become placed in a situation where i was
+dependent on someone else as my source of "the scoop". numerous problems
+result when others' biases are not what i want to express, yet they have
+potency to affect my presentation. the fact that when the bogus guru doesn't
+understand something, he usually tells you that you are the one who does not
+understand, is no help. he has no subtlety and yet seeks the original
+thoughts, leading him to warp other people's original thoughts into his own
+mental framework, often losing the original spark and leading the ideas astray
+into his own personal interests. i need to cut loose and start thinking on my
+own again. if the ideas in my research here have any merit at all, they have
+to be proven using my own metrics, not others' metrics. and this no longer
+seems possible in this stringently bulletheaded "hard science" department
+which instead only enforces conventional viewpoints and does not reach out
+into the unknown where the really interesting concepts live....
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+niceness here is the ineffable.
+the only difference between you and the wolf is that you want to be nice,
+and fail. the wolf only wants to appear nice while remaining vile inside,
+and he succeeds. your demeanor to others is sometimes nice and sometimes
+not nice because of your failures in actually being the way you want to
+be. and the reason that you fail to be the way you want to be is that you
+lack the spiritual strength to keep it up. you can't synchronize your
+noble desires with your weak mind/body, and it is mainly because you reject
+spirituality itself that you fail in achieving spiritual strength.
+one cannot succeed in something one does not believe in except through
+dumb beginner's luck. and yet to fully believe in something is to be
+trapped in it, without the capacity to disbelieve and free oneself.
+you need a fluid belief that accepts what is true within the constraints
+of its validity. can this flow be strong enough to become who and what
+you want to be?
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+eek on the candidate from louis cypher... i notice with some lack of
+surprise that "ollie north" can be rearranged into the nice phrase
+"o, rot in hell". i think this needs to be made more public. perhaps
+we should publish an epigram regarding this particular correspondence
+between reality and republicanism.
+~
+ 1. Commit to your business.
+ 2. Share your profits with all your associates.
+ 3. Motivate your partners.
+ 4. Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
+ 5. Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
+ 6. Celebrate your success.
+ 7. Listen to everyone in your company.
+ 8. Exceed your customers' expectations.
+ 9. Control your expenses better than your competition.
+10. Swim upstream.
+ -- "Sam's Rules For Building A Business", from "Made In
+ America: My Story", by Sam Walton.
+~
+Find some humor in your failures. Don't take yourself so seriously.
+Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up. Have fun. Show
+enthusiasm--always. When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a
+silly song. Then make everybody else sing with you. Don't do a hula
+on Wall Street. It's been done. Think up your own stunt. All of
+this is more important, and more fun, than you think, and it really
+fools the competition. "Why should we take those cornballs at Wal-Mart
+seriously?"
+ -- Sam Walton
+~
+If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the
+impersonators would be dead.
+ -- Johnny Carson
+~
+In elementary school, in case of fire you have to line
+up quietly in a single file line from smallest to
+tallest. What is the logic? Do tall people burn slower?
+ -- Warren Hutcherson
+~
+Every time a baseball player grabs his crotch, it makes
+him spit. That's why you should never date a baseball player.
+ -- Marsha Warfield
+~
+Some women hold up dresses that are so ugly and they
+always say the same thing: 'This looks much better on.'
+On what? On fire?
+ -- Marsha Warfield
+~
+The cat went here
+ and there,
+The moon spun round
+ like a top,
+And the nearest kin
+ of the moon,
+The creeping cat, looked
+ up.
+ -- W. B. Yeats
+~
+The cat always leaves a mark on his friend.
+ -- Spanish proverb
+~
+ A herd of buffalo can move only as fast as the slowest buffalo.
+when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back
+that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a
+whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps
+improving by the regular culling of the weakest members.
+ In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as
+the slowest brain cells. Intake of alcohol, we all know, kills brain
+cells, but naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells
+first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker
+brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.
+ That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers.
+~
+1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech
+ which you are used to seeing in print.
+2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
+3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
+4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
+5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon
+ word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
+6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything
+ outright barbarous.
+ -- George Orwell, "Politics And The English Language."
+~
+Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?
+ -- Felix von Leitner (leitner@inf.fu-berlin.de)
+~
+linux: the choice of a GNU generation.
+ -- ksh@cis.ufl.edu put this on t-shirts in 1993
+~
+There are two types of Linux developers--those who can
+spell, and those who can't. There is a constant pitched
+battle between the two.
+~
+> Other than the fact Linux has a cool name, could someone explain
+> why I should use Linux over BSD?
+
+No. That's it. The cool name, that is. We worked very hard on
+creating a name that would appeal to the majority of people, and
+it certainly paid off: thousands of people are using linux just
+to be able to say "OS/2? Hah. I've got Linux. What a cool name".
+386BSD made the mistake of putting a lot of numbers and weird
+abbreviations into the name, and is scaring away a lot of people
+just because it sounds too technical.
+ -- Linus Torvalds' follow-up to a question about Linux
+~
+When you say "I wrote a program that crashed Windows", people
+just stare at you blankly and say, "Hey, I got those with the
+system, *for free*".
+ -- Linus Torvalds
+~
+We come to bury DOS, not to praise it.
+ -- Paul Vojta, regarding Linux
+~
+How should I know if it works? That's what beta testers
+are for. I only coded it.
+ -- Attributed to Linus Torvalds
+~
+I develop for Linux for a living, I used to develop for DOS.
+Going from DOS to Linux is like trading a glider for an F117.
+ -- Lawrence Foard
+~
+I'd crawl over an acre of 'Visual This++' and 'Integrated
+Development That' to get to gcc, Emacs, and gdb. Thank you.
+ -- Vance Petree, Virginia Power
+~
+If you want to travel around the world and be invited to
+speak at a lot of different places, just write a Unix
+operating system.
+ -- Linus Torvalds
+~
+All language designers are arrogant. Goes with the territory...
+ -- Larry Wall
+~
+Unix, MS-DOS, and Windows NT (also known as
+the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly).
+ -- Matt Welsh
+~
+I would rather spend 10 hours reading someone else's source
+code than 10 minutes listening to Muzak waiting for technical
+support which isn't.
+ -- Dr. Greg Wettstein, Roger Maris Cancer Center
+~
+Your job is being a professor and researcher: That's one
+hell of a good excuse for some of the brain-damages of minix.
+ -- Linus Torvalds to Andrew Tanenbaum
+~
+We use Linux for all our mission-critical applications.
+Having the source code means that we are not held hostage
+by anyone's support department.
+ -- Russell Nelson, President of Crynwr Software
+~
+We are Pentium of Borg. Division is futile. You will be approximated.
+~
+The chat program is in public domain. This is not the GNU
+public license. If it breaks then you get to keep both pieces.
+ -- Copyright notice for the chat program
+~
+DOS: n., A small annoying boot virus that causes random
+ spontaneous system crashes, usually just before saving
+ a massive project. Easily cured by UNIX. See also
+ MS-DOS, IBM-DOS, DR-DOS.
+ -- David Vicker
+~
+MSDOS didn't get as bad as it is overnight--it took over
+ten years of careful development.
+ -- dmeggins@aix1.uottawa.ca
+~
+On the Internet, no one knows you're using Windows NT.
+ -- Ramiro Estrugo
+~
+People disagree with me. I just ignore them.
+ -- Linus Torvalds, regarding the use of C++ for the Linux kernel
+~
+Linux: The OS people choose without $200,000,000 of persuasion.
+ -- Mike Coleman
+~
+The memory management on the PowerPC can be used to frighten small children.
+ -- Linus Torvalds
+~
+Eh, that's it, I guess. No 300 million dollar unveiling event for this
+kernel, I'm afraid, but you're still supposed to think of this as the
+"happening of the century" (at least until the next kernel comes along).
+Oh, and this is another kernel in that great and venerable "BugFree(tm)"
+series of kernels. So be not afraid of bugs, but go out in the streets
+and deliver this message of joy to the masses.
+ -- Linus Torvalds, in the announcement for Linux kernel version 1.3.27
+~
+> Linux is not user-friendly.
+
+It _is_ user-friendly. It is not ignorant-friendly
+and idiot-friendly.
+~
+I tried to get some documentation out of Digital on this, but
+as far as I can tell even _they_ don't have it ;-)
+ -- Linus Torvalds
+~
+Excusing bad programming is a shooting offence,
+no matter _what_ the circumstances.
+ -- Linus Torvalds
+~
+Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin
+really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me
+they have never seen a angry penguin charging at them in
+excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what
+they say if they had.
+ -- Linus Torvalds, announcing Linux v2.0
+~
+Ooohh... "FreeBSD is faster over loopback, when compared to Linux
+over the wire". Film at 11.
+ -- Linus Torvalds
+~
+C is quirky, flawed, and an enormous success.
+ -- Dennis M. Ritchie
+~
+If Bill Gates is the Devil then Linus Torvalds must be the Messiah.
+~
+Let's put it this way:
+1. A 32-bit counter will expire in little over a year.
+2. A 64-bit counter will expire in little over 2^32 years,
+ or roughly the time the sun (not the Sun) is expected to expire.
+3. The odds of your computer hardware surviving the
+ aforementioned event without reboot are very slim.
+Any questions?
+~
+The only way tcsh "rocks" is when the rocks are attached
+to its feet in the deepest part of a very deep lake.
+ -- Linus Torvalds
+~
+In accord to UNIX philosophy, PERL gives you enough rope
+to hang yourself.
+ -- Larry Wall, Randal Schwartz: Programming Perl
+ (aka the Camel Book).
+~
+Anyone can build a fast processor.
+The trick is to build a fast system.
+ -- Seymour Cray
+~
+Hoping the problem magically goes away by ignoring
+it is the "Microsoft approach to programming" and
+should never be allowed.
+ -- Linus Torvalds
+~
+One OS to rule them all,
+One OS to find them.
+One OS to call them all,
+And in salvation bind them.
+In the bright land of Linux,
+Where the hackers play.
+ -- J. Scott Thayer, with apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien
+~
+I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil.
+I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the
+devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter.
+ -- From N. Petreley's column, "Down to the Wire",
+ Sept. 1996 issue of Inforworld.
+~
+After all, how do you give Microsoft the benefit of the
+doubt when you know that if you throw it into a room with
+truth, you'd risk a matter/anti-matter explosion.
+ -- From N. Petreley's column, "Down to the Wire",
+ Sept. 1996 issue of Inforworld)
+~
+The local betaware broker was sitting in the bar, keeping an eye
+for potential customers. It was easy to spot him, once you knew
+the signs. A slightly paranoid look, but still eager to meet
+new people. Not unlike a drug dealer or prostitute. This guy,
+however, was carrying a laptop.
+ I sat in the chair beside him. "Any new stuff for
+Linux configuration?", I said, looking at the opposite wall
+of bottles.
+ The broker looked at me, startled, then quickly away. Then
+back at me. "What are you, a cop?" The traditional greeting of
+the underworld. It made me feel right at home.
+ "Nope, I just want to install Deb..."
+ "Shutup. I don't want to go to jail."
+ I turned around, looked around, then turned back, and put my
+knife against his ribs. "Sing or die: where's software for
+managing a group of Debian boxes easily?"
+ His face was pale, and he whispered through his teeth.
+"cfgtool. At Lasu's site. http://www.iki.fi/liw/programs/".
+ I stood up, and walked quickly to the kitchen, and on
+out. As I was closing the kitchen door behind me, I heard the
+all too familiar sound of MessySoft Police Cars braking in the
+street. It would be a hectic night, but I was still one step
+ahead.
+ -- Lars Wirzenius, advertising his cfgtool program
+~
+Microsoft seems to have gotten a lot of mileage out of the
+C2 rating for NT with no network connection. I wonder if a B3
+rating for Linux with no power cord might be of value.
+ -- riordan@math.umn.edu
+~
+In the United States there is more space where nobody is
+than where anybody is. This is what makes America what it is.
+ -- Gertrude Stein, explaining early 20th century America
+~
+Ah, yes, divorce, from the Latin word meaning
+"to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet".
+ -- Robin Williams
+~
+Women complain about premenstrual syndrome, but I think of
+it as the only time of the month that I can be myself.
+ -- Roseanne
+~
+Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.
+ -- Billy Crystal
+~
+I just broke up with someone and the last thing she said
+to me was, "You'll never find anyone like me again!"
+I'm thinking, "I should hope not! If I don't want you,
+why would I want someone like you?"
+ -- Larry Miller
+~
+If you want to say it with flowers, a single rose says: "I'm cheap!"
+ -- Delta Burke
+~
+According to a new survey, women say they feel more comfortable
+undressing in front of men than they do undressing in front of other
+women. They say that women are too judgemental, where, of course,
+men are just grateful.
+ -- Jay Leno
+~
+I am not the boss of my house. I don't know when I lost it.
+I don't know if I ever had it. But I have seen the boss's job
+and I do not want it.
+ -- Bill Cosby
+~
+In the last couple of weeks I have seen the ads for the Wonder Bra.
+Is that really a problem in this country? Men not paying enough
+attention to women's breasts?
+ -- Jay Leno
+~
+My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care
+and vehicle maintenance.
+ -- Tim Allen
+~
+We have women in the military, but they don't put us in the front lines.
+They don't know if we can fight, if we can kill. I think we can.
+All the general has to do is walk over to the women and say, "You see
+the enemy over there? They say you look fat in those uniforms."
+ -- Elayne Boosler
+~
+There's a new medical crisis. Doctors are reporting that many men
+are having allergic reactions to latex condoms. They say they cause
+severe swelling. So what's the problem?
+ -- Jay Leno
+~
+There's very little sexual advice in men's magazines,
+because men don't think there's a lot they don't know.
+Women do. Women want to learn. Men think, "I know what
+I'm doing, just show me somebody naked."
+ -- Jerry Seinfield
+~
+Men are liars. We'll lie about lying if we have to.
+I'm an algebra liar. I figure two good lies make a positive.
+ -- Tim Allen
+~
+Men do not like to admit to even momentary imperfection.
+My husband forgot the code to turn off the alarm. When
+the police came, he wouldn't admit he'd forgotten the
+code... he turned himself in.
+ -- Rita Rudner
+~
+If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.
+ -- George Carlin
+~
+Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman
+I don't like and give her a house.
+ -- Lewis Grizzard
+~
+One of the chief duties of the mathematician in acting
+as an advisor to scientists is to discourage them from
+expecting too much from mathematics.
+ -- Norbert Wiener
+~
+I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges.
+~
+It is easy to guess why the rabble dislike cats.
+A cat is beautiful; it suggests ideas of luxury,
+cleanliness, voluptuous pleasures.
+ -- Charles Baudelaire
+~
+ An artist must regulate his life.
+
+ Here is a time-table of my daily acts. I rise at 7.18; am inspired from
+10.23 to 11.47. I lunch at 12.11 and leave the table at 12.14. A healthy
+ride on horse-back round my domain follows from 1.19 pm to 2.53 pm. Another
+bout of inspiration from 3.12 to 4.7 pm. From 5 to 6.47 pm various
+occupations (fencing, reflection, immobility, visits, contemplation,
+dexterity, natation, etc.)
+
+ Dinner is served at 7.16 and finished at 7.20 pm. From 8.9 to 9.59 pm
+symphonic readings (out loud). I go to bed regularly at 10.37 pm. Once a
+week (on Tuesdays) I awake with a start at 3.14 am.
+
+ My only nourishment consists of food that is white: eggs, sugar, shredded
+bones, the fat of dead animals, veal, salt, coco-nuts, chicken cooked in
+white water, moldy fruit, rice, turnips, sausages in camphor, pastry, cheese
+(white varieties), cotton salad, and certain kinds of fish (without their
+skin). I boil my wine and drink it cold mixed with the juice of the
+Fuschia. I have a good appetite but never talk when eating for fear of
+strangling myself.
+
+ I breathe carefully (a little at a time) and dance very rarely. When
+walking I hold my ribs and look steadily behind me.
+
+ My expression is very serious; when I laugh it is unintentional, and I
+always apologize very politely.
+
+ I sleep with only one eye closed, very profoundly. My bed is round with a
+hole in it for my head to go through. Every hour a servant takes my
+temperature and gives me another.
+ -- Erik Satie's description of "A Day in the Life of a Musician"
+~
+Confront a child, a puppy and a kitten with sudden danger;
+the child will turn instinctively for assistance, the puppy
+will grovel in abject submission to the impending visitation,
+the kitten will brace its tiny body for a frantic resistance.
+ -- H.H. Munro (Saki)
+~
+ It is fair to say that, in general, no problems have been exhausted;
+instead, men have been exhausted by the problems. Fresh talent approaching
+the analysis of a problem without prejudice will always see new
+possibilities -- some aspect not considered by those who believe that a
+subject is fully understood. Our knowledge is so fragmentary that
+unexpected findings appear in even the most fully explored topics...
+ In summary, there are no small problems. Problems that appear small
+are large problems that are not understood. Instead of tiny details
+unworthy of the intellectual, we have men whose tiny intellects cannot rise
+to penetrate the infinitesimal. Nature is a harmonious mechanism where all
+parts, including those appearing to play a secondary role, cooperate in a
+functional whole. In contemplating this mechanism, shallow men arbitrarily
+divide its parts into essential and secondary, whereas the insightful
+thinker is content with classifying them as understood and poorly
+understood, ignoring for the moment their size and immediately useful
+properties. No one can predict their importance in the future."
+ -- Santiago Ramon y Cajal, "Advice for a Young Investigator," 1897
+~
+He who would do good to another must do it in Minute
+Particulars: General Good is the plea of the scoundrel,
+hypocrite and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot
+exist but in minutely organized particulars.
+ -- William Blake
+~
+The Atoms of Democritus
+And Newton's Particles of Light
+Are sands upon the Red Sea shore
+Where Israel's tents do shine so bright.
+ -- William Blake
+~
+To see a world in a grain of sand
+And a heaven in a wild flower, and:
+And did those feet in ancient time
+Walk upon England's mountains green? ...
+And was Jerusalem builded here
+Among these dark Satanic mills?
+ -- William Blake
+~
+The harlot's cry from street to street,
+Shall weave Old England's winding sheet.
+ -- William Blake
+~
+Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
+In the forests of the night,
+What immortal hand or eye
+Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
+..................
+Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
+ -- William Blake
+~
+The cat, an aristocrat in type and origin, whom we
+have slandered, merits at least our esteem.
+ -- Alexandre Dumas
+~
+society's crumbling, but at least we're getting it televised.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+I think maybe it's my purpose in life.
+ -- The "Guiness Book of World Records" TV show's winner for the category
+ of longest combined finger nails for ten fingers.
+~
+ If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will
+leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for
+the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always
+uncertain. The English have developed their government in this direction, it
+is called 'muddling through,' and although a rather silly, stupid sounding
+thing, it is the most scientific way of progressing. To decide upon the
+answer is not scientific. In order to make progress, one must leave the door
+to the unknown ajar.
+ We are only at the beginning of the development of the human race; of
+the development of the human mind, of intelligent life; we have years and
+years in the future. It is our responsibility not to give an answer today as
+to what it is all about, to drive everybody down in that direction and say:
+'This is the solution to it all.' Because we will be chained to the limit
+of our present imagination, we will only be able to do those things that we
+think are the things to do. Whereas, if we leave some room for discussion,
+and proceed in a way analogous to the sciences, then this difficulty will
+not arise. I believe, therefore, that although it is not the case today,
+there may some day come a time, or I should hope, that the power of
+government should be limited. That governments ought not to be empowered to
+decide the validity of scientific theories. That is a ridiculous thing for
+them to try to do. That they are not to decide the various descriptions of
+history or of economic theory or of philosophy.
+ Only in this way can the real possibilities of the future human race be
+ultimately developed.
+ -- Richard Feynman, from "The Beat Of A Different Drum: The Life And
+ Science of Richard Feynman," by Jagdish Mehra. Published by Oxford
+ University Press 1996.
+~
+hey, when you come to think of it, isn't it
+only the assholes in life who have zero tolerance
+about things? and now they're trying to promote
+that as a virtue. i just don't buy it.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+The spirit of the age cannot be compassed by the processes of human
+reason. It is an inclination, an emotional tendency that works upon weaker
+minds, through the unconscious, with an overwhelming force of suggestion
+that carries them along with it. To think otherwise than our contemporaries
+think is somehow illegitimate and disturbing; it is even indecent, morbid
+or blasphemous, and therefore socially dangerous for the individual. He is
+stupidly swimming against the social current. Just as formerly the
+assumption was unquestionable that everything that exists takes its rise
+from the creative will of a God who is spirit, so the nineteenth century
+discovered the equally unquestionable truth that everything arises from
+material causes. Today the psyche does not build itself a body, but on the
+contrary, matter, by chemical action, produces the psyche. This reversal of
+outlook would be ludicrous if it were not one of the outstanding features of
+the spirit of the age. It is the popular way of thinking, and therefore it
+is decent, reasonable, scientific and normal. Mind must be thought to be an
+epiphenomenon of matter. The same conclusion is reached even if we say not
+"mind" but "psyche," and in place of matter speak of brain, hormones,
+instincts or drives. To grant the substantiality of the soul or psyche is
+repugnant to the spirit of the age, for to do so would be heresy.
+ -- Carl Jung, from his 1933 book, "Modern Man In Search Of A Soul"
+~
+There are many ways to explain an event, and some are better than
+others. Even if neuroscientists someday decode the entire wiring
+diagram of the brain, human behavior makes the most sense when it
+is explained in terms of beliefs and desires, not in terms of volts
+and grams. Physics provides no insights into the machinations of a
+crafty lawyer, and even fails to enlighten us about many simpler
+acts of living things. As Richard Dawkins observed, 'If you throw
+a dead bird into the air it will describe a graceful parabola,
+exactly as physics books say it should, then come to rest on the
+ground and stay there. It behaves as a solid body of a particular
+mass and wind resistance ought to behave. But if you throw a live
+bird in the air it will not describe a parabola and come to rest on
+the ground. It will fly away, and may not touch land this side of
+the county boundary.' We understand birds in terms of their innards.
+To know why they move and grow, we cut them open and put bits under
+a microscope. We need yet another kind of explanation for artifacts
+like a chair and a crowbar: a statement of the function the object is
+intended to perform. It would be silly to understand why chairs have
+a stable horizontal surface by cutting them open and putting bits of
+them under a microscope. The explanation is that someone designed
+the chair to hold up a human behind.
+ -- Steven Pinker, from his book, "How The Mind Works,"
+ Norton, 1997.
+~
+ What wonder, then, that the world goes from bad to worse, and that
+its evils increase more and more, as boredom increases, and boredom is the
+root of all evil. The history of this can be traced from the very beginning
+of the world. The gods were bored, and so they created man. Adam was bored
+because he was alone, and so Eve was created. Thus boredom entered the
+world, and increased in proportion to the increase of population. Adam was
+bored alone; then Adam and Eve were bored together, then Adam and Eve and
+Cain and Abel were bored en famille; then the population of the world
+increased, and the peoples were bored en masse. To divert themselves they
+conceived the idea of constructing a tower high enough to reach the heavens.
+This idea is itself as boring as the tower was high, and constitutes a
+terrible proof of how boredom gained the upper hand.
+ -- Soren Kierkegaard, from "Either/Or"
+~
+ Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of War, where every man
+is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live
+without other security, than what their own strength, and their own
+invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there is no place
+for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no
+Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be
+imported by Sea; no commodious building; no Instruments of moving, and
+removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the
+Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is
+worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of
+man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
+ -- Thomas Hobbes
+~
+A house without a cat, and a well-fed, well-petted, and properly revered
+cat, may be a perfect house perhaps, but how can it prove its title?
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+ The group cannot function if it has to maintain a large amount of
+individual preconceptions and personal experiences. The design group must,
+as a whole, have the ability and the opportunity to leave things behind,
+that is, select what to remember.
+ If designers are to come up with novel ideas, they may have to forget
+what was 'named and framed' as a problem or solution earlier in the process.
+A group of designers needs to work its way through ideas, visions, and
+operative images without being held up by heavy demands for documentation of
+the process. In a creative design process one thing leads to another,
+analogies and metaphors influence the design thinking in new ways, and a
+certain amount of chaos is always present...
+ The characteristics of oral cultures can be applied to group design...
+Group members need to repeat themselves, to be redundant and nonlinear in
+their arguments, to forget, to make references and analogies in a situated
+and intuitive ways.
+ -- Tone Bratteteig & Erik Stolterman, "Design in Groups--And All That
+ Jazz," in: M. Kyng & L. Mathiassen, "Computers and Design in Context,"
+ MIT Press 1997.
+~
+ Where science has progressed by searching for commonalities and
+patterns, the arts have celebrated diversity and have resisted attempts to
+encapsulate their activities in rules and formulae. They are the ultimate
+manifestations of the unpredictabilities and asymmetries of Nature. After
+all, what more chaotically unpredictable outcomes are there than some of
+those that issue from the human mind? So intractable has been the problem
+of finding pattern in creative activity, that few would even seek it. If
+one looks not at science and art, but at scientists and artists, one finds a
+reflection of this divide. Two populations that overlap only a little,
+convergent thinkers and divergent thinkers, specialists and generalists--
+these labels reflect the differences of which we speak...
+ While science has enlarged its past horizons beyond order and symmetry
+to embrace diversity and unpredictability, the humanities have yet to
+appreciate the full force of commonality and pattern as a unifying factor in
+the interpretation of human creativity. Just as science has begun to
+appreciate the ways in which its view of Nature must reconcile the ways in
+which Nature is both simple and complex, so the arts and humanities must
+appreciate the lessons to be drawn from the regularities of Nature. It is
+not enough to collect examples of diversity: the coexistence of diversity
+with universal behavior is what requires exploration and reconciliation.
+ -- John D. Barrow, from "The Artful Universe," Clarendon Press:
+ Oxford, 1995.
+~
+ I first became interested in Darwin in college when I read about
+Darwin's experience with John Gould. When Darwin returned to England after
+he visited the Galapagos, he distributed his finch specimens to professional
+zoologists to be properly identified. One of the most distinguished experts
+was John Gould. What was the most revealing was not what happened to Darwin,
+but what had not happened to Gould.
+ Darwin's notes show Gould taking him through all the birds he had
+named. Gould kept flip-flopping back and forth about the number of
+different species of finches: The information was there, but he didn't quite
+know what to make of it. He assumed that since God made one set of birds
+when he created the world, the specimens from different locations would be
+identical. It didn't occur to him to look for differences by location. Gould
+thought that the birds were so different that they might be distinct species.
+ What was remarkable to me about the encounter is the completely
+different impact it had on the two men. Gould thought the way he had been
+taught to think, like an expert taxonomist, and didn't see, in the finches,
+the textbook example of evolution unfolding right before him. Darwin didn't
+even know they were finches. So the guy who had the intelligence, knowledge,
+and the expertise didn't see the differences, and the guy with far less
+knowledge and expertise came up with an idea that shaped the way we think
+about the world.
+ Darwin came up with the idea because he was a productive thinker. He
+generated a multiplicity of perspectives and theories. Gould would compare
+new ideas and theories with his existing patterns of experience. He thought
+reproductively. If the ideas didn't fit with what he had been taught, he
+rejected them as worthless. On the other hand, Darwin was willing to
+disregard what past thinkers thought and was willing to entertain different
+perspectives and different theories to see where they would lead.
+ Most of us are educated to think like John Gould. We were all born
+to be spontaneous, creative thinkers. Yet a great deal of our education may
+be regarded as the inculcation of mind-sets. We were taught how to handle
+problems and new phenomena with fixed mental attitudes (based on what past
+thinkers thought) that predetermine our responses to problems or situations.
+In short, we were taught 'what' to think instead of 'how' to think. We
+entered school as a question mark and graduated a period.
+ -- Michael Michalko, in "Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative
+ Genius," Ten Speed Press, 1998.
+~
+ The wisdom of the late industrial era was always to start with what
+the customer needed and backtrack to which products and services those needs
+called for. That fit when the customer already understood the need and the
+product, and innovation meant a different shaped bottle for liquid detergent.
+In BLUR, technical change is happening so fast, your product must educate the
+customer (beepers for kids on dates?) and the customer must educate you. You
+can't afford the time delay to put something new in front of the customer.
+ Instead, start with what technology will make possible, co-develop it as
+fast as you can with the customer, and be flexible and adaptive enough to
+adjust it according to customer needs as you go. As in software, the first
+release is your take on things. The customer enters the feedback loop and
+starts to influence things with release 2.0 and beyond.
+ -- Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer, "Blur: The Speed Of Change In The
+ Connected Economy," Addison-Wesley 1998.
+~
+ The traditional hidden curriculum of school demands that people of a
+certain age assemble in groups of about thirty under the authority of a
+professional teacher for from five hundred to a thousand times a year. It
+does not matter if the teacher is authoritarian so long as it is the
+teacher's authority that counts; it does not matter if all meetings occur
+in the same place so long as they are somehow understood as attendance. The
+hidden curriculum of school requires--whether by law or by fact--that a
+citizen accumulate a minimum quantum of school years in order to obtain his
+civil rights...
+ The translation of the need for learning into the demand for schooling
+and the conversion of the quality of growing up into the price tag of a
+professional treatment changes the meaning of 'knowledge' from a term that
+designates intimacy, intercourse, and life experience into one that
+designates professionally packaged products, marketable entitlements, and
+abstract values.
+ -- Ivan Illich, from "After Deschooling, What?"
+~
+I consider children to be very expensive and complicated pets.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+ History tells us that the most successful cures for poverty come from
+within. Foreign aid can help, but like windfall wealth, can also hurt. It
+can discourage effort and plant a crippling sense of incapacity. As the
+African saying has it, 'The hand that receives is always under the one that
+gives.' No, what counts is work, thrift, honesty, patience, and tenacity...
+ To be sure, we are living in a dessert age. We want things to be
+sweet; too many of us work to live and live to be happy. Nothing wrong with
+that; it just does not promote high productivity. You want high productivity?
+Then you should live to work and get happiness as a by-product.
+ Not easy. They who live to work are a small and fortunate elite. But
+it is an elite open to newcomers, self-selected, the kind of people who
+accentuate the positive. In this world, the optimists have it, not because
+they are always right, but because they are positive. Even when wrong, they
+are positive, and that is the way of achievement, correction, improvement,
+and success. Educated, eyes-open optimism pays; pessimism can only offer
+the empty consolation of being right.
+ The one lesson that emerges is the need to keep trying. No miracles.
+No perfection. No millennium. No apocalypse. We must cultivate a
+skeptical faith, avoid dogma, listen and watch well, try to clarify and
+define ends, the better to choose means.
+ -- David Landis, from "The Wealth And Poverty Of Nations: Why Some Are
+ So Rich And Some So Poor," W. W. Norton & Co., 1998.
+~
+ During my travels around the country, visiting inner-city neighborhoods
+and talking to young people I've met there, I have been struck again and
+again by the stark differences between their childhoods and my own. When I
+was growing up in the Bronx, I wasn't rich -- at least not in a material
+sense, but I had the matchless blessing of being reared by two devoted
+parents--backed up by a platoon of doting aunts and uncles--who gave me
+the love, discipline and motivation I needed to succeed.
+ Too many of today's kids are not getting the same kind of nurturing
+environment that I -- and most Americans -- once took for granted. As many
+as 15 million youngsters are 'at risk' in today's America. They are in
+danger of being lost for good unless the more fortunate among us step
+forward and lend a hand... It is this glorious cycle of giving, receiving
+and giving back that we want to pass along to the next generation of
+Americans. We want them to believe in America, and we want them to know
+that America believes in them.
+ -- Colin Powell's autobiography, "My American Journey" (Ballantine, 1996)
+~
+ In the past fifteen years one big American company after another has
+done this [i.e., downsized itself]--among them IBM, Sears, and GM. Each
+first announced that laying off 10,000 or 20,000 or even 50,000 people would
+lead to an immediate turnaround. A year later there had, of course, been no
+turnaround, and the company laid off another 10,000 or 20,000 or 50,000--
+again without results. In many if not most cases, downsizing has turned out
+to be something that surgeons have warned against: 'amputation before
+diagnosis.' The result is always a casualty.
+ But there have been a few organizations--some large companies (GE,
+for instance) and a few hospitals (Beth Israel in Boston, for instance)--
+that quietly, and without fanfare, did turn themselves around, by rethinking
+themselves. They did not start out by downsizing. If fact, they knew that
+to start by reducing expenditures is not the way to get control of costs.
+The starting point is to identify the activities that are productive, that
+should be strengthened, promoted, and expanded. Every agency, every policy,
+every program, every activity should be confronted with these questions:
+'What is your mission?' 'Is it still the right mission?' 'Is it still
+worth doing?' 'If we were not already doing this, would we go into it now?'
+This questioning has been done often enough in all kinds of organizations--
+businesses, hospitals, churches, an even local governments--that we know
+it works.
+ The overall answer is almost never 'This is fine as it stands; let's
+keep on.' But in some--indeed, a good many--areas, the answer to the
+last question is 'Yes, we should go into this again, but with some changes.
+We have learned a few things.'
+ -- Peter F. Drucker, from "Managing in a Time of Great Change,"
+ Truman-Talley Books/Dutton, 1995.
+~
+ Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
+General recognition of this fact is shown in the proverbial phrase 'It is
+the busiest man who has time to spare.' Thus, an elderly lady of leisure
+can spend the entire day in writing and dispatching a postcard to her niece
+at Bognor Reis. An hour will be spent in finding the postcard, half an
+hour in a search for spectacles, half an hour in a search for the address,
+an hour and a quarter in composition, and twenty minutes in deciding
+whether or not to take an umbrella when going to the mailbox in the next
+street. The total effort that would occupy a busy man [or woman] for three
+minutes all told may in this fashion leave another person [man or woman]
+prostate after a day of doubt, anxiety, and toil.
+ Granted that work (and especially paperwork) is thus elastic in its
+demands on time, it is manifest that there need be little or no
+relationship between the work to be done and the size of the staff to which
+it may be assigned. A lack of real activity does not, of necessity, result
+in leisure. A lack of occupation is not necessarily revealed by a manifest
+idleness. The thing to be done swells in importance and complexity in a
+direct ration with the time to be spent. This fact is widely recognized,
+but less attention has been paid to its wider implications, more especially
+in the field of publication administration. Politicians and taxpayers have
+assume (with occasional phases of doubt) that a rising total in the number
+of civil servants must reflect a growing volume of work to be done.
+Cynics, in questioning this belief, have imagined that the multiplication
+of officials must have left some of them idle or all of them able to work
+for shorter hours. But this is a matter in which faith and doubt seem
+equally misplaced. The fact is that the number of officials and the
+quantity of the work are not related to each other at all. The rise in the
+toil of those employed is governed by Parkinson's Law and would be much the
+same whether the volume of the work were to increase, diminish, or even
+disappear. The importance of Parkinson's Law lies in the fact that it is a
+law of growth based upon an analysis of the factors by which that growth is
+controlled.
+ The validity of this recently discovered law must rest mainly on
+statistical proofs, which will follow. Of more interest to the general
+reader is the explanation of the factors underlying the general tendency to
+which this law gives definition. Omitting technicalities (which are
+numerous) we may distinguish at the outset two motive forces. They can be
+represented for the present purpose by two almost axiomatic statements,
+thus: (1) 'An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals' and (2)
+'Officials make work for each other.'
+ -- C. Northcote Parkinson, from "Parkinson's Law & Other Studies
+ in Administration," (1957; Buccaneer Books ed., 1996).
+~
+The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
+ -- Leonardo Da Vinci
+~
+ Though it may be discomforting to admit, throughout history children
+have always played violent games. Early in this century, young boys played
+'war' with lines of tin soldiers, knocking them down one by one, or in one
+fell swoop, in a simulated battle. The next generation played cowboys and
+Indians or cops and robbers, where the youngsters themselves fell down and
+played dead. When parents stopped buying soldier figures and fake guns,
+children created their own weapons and continued to play out good guy/bad
+guy plots. Children are attracted to violence and critical studies of
+older media forms, including the fairy tale, suggest it is not always in
+children's best interests to remove from their cultural experience all
+material that parents deem is too provocative or violent.
+ This is not a simple issue.
+ Clearly much of the concern about violence in video games and other
+media is misplaced--the main sources of violent behavior lies elsewhere.
+These include parental violence toward children and violence between
+nations which portray the use of force in the real world by important
+institutions--parents and government--as an acceptable way to solve
+problems or vent anger.
+ Nevertheless, the impact of video games, television, film or other
+media violence (such as the gory details of murders in the print media)
+probably has a negative impact on violent behavior in society, as does the
+proliferation of weapons.
+ The impact of media violence on an individual child's behavior is
+probably very specific to the child and his or her social context. There
+is no evidence, for example, that the use of "Beat-'em-up" video games
+leads to violent behavior of well-adjusted youth coming from loving
+families. The impact is also probably specific to age. Just as it makes
+sense to restrict a 10-year-old's access to movies with extreme violent
+content, so it makes sense to restrict age-inappropriate video games. Age
+ratings on video game packages do appear to be helpful and appropriate.
+ Most violent games today are cartoon-like. This will change as games
+become more realistic and, 3D, and eventually realistic of virtual reality,
+ensuring that this issue will not disappear.
+ It is inappropriate for children of any age to spend significant
+parts of life using violent video games, or any video games for that
+matter. Conversely, for most children it makes little sense to deny access
+to age-appropriate games simply for fear that these will lead to antisocial
+behavior. Successful parenting is a question of balance.
+ -- Don Tapscott, "Growing Up Digital"
+~
+ Literacy-based education, as all other literacy experiences, assumes
+that people are the same. It presumes that each human being can and must
+be literate. Just as the goal of industry was to turn out standardized
+products, education assumes the same task through the mold of literacy.
+Diplomas and certificates testify how like the mold the product is. To
+those who have problems with writing or reading, the labels legasthenic and
+dyslexic are applied. Dyscalculus is the name given to the inability to
+cope with numbers. The question of why we should expect uniform cognitive
+structures covering the literate use of language or numbers, but not the
+use of sounds, colors, shapes, and volume, is never raised. Tremendous
+effort is made to help individuals who simply cannot execute the
+sequentiality of writing or the meaning of successive numbers. Nothing
+similar is done to address cognitive characteristics of persons inclined to
+means different from literacy...
+ Education needs to reconsider its expectation of a universal common
+denominator, based on the industrial model of standardization. Rather than
+taming and sanitizing the minds of students, education has not only to
+acknowledge differences in aptitudes and interests but also to stimulate
+them. Every known form of energy is the expression of difference and not
+the result of leveling.
+ -- Mihai Nadin, "The Civilization of Illiteracy," (1997)
+~
+ Anthropologists have identified a number of characteristics that seem
+common to most non-technological societies past and present. These
+societies tend to value practical rather than abstract knowledge, their
+'primitive' rituals are part of the regular day-to-day realities of life,
+the groups tend not to support specialists other than the shaman, every
+member of the group can to some extent do every task, and all share the
+responsibility for all others. Principally, the 'primitive' takes a holist
+view of life that examines all social decisions for their effect on the
+community and the environment.
+ These social values may fit well in the webbed communities of the
+mid-twenty-first century because they are more appropriate to small,
+relatively simple social structures that up to now had seemed to be
+disappearing... For such communities, the most valuable skills would be
+generalist rather than specialist. They would prize the ability to
+connect, to think imaginatively, to understand how data are related, to see
+patterns in machine-generated innovation, and to assess its social effect
+before releasing it on society...
+ Today, billions of human talents could be on the verge of
+self-expression if we are willing to take new views and see where they
+might lead us.
+ -- James Burke & Robert Ornstein, "The Axemaker's Gift: A Double-Edged
+ History of Human Culture," (Grosset/Putnam 1995).
+~
+(History is) indeed little more than the register of
+the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.
+ -- Edward Gibbon
+~
+All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.
+ -- Edward Gibbon
+~
+The beauty of the second amendment is that it will
+not be needed until they try to take it.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson
+~
+No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson
+~
+Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are
+the people's liberty's teeth.
+ -- George Washington
+~
+Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks
+and Romans, and must be that of every free state.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson
+~
+Government is not reason, it is not eloquence. It is force.
+Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearsome master.
+ -- George Washington
+~
+I have found a certain type calls himself a liberal... Now I always
+thought I was a liberal. I came up terribly surprised one time when I
+found out that I was a right-wing, conservative extremist...
+ -- John Wayne
+~
+Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come
+from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history
+of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of
+governmental power, not the increase of it.
+ -- Woodrow Wilson
+~
+I believe there are more instances of abridgment of freedom of the
+people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by
+violent and sudden usurpations...
+ -- James Madison
+~
+You vote for me and I'll give you family values... I promise you the
+most ethical administration in the history of our country.
+ -- William Jefferson Clinton
+~
+Many give lip service, but few delegate authority in important
+matters. And that means all they delegate is dog-work. A real
+leader does as much dog-work for his people as he can: he can do
+it, or see a way to do without it, ten times as fast. And he
+delegates as many important matters as he can because that creates
+a climate in which people grow.
+ -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
+~
+True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the
+enrichment of the leaders. In combat, officers eat last. Most
+people in big companies today are administered, not led. They are
+treated as personnel, not people.
+ -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
+~
+How do you spot a leader? They come in all ages, shapes, sizes,
+and conditions. Some are poor administrators, some are not overly
+bright. One clue: since most people per se are mediocre, the true
+leader can be recognized because, somehow or other, his people
+consistently turn in superior performances.
+ -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
+~
+Before you commit yourself to a new effort, it's worth asking
+yourself a couple of questions: "Are we really trying to do
+something worthwhile here? Or are we just building another
+monument to some diseased ego?"
+ -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
+~
+Beware the boss who walks on water and never makes a mistake.
+Save yourself a lot of grief and seek employment elsewhere.
+ -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
+~
+ Every genius is a revolutionary who produces a good deal of commotion
+in the world. After he has abolished the old rules he writes his own, the
+new ones, which no one even half understands; and after he has stupefied
+and bewildered everybody, he leaves the world neither understood nor
+regretted. Not always does the next generation comprehend and appreciate
+him properly. Sometimes it may even take a whole century.
+ -- Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)
+~
+To assume a cat's asleep
+Is a great mistake.
+He can close his eyes and keep
+Both his ears awake.
+ -- Aileen Fisher
+~
+ A most nerve-wracking confirmation of this came some time ago during
+an interview with the producer and the writer of the TV mini-series 'Peter
+the Great.' Defending the historical inaccuracies in the drama--which
+included a fabricated meeting between Peter and Sir Isaac Newton--the
+producer said that no one would watch a dry, historically faithful
+biography. The writer added that it is better for audiences to learn
+something that is untrue, if it is entertaining, than not to learn anything
+at all. And just to put some icing on the cake, the actor who played Peter,
+Maximilian Schell, remarked that he does not believe in historical truth and
+therefore sees no reason to pursue it.
+ I do not mean to say that the trivialization of American public
+discourse is all accomplished on television. Rather, television is the
+paradigm for all our attempts at public communication. It conditions our
+minds to apprehend the world through fragmented pictures and forces other
+media to orient themselves in that direction...
+ As a medium for conducting public business, language has receded in
+importance; it has been moved to the periphery of culture and has been
+replaced at the center by the entertaining visual image... When a culture
+becomes overloaded with pictures; when logic and rhetoric lose their
+binding authority; when historical truth becomes irrelevant; when the
+spoken or written word is distrusted or makes demands on our attention that
+we are incapable of giving; when our politics, history, education,
+religion, public information, and commerce are expressed largely in visual
+imagery rather than words, then a culture is in serious jeopardy.
+ -- Neil Postman, from "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public
+ Discourse in the Age of Show Business," (Viking Press 1986).
+~
+ It is a perplexing and unpleasant truth that when men already have
+'something worth fighting for,' they do not feel like fighting. People who
+live full, worthwhile lives are not usually ready to die for their own
+interests nor for their country nor for a holy cause. Craving, not having,
+is the mother of a reckless giving of oneself.
+ 'Things which are not' are indeed mightier than 'things that are.' In
+all ages men have fought most desperately for beautiful cities yet to be
+built and gardens yet to be planted...
+ It is strange, indeed, that those who hug the present and hang on to
+it with all their might should be the least capable of defending it. And
+that, on the other hand, those who spurn the present and dust their hands of
+it should have all its gifts and treasures showered on them unasked.
+ Dreams, vision and wild hopes are mighty weapons and realistic tools.
+The practical-mindedness of a true leader consists in recognizing the
+practical value of these tools. Yet this recognition usually stems from a
+contempt of the present which can be traced to a natural ineptitude in
+practical affairs. The successful businessman is often a failure as a
+communal leader because his mind is attuned to the 'things that are' and his
+heart set on that which can be accomplished in 'our time.' Failure in the
+management of practical affairs seems to be a qualification for success in
+the management of public affairs. And it is perhaps fortunate that some
+proud natures when suffering defeat in the practical world do not feel
+crushed but are suddenly fired with the apparently absurd conviction that
+they are eminently competent to direct the fortunes of the community and the
+nation.
+ -- Eric Hoffer, "The True Believer", 1951
+~
+Bought me a cat, the cat pleased me,
+I fed my cat under yonder tree,
+Cat goes fiddle-i-fee, fiddle-i-fee.
+ -- Traditional Folk Song
+~
+ Love is one aspect of what I have called the productive orientation:
+the active and creative relatedness of man to his fellow man, to himself and
+to nature. In the realm of thought, this productive orientation is
+expressed in the proper grasp of the world by reason. In the realm of
+action, the productive orientation is expressed in productive work, the
+prototype of which is art and craftsmanship. In the realm of feeling, the
+productive orientation is expressed in love, which is the experience of
+union with another person, with all men, and with nature, under the
+condition of retaining one's sense of integrity and independence. In the
+experience of love the paradox happens that two people become one, and
+remain two at the same time. Love in this sense is never restricted to one
+person. If I can love only one person, and nobody else, if my love for one
+person makes me more alienated and distant from my fellow man, I may be
+attached to this person in any number of ways, yet I do not love. If I can
+say, 'I love you,' I say, 'I love you in you also myself.' Self-love, in
+this sense, is the opposite of selfishness. The latter is actually a greedy
+concern with oneself which springs from and compensates for the lack of
+genuine love for oneself. Love, paradoxically, makes me more independent
+because it makes me stronger and happier--yet it makes me one with the
+loved person to the extent that individuality seems to be extinguished for
+the moment. In loving I experience 'I am you,' you-the loved person,
+you-the stranger, you-everything alive. In the experience of love lies the
+only answer to being human, lies sanity.
+ -- Erich Fromm, from "The Sane Society", 1955
+~
+# NO WARRANTY: THIS WORK IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. THE AUTHOR
+# PROVIDES NO WARRANTY WHATSOEVER, EITHER EXPRESS OR
+# IMPLIED, REGARDING THE WORK, INCLUDING WARRANTIES WITH
+# RESPECT TO ITS MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY
+# PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+#
+# Author contact: Peter Alexander Merel
+# Internet: pete@cssc-syd.tansu.oz.au
+# UUCP: {uunet,mcvax}!munnari!cssc-syd!pete
+# Snail: 1/18-20 Orion Road, Lane Cove NSW 2066 Australia
+# Phone: +61 2 911 3130
+#
+# Copyright: Copyright (C) 1992 Peter Alexander Merel
+# Permission to copy all or part of this work is granted,
+# provided that the copies are not made or distributed
+# for resale (except nominal copying fee may be charged),
+# and provided that the NO WARRANTY, author-contact, and
+# copyright notice are retained verbatim & are displayed
+# conspicuously. If anyone needs other permissions that
+# aren't covered by the above, please contact the author.
+#
+# Version: 1.0
+#
+# Tao Te Ching.
+# Peter Merel's Interpolation based upon the translations of:
+# Lin Yutang, Ch'u Ta-Kao, Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English,
+# Richard Wilhelm, and Aleister Crowley.
+~
+ Seeing is of course indispensable to learning, particularly in
+science, which is of the eye. Visual aids therefore have a place in the
+laboratory. And most students, not being future scientists, will learn
+more from good films of important experiments than from their own fumbling
+attempts. But sometimes they must fumble too, and have a teacher who
+fumbles on occasion, and thinks all the time he is in class. One learns
+not by a photographic copying of things shown, but by an internal drama
+imitative of the action witnessed. When the instructor gropes for a word,
+corrects himself, interjects a comment or an analogy not directly called
+for, he gives a spectacle of man thinking which no slick film or televised
+show will provide.
+ -- Jacques Barzun, from "Science: The Glorious Entertainment", 1964
+~
+ Far from behaving (or should one say behavioring?) with the regular
+intelligibility of a clock, the bent of the living and of man in particular
+is to MISbehave, in all senses of the word--from developing allergies,
+which make poison out of delicacies, to committing crimes which, as in
+saints and statesman, can later seem the highest wisdom. It is even proved
+by research that man must have his ration of dreaming, that is, of
+irregular and inaccurate thinking. These facts of experience require that
+any science of the regularities of behavior be always qualified and
+admonished by another discipline, a learned lore of misbehavior.
+ -- Jacques Barzun, from "Science: The Glorious Entertainment", 1964
+~
+Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather
+a new wearer of clothes.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+What men call social virtue, good fellowship, is commonly but the virtue
+of pigs in a litter, which lie close together to keep each other warm.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
+What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+Some circumstantial evidence is very strong,
+as when you find a trout in the milk.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+ I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front
+only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had
+to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did
+not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to
+practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep
+and suck out all of the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike
+as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave
+close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and,
+if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of
+it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it
+by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau, from "Walden; or Life in the Woods"
+~
+ The Mind has a different relish, as well as the Palate; and you will
+as fruitlessly endeavour to delight all Men with Riches or Glory, (which yet
+some Men place their Happiness in,) as you would to satisfie all Men's
+Hunger with Cheese or Lobsters; which though very agreeable and delicious
+fare to some, are to others extremely nauseous and offensive: And many
+People would with Reason prefer the griping of an hungry Belly, to those
+Dishes, which are a Feast to others. Hence it was, I think, that the
+Philosophers of old did in vain enquire, whether Summum bonum (the chief
+good) consisted in Riches, or bodily Delights, or Virtue, or Contemplation:
+And they might have as reasonably disputed, whether the best Relish were to
+be found in Apples, Plumbs, or Nuts; and have divided themselves into Sects
+upon it. For as pleasant Tastes depend not on the things themselves, but
+their agreeableness to this or that particulate Palate, wherein there is
+great variety: So the greatest Happiness consists, in the having those
+things which produce the greatest Pleasure, and the absence of those which
+cause any disturbance, any pain, which to different Men are very different
+things. If therefore Men in this Life only have hope; if in this Life they
+can only enjoy, 'tis not strange, nor unreasonable, they should seek their
+Happiness by avoiding all things that disease them here, and by preferring
+all that delight them; wherein it will be no wonder to find variety and
+difference. For if there be no Prospect beyond the Grave, the inference is
+certainly right, Let us eat and drink, let us enjoy what we delight in, for
+to morrow we shall die. This, I think, may serve to shew us the Reason,
+why, though all Men's desires tend to Happiness, yet they are not moved by
+the same Object. Men may chuse different things, and yet all chuse right,
+supposing them only like a Company of poor Insects, whereof some are Bees,
+delighted with Flowers, and their sweetness; others, Bettles, delighted with
+other kinds of Viands; which having enjoyed for a Season, they should cease
+to be, and exist no more for ever.
+ -- John Locke, from "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding."
+~
+Businesses will not buy Linux because there is no one to sue.
+ -- LinuxToday
+~
+ Even if something new does not require a disruption of the old, there
+is no space. People, time and resources are fully stretched--in many
+cases there is actually a cutting-back in resources.
+ The paradox is that as we advance into the future the need for change
+gets greater and greater (to cope with changes in population, pollution,
+etc., and to make full use of our new technologies) but the possibility of
+change gets less and less because everything is already committed.
+ A wise general does not commit all his troops but keeps a strategic
+reserve which can be used as the need and opportunity arise. Society does
+not do this, because we believe that we have all the bases covered and that
+progress will come about through evolution, the clash of opinions and the
+occasional lone innovator.
+ In addition to allocating funds to research, most successful
+corporations also allocate funds to new business divisions or venture
+groups. Like the strategic reserves of a general, these groups are outside
+the day-to-day combat and are looking for new opportunities.
+ Democracy could not easily tolerate this principle of strategic
+reserve, for the unallocated resources would be the target of every
+department or issue that felt it was under-funded. Emergency funds do
+exist, but not space and resources for change.
+ The same thing applies on the thinking level. A person who knows all
+the answers, has an opinion on everything, has a certainty backed up by
+rational argument, has very little possibility of further progress. Such a
+person is unlikely to walk away from a discussion with anything more than a
+reaffirmation of how right he or she has been all along.
+ -- Edward deBono, from "I Am Right, You Are Wrong" (Penguin Books, 1990)
+~
+ The pleasantest time of day here is at sunset. Then accompanied by
+some fifteen girls and little children I walk through the village to the end
+of Siufaga, where we stand on an iron bound point and watch the waves splash
+us in the face, while the sun goes down, over the sea and at the same time
+behind the cocoanut covered hills. Most of the adult population is going
+into the sea to bathe, clad in lavalavas with buckets for water borne along
+on shoulder poles. All the heads of families are seated in the fatele
+(village guesthouse) making kava. At one point a group of women are filling
+a small canoe with a solution of native starch (arrowroot). And perhaps,
+just as we reach the store, the curfew-angelus will stop us, a wooden bell
+will clang mellowly through the village. The children must all scurry to
+cover, if we're near the store, it's the store steps, and sit tight until
+the bell sounds again. Prayer is over. Sometimes we are all back safely in
+room when the bell sounds, and then the Lord's Prayer must be said in
+English, while flowers are all taken out of their hair and the siva song
+stopped in the middle. But once the bell sounds again, solemnity, never of
+a very reliable depth, is sloughed off, the flowers replaced in the girls'
+hair, the siva song replaces the hymn, and they begin to dance, by no means
+in a puritan fashion. Their supper comes about eight and sometimes I have a
+breathing spell, but usually the supper hours don't jibe well enough for
+that. They dance for me a great deal, they love it and it is an excellent
+index to temperament, as the dance is so individualistic, and the audience
+think it is its business to keep up incessant comment.
+ -- Margaret Mead, from "Coming of Age in Samoa"
+~
+There aren't any embarassing questions--only embarassing answers.
+ -- Carl Rowan
+~
+ Recently one of us was leading a group of thirty Western
+businesspeople through Japan to learn about Japanese management techniques.
+We took the bullet train from Hiroshima to Osaka, and since the train
+stopped for only twenty seconds in Hiroshima, it would have been impossible
+to get all the executives and their luggage on the train at the same time.
+So we hired a trucking company and crew to transfer the luggage separately.
+The crew removed all luggage from each individual's room in Hiroshima and
+placed it in his pre-checked room in another chain's hotel in Osaka. Can
+you imagine doing that in the United States and ever seeing your luggage
+again?
+ One of the executives, thinking his shoes were too worn, had discarded
+them in the wastepaper basket in his Hiroshima hotel room. Imagine his shock
+when he entered his room in Osaka and saw his old shoes carefully laid in
+the wastepaper basket there. Was the Japanese trucking company politely
+saying that these shoes still had life and should yet be thrown away, or was
+the company accommodating a crazy foreigner who liked to keep his shoes in
+the wastepaper basket? Either way, the company was organized for highly
+intelligent service at every level.
+ -- Stan David and Jim Botkins, from "The Monster Under the Bed: How
+ Business is Mastering the Opportunity of Knowledge for Profit",
+ (Simon & Schuster, 1994).
+~
+ The term 'information' appears to cover too much that seems
+distinctive: knowledge, data, information in a narrow sense that some treat
+as synonymous with data, news, intelligence, and numerous other colloquial
+and specialized denotations and connotations. However, the distinctions
+implied by oppositions such as observations/theories, data/knowledge, raw
+intelligence/finished intelligence, accounting details/management are
+secondary, not fundamental, in characterizing information resources. They
+reflect only relative judgments. For instance, one person's knowledge is
+often another's raw data. What a vice president for marketing, production,
+or finance thinks he knows is just data to the chief executive officer's
+staff. What a scientist thinks he knows about the merits of a flu vaccine
+or the safety of a nuclear reactor is just data for presidential policy and
+politics. Data or knowledge are just types of information content--of
+greater or lesser value, of greater or lesser cost.
+ -- Anthony Oettinger, from "The Information Resources Policy Handbook"
+~
+ Given the fact that there seems to be a fundamental willingness to
+accept the machine as almost human, the issue of what type of relationship
+is possible seems to center around what friendship-cues might be
+artificially generated. Appearance and voice quality could certainly be
+tailored so that the machine would look and sound attractive and friendly.
+The software could be written to suggest an interesting and unique
+personality, and the conversational style might appear as humorous and
+good-natured. The machine would not only impress us with its intelligence
+and knowledge of the world, but would also convey the impression that it
+was warm and understanding. Its ability to integrate our interests and
+attitudes into its own framework and its willingness to be influenced by
+our point of view would also enhance our respect for the machine. The fact
+that it appeared to take our opinions seriously might be regarded as a
+compliment, and it is clear that if we are prepared to accept compliments
+from a computer then we are implicitly accepting it as a social agent.
+ Friendships are not made in a day, and the computer would be more
+acceptable as a friend if it simulated the gradual changes that occur when
+one person is getting to know another. At an appropriate time it might
+also express the endearment that stimulates attachment and intimacy. The
+whole process would be accomplished with subtlety to avoid giving an
+impression of overfamiliarity or ingratiation, which would be likely to
+produce irritation or animosity. After experiencing a wealth of powerful,
+well-timed indicators, the user would be likely to accept the computer as
+far more than a machine and might well come to regard it as a friend.
+ -- Neil Frude, from "The Intimate Machine: Close Encounters with
+ Computers and Robots," 1983.
+~
+ By this time the stars were moving out of the Hollywood Hotel and
+beginning to live in their own private houses with servants, most of whom
+were their peers in everything but sex appeal--which pinpoints the reason for
+the film capital's mass misbehavior. To place in the limelight a great
+number of people who ordinarily would be chambermaids and chauffeurs, give
+them unlimited power and instant wealth, is bound to produce a lively and
+diverting result.
+ -- Anita Loos
+~
+ The four years passed at college were, for his purposes, wasted.
+Harvard College was a good school, but at bottom what the boy
+disliked most was any school at all. He did not want to be one in a
+hundred--one percent of an education. He regarded himself as the
+only person for whom his education had value, and he wanted the whole
+of it. He got barely half of an average.
+ Long afterwards, when the devious path of life led him back to
+teach in his turn what no student naturally cared or needed to know
+[medieval history], he diverted some dreary hours of faculty meetings
+by looking up his record in the class-lists, and found himself graded
+precisely in the middle. In the one branch he most needed --
+mathematics--barring the few first scholars, failure was so nearly
+universal that no attempt at grading could have had value, and
+whether he stood fortieth or ninetieth must have been an accident or
+the personal favor of the professor. Here his education failed
+lamentably. At best he could never have been a mathematician; at
+worst he would never have cared to be one; but he needed to read
+mathematics, like any other universal language, and he never reached
+the alphabet.
+ -- Henry Adams, from "The Education of Henry Adams"
+~
+ The pedagogical method of observation has for its base the liberty of
+the child; and liberty is activity.
+ Discipline must come through liberty. Here is a great principle which
+is difficult for followers of common-school methods to understand. How
+shall one obtain discipline in a class of free children? Certainly in our
+system, we have a concept of discipline very different from that commonly
+accepted. If discipline is founded upon liberty, consider an individual
+disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute
+and as immovable as a paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not
+disciplined.
+ We call an individual disciplined when he is master of himself, and
+can, therefore, regulate his own conduct when it shall be necessary to
+follow some rule of life. Such a concept of active discipline is not easy
+either to comprehend or to apply. But certainly it contains a great
+educational principle, very different from the old-time absolute and
+undiscussed coercion to immobility.
+ -- Maria Montessori, inventor of the "Montessori Method"
+~
+ A company could conceivably have within it a monastery-style unit
+that writes software... a research team organized like an improvisational
+jazz combo... a compartmentalized spy-network, with need-to-know rules,
+operating within the law, to scout for merger or acquisition
+possibilities... and a sales force organized as a highly motivated 'tribe'
+complete with its own war songs and emotional membership rituals.
+ ...(T)he units of a flex-firm may draw information, people, and money
+from one another and from outside organizations as needed. They may be next
+door to one another or continents apart. Their functions may partly
+overlap, like information in a hyper-media data base; for other purposes,
+the functions may be logically, geographically, or financially divided.
+Some may use many central services provided by headquarters; others may
+choose to use only a few.
+ In turn this requires freer, faster flows of information. This will
+mean crisscrossing, up, down, and sideways conduits--neural pathways that
+bust through the boxes in the table of organization so that people can trade
+the ideas, data, formulae, hints, insights, facts, strategies, whispers,
+gesture, and smiles that turn out to be essential to efficiency.
+ -- Alvin Toffler, from "Powershift"
+~
+Here in the newspaper business, we have definitely caught Internet Fever.
+In the old days, we used to -- get this! -- actually CHARGE MONEY for our
+newspapers. Ha! What an old-fashioned, low-tech, non-digital concept!
+Nowadays all of the modern newspapers spend millions of dollars operating
+Web sites where we give away the entire newspaper for free. Sometimes we
+run advertisements in the regular newspaper urging our paying customers to
+go to our Web sites instead. 'Stop giving us money!' is the shrewd marketing
+thrust of these ads. Why do we do this? Because all the other newspapers
+are doing it! This is called 'market penetration.'
+ -- Dave Barry
+~
+ A highly competitive person has a hard row to hoe. There is no
+satisfaction in winning a competition unless it is a stiff and fair one.
+Stiff is easy to define; it is stiff if one's own realistic assessment of
+one's abilities make the odds long--the longer the odds, the greater
+satisfaction on winning. Fair is harder to define, for if one wins a
+contest against long odds, there must be a reason. The odds weren't really
+long; they only appeared to be so. Isn't it unfair to appear to be an
+underdog when one really isn't? Let's start with some obvious distinctions:
+A professional gambler needs to win in order to earn his living. Fairness
+is not his concern. He tries to be unfair in various ways: Keeping cards up
+his sleeve is one way that the rest of us universally deplore; the morality
+of concealing his skill to attract dupes is hardly less questionable.
+Fairness means at least an honest deal (no hidden cards) and no intentional
+concealment of one's abilities.
+ -- Herbert A. Simon, from "Models of My Life" (Basic Books, 1991)
+~
+ The United States is trying to promote democracy around the
+world and holds itself up as a model. However, it is obvious that
+our democracy has been reduced to charisma and money.
+ Surely intelligent and conscientious citizens can make wise and
+informed decisions? I for one cannot... I do not know anyone who
+spends more hours than I do in search of information and wisdom, yet
+it avails me little. Many people with power spend much of their time
+flying around the world, being wined and dined, but that means they
+have little time to do their homework.
+ Is the idea of democracy based on an informed electorate just a dream?
+
+ -- Ronald Hilton, founder of WAIS (World Association of
+ International Studies).
+~
+ When there is communication without need for communication,
+merely so that someone may earn the social and intellectual prestige
+of becoming a priest of communication, the quality and communicative
+value of the message drop like a plummet... In the arts, the desire
+to find new things to say and new ways of saying them is the source
+of all life and interest. Yet every day we meet with examples of
+painting where, for instance, the artist has bound himself from the
+new canons of the abstract, and has displayed no intention to use these
+canons to display an interesting and novel form of beauty, to pursue
+the uphill fight against the prevailing tendency toward the commonplace
+and the banal...
+ I speak here with feeling which is more intense as far as concerns
+the scientific artist than the conventional artist, because it is in
+science that I have first chosen to say something. What sometimes
+enrages me and always disappoints and grieves me is the preference of
+great schools of learning for the derivative as opposed to the original,
+for the conventional and thin which can be duplicated in many copies
+rather than the new and powerful, and for arid correctness and
+limitation of scope and method rather than for universal newness and
+beauty, wherever it may be seen.
+ -- Norbert Wiener, from "The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics
+ and Society" (1950)
+~
+ Please do not suppose that the only function of puzzles is to entertain.
+Puzzles are a way of teaching mathematics. Indeed, they are the best way to
+teach it. Fred Hoyle, the famous British astronomer who taught mathematics
+at Cambridge University for twenty years states in strong terms his belief
+that mathematics should never be 'taught' at all. Students must learn for
+themselves. How? By solving puzzles. The functions of the teacher should
+be, first, to select in a wise way the material on which the puzzles are
+based, second, to make sure the puzzles are well suited in difficulty to the
+sophistication of the student, third, to answer questions, and finally, if
+the teacher is capable of it, to give an occasional word of inspiration.
+ -- Martin Gardner
+~
+A cat's idea of what is comfortable and what is not
+is incomprehensible to a human.
+ -- Colette
+~
+In the sciences, hypothesis always precedes law, which is to say, there is
+always a lot of tall guessing before a new fact is established. The
+guessers are often quite as important as the fact-finders; in truth, it
+would not be difficult to argue that they are more important. New facts are
+seldom plucked from the clear sky; they have to be approached and smelled
+out by a process of trial and error, in which bold and shrewd guessing is an
+integral part. The Greeks were adept at such guessing, and the scientists
+of the world have been following the leads they opened for more than two
+thousand years.
+ -- H. L. Mencken, "A Mencken Chrestomathy," 1982
+~
+I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons.
+ -- Will Rogers
+~
+If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face,
+you should go home and examine your conscience.
+ -- Woodrow Wilson
+~
+I am called a dog because I fawn on those who give me anything,
+I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals.
+ -- Diogenes
+~
+Those sighs of a dog! They go to the heart so much more
+deeply than the sighs of our own kind because they are utterly
+unintended, regardless of effect, emerging from one who, heaving
+them, knows not that they have escaped him!
+ -- John Galsworthy
+~
+(Of dogs) I marvel that such small ribs as these can
+cage such vast desire to please.
+ -- Ogden Nash
+~
+'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark
+Bay deep-mouth'd welcome as we draw near home;
+'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark
+Our coming, and look brighter when we come.
+ -- Lord Byron
+~
+Near this spot are deposited the remains of one who possessed
+Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without
+Ferocity, and all the Virtues of Man without his Vices. This praise,
+which would be unmeaning Flattery, if inscribed over human ashes, is
+but a just Tribute to the Memory of BOATSWAIN, a Dog.
+ -- Inscription on the monument raised for Lord Byron's dog, Boatswain
+~
+Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.
+ -- Alexander Pope
+~
+A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.
+ -- Ogden Nash
+~
+Living with a dog is easy--like living with an idealist.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool
+of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you,
+but he will make a fool of himself too.
+ -- Samuel Butler (d. 1902), Note-Book
+~
+The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to his level
+of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged the dog down to his.
+ -- James Thurber
+~
+I agree with Agassiz that dogs possess something very like a conscience.
+ -- Charles Darwin
+~
+For the strength of the pack is the wolf,
+and the strength of the wolf is the pack.
+ -- Rudyard Kipling
+~
+All of the animals except humans know that the
+principal business of life is to enjoy it.
+ -- Samuel Butler
+~
+Cowardly dogs bark loudest. -- John Webster
+~
+Dogs like to obey. It gives them security. -- James Herriot
+~
+A dog's best friend is his illiteracy. -- Ogden Nash
+~
+Take a dog for a companion and a stick in your hand. -- English Proverb
+~
+A lean dog shames its master. -- Japanese Proverb
+~
+The dog was created specially for children.
+He is a god of frolic.
+ -- Henry Ward Beecher, Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
+~
+Dogs have not the power of comparing. A dog will take a small piece
+of meat as readily as a large, when both are before him.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+All knowledge, the totality of all questions and all answers,
+is contained in the dog.
+ -- Franz Kafka
+~
+The dog has an enviable mind; it remembers the nice things in life
+and quickly blots out the nasty.
+ -- Barbara Woodhouse
+~
+If dogs could talk, perhaps we would find it as hard to get along
+with them as we do with people.
+ -- Karel Capek
+~
+Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.
+ -- Colette
+~
+You become responsible forever for what you have tamed.
+ -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
+~
+A dog has the soul of a philosopher. -- Plato
+~
+The more I see of men, the more I like dogs. -- Madame Anne Maria de Stael
+~
+The reason a dog has so many friends is that
+he wags his tail instead of his tongue.
+ -- Anonymous
+~
+We see how he is at once in a world of smells of which
+we know nothing, which so occupy and absorb his attention
+as to make him practically blind to everything about him
+and deaf to all sounds, even his master's voice impatiently
+calling him.
+ -- W. H. Hudson
+~
+A man may smile and bid you hail
+Yet wish you to the devil;
+But when a good dog wags his tail,
+You know he's on the level.
+ -- Submitted to www.dog.com by TJ Brown
+~
+Old dogs, like old shoes, are comfortable.
+They might be a bit out of shape and a little
+worn around the edges, but they fit well.
+ -- Bonnie Wilcox
+~
+In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to
+train him to be semi-human. The point of it is to open
+oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog.
+ -- Edward Hoagland
+~
+I'd be happy to have my biography be the stories of my dogs.
+To me, to live without dogs would mean accepting a form of blindness.
+ -- Thomas McGuane
+~
+Every dog should have a man of his own. There is nothing like a
+well-behaved person around the house to spread the blanket for him,
+or bring him his supper when he comes home man-tired at night.
+ -- Corey Ford
+~
+Not Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and Astor
+together could have raised money enough
+to buy a quarter share in my little dog...
+ -- Ernest Thompson Seton
+~
+I'd rather have an inch of dog than miles of pedigree. -- Dana Burnet
+~
+...in a healthy dog-owner relationship, praise is virtually
+an automatic reaction, an attitude toward the dog, a way of
+living with the dog. The most common mistake is to consider
+praise as simply a reward.
+ -- The Monks of New Skete
+~
+Dogs need to sniff the ground; it's how they keep abreast of
+current events. The ground is a giant dog newspaper, containing
+all kinds of late-breaking dog news items, which, if they are
+especially urgent, are often continued in the next yard.
+ -- Dave Barry
+~
+A dog is not "almost human" and I know of no greater insult to the
+canine race than to describe it as such. The dog can do many things
+which man cannot do, never could do, and never will do.
+ -- John Holmes
+~
+imagine yourself lying in the tall purple grass with the sharp blades
+rubbing up against your flesh like rusty razors while the dark red
+moon drops drips of blood into the oozing green lake down the hill.
+tattered fish things leap and whirl in the lake while the tired orange
+sun flickers on the verge of going out. the clacking and biting
+insects that infest the grass crawl in and out of your body as you lie
+there trying to relax while large unseen animals rummage in the forest
+causing trees to crash down as they pass. dust blows in thick
+whirlwinds making the sooty air impossible to breathe as you hack
+chunks of meat up from within, but symbiotic parasites rush to repair
+the damage while tickling your insides ferociously.
+ah... tranquility.
+ -- sparklecuss
+~
+It all comes from here, the stench and the peril. -- Frodo
+~
+I do not like... the omission of a bill of rights providing
+clearly and without the aid of sophisms for freedom of religion,
+freedom of the press, protection against standing armies,
+restriction against monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force
+of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury in all matters of
+fact triable by the laws of the land and not by the law of
+nations.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787
+~
+A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against
+every government on earth, general or particular; and what no
+just government should refuse, or rest on inferences.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. Papers, 12:440
+~
+It astonishes me to find... [that so many] of our countrymen...
+should be contented to live under a system which leaves to their
+governors the power of taking from them the trial by jury in
+civil cases, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom
+of commerce, the habeas corpus laws, and of yoking them with a
+standing army. This is a degeneracy in the principles of
+liberty... which I [would not have expected for at least] four
+centuries.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1788
+~
+A bill of rights [will] guard liberty against the legislative as
+well as the executive branches of the government.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789
+~
+The declaration of rights is, like all other human blessings,
+alloyed with some inconveniences and not accomplishing fully its
+object. But the good in this instance vastly outweighs the evil.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789
+~
+By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate
+freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce
+against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions
+of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters
+against doing evil which no honest government should decline.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson to Alexander Donald, 1788
+~
+(cat haiku)
+You must scratch me there!
+Yes, above my tail! Behold,
+Elevator butt.
+~
+(cat haiku)
+prickly herbal scent
+flips me inside out and back;
+catnip is my kind
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+(cat haiku)
+I need a new toy.
+Tail of black dog keeps good time.
+Pounce! good dog! good dog!
+~
+The best exercise for a cat is another cat.
+ -- Jo and Paul Loeb
+~
+(cat haiku)
+In deep sleep hear sound
+Cat vomit hairball somewhere.
+Will find in morning.
+~
+[Of the Romans...]
+Is not a certain dullness their most visible characteristic?
+What is the history of their speculative mind? -- a blank.
+What their literature? -- a copy. They have left not a single
+discovery in any abstract science; not a single perfect or
+well-formed work of high imagination. The Greeks, the perfection
+of narrow and accomplished genius, bequeathed to mankind the ideal
+forms of self-idolizing art -- the Romans imitated and admired;
+the Greeks explained the laws of nature -- the Romans wondered and
+despised; the Greeks invented a system of numerals second only to
+that now in use -- the Romans counted to the end of their days
+with the clumsy apparatus which we still call by their name; the
+Greeks made a capital and scientific calendar -- the Romans began
+their month when the Pontifex Maximus happened to spy out the new
+moon. Throughout Latin literature, this is the perpetual puzzle
+-- Why are we free and they slaves? we praetors and they barbers?
+Why do the stupid people always win, and the clever people always
+lose?
+ -- Walter Baghehot
+~
+(cat haiku)
+The rule for today.
+Touch my tail, I shred your hand.
+New rule tomorrow.
+~
+'Well, then,' the Cheshire Cat went on, 'you see a dog growls
+when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now, I
+growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry.
+Therefore I'm mad.'
+ -- Cheshire Cat (from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,
+ by Lewis Carroll)
+~
+(cat haiku)
+stalk the birds with care--
+twitch my tail and they may scare;
+human gets a share.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+(cat haiku)
+i am not a rug,
+my flatness is intended,
+i have rubber bones.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+(cat haiku)
+fat human waddles
+close to my sensitive tail
+may be time to shriek.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+(cat haiku)
+fish in pond bigger
+than me; goldfish in bowl just
+the right size--kerchomp.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Yet gentle will the griffin be,
+Most decorous and fat,
+And walk up to the Milky Way
+And lap it like a cat.
+ -- Vachel Lindsay
+~
+(cat haiku)
+Blur of motion, then--
+Silence, me, a paper bag
+What is so funny?
+~
+(cat haiku)
+The mighty hunter
+Returns with gifts of plump birds
+Your foot just squashed one.
+~
+ Every good teacher has his own special art; with some, it is a genius
+for a clarity that sometimes is more lucid than the complexities of the
+subject justify. Sometimes it is a talent for apothegm or leading
+suggestion, a word that evokes a vista or an idea that opens a world. I
+cannot now quite remember what Professor Beard's special technique was. He
+was clear, he was suggestive, he was witty. But none of these things could
+quite account for the hold he had on the smug and the rebels alike, on both
+the pre-lawyers and pre-poets. I suspect it was a certain combination of
+poetry, philosophy, and honesty in the man himself, a sense he communicated
+that politics mattered far beyond the realm commonly called political, and
+an insight he conveyed into the life that forms of government furthered or
+betrayed. One morning he came into class as usual, stood against the wall,
+and half-closing his eyes, said:
+ "Gentlemen, today we are to discuss the budget system in State
+government. I am sure that must seem to you a dull subject. But if you will
+tell me, gentlemen, how much per capita a nation spends on its Army, on its
+Navy, on education, on public works, I shall be able to tell you, I think,
+as much about that nation as if you gave me the works of its poets and
+philosophers."
+ We listened with revised and revived attention to an exposition, full
+of figures and detail, of the State budget system. Charles A. Beard showed
+us what politics had to do with the life beyond it and which it made
+possible. And he taught us, too, the difference between the forms of
+government and the living substance of its operations... Nobody who has ever
+listened to Beard can disdain the study of politics in favor of the study of
+"higher things". He has been too well taught, as tragic world events have
+since shown, how government may nourish or destroy "higher things".
+ -- Irwin Edman, speaking of the historian Charles A. Beard
+~
+There is no substitute for a lifetime.
+ -- Ezra Pound
+~
+ The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life
+are usually simple. A good example of a simple technology with profound
+historical consequences is hay. Nobody knows who invented hay, the idea of
+cutting grass in the autumn and storing it in large enough quantities to
+keep horses and cows alive through the winter. All we know is that the
+technology of hay was unknown to the Roman Empire but was known to every
+village of medieval Europe. Like many other crucially important
+technologies, hay emerged anonymously during the so-called Dark Ages.
+According to the Hay Theory of History, the invention of hay was the
+decisive event which moved the center of gravity of urban civilization from
+the Mediterranean basin to Northern and Western Europe. The Roman Empire did
+not need hay because in a Mediterranean climate the grass grows well enough
+in winter for animals to graze. North of the Alps, great cities dependent on
+horses and oxen for motive power could not exist without hay. So it was hay
+that allowed populations to grow and civilization to flourish among the
+forests of Northern Europe. Hay moved the greatness of Rome to Paris and
+London, and later to Berlin and Moscow and New York.
+ -- Freeman Dyson, from his 1985 Gifford Lectures
+~
+(cat haiku)
+Small brave carnivores
+Kill pine cones and mosquitoes,
+Fear vacuum cleaner
+~
+(cat haiku)
+Wanna go outside.
+Oh, no! Help! I got outside!
+Let me back inside!
+~
+If you're a geek at a circus
+and the only tool you have is a sledgehammer,
+then you'll use it everywhere.
+We're Microsoft and
+Windows is our sledgehammer.
+ -- FTH
+~
+An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile--
+hoping it will eat him last.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+Being poor is a frame of mind. Being broke is only a temporary situation.
+ -- Mike Todd
+~
+When a friend speaks to me, whatever he says is interesting.
+ -- Jean Renoir
+~
+Up to his shoulders
+In grasses coarse as silk,
+The white cat with the yellow eyes
+Sits with his paws together,
+Tall as a quart of milk.
+ -- James Kirkup
+~
+Life is a gamble, at terrible odds--if it was a bet you wouldn't take it.
+ -- Tom Stoppard
+~
+What is the most innocent place in any country?
+Is it not the insane asylum?
+These people drift through life truly innocent,
+unable to see into themselves at all.
+ -- Arthur Miller
+~
+We live by our genius for hope;
+we survive by our talent for dispensing with it.
+ -- V. S. Pritchett
+~
+People change and forget to tell each other.
+ -- Lillian Hellman
+~
+Professional work of any sort tends to narrow the mind, to limit the point
+of view, and to put a hallmark on a man of a most unmistakable kind. On the
+one hand are the intense, ardent natures, absorbed in their studies and
+quickly losing interest in everything but their profession, while other
+faculties and interest 'fust' unused. On the other hand are the bovine
+brethren, who think of nothing but the treadmill and the corn. From very
+different causes, the one from concentration, the other from apathy, both
+are apt to neglect those outside studies that widen the sympathies and help
+a man to get the best there is out of life... the medical man, perhaps more
+than any other man, needs that higher education of which Plato speaks,
+'that education in virtue from youth upwards, which enables a man to pursue
+the ideal perfection.' It is not for all, nor can all attain it, but there
+is comfort and help in the pursuit, even though the end is never reached.
+ -- William Osler
+~
+We cherish our friends not for their ability to amuse us,
+but for ours to amuse them.
+ -- Evelyn Waugh
+~
+ Scientific research is solving puzzles. The pleasure to
+be got from it is the pleasure of the crossword or jig-saw addict.
+First the blank diagram, or the scatter of meaningless pieces; then
+an occasional tentative clue or the few pieces of the same colour
+that seem to fit together; next a period of frustration, going over
+and over the list of clues, or trying piece after piece in the most
+unlikely conjunctions; then--ah the sweet joy of the word that
+completes a doubtful acrostic, or the section that springs to life
+as a tree, or a house or a pot of flowers; finally, the completion
+of the pattern, with clue after clue solved in rapid succession, or
+the last few pieces tumbling into place. By accepting the challenge,
+the tension, the concentration, the frustration, we heighten the
+pleasure of the moment or revelation. The more difficult the puzzle,
+the greater the tension--and so much greater the delights of solution.
+ -- John Ziman
+~
+The most certain way to succeed is to always try one more time.
+ -- Thomas Edison
+~
+(cat haiku)
+hmmm... box is stinky.
+where are those boots that he has?
+they smell close enough.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+This one is from my dogs to my cats:
+
+I will sniff your butt
+I like your litter box gifts
+I call them ho-hos
+ -- GP Hardley
+~
+You can drop humans anywhere and they'll thrive.
+Only the rat does as well.
+ -- Jeannette Desor
+~
+(cat haiku)
+even kitty pure
+in heart may become a wolf
+when the catnip blooms
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+housecat haiku of realization:
+
+ birds flicker past me,
+safely in their cage of glass.
+ wait! who's in the cage?
+
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+At this point I reveal myself in my true colours, as a stick-in-the-mud.
+I hold a number of beliefs that have been repudiated by the liveliest
+intellects of our time. I believe that order is better than chaos,
+creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence,
+forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think that knowledge is
+preferable to ignorance, and I am sure that human sympathy is more
+valuable than ideology. I believe that in spite of the recent triumphs
+of science, men haven't changed much in the last two thousand years; and
+in consequence we must still try to learn from history. History is
+ourselves. I also hold one or two beliefs that are more difficult to put
+shortly. For example, I believe in courtesy, the ritual by which we
+avoid hurting other people's feelings by satisfying our own egos. And I
+think we should remember that we are part of a great whole, which for
+convenience we call nature. All living things are our brothers and
+sisters. Above all, I believe in the God-given genius of certain
+individuals, and I value a society that makes their existence possible.
+ -- Kenneth Clark, from "Civilization"
+~
+If you want to feel proud of yourself, you need to do things of which
+to feel proud. Feelings follow actions.
+ -- Oseola McCarty
+~
+To learn and from time to time to apply what
+one has learned--isn't that pleasure?
+ -- Confucious, 500 B.C.
+~
+top 6 rejected ingredients in ben & jerry's "phish food" flavor:
+
+6. capers and whitefish
+5. caramel-covered seaweed nuggets
+4. bloodworms
+3. magic mushroom ripple
+2. oyster crackers
+
+and the number one rejected ingredient...
+
+1. barnacle crunch
+
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+top 6 reasons to own a house rabbit:
+
+6. learning to splice electrical wires
+5. free compost everywhere in the house
+4. having your ankles bitten and scratched during rutting season
+3. finding out what night feces are and that special feeling they give
+ when between your toes
+2. having guests ask "what is that incredible stench?"
+
+and the number one reason to own a house rabbit...
+
+1. if all else fails, there's always hasenpfeffer.
+
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+My childhood was a period of waiting for the moment when I could send
+everyone and everything connected with it to hell.
+ -- Igor Stravinsky
+~
+Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to
+time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+We will take almost any kind of criticism except the observation that
+we have no sense of humor. A man will admit to being a coward, a liar, a
+thief, an adulterer, a poor mechanic, or a bad swimmer, but tell him that
+he has a dreadful sense of humor and you might as well have slandered his
+mother. Even if he is civilized enough to pretend to make light of your
+statement, he will still secretly believe that he has, not only a good
+sense of humor, but one superior to most. This is all the more surprising
+when you consider that not one person in a million can give you any kind of
+intelligent answer as to what humor is or why he or she laughs.
+ -- Steve Allen
+~
+To write weekly, to write daily, to write shortly, to write
+for busy people catching trains in the morning or for tired
+people coming home in the evening, is a heartbreaking task
+for men who know good writing from bad.
+ -- Virginia Woolf
+~
+ugh. all thoughts scrambled. now eating them on toast. -- fred t. hamster
+~
+I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.
+ -- Peter De Vries
+~
+Housework can kill you if done right.
+ -- Erma Bombeck
+~
+All human evil comes from a single cause--
+man's inability to sit still in a room.
+ -- Blaise Pascal
+~
+An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a
+cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+ School curricula reinforce the impression that logical subjects like math
+and science require starting with basics and progressively adding more
+sophisticated conclusions and applications. But the very nature of logical
+laws make it equally feasible to work backward from conclusions, or
+observations, to hypotheses. Deduction and induction are entirely
+complementary.
+ In reality, scientists and mathematicians do not do their crafts in the
+linear, progressive way their subjects are usually taught. Practitioners
+commonly start with a flash of insight (the stereotypical light bulb lighting),
+a hunch, a dream, a guess, an elaborate hypothesis or postulate, and then work
+backward, forward, and around it to try to make it fit with established
+knowledge. Physicists or engineers commonly try using complex mathematical
+gadgets to solve the problems that interest them without knowing or caring how
+the math was logically derived. Experimenters tinker in laboratories and make
+surprising discoveries that theoreticians then labor to try to explain
+logically. Alternatively, theorists like Einstein come up with wild new
+theories like relativity that experiments may have to struggle for decades to
+find a way to test and prove. Scientific knowledge does not grow incrementally
+down a predictable track. Rather it grows volcanolike, sometimes oozing in
+patient rivulets, sometimes erupting in fiery ferment, and occasionally
+exploding, blowing away the rock of established truth.
+ Pedantic, linear teaching rarely conveys the true drama and mystery of the
+human quest for knowledge. School plods where human imagination naturally
+leaps.
+ -- Lewis J. Perelman, from "School's Out"
+~
+the people who are the most in need of help are often the
+same ones who cannot receive it. for example, those who
+believe all human minds are isolated and who have built their
+lives on that principle can only rarely come to appreciate the
+connections between us. their loneliness and self-imposed
+isolation seems to be the normal state of affairs to these
+people; little do they realize that if they relaxed their
+armored ego barrier, then the thoughts and emotions of others
+would start to be perceptible. they desperately cling to the
+belief system that IS their problem in such a way that they
+cannot see the solution, nor can they even believe that the
+solution exists. should these people consciously strive to
+relax that barrier, it would dissolve quickly. many just
+cannot do that and never will. many can however, and can
+relax in the invisible web of human mentation that underlies
+all of our consciousnesses like a huge, comfortable and active
+safety net.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part
+of every organism to live beyond its income.
+ -- Samuel Butler
+~
+ Attempts to mimic the mind of man are as yet in their infancy.
+The road, however, is open, and it conjures up thoughts which are
+exciting but also in some ways frightening. What if man eventually
+were to produce a mechanical creature, with or without organic
+parts, equal or superior to himself in all respects, including
+intelligence and creativity? Would it replace man, as the superior
+organisms of the earth have replaced or subordinated the less well-
+adapted in the long history of evolution?
+ It is a queasy thought: that we represent, for the first time
+in the history of life on the earth, a species capable of bringing
+about its own possible replacement. Of course, we have it in our
+power to prevent such a regrettable denouement by refusing to build
+machines that are too intelligent. But it is tempting to build them
+nevertheless. What achievement could be grander than the creation
+of an object that surpasses the creator? How could we consummate
+the victory of intelligence over nature more gloriously than by
+passing on our heritage, in triumph, to a greater intelligence--of
+our own making?
+ -- Isaac Asimov, in "Asimov's Guide to Science"
+~
+Home is the place where,
+when you have to go there,
+they have to take you in.
+ -- Robert Frost
+~
+The closer that journalism has approached the standing of an
+authentic profession, oddly enough, the less attractive its
+individual practitioners appear to have become in the public
+mind. This irony is traceable in large measure to the
+distinguished work of the press in its persistent recording
+of the futility and manifold injustices of the Vietnam War and
+its disclosures in the Watergate scandal. Those protracted
+traumas scarred the national psyche, which in turn found
+solace by blaming the press for battening on the troubles it
+apparently delighted in reporting. Reporters came to be seen
+as arrogant in the conduct of their duties, habitually
+adversarial in posture, often insensitive, and unapologetic
+about substituting their own right to demand the truth for the
+public's right not to be stalked ruthlessly like so much grist
+for the milling of tomorrow's headlines. This impression has
+been deepened by the coarseness of television news, which is
+essentially a headline service trading on its emotional graphic
+appeal and dealing so superficially with events and so rarely
+with the complex issues behind them that its effect is to
+divert rather than to inform; TV remains primarily an
+entertainment medium that has not challenged the role of
+newspapers as the prime recorders of the community's serious
+business. But because we see television correspondents
+questioning the President or putting it to the police chief,
+they become personalities in their own right, far more imposing
+than a faceless byline over a printed story.
+ -- Richard Kluger, from "The Paper: The Life and Death of the New
+ York Herald Tribune"
+~
+The fat cat on the mat may seem to dream
+Of nice mice that suffice for him, or cream.
+ -- J. R. R. Tolkien
+~
+Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very
+unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the
+best lawyer in the world can't get you off.
+ -- Bill Veeck
+~
+ A man will never become a philosopher by worrying forever
+about the writings of other men, without ever raising his own
+eyes to nature's works in the attempt to recognize there the
+truths already known and to investigate some of the infinite
+number that remain to be discovered.
+ -- Galileo Galilei
+~
+A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.
+ -- George Elliot
+~
+One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight
+of the shore for a very long time.
+ -- Andre Gide
+~
+Today in America--the child of European imperialism--a new revolution
+is rising. It is the revolution of our time. It is the only revolution
+that involves radical, moral, and practical opposition to the spirit of
+nationalism. It is the only revolution that, to that opposition, joins
+culture, economic and technological power, and a total affirmation of
+liberty for all in the place of archaic prohibitions. It therefore
+offers the only escape for mankind today; the acceptance of technological
+civilization as a means and not as an end, and--since we cannot be saved
+either by the destruction of civilization or by its continuation--the
+development of the ability to reshape that civilization without
+annihilating it.
+ -- Jean-Francois Revel
+~
+There is a great man who makes every man feel small.
+But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great.
+ -- G. K. Chesterton
+~
+What usually happens in the educational process is that the faculties
+are dulled, overloaded, stuffed and paralyzed so that by the time most
+people are mature they have lost their innate capabilities.
+ -- R. Buckminster Fuller
+~
+Our memories are card indexes--consulted, and then put back in
+disorder, by authorities whom we do not control.
+ -- Cyril Connolly
+~
+More computing sins are committed in the name of efficiency
+(without necessarily achieving it) than for any other single
+reason--including blind stupidity.
+ -- W. A. Wulf
+~
+We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of
+the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.
+ -- Donald Knuth
+~
+The best is the enemy of the good.
+ -- Voltaire
+~
+The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.
+ -- Paul Ehrlich
+~
+A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking big money.
+ -- Senator Everett M. Dirksen
+~
+ During the last three decades, neuroscientists throughout the world
+have probed the nervous system in fascinating detail and have learned a
+great deal about the laws of mental life and about how these laws emerge
+from the brain. The pace of progress has been exhilarating, but--at the
+same time--the findings make many people uncomfortable. It seems somehow
+disconcerting to be told that your life, all your hopes, triumphs and
+aspirations simply arise from the activity of neurons in your brain. But
+far from being humiliating, this idea is ennobling, I think.
+ Science--cosmology, evolution and especially the brain sciences--is
+telling us that we have no privileged position in the universe and that our
+sense of having a private nonmaterial soul "watching the world" is really an
+illusion (as has long been emphasized by Eastern mystical traditions like
+Hinduism and Zen Buddhism). Once you realize that far from being a
+spectator, you are in fact part of the eternal ebb and flow of events in the
+cosmos, this realization is very liberating. Ultimately this idea also
+allows you to cultivate a certain humility--the essence of all authentic
+religious experience.
+ -- V. S. Ramachandran, in "Phantoms in the Brain"
+~
+A celebrity is one who is known to many persons
+he is glad he doesn't know.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+Money is a singular thing. It ranks with love as man's greatest
+source of joy, and with death as his greatest source of anxiety.
+ -- John Kenneth Galbraith
+~
+By his very success in inventing labor-saving devices, modern man
+has manufactured an abyss of boredom that only the privileged classes
+in earlier civilizations have ever fathomed.
+ -- Lewis Mumford
+~
+Scientists, who nearly always speak extemporaneously in public
+presentations, note that humanists almost always read papers
+at professional meetings, and rarely show slides--except for
+art historians, who always use two screens simultaneously--even
+for the most visual subjects. Why, 'we' ask, do 'they' not
+realize that written and spoken English are different languages,
+and that very few people can read well in public--a particular
+irony since humanists supposedly hold language as their primary
+tool of professional competence. But 'they,' on the other hand,
+rightly ridicule 'our' tendencies to darken a lecture room even
+before we reach the podium and to rely almost entirely upon a
+string of pictures thereafter. A stale joke proclaims that if
+Galileo had first presented the revolutionary results of Siderius
+Nuncius as a modern scientific talk, his opening line could only
+have been: 'first slide please.'
+ -- R. R. Shearer and S. J. Gould, in "Science," 5 Nov 99
+~
+Prowling his own quiet backyard or asleep by the fire,
+he is still only a whisker away from the wilds.
+ -- Jean Burden
+~
+ Futurology is a fashion. The approach of the end of the current
+millennium has stimulated it. But it looks like a fashion in decline. It
+seems to have peaked when public interest in the future was enlivened by
+debate between scientific perfectibilians and apocalyptic visionaries. The
+optimists predicted a world made easy by progress, lives prolonged by
+medical wizardry, wealth made universal by the alchemy of economic growth,
+society rectified by the egalitarianism of technologically prolonged
+leisure. The pessimists foresaw nuclear immolation or population explosion
+or a purgative world revolution -- a cosmic struggle reminiscent of the
+millennium of Christian prophetic tradition -- which would either save or
+enslave mankind.
+ No one gets excited by such visions today. Scientific progress has
+been, at best, disappointing -- encumbering us with apparently insoluble
+social and moral problems, or else, at worst, alarming -- threatening us
+with the mastery of artificially intelligent machines or genetically
+engineered human mutants. Economic growth has become the bogey of the
+ecologically anxious. Meanwhile, world revolution and the nuclear holocaust
+have been postponed, and apocalyptic prophecy has resorted to forebodings --
+variously unconvincing or uncompelling -- about ecological cataclysms.
+Proliferation of nuclear weapons and the discovery that even peaceful
+nuclear installations can poison great parts of the world has, in some ways,
+made disaster impend more darkly; but lingering extinction and little local
+nuclear holocausts seem to lack, in public esteem the glamour of a sudden
+and comprehensive armageddon. The future has become depressing rather than
+dramatic, and futurology has lost allure.
+ -- Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, in "Millennium: a History of the Last
+ Thousand Years", 1995.
+~
+We all love to instruct, though we can teach only what is not worth knowing.
+ -- Jane Austen, in "Pride and Prejudice"
+~
+(cat haiku)
+liquid ball of fur
+dances with a beam of light,
+never catches it.
+~
+Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.
+ -- James M. Barrie
+~
+Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is
+supposed to be doing at that moment.
+ -- Robert Benchley
+~
+(cat haiku)
+He flies without wings,
+Fast as a shadow can go.
+Black slash on white snow.
+~
+(cat haiku)
+Once quick with rat life,
+Now just carnage: tail, head, fur.
+Two-scoop burial.
+~
+(cat haiku)
+Willy stalks field mice,
+Wild Bill to small buffalo.
+Kills them just for show.
+~
+(cat haiku)
+Cats are like haiku:
+Subtle, delicate, perfect
+Communicators.
+~
+Once fat with meat.
+Now just feet.
+Rat food and bat food
+Supplement cat food.
+~
+The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
+ -- Voltaire
+~
+I would rather be governed by the first two thousand people in the
+Boston telephone directory than by the first two thousand people on the
+faculty of Harvard University.
+ -- William F. Buckley
+~
+ Civility will always have its critics. In 1997, when New York's
+chief judge proposed rules requiring lawyers on opposing sides to be civil
+to each other, the prominent divorce lawyer Raoul Felder wrote a caustic
+response in the New York Times. "If lawyers truly care about the causes
+they represent, they should, on occasion, get hot under the collar, raise
+their voices, become pugnacious," he wrote. Conflict, argued Felder, is
+what the legal profession is about. Civility, he concluded, "may not always
+be the right reaction in an adversarial courtroom."
+ This argument reminds me of the commentary by Ed Rollins that it
+was his job to diminish the reputation of his client's opponent. Nastiness,
+in other words, is not merely the option but the responsibility of the
+political profession. The legal profession too: "I have never heard a
+client complain that his or her lawyer was rude," Felder tells us. In both
+cases, law and politics, rudeness is evidently justified on the ground that
+rudeness is what the client is paying for.
+ As any student of civility would, I find this a fascinating notion:
+that there are professions for which incivility is a requirement. I suppose
+I disbelieve it; or, rather, if there are such professions, I am skeptical
+of their morality, because they fail to convey a message that we are, all of
+us, not lone drivers but fellow passengers. It may be that law and politics
+seem so dismally rude because their principal ethic is merely one of
+victory, an ethic materially enriching and emotionally satisfying, but
+morally unimportant. If lawyers are paid to be rude and political
+consultants to be nasty, and if their incivility is linked to the fact that
+they are also paid to win, we should scarcely be surprised that professional
+athletes find it comfortable to brawl with fans, spit on umpires, take bites
+out of ears, and, in one unfortunate case nicknamed "Assassin," specialize
+in injuring fellow football players. After all, the athletes want to win too.
+ Some etiquette. Some democracy.
+ -- Stephen L. Carter, in "Civility", 1998
+~
+A cat is a lion in a jungle of small bushes.
+ -- Indian Proverb
+~
+A cat pours his body on the floor like water. It is restful just to see him.
+ -- William Lyon Phelps
+~
+Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you have only one idea.
+ -- "Alain" [Emile Chartier]
+~
+ Newspapers have changed their character during my lifetime. They used
+to be the principal carriers of the world's news, but television holds that
+position now. Television, however, has serious limitations; it is a visual
+medium, and it is dominated by the principle that nothing is news unless you
+can take a picture of it. It is here that the newspapers still hold their
+own; so much of what goes on in the political world cannot be effectively
+photographed; statesmen, in their expensive but uninteresting clothes, make
+very poor TV and their prolonged deliberations are dull when we see them on
+the box. Politics must be interpreted, and newspapers have become their
+untiring interpreters... Intelligence, not perhaps on its highest level
+but far beyond the sheer emotionalism of TV, has found its refuge in the
+newspapers.
+ -- Robertson Davies, from "The Merry Heart: Reflections on Reading,
+ Writing, & The World of Books".
+~
+To improve communications, work not on the utterer but on the recipient.
+ -- Peter Drucker
+~
+ Despite the incorporated homicide or suicide called war, despite the
+crimes of individuals, the natural conflicts of domestic parties and
+national ambitions, I believe, after fifty years of studying history,
+that man is physically, mentally, and morally better, on the average,
+than at any time in the past; that our poverty, so disgraceful amid our
+unprecedented wealth, is not so shameless as the slavery that supported
+an enfranchised minority in Periclean Athens or Augustan Rome; that our
+marital chaos and moral laxity are no worse than in the England of
+Charles II or the France of Louis XV; that more good books are being
+published than ever before and more widely read; and that art will soon
+rise to a new level of self-discipline and social significance.
+ I mourn the ugly slums of our cities and the distress of those who
+cannot find work for their hands to do; but I see realized around me,
+in an unparalleled proportion of our people, such a spread of home
+ownership, family income, physical comforts, educational opportunities,
+political freedom, and scientific powers as would amaze and gladden our
+Founding Fathers if they could return to see what their progeny and
+their institutions have done... This time, this moment, is as good as
+any that ever was, and is incomparably more wonderful.
+ -- Will Durant
+~
+I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
+Imagination is more important than knowledge.
+Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+You do not lead by hitting people over the head.
+That's assault, not leadership.
+ -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
+~
+When elephants fight, only the grass gets hurt. -- Swahili Saying
+~
+Men who know the same things are not long the best company for each other.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+The gingham dog and the calico cat
+Side by side on the table sat;
+'Twas half-past eight and (what do you think!)
+Nor one nor t'other had slept a wink!
+ -- Eugene Field
+~
+bob1: I was going to just sublime into the roll
+ and see what I could get....
+fred: slime, you mean? you're not going to evaporate, right?
+bob1: Whatever, formally declare I shall be in control
+ and see if anyone listens...
+fred: that's the doctrine of the supine?
+bob1: By sublime I meant so slowly that you don't notice.
+fred: the lime doctor sublimes merging into the supine
+ mesmerized accomplished cow-orking accomplices slimefully.
+bob1: mmm I see. Anyway I must rejoin the family and stuff.
+ Perhaps I shall be back later. I must get into work early
+ tomorrow if I want all this to work.
+fred: by the time i spline my spleen in the stream
+ i will have strummed the strumpet's stoking stork.
+bob1: Holy f*ck batman.
+~
+There is nothing to be learned from history anymore.
+We're in science fiction now.
+ -- Allen Ginsberg
+~
+ One of the interesting features of communication is that, broadly
+speaking, to be perceived, information must reside in more than one context.
+We know what something is by contrast with what it is not. Silence makes
+musical notes perceivable; conversation is understood as a contrast of
+contexts, speaker and hearer; words, breaks and breaths. In turn, in order
+to be meaningful, these contexts of information must be relinked through
+some sort of judgment of equivalence or comparability. This occurs at all
+levels of scale, and we all do it routinely as part of everyday life.
+ None of this is new in theories of information and communication: we
+have long had models of signals and targets, background, noise and filters,
+signals, and quality controls. We are moving this insight here to the level
+of social interaction. People often cannot see what they take for granted
+until they encounter someone who does not take it for granted.
+ -- Geoffrey C. Bowker & Susan Leigh Star, from "Sorting Things Out:
+ Classification and Its Consequences," (MIT Press).
+~
+If there is technological advance without social advance, there is,
+almost automatically, an increase in human misery.
+ -- Michael Harrington
+~
+Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.
+ -- Hegel
+~
+When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
+ -- Eric Hoffer
+~
+Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
+ -- Aldous Huxley
+~
+He was a very valiant man who first adventured on eating of oysters.
+ -- King James I
+~
+A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional, and are
+the portals of discovery.
+ -- James Joyce
+~
+But this 'long run' is a misleading guide to current affairs.
+In the long run we are all dead.
+ -- John Maynard Keynes
+~
+Education is a crutch with which the foolish attack the wise to prove
+that they are not idiots.
+ -- Karl Kraus
+~
+Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human
+intelligence long enough to get money from it.
+ -- Stephen Leacock
+~
+I don't like money actually, but it quiets my nerves.
+ -- Joe Louis
+~
+(cat haiku)
+Black heart on white fur
+Green eyes ... last sight for poor rat,
+Plaything of a God.
+~
+(cat haiku)
+Black face, cold blue eyes
+fish pond, golden fish surprise.
+Wet paws ... not water!
+~
+spelling offers more
+room for controversy than
+the world's religions
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+cappuccino is
+caffeination in its most
+excellent format
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+buddha, dharma and
+sangha are the three jewels
+a buddhist cleaves to
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+millennium, yes!
+charging into the twenty-first
+century, for sure
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+fred barks, lily hides
+two dogs of the same breeding
+why so different?
+~
+haikus force structure
+on an otherwise very
+chaotic word world
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+kevin, kory, kyle;
+three celtic names held by three
+amazing nephews
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+ The most fruitful and natural exercise of the mind, in my opinion, is
+conversation. I find the use of it more sweet than of any other action of
+life; and for that reason it is that, if I were now compelled to choose, I
+should sooner, I think, consent to lose my sight, than my hearing and
+speech... The study of books is a languishing and feeble motion that heats
+not, whereas conversation teaches and exercises at once. If I converse with
+an understanding man, and a rough disputant, he presses hard upon me and
+pricks me on both sides; his imaginations raise up mine to more than
+ordinary pitch; jealousy, glory, and contention, stimulate and raise me up
+to something above my self...
+ -- Michel Montaigne
+~
+(cat haiku)
+only the choicest
+of meats, kibbles and catnip
+will i deign to sniff.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+(cat haiku)
+fine fur flies from me
+filling all of your clean rooms
+i am super fluff!
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+(cat haiku)
+watery sky leads
+to quizzical expression:
+"fix outdoors for me!"
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+(cat haiku)
+inclement weather
+bores more cats even than own
+internal ennui.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+(cat haiku)
+Open the door, Man!
+I wish to go out ... what's this?
+Wet fur? I think not.
+~
+(cat haiku)
+Monsoon for felines.
+They ground when wet. No static.
+Rainy faced disgrace.
+~
+Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.
+ -- H. D. Thoreau
+~
+Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+We are not sure that words can always save lives, but we know that
+silence can certainly kill.
+ -- James Orbinski of "Doctors Without Borders", winners of the 1999 Nobel
+ Peace Prize
+~
+The masses, by definition, neither should nor can direct their own
+personal existence, and still less rule society in general.
+ -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
+~
+It is precisely because man's vital time is limited, precisely because
+he is mortal, that he needs to triumph over distance and delay. For an
+immortal being, the motor-car would have no meaning.
+ -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
+~
+We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of
+creation, but he does not know what to create. Lord of all things,
+he is not lord of himself... Hence the strange combination of a
+sense of power and a sense of insecurity.
+ -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
+~
+The mass-man is he whose life lacks any purpose, and simply goes drifting
+along. Consequently, though his possibilities and his powers be enormous,
+he constructs nothing. And it is this type of man who decides in our time...
+ -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
+~
+In the schools, which were such a source of pride to the last century, it
+has been impossible to do more than instruct the masses in the technique
+of modern life; it has been found impossible to educate them.
+ -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
+~
+ Like cars over the years, computers are getting easier to use, and in
+some respects the changes are analogous to the placement of gauges by idiot
+lights. And, like drivers who favor gauges, some computer users belittle the
+trend toward easy-to-use systems. These users appear to thrive on
+complexity. They are often experts who enjoy getting the most out of their
+computers; they view computing as an end rather than a means.
+ Unlike cars, easy-to-use computers aren't called idiot-proof, they're
+called user-friendly. As a marketing achievement, this terminology ranks
+with 'Palmetto bugs,' which is a term used in Florida-at the instigation of
+some genius in the real estate industry, I'm told-for large, flying
+cockroaches."
+ -- John Shore, from "The Sachertorte Algorithm: And Other Antidotes
+ to Computer Anxiety".
+~
+ Ads manipulate us into being dissatisfied... We are encouraged to feel
+anxious or sorry for ourselves. Advertising teaches us to live on the level
+of the pleasure principle. This leads to impulse-control problems and to
+feelings of entitlement. "I am the center of the universe and I want what I
+want now." This thinking creates citizens who are vulnerable to quick fixes.
+It leads to citizens filled with self-pity, which is the flip side of
+entitlement.
+ Advertising teaches that people shouldn't have to suffer, that pain
+is unnatural and can be cured. They say that effort is bad and convenience
+is good and that products solve complex human problems. Over and over people
+hear that their needs for love, security and variety can be met with
+products. They may reject the message of any particular ad, but over time
+many buy the big message -- buying products is important.
+ -- Mary Pipher, in "The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding Our Families"
+~
+I have no use for bodyguards, but I have a very special use for two
+highly trained certified public accountants.
+ -- Elvis Presley
+~
+Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.
+ -- Evelyn Waugh
+~
+Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.
+ -- Jean-Paul Sartre
+~
+Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful
+objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill
+gives us modern art.
+ -- Tom Stoppard
+~
+What is this talk of "release?" We do not make software "releases."
+Our software "escapes" leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality
+assurance people in its wake.
+ -- MoncriefJM@gvl.esys.com, as seen on the on the PerlTK mailing list
+~
+It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience. But a
+corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+(cat haiku)
+Headfull of acid,
+Cat on the carpet, melting...
+Here pussy. Here God!
+~
+(cat haiku)
+vomit kitty, now!
+you don't eat all my buds, cat.
+i'll smoke you instead.
+~
+The future is made of the same stuff as the present. -- Simone Weil
+~
+he's such a tight ass that when he breaks wind all the dogs howl.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+See the kitten on the wall,
+Sporting with the leaves that fall,
+Withered leaves, one, two and three
+Falling from the elder tree,
+Through the calm and frosty air
+Of the morning bright and fair.
+ -- William Wordsworth
+~
+But the Kitten, how she starts,
+Crouches, stretches, paws and darts!
+ -- William Wordsworth
+~
+ All those who succeed in America -- no matter what their circle of
+origin or their sphere of action -- are likely to become involved in the
+world of the celebrity... This world has not been built from below, as a
+slow and steady linking of local societies and metropolitan 400s. It has
+been created from above... With the incorporation of the economy, the
+ascendancy of the military establishment, and the centralization of the
+enlarged state, there have arisen the national elite, who, in occupying the
+command posts of the big hierarchies, have taken the spotlight of publicity
+and become subjects of the intensive build-up. At the same time, with the
+elaboration of the national means of mass communication, the professional
+celebrities of the entertainment world have come fully and continuously into
+the national view. As personalities of national glamour, they are at the
+focal point of all the means of entertainment and publicity. Both the
+metropolitan 400 and the institutional elite must now compete with and
+borrow prestige from these professionals in the world of the celebrity.
+ But what are the celebrities? The celebrities are The Names that
+need no further identification. Those who know them so far exceed those of
+whom they know as to require no exact computation. Wherever the celebrities
+go, they are recognized, and moreover, recognized with some excitement and
+awe. Whatever they do has publicity value. More or less continuously, over a
+period of time, they are the material for the media of communication and
+entertainment. And, when that time ends -- as it must -- and the celebrity
+still lives -- as he may -- from time to time it may be asked, "Remember
+him?" That is what celebrity means.
+ -- C. Wright Mills, from "The Power Elite," 1956
+~
+I'm not really very good at what I do, but I'm very
+popular, because I return my pages.
+ -- Unidentified computer support technician
+~
+Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to
+recognize a mistake when you make it again.
+ -- Franklin P. Jones
+~
+Nobody roots for Goliath. -- Wilt Chamberlain
+~
+(cat haiku)
+Gentle pussy, bit
+By a bat. Rabid, frothing...
+Animal control!
+~
+I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up
+and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold
+these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
+created equal."
+ -- Martin Luther King Jr.
+~
+ We generally think of music as a product of art rather than commerce
+or technology. It depends, in fact, on all three. Together, these great
+dynamic systems match individual creativity and individual desire. They
+thus generate change, variety and an endless array of critics--all
+determined that music, like the rest of society, should conform to
+"one best way".
+ That would be a terrible deal. By tolerating music that pleases
+others but not ourselves, we preserve a system that has delivered a
+historical wonder... We can listen to perfectly performed music to suit
+any mood or taste at any time, music that moves us in ways particular to our
+individual senses and our individual souls.
+ -- Virginia Postrel
+~
+There are three rules for writing the novel.
+Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
+ -- W. Somerset Maugham
+~
+His lack of education is more than compensated for by his
+keenly developed moral bankruptcy.
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+How is it possible to find meaning in a finite world,
+given my waist and shirt size?
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting
+the urge to conquer Poland.
+ -- Woody Allen (Manhattan Murder Mystery)
+~
+two databases
+become unified as one
+much damage ensues
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+urgh, mutual friends have we few
+of whom hooktown still has purview.
+lest we examine too far
+i wonder regarding your car--
+could it survive a furious country drive?
+for to hamster freehold must you arrive.
+many entertainments have we here...
+movies, a rabbit and beer.
+perhaps what you were chasing,
+twain's fuzz is constantly abasing.
+to extend no further this diatribe,
+why don't you drop over, or "arribe"?
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would
+have painted on the Sistine floor.
+ -- Neil Simon
+~
+It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble,
+it's what we know that ain't so.
+ -- Will Rogers
+~
+I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure
+is trying to please everyone.
+ -- Bill Cosby
+~
+ Today, when man seems to have reached the beginning of a new,
+richer, happier human era, his existence and that of the generations to
+follow is more threatened than ever. How is this possible?
+ Man had won his freedom from clerical and secular authorities, he
+stood alone with his reason and his conscience as his only judges, but he
+was afraid of the newly won freedom; he had achieved 'freedom from' --
+without yet having achieved 'freedom to' -- to be himself, to be productive,
+to be fully awake. Thus he tried to escape from freedom. His very
+achievement, the mastery over nature, opened up the avenue for his escape.
+ In building the new industrial machine, men became so absorbed in
+the new task that it became the paramount goal of his life. His energies,
+which once were devoted to the search for God and salvation, were now
+directed toward the domination of nature and ever-increasing material
+comfort. He ceased to use production as a means for a better life, but
+hypostatized it instead to an end in itself, an end to which life was
+subordinated. In the process of an ever-increasing size of social
+agglomerations, man himself became a part of the machine, rather than its
+master. He experienced himself as a commodity, as an investment; his aim
+became to be a success, that is, to sell himself as profitably as possible
+on the market. His value as a person lies in his salability, not in his
+human qualities of love, reason or in his artistic capacities. Happiness
+becomes identical with consumption of newer and better commodities, the
+drinking in of music, screen plays, fun, sex, liquor and cigarettes. Not
+having a sense of self except the one which conformity with the majority can
+give, he is insecure, anxious, depending on approval. He is alienated from
+himself, worships the product of his own hands, the leaders of his own
+making, as if they were above him, rather than made by him. He is in a
+sense back where he was before the great human evolution began in the second
+millennium B.C.
+ -- Erich Fromm, "The Sane Society"
+~
+If I could I would always work in silence and obscurity,
+and let my efforts be known by their results.
+ -- Emily Bronte
+~
+The fox knows many things -- the hedgehog knows one big thing.
+ -- Archilochus
+~
+I've learned not to put things in my mouth that are bad for me.
+ -- Monica Lewinsky on CNN's Larry King Live discussing her
+ miraculous Jenny Craig weight-loss.
+~
+Both the assembling and the distribution of knowledge in the world
+at present are extremely ineffective, and thinkers of the forward-
+looking type whose ideas we are now considering, are beginning to
+realize that the most hopeful line for the development of our racial
+intelligence lies rather in the direction of creating a new world
+organ for the collection, indexing, summarizing and release of
+knowledge, than in any further tinkering with the highly conservative
+and resistant university system, local, national, and traditional in
+texture, which already exists.
+ -- H. G. Wells (1937)
+~
+a haiku for object bus overload...
+
+those data bursts have
+overturned my info cart--
+stranded on the net.
+
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex,
+and more violent. It takes a touch of genius--and a lot
+of courage--to move in the opposite direction.
+ -- E. F. Schumacher
+~
+It is amazing how much one can learn from somebody
+who is not generally thought of as successful.
+ -- Michael Korda
+~
+Half the world is composed of people who have
+something to say and can't, and the other have
+nothing to say and keep on saying it.
+ -- Robert Frost
+~
+Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature...
+Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing.
+ -- Helen Keller
+~
+His tongue is by turns a sponge, a brush, a comb.
+He cleans himself, he smoothes himself,
+he knows what is proper.
+ -- Hippolyte Taine
+~
+To turn $100 into $110 is work.
+To turn $100 million into $110 million is inevitable.
+ -- Edgar Bronfman
+~
+A problem well stated is a problem half solved.
+ -- Charles F. Kettering
+~
+The spirit of the West, the modern spirit, is a Greek discovery
+and the place of the Greeks is in the modern world.
+ -- Edith Hamilton (1867-1963)
+~
+fish flavored flappers
+squirm happily under tongue,
+cloak orgasmic clit.
+~
+There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying
+to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil.
+ -- Alfred North Whitehead
+~
+Somewhere on this globe, every ten seconds, there is a woman
+giving birth to a child. She must be found and stopped.
+ -- Sam Levenson
+~
+The cat has complete emotional honesty --
+an attribute not often found in humans.
+ -- Ernest Hemingway
+~
+no morning coffee...
+gray matter is not present,
+dial tone in my head.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+choad /chohd/ /n./
+ Synonym for 'penis' used in alt.tasteless and popularized by the denizens
+thereof. They say: "We think maybe it's from Middle English but we're all
+too damned lazy to check the OED." [I'm not. It isn't. --ESR]
+ This term is alleged to have been inherited through 1960s underground
+comics, and to have been recently sighted in the Beavis and Butthead
+cartoons. Speakers of the Hindi, Bengali and Gujarati languages have
+confirmed that `choad' is in fact an Indian vernacular word equivalent
+to `f*ck'; it is therefore likely to have entered English slang via the
+British Raj.
+~
+The race may not be to the swift nor the victory
+to the strong, but that's how you bet.
+ -- Damon Runyon
+~
+Basic research is when I'm doing what I don't know I'm doing.
+ -- Wernher von Braun
+~
+ For decades, people have warned that pervasive databanks and
+surveillance technology are leading inevitably to the death of privacy and
+democracy. But these days, many people who hear the word 'privacy' think
+about those kooks living off in the woods with their shotguns: these folks
+get their mail at post office boxes registered under assumed names, grow
+their own food, use cash to buy what they can't grow for themselves, and
+constantly worry about being attacked by the federal government-or by space
+aliens. If you are not one of these people, you may well ask, "Why should I
+worry about my privacy? I have nothing to hide."
+ The problem with this word 'privacy' is that it falls short of
+conveying the really big picture. Privacy isn't just about hiding things.
+It's about self-possession, autonomy, and integrity. As we move into the
+computerized world of the twenty-first century, privacy will be one of our
+most important civil rights. But this right of privacy isn't the right of
+people to close their doors and pull down their window shades -- perhaps
+because they want to engage in some sort of illicit or illegal activity.
+It's the right of people to control what details about their lives stay
+inside their own houses and what leaks to the outside...
+ Today, more than ever before, we are witnessing the daily erosion of
+personal privacy and freedom. We're victims of a war on privacy that's being
+waged by government eavesdroppers, business marketers, and nosy neighbors...
+We know our privacy is under attack. The problem is that we don't know how
+to fight back.
+ -- Simson Garfinkel, in "Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in
+ the 21st Century"
+~
+A gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, married
+immediately after his wife died: Johnson said, it was the
+triumph of hope over experience.
+ -- James Boswell's "Life of Johnson"
+~
+One evening while dozing in my armchair, I was roused
+by the sound of the harpsichord. My cat had started
+his musical stroll... I had a sheet of paper to hand,
+and transcribed his composition.
+ -- Domenico Scarlatti
+~
+Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it
+everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying
+the wrong remedies.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to
+any club that will accept me as a member.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+Let's find out what everyone is doing,
+and then stop everyone from doing it.
+ -- A. P. Herbert
+~
+I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any
+new situation by reorganizing, and a wonderful method
+it can be for creating the illusion of progress while
+producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
+ -- Petronius Arbiter, quoted in Robert Townsend's
+ "Up the Organization"
+~
+With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in
+the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to
+finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care
+for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and
+his orphan -- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and
+a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+ As we approach a new century and a changing international economic
+climate, we think that scientific and technological education should be our
+highest priority, and yet these fields, at least the way they are practiced
+today, only tangentially affect the heart and soul, where morality and
+values are rooted, while music goes right to the heart.
+ Studying music, one learns about talent, thought, work, expression,
+beauty, technique, collaboration, aesthetic judgment, inspiration, taste,
+and a host of other elements that shape life in all its aspects. As we
+learn to control our fingers, lips, and breath in making music, subliminally
+music is shaping us, making us people of sensitivity and judgment.
+ -- Thomas Moore, in "The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life"
+~
+How frighteningly few are the persons whose death would
+spoil our appetite and make the world seem empty.
+ -- Eric Hoffer
+~
+A bad attitude is the worst thing that can happen to
+a group of people. It's infectious.
+ -- Roger Allan Raby
+~
+All that is gold does not glitter; not all who wander are lost.
+ -- J. R. R. Tolkien
+~
+What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.
+ -- Dean William R. Inge (ed: what a psycho...)
+~
+True genius doesn't fulfill expectations, it shatters them.
+ -- Arlene Croce
+~
+Let me listen to me and not to them.
+ -- Gertrude Stein
+~
+If like truth, the lie had but one face, we would be on better terms.
+For we would accept as certain the opposite of what the liar would say.
+But the reverse of truth has a hundred thousand faces and an infinite field.
+ -- Montaigne
+~
+The truth is multi-faceted; no one person can see all of it and no single
+viewpoint can capture all of it. This is why any attempt to record the
+nature of reality in one majestic work of science or religion or philosophy
+is doomed to fail; that grand catalog is a necessarily-flawed perspective
+upon the shimmering mind-blower that is the full totality of truth.
+Still, we must try to get our minds around it during our whole lives.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+I am a great believer, if you have a meeting, in knowing
+where you want to come out before you start the meeting.
+Excuse me if that doesn't sound very democratic.
+ -- Nelson Rockefeller
+~
+ Lawyers have, as Jonathan Swift observed, "a peculiar cant and
+jargon of their own, that no other mortal can understand". They take care
+to ensure that all legal business, including the drafting of legislation, is
+conducted in this language "so that it will take thirty years to decide
+whether the field left me by my ancestors for six generations belongs to me
+or to a stranger three hundred miles off". This language, condemned by
+Jeremy Bentham as "literary garbage", "lawyers' cant", and "flash language",
+serves various purposes, none of them in the public interest. It unites
+lawyers, distinguishing them from laymen. It makes the law mysterious and
+incomprehensible to those laymen, thus ensuring a steady supply of work for
+lawyers who are needed to interpret the language they have invented. The
+language of the law fosters the illusion that legal problems are remediable
+only by the application of the medicine of the specialist. Only a lawyer,
+can resolve the complexities of the problem: "Better see a lawyer; don't
+trust Whatsisname" (as the memorable Law Society advertisement warned
+consumers). Legal language also enshrouds the law, hiding it from the
+public it exists to serve. The idiom of the lawyer leads to public ignorance
+of the content of the law (which paradoxically refuses to recognize that
+ignorance of the law should be a defence), to uninformed criticism and to
+unmerited praise. It provokes the indifference of too many laymen towards
+the law and the contempt of so many litigants for a legal system they do not
+understand.
+ -- David Pannick, barrister and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
+~
+It usually takes me more than three weeks
+to prepare a good impromptu speech.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Hollywood films, in general, either want to tell us a truth we
+already know or a falsehood we want to believe in.
+ -- William Goldman
+~
+The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.
+ -- Norman Mailer
+~
+ Men of Athens, fellow citizens, this is not a trial of Socrates, but
+of ideas, and of Athens. You are not prosecuting me for any unlawful or
+impious act against our city or its altars. No evidence of any such sort
+has been brought against me. You are not prosecuting me for anything I did,
+but for what I have said and taught. You are threatening me with death
+because you do not like my views and my teaching. This is a prosecution of
+ideas and that is something new in our city's history. In this sense,
+Athens is in the dock, not Socrates. Each of you, as my judges, is a
+defendant.
+ Let me be frank. I do not believe in your so-called freedom of
+speech, but you do. I believe the opinions of ordinary men are only beliefs
+without substance, pale shadows of reality, not to be taken seriously, and
+only likely to lead a city astray. I think it absurd to encourage the free
+utterance of unfounded or irrational opinions, or to base civic policy on a
+count of heads, like cabbages. Hence I do not believe in democracy. But
+you do. This is your test, not mine. How can you boast of your free speech
+if you suppress mine?
+ The test of truly free speech is not whether what is said or taught
+conforms to any rule or ruler, few or many. Even under the worst dictator,
+it is not forbidden to agree with him. It is the freedom to disagree that
+is freedom of speech. This has been the Athenian rule until now, the pride
+of our city, the glory on which your orators dwell. Will you turn your back
+on it now? Ideas are not as fragile as men. They cannot be made to drink
+hemlock. My ideas--and my example--will survive me. But the good name of
+Athens will wear a stain forever, if you violate its traditions by
+convicting me. The shame will be yours, not mine.
+ -- I. F. Stone, suggesting a defense for Socrates
+~
+I do not seek. I find.
+ -- Pablo Picasso
+~
+The one thing that is certain is that anyone who uses the phrase
+"outside the box" is as deeply inside the box as a person can be.
+ -- Michael Lewis
+~
+I can't understand why a person will take a year to write a novel
+when he can easily buy one for a few dollars.
+ -- Fred Allen
+~
+ Many of my friends are under the impression that I write these humorous
+nothings in idle moments, when the wearied brain is unable to perform the
+serious labors of the economist. My own experience is exactly the other way.
+The writing of solid, instructive stuff, fortified by facts and figures, is
+easy enough. There is no trouble in writing a scientific treatise on the
+folklore of Central China, or a statistical inquiry into the declining
+population of Prince Edward Island. But to write something out of one's own
+mind, worth reading for its own sake, is an arduous contrivance only to be
+achieved in fortunate moments, few and far between. Personally, I would sooner
+have written Alice in Wonderland than the whole Encyclopedia Britannica.
+ -- Stephen Leacock
+~
+It's easier to find a travel companion than to get rid of one.
+ -- Art Buchwald
+~
+God must love the rich or he wouldn't have divided
+so much among so few of them.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+I have been more concerned with the obscure than with the famous.
+They are more often themselves. They have had no need to create a
+figure to protect themselves from the world or to impress it. Their
+idiosyncrasies have had more chance to develop in the limited circle
+of their activity, and since they have never been in the public eye
+it has never occurred to them that they have anything to conceal.
+They display their oddities because it has never struck them that
+they are odd. And after all it is with the common run of men that
+we writers have to deal; kings, dictators, commercial magnates are
+from our point of view very unsatisfactory. To write about them is
+a venture that has often tempted writers, but the failure that has
+attended their efforts shows that such beings are too exceptional to
+form a proper ground for a work of art. They cannot be made real.
+The ordinary is the writer's richer field. Its unexpectedness, its
+singularity, its infinite variety afford unending material. The
+great man is too often all of a piece; it is the little man that is
+a bundle of contradictory elements. He is inexhaustible. You never
+come to the end of the surprises he has in store for you. For my
+part I would much sooner spend a month on a desert island with a
+veterinary surgeon than with a prime minister.
+ -- W. Somerset Maugham, from "The Summing Up"
+~
+Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts
+when you have forgotten your aim.
+ -- George Santayana
+~
+The importance of people as creators and carriers of knowledge is forcing
+organizations to realize that knowledge lies less in its databases than in
+its people. It's been said, for example, that if NASA wanted to go to the
+moon again, it would have to start from scratch, having lost not the data,
+but the human expertise that took it there last time. Similarly, Tom
+Davenport and Larry Prusake argue that when Ford wanted to build on the
+success of the Taurus, the company found that the essence of that success
+had been lost with the loss of the people that created it. Their knowledge
+was not stored in information technologies. It left when they left.
+ -- John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, in "The Social Life of Information"
+~
+Either we live by accident and die by accident,
+or we live by plan and die by plan.
+ -- Thornton Wilder
+~
+Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.
+ -- William Butler Yeats
+~
+...the act of producing a letter, even one which is never mailed,
+necessitates a form of creative concentration which can improve our
+lives. Copies of our own letters are useful for our records and
+memories. If their recipients think them worth saving, they can have
+value and effect far beyond that of the spoken word. In friendship,
+the letter is not only a message but a gift, a physical symbol of
+esteem and affection. In business or politics, the letter can not
+only express the concerns of the moment but remain as a document of
+such concerns, available for prolonged scrutiny by more than one
+reader. Moreover, while speakers and listeners in a debate are
+vulnerable to emotion and subject to fallacy, the well-written letter
+remains calm and crisp and is subject to nothing except superior reason.
+It can convince the open-minded, goad the weak-hearted, give our
+opponents an exact index of the level and intensity of our commitment,
+and be quoted by those who agree with us. But perhaps most importantly,
+our letters are the proof and body of our concern for life in its detail
+and our conviction that this concern should be shared with others.
+ -- Robert Grudin, from "Time and the Art of Living"
+~
+Mass transportation is doomed to failure in North America because a
+person's car is the only place where he can be alone and think.
+ -- Marshall McLuhan
+~
+You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch
+on to the affirmative, and don't mess with Mister In-Between.
+ -- Johnny Mercer
+~
+ Once, as promised, bots start interacting with one another,
+understanding bot behavior may become impossible. Anyone who has
+had to call a help line with a problem about the way an operating
+system from one vendor and program from another are working together--
+or failing to work--knows how hard it is to get anyone to take
+responsibility for software interactions. Support staff rapidly
+renounce all knowledge of (and usually interest in) problems that
+arise from interactions because there are just too many possibilities.
+So it's easy to imagine sophisticated programmers, let alone ordinary
+users, being unable to unravel how even a small group of bots reached
+a particular state autonomously. The challenge will be unfathomable
+if, as one research group has it, we can "anticipate a scenario in
+which billions of intelligent agents will roam the virtual world,
+handling all levels of simple to complex negotiations and transactions.
+ If human agents are confused with digital ones, if human action is
+taken as mere information processing, and if the social complexities of
+negotiation, delegation, and representation are reduced to "when x, do y,"
+bots will end up with autonomy without accountability. Their owners, by
+contrast, may have accountability without control.
+ -- John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, in "The Social Life of Information"
+~
+Life does not consist mainly--or even largely--of facts and
+happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that
+is forever blowing through one's head.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side?
+And ain't that a big enough majority in any town?
+ -- Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn
+~
+ Every other country scorns American materialism while striving in
+every big and little way to match it. Envy obviously has something to do
+with it, but there is a true basis for this debate, and it is whether
+America is in its ascendance or its decline.
+ I myself think I recognize here several of the symptoms that Edward
+Gibbons maintained were signs of the decline of Rome, and which arose not
+from external enemies but from inside the country itself. A mounting love
+of show and luxury. A widening gap between the very rich and the very poor.
+An obsession with sex. Freakishness in the arts masquerading as
+originality, and enthusiasm pretending to creativeness...
+ There is, too, the general desire to live off the state, whether it
+is a junkie on welfare or an airline subsidized by the government: in a
+word, the notion that Washington -- Big Daddy -- will provide. And, most
+disturbing of all, a developing moral numbness to vulgarity, violence, and
+the assault on the simplest human decencies.
+ Yet the original institutions of this country still have great
+vitality: the Republic can be kept, but only if we care to keep it. Much of
+the turmoil in America springs from the energy of people who are trying to
+apply those institutions to forgotten minorities who have awakened after a
+long sleep.
+ As I see it, in this country -- a land of the most persistent
+idealism and the blandest cynicism -- the race is on between its decadence
+and its vitality. There are the woes, which we share with the world, that
+you can see from your window: overpopulation; the pollution of the
+atmosphere, the cities and the rivers; the destruction of nature. I find it
+impossible to believe that a nation that produced such dogged and ingenious
+humans as Jefferson and Eli Whitney, John Deere and Ford, Kettering and
+Oppenheimer and Edison and Franklin, is going to sit back and let the worst
+happen. There is now a possibility, at least, that nuclear energy can help
+us to cure incurable diseases, to preserve our food indefinitely, and
+through breeder reactors, which renew more power in the act of spending it,
+can actually clean the cities and, let us pray, the oceans. And that would
+take us over a historical watershed that none of us has ever conceived.
+ -- Alistair Cooke
+~
+There are some enterprises in which a careful
+disorderliness is the true method.
+ -- Herman Melville
+~
+The dollar bills the customer gets from the tellers in four banks
+are the same. What is different are the tellers.
+ -- Stanley Marcus
+~
+ I grew up in the last days of the British Empire. My childhood fell
+in that era when the words 'imperialism' and 'the West' had not yet acquired
+the connotations they have today -- they had not yet become, that is, mere
+synonyms for 'racism,' 'oppression,' and 'exploitation'.
+ Or, at any rate, they had not yet become so among the intellectual,
+professional, and governing classes of Egypt. In Cairo it was entirely
+ordinary, among those classes, to grow up speaking English or French or
+both, and quite ordinary to attend an English or French school. It was taken
+for granted among the people who raised us that there was unquestionably
+much to admire in and learn from the civilization of Europe and the great
+strides that Europe had made in human advancement. No matter that the
+European powers were politically oppressive and indeed blatantly unjust; nor
+did it seem to matter that the very generation which raised us were
+themselves locked in struggle with the British for Egypt's political
+independence. There seemed to be no contradiction for them between pursuing
+independence from the European powers and deeply admiring European
+institutions, particularly democracy, and Europe's tremendous scientific
+breakthroughs.
+ -- Leila Ahmed, from "A Border Passage: From Cairo to America--
+ A Woman's Journey"
+~
+the only possible mental bases for racism must ultimately be ignorance
+or stupidity or both. it's only a little-minded weak person that has to
+feel superior to another person just because of their skin color or
+nationality. but i try not to in turn feel superior to racists; i find
+only sadness for them instead. by imagining them trapped inside such an
+awful and constraining mental prison, my compassion is evoked for these
+confused folks.
+~
+Things are in the saddle, and ride mankind.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat
+in a tree. "Which road do I take?" she asked. His response was
+a question: "Where do you want to go?" "I don't know," Alice
+answered. "Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
+ -- Lewis Carroll
+~
+It's not true that life is one damn thing after another--
+it's one damn thing over and over.
+ -- Edna St. Vincent Millay
+~
+Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood. If your stomach
+disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts. Keep
+the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move. Go
+very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society. The
+social life ain't restful. Avoid running at all times. Don't
+look back. Something may be gaining on you.
+ -- Leroy "Satchel" Paige, from his autobiography,
+ "How To Stay Young."
+~
+Facts are all accidents. They all might have been different.
+They all may become different. They all may collapse together.
+ -- George Santayana
+~
+A word is dead
+When it is said,
+Some say.
+
+I say it just
+Begins to live that day.
+ -- Emily Dickinson
+~
+Thinking about it the other day, I realized that some of my unhappiest moments
+have been in organizations. Somehow it seems to be quite respectable to do
+things in organizations that you would never do in private life. I have had
+people insult me to my face in front of colleagues. I have had my feelings
+rammed down my throat on the pretext that it would do me good and have been
+required to do things which I didn't agree with because the organization wished
+it... In my worst moments I have thought that organizations were places
+designed to be run by sadists and staffed by masochists....
+ -- Charles Handy
+~
+The best organizations to be in, it seems, are the busiest ones as long
+as they are busy for someone else. The worst are those that are obsessed
+with their own innards... The healthiest are those which exist for others,
+not for themselves. Show me a business or a school or a church that is
+preoccupied with its customers or clients, determined to do its best for them
+and not just to survive for the sake of surviving, and I'll bet you that they
+don't have time for too many committees, for forms, for politicking or for
+nitpicking about mistakes. Those are the organizations which are fun to be
+in, which give you room to be yourself, to express yourself, to grow.
+ -- Charles Handy
+~
+The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
+ -- William James
+~
+Life is the process of finding out, too late, everything
+that should have been obvious at the time.
+ -- John D. MacDonald
+~
+If work was a good thing the rich would have it all
+and not let you do it.
+ -- Elmore Leonard
+~
+Any law that takes hold of a man's daily life cannot prevail
+in a community, unless the vast majority of the community are
+actively in favor of it. The laws that are the most operative
+are the laws which protect life.
+ -- Henry Ward Beecher
+~
+The graveyard is full of indispensable men.
+ -- Charles de Gaulle
+~
+I read about an Eskimo hunter who asked the local missionary
+priest, "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?"
+"No," said the priest, "not if you did not know."
+"Then why," asked the Eskimo earnestly, "did you tell me?"
+ -- Annie Dillard
+~
+ The day came when Grandmother couldn't keep all her stuff in the two
+tiny rooms to which she was finally reduced. So she packed everything
+she didn't need into enormous shopping bags and took off for the bank
+in the center of the city where she kept her account, by then down to
+a few pennies. Her husband had started the bank and had been its
+chairman until he died, and she was still treated with the consideration
+due his widow. But when she appeared with her shopping bags and asked
+to have the contents put on her account, the manager balked. "We can't
+put things on an account," he said, "only money."
+ "That's mean and ungrateful of you," said Grandmother, "you only do
+this to me because I am a stupid old woman."
+ And she promptly closed her account and drew out the balance. Then
+she went down the street to the nearest branch of the same bank, reopened
+her account there, and never said a word about her shopping bags.
+ "Grandmother," we'd say, "if you thought the bank was unfriendly why
+did you reopen your account at another branch?"
+ "It's a good bank," she said; "after all, my late husband founded it."
+ "Then why not demand that the manager at the new branch take your
+stuff?"
+ "I never banked there before. He didn't owe me anything."
+ -- Peter Drucker, "Adventures of a Bystander"
+~
+Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.
+ -- unknown
+~
+Writing about music is like dancing about architecture--
+it's a really stupid thing to want to do.
+ -- Elvis Costello, in an interview by Timothy White entitled
+ "A Man out of Time Beats the Clock." Musician magazine
+ No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52.
+~
+The pressures for upscale consumption, and the work schedules
+that go along with it, created millions of exhausted, stressed-
+out people who started wondering if the cycle of work and spend
+was really worth it. And some concluded that it wasn't. So
+they started downshifting, reducing their hours of work and, in
+the process, earning and spending less money. Downshifters are
+opting out of excessive consumerism, choosing to have more
+leisure and balance in their schedules, a slower pace of life,
+more time with their kids, more meaningful work, and daily lives
+that line up squarely with their deepest values. These are not
+just fast-track yuppies leaving $200,000 jobs in Manhattan to
+settle in Montana, although there are plenty of those.
+Downshifters can be found at all income levels, from the
+comfortable suburbanites whose homes are paid for, to those who
+are counting every penny, resigned to the fact that they'll never
+own a home. Their jobs were leaving them drained, depressed, or
+wondering what life is all about. Now they may not have as much
+money, but they are spending every day answering that all-
+important question.
+ -- Juliet B. Schor
+~
+The right to be let alone--the most comprehensive of rights and
+the right most valued by civilized men.
+ -- Louis D. Brandeis
+~
+The need to reach better mutual understanding through dialogue
+is strong in all sectors of society, but in none more than the
+business community. The growth of technology, the increase in
+the number of knowledge workers, and the blurring of boundaries
+of all kinds are transforming relationships at all levels of
+business. The traditional top-down style of leadership in a
+fortress-type company semi-isolated from others is increasingly
+out of vogue. It is being replaced by what I have come to
+think of as "relational leadership," where the defining task of
+leaders is developing webs of relationships with others rather
+than handing down visions, strategies, and plans as if they
+were commandments from the mountaintop.
+ -- Daniel Yankelovich, "The Magic of Dialogue"
+~
+Life is one long process of getting tired.
+ -- Samuel Butler
+~
+Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can
+recalled and perhaps remedied.
+ -- Pearl S. Buck
+~
+ Fortunately, many teachers intuitively know that the best way to
+achieve their goals is to enlist students' interest on their side.
+They do this by being sensitive to students' goals and desires, and
+they are thus able to articulate the pedagogical goals as meaningful
+challenges. They empower students to take control of their learning;
+they provide clear feedback to the students' efforts without
+threatening their egos and without making them self-conscious. They
+help students concentrate and get immersed in the symbolic world of
+the subject matter. As a result, good teachers still turn out
+children who enjoy learning, and who will continue to face the world
+with curiosity and interest.
+ It is to be hoped that with time the realization that children
+are not miniature computing machines will take root in educational
+circles, and more attention will be paid to motivational issues.
+Unless this comes to pass, the current problems we are having with
+education are not likely to go away.
+ -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, from "Creativity: Flow and Psychology
+ of Discovery and Invention"
+~
+The more human beings proceed by plan the more effectively they may
+be hit by accident.
+ -- Friedrich Duerrenmatt
+~
+We never see what's under our feet;
+we're too busy trying to see
+what's in the stars.
+ -- Quintus Ennius
+~
+Paradoxes have played a dramatic role in intellectual history,
+often foreshadowing revolutionary developments in science,
+mathematics, and logic. Whenever, in any discipline, we discover
+a problem that cannot be solved within the conceptual framework
+that supposedly should apply, we experience shock. The shock may
+compel us to discard the old framework and adopt a new one. It
+is to this process of intellectual molting that we owe the birth
+of many of the major ideas in mathematics and science. Zeno's
+paradox of Achilles and the tortoise gave birth to the idea of
+convergent infinite series. 'Antinomies' (internal contradictions
+in mathematical logic) eventually blossomed into Godel's theorem.
+The paradoxical result of the Michelson-Morley experiment on the
+speed of light set the stage for the theory of relativity. The
+discovery of wave-particle duality of light forced a reexamination
+of deterministic causality, the very foundation of scientific
+philosophy, and led to quantum mechanics.
+ -- Anatol Rapoport
+~
+Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the
+greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.
+ -- Charles Caleb Colton
+~
+More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads.
+One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness.
+The other, to total extinction.
+Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+Some books are undeservedly forgotten;
+none are undeservedly remembered.
+ -- W. H. Auden
+~
+Every age is fed on illusions, lest men should renounce
+life early and the human race come to an end.
+ -- Joseph Conrad
+~
+ Why is autobiography the most popular form of nonfiction
+for modern readers? Why are so many people moved to write their
+life stories today? And what is it about the genre that makes
+it appeal to readers not just in the Western world, but also in
+non-Western cultures, like those of Japan and India or the many
+cultures of Africa?...
+ What makes the reading of autobiography so appealing is the
+chance it offers to see how this man or that woman whose public
+self interests us has negotiated the problem of self-awareness
+and has broken the internalized code a culture supplies about
+how life should be experienced. Most of us, unless faced with
+emotional illness, don't give our inner life scripts a fraction
+of the attention we give to the plots of movies or TV specials
+about some person of prominence. Yet the need to examine our
+inherited scripts is just beneath the surface of consciousness,
+so that while we think we are reading a gripping story, what
+really grips us is the inner reflection on our own lives the
+autobiographer sets in motion.
+ -- Jill Ker Conway
+~
+Philosophy is a game with objectives and no rules.
+Mathematics is a game with rules and no objectives.
+ -- Unknown
+~
+The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working
+the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop
+until you get into the office.
+ -- Robert Frost
+~
+We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any
+in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the
+difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don't know
+anything and can't read.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+If you start to think about your physical or moral condition,
+you usually find that you are sick.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+A modest man is usually admired--if people ever hear of him.
+ -- Edgar Watson Howe
+~
+ Modern housekeeping, despite its bad press, is among the most
+thoroughly pleasant, significant, and least alienated forms of work
+that many of us will encounter even if we are blessed with work
+outside the home that we like. Once, it was so physically onerous
+and arduous that it not infrequently contributed to a woman's total
+physical breakdown. Today, laundry, cleaning, and other household
+chores are by and large physically light or moderate work that doctors
+often recommend to people for their health, as evidence shows that
+housework is good for weight control and healthy hearts.
+ Seen from the outside, housework can look like a Sisyphean task
+that gives you no sense of reward or completion. Yet housekeeping
+actually offers more opportunities for savoring achievement than
+almost any other work I can think of. Each of its regular routines
+brings satisfaction when it is completed. These routines echo the
+rhythm of life, and the housekeeping rhythm is the rhythm of the body.
+You get satisfaction not only from the sense of order, cleanliness,
+freshness, peace and plenty restored, but from the knowledge that you
+yourself and those you care about are going to enjoy these benefits.
+ -- Cheryl Mendelson
+~
+I'll tell you what it's like to be No. 1. I compare it to climbing
+Mount Everest. It's very difficult. Lives are lost along the way.
+You struggle and struggle and finally you get up there. And guess
+what there is once you get up there? Snow and ice.
+ -- David Merrick
+~
+Never ask a person what to do, always tell him or her.
+If it's the wrong thing to do, or if there is a better way,
+they'll come back and tell you. But if you don't tell them
+what to do, they won't do anything but make a study.
+ -- Eugenia Schwartzwald
+~
+ War, it seems to me, after a lifetime of reading about the subject,
+mingling with men of war, visiting the sites of war and observing its
+effects, may well be ceasing to commend itself to human beings as a
+desirable or productive, let alone rational, means of reconciling their
+discontents. This is not mere idealism. Mankind does have the capacity,
+over time, to correlate the costs and benefits of large and universal
+undertakings.
+ Throughout much of the time for which we have a record of human
+behaviour, mankind can clearly be seen to have judged that war's benefits
+outweighed its costs, or appeared to do so when a putative balance was
+struck. Now the computation works in the opposite direction. Costs
+clearly exceed benefits. Some of these costs are material. The
+superinflationary expense of weapon procurement distorts the budgets even
+of the richest states, while poor states deny themselves the chance of
+economic emancipation when they seek to make themselves militarily
+formidable.
+ The human costs of actually going to war are even higher. Rich
+states, as between themselves, recognize that they are not to be borne.
+Poor states which fall into war with rich states are overwhelmed and
+humiliated. Poor states which fight each other, or are drawn into civil
+war, destroy their own well being, and even the structures which make
+recovery from the experience of war possible. War truly has become a
+scourge, as was disease throughout most of human history. The scourge
+of disease has, almost within living memory, been very largely defeated
+and, though it is true that disease had no friends as war has had friends,
+war now demands a friendship which can only be paid in false coin.
+ A world political economy which makes no room for war demands, it
+must be recognized, a new culture of human relations. As most cultures of
+which we have knowledge were transfused by the warrior spirit, such a
+cultural transformation demands a break with the past for which there are
+no precedents. There is no precedent, however, for the menace with which
+future war now confronts the world.
+ -- John Keegan, "A History of Warfare"
+~
+Creditors are a superstitious sect,
+great observers of set days and times.
+ -- Benjamin Franklin, "Poor Richard's Almanack"
+~
+ Despite the abundant evidence that compassion is a basic
+human trait, the view has long prevailed that human beings are
+either heartless or brutal toward most of their fellows. Every
+compendium of familiar quotations has an abundance of statements
+like "The greatest enemy to man is man" (Robert Burton) but
+almost none like "Precious is man to man" (Thomas Carlyle).
+Altruism research attests that kindness is as integral to human
+nature as cruelty, yet in the news and in the historical record
+cruel acts vastly outnumber kind ones.
+ Why are we keenly aware of the despicable in us but largely
+insensible of the admirable? Not, I suggest, because the
+despicable is common and the admirable rare but the very reverse.
+Prosocial behavior of all sorts, including altruism, is so normal
+and expected that we scarcely notice it but are struck by its
+absence or opposite. We see nothing unusual in a passerby's
+helping a fallen elderly person to his feet but are surprised and
+disturbed if the passerby ignores him. We expect people to be
+kind and helpful to a stranger in distress; we are startled and
+troubled when they look away and hurry past. Cruelty is
+attention-getting, kindness unremarkable, and so we agree with
+Seneca that "man delights to ruin man" and with William James that
+"of all the beasts of prey... [man is] the only one that preys
+systematically on its own species".
+ -- Morton Hunt, "The Compassionate Beast"
+~
+Life is all memory, except for the one present moment
+that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going.
+ -- Tennessee Williams
+~
+ There are serious reasons members of my generation are feeling a high
+level of anxiety and unhappiness these days, but it is interesting to look
+at how we "know" this: the polls. I used to like polls because I like vox
+pop, and polls seemed a good way to get a broad sampling. But now I think
+the vox has popped--the voice has cracked from too many command performances.
+Polls are contributing to a strange new volatility in public opinion...
+ The dramatic rises and drops are fueled in part by mass media and their
+famous steady drumbeat of what's not working, from an increase in reported
+child abuse to a fall in savings. When this tendency is not prompted by
+ideology it is legitimate: good news isn't news. But the volatility is also
+driven by the polls themselves. People think they have to have an answer
+when they are questioned by pollsters, and they think the answer has to be
+"intelligent" and "not naive". This has the effect of hardening opinions
+that haven't even been formed yet. Poll questions do not invite subtlety or
+response. This dispels ambiguity, when a lot of thoughts and opinions are
+ambiguous.
+ And we are polled too often. We are constantly having our temperature
+taken, like a hypochondriac who is looking for the reassurance no man can
+have, i.e., that he will not die... Nations that use polls as daily
+temperature readings inevitably give inauthentic readings, and wind up not
+reassured but demoralized.
+ -- Peggy Noonan
+~
+The chief object of education is
+not to learn things but to unlearn things.
+ -- G. K. Chesterton
+~
+When a subject becomes totally obsolete we make it a required course.
+ -- Peter Drucker
+~
+He will kill mice and he will be kind to babies...
+but when the moon gets up and the night comes, he is
+the Cat that Walks by Himself.
+ -- Rudyard Kipling
+~
+Everyone is a prisoner of his own prejudices.
+No one can eliminate prejudices--just recognize them.
+ -- Edward R. Murrow
+~
+I am the least difficult of men.
+All I want is boundless love.
+ -- Frank O'Hara
+~
+If you can't say anything good about someone, sit right here by me.
+ -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth
+~
+Let's face it, life is mainly wasted time.
+ -- John Berryman
+~
+Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!
+ -- Mother Jones
+~
+Time spent with cats is never wasted.
+ -- Colette
+~
+ Most of us find ourselves at one time or another in a toy shop,
+looking for a gift for a child. Those of us who have not been in such
+stores since our youth can easily be bewildered, especially if we were
+born before the 1960s. Our favorite toys or games--fire engines,
+Tinkertoys, or baby dolls--have disappeared or are hidden in row after
+row of heroic fighters, fashion dolls, and exotic stuffed animals. The
+more practical of us enter the store with a list of items desired by
+the child--this season's action figure, the newest Barbie, or the
+latest video game. Veteran toy shoppers may enjoy the inevitable
+transformations as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles give way to Mighty
+Morphin Power Rangers and Locket Surprise Barbie to Tropic Splash
+Barbie. But equally we may be appalled to think about the dozens of
+Ninja Turtles that an older boy just had to have a year earlier but
+that were then shunned by a younger brother who just had to have Power
+Rangers. Why don't kids pass down their toys as we remember giving our
+building blocks and dollhouses to our younger brothers and sisters? It
+is easy to wonder whether each year's must-have toys are really for
+children's play or whether their ever-changing forms represent other
+forces at work.
+ There have been disturbing changes in the making of playthings in
+the last few decades. Since the late 1960s many old toy companies,
+venerated for manufacturing toys passed from one generation to the
+next, have disappeared...
+ A tradition of manufacturing boys' construction and science sets
+promised parents that their children would be preparing to join the
+adult world of engineering, industry, and science... The old kitchen
+play sets, dollhouses, and baby dolls that were to teach girls the arts
+of housekeeping and childcare are also less in evidence today. Toys
+that seem to prepare children for adult life have become harder to
+find.
+ The ever-expanding toy industry reflects a general American
+commitment to unrestrained markets and to constant change, a commitment
+at least a century old. Americans have long admired the new and have
+enriched those who produce it. For decades American parents have
+enjoyed sharing the world of consumption with their offspring. At
+first they did so knowing that they ultimately mediated between toys
+and their children. When the floodgates were opened and torrents of
+toys were presented directly to kids, parents found themselves merely
+providers of funds to buy toys.
+ -- Gary Cross, "Kids' Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American
+ Childhood."
+~
+Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must
+do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets.
+ -- Henry Ford
+~
+If you assign people duties without granting
+them any rights, you must pay them well.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+It is far easier to write ten passable effective sonnets,
+good enough to take in the not too inquiring critic,
+than one effective advertisement that will take in a few
+thousand of the uncritical buying public.
+ -- Aldous Huxley
+~
+tail end of the day
+work escapes my fat fingers
+like greasy wieners
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent.
+Its sale is proof of utility and utility is success.
+ -- Thomas Alva Edison
+~
+Our lives are suspended like our planet in gimbals of duality,
+half sunlight and half shadow. If we plead with nature, it is
+in vain; she is wonderfully indifferent to our fate, and it is
+her custom to try everything and to be ruthless with incompetence.
+Ninety-nine percent of all the species that have lived on Earth
+have died away, and no stars will wink out in tribute if we in
+our folly soon join them.
+ -- Timothy Ferris
+~
+It is characteristic of the present time always to be conscious
+of the medium. It is almost bound to end in madness, like a man
+who whenever he looked at the sun and the stars was conscious of
+the world going round.
+ -- Kierkegaard
+~
+The vanity of man revolts from the serene indifference of the cat.
+ -- Agnes Repplier
+~
+There are two means of refuge from the
+miseries of life: music and cats.
+ -- Albert Schweitzer
+~
+Open source should be about giving away things voluntarily.
+When you force someone to give you something, it's no longer
+giving, it's stealing. Persons of leisurely moral growth
+often confuse giving with taking.
+ -- Larry Wall
+~
+Stripped of ethical rationalizations and philosophical
+pretensions, a crime is anything that a group in power
+chooses to prohibit.
+ -- Freda Adler
+~
+People are more violently opposed to fur than
+leather because it's safer to harass rich women
+than motorcycle gangs.
+ -- Anonymous
+~
+A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't
+change the subject.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+Do not criticize your government when out of the
+country. Never cease to do so when at home.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+Some civil servants are neither servants nor civil.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+Golf is a game whose sole aim is to hit a very small
+ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons
+singularly ill designed for that purpose.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+If it is a blessing, it is certainly very well disguised.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+Some people's idea of free speech is that they are free
+to say anything they like, but if anyone says anything
+back, that is an outrage.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is
+prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another
+matter.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+If you destroy a free market you create a black market.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy
+all respect for the law.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at
+without result.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+It is a socialist ideal that making profits is a vice.
+I consider the real vice is making losses.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some.
+ -- Benjamin Franklin
+~
+The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
+ -- Gerard Manley Hopkins
+~
+The sounder your argument, the more satisfaction you get out of it.
+ -- Edward W. Howe
+~
+ Expertise, it may be argued, sacrifices the insight of common sense
+to intensity of experience. It breeds an inability to accept new views from
+the very depth of its preoccupation with its won conclusions. It too often
+fails to see round its subject. It sees its results out of perspective by
+making them the centre of relevance to which all other results must be
+related. Too often, also, it lacks humility; and this breeds in its
+possessors a failure in proportion which makes them fail to see the obvious
+which is before their very noses. It has, also, a certain caste-spirit about
+it, so that experts tend to neglect all evidence which does not come from
+those who belong to their own ranks.
+ Above all, perhaps, and this most urgently when human problems are
+concerned, the expert fails to see that every judgment he makes not purely
+factual in nature brings with it a scheme of values which has no special
+validity about it. He tends to confuse the importance of his facts with the
+importance of what he proposes to do about them.
+ -- Harold J. Laski, "The Limitations of the Expert"
+~
+If women are to do the same work as men,
+we must teach them the same things.
+ -- Plato
+~
+Dogs may fawn on all and some
+As they come;
+You, a friend of loftier mind,
+Answer friends alone in kind;
+Just your foot upon my hand
+Softly bids it understand.
+ -- Algernon Charles Swinburne
+~
+The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+The machine does not isolate man from the great problems
+of nature but plunges him more deeply into them.
+ -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
+~
+Today in USA Today, experts were quoted as saying that the breakup of
+Microsoft would result in shoddy products and missed deadlines...
+
+And Microsoft is worrying about being able to do business as usual.
+~
+The justice department has released its recommendations on
+names for the two parts of Microsoft, post split:
+
+MICROS~1 and MICROS~2
+~
+I think we should partition Microsoft into an OS company
+(called "C:") and an apps company ("D:"). Then we should
+blow away both partitions....
+ -- Doug Steinfeld
+~
+Microsoft has argued in court that the US government's plan
+to break up the company is "defective in numerous respects,
+making the document vague and ambiguous."
+
+In which respect it's much like Microsoft's documentation.
+~
+Immediately after the announcement by Judge Penfield of splitting
+the company in two, Microsoft sued Micro.Com Specialists, LLC, and
+Software Research, Inc. (owners of www.soft.com) for infringement
+of copyrights and cyber-squatting.
+~
+your brain will enlarge as necessary. just don't get angry or
+confused or scared or sad, if possible... you'll be amazed at
+what that blob of cells is capable of.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+If you like laws and sausage, you should
+never watch either being made.
+ -- Otto von Bismarck
+~
+The most happy marriage I can picture or imagine to myself
+would be the union of a deaf man to a blind woman.
+ -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
+~
+A doctor can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only
+advise his clients to plant vines.
+ -- Frank Lloyd Wright
+~
+He taught me housekeeping; when I divorce I keep the house.
+ -- Zsa Zsa Gabor, speaking of her ex-husband
+~
+There is really no such thing as bad weather,
+only different kinds of good weather.
+ -- John Ruskin
+~
+She's not a babe. She's a sophisticated real-time computer system.
+ -- Spokesman for Ananova, a virtual news anchor
+~
+The man who laughs has not yet been told the terrible news.
+ -- Berthold Brecht
+~
+I am easily satisfied with the very best.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+Uncertainty and expectations are the joys of life.
+Security is an insipid thing, and the overtaking and
+possessing of a wish, discovers the folly of the chase.
+ -- William Congreve
+~
+ Sleep is simply not dispensable, regardless of the attempts in
+today's society to treat it as if it were simply unproductive 'downtime'.
+The desire to get more sleep is not a sign of laziness, nor does it
+represent a lack of ambition. The need for sleep is real...
+ When we try to sleep less than the 8-hour minimum, things start to
+deteriorate. First of all, the effects of less than 8 hours of sleep a
+night seem to accumulate as a sleep debt. If you lose 2 hours today and 2
+hours tomorrow, on the third day your efficiency is as low as if you had
+lost 4 hours in one night. This is the way our sleep debt builds up.
+Eventually, if the sleep debt becomes large enough, we become slow, clumsy,
+stupid, and, possibly, dead. This is not an exaggeration. Remember, the
+national death rate by accidents jumps 6 percent as a result of simply
+losing 1 hour of sleep as we shift to daylight savings time in the spring...
+ Perhaps someday society will act to do something about sleepiness.
+It may even come to pass that someday the person who drives or goes to work
+while sleepy will be viewed as being as reprehensible, dangerous, or even
+criminally negligent as the person who drives or goes to work while drunk.
+If so, perhaps the rest of us can all sleep a little bit more soundly.
+ -- Stanley Coren
+~
+You haven't lived until you've lived with a cat.
+ -- Doris Day
+~
+When you appeal to force, there's one thing you must never do--lose.
+ -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
+~
+It is because the body is a machine that education is possible.
+Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an
+artificial organization upon the natural organization of the body.
+ -- Thomas H. Huxley
+~
+ If someone asks you, "Where do you live?" you are likely to answer
+with the name of a neighborhood, or a nearby geographic landmark. But if you
+give the question a sharper focus and ask yourself "And do I really live
+there?" then the answer becomes more vexing. Most of us can't claim to
+really live in the neighborhoods where we sleep. Few of us have the time to
+take part in the life of the community, and in many cases there is no
+community life to take part in. To varying degrees many of us can say of
+our neighborhoods what Gertrude Stein said of Oakland: "There is no _there_
+there."
+ Bodenstandigkeit is German philosopher Martin Heidegger's term for
+the sense of being rooted in a place. It is this connection to a place that
+grounds us in Being, Heidegger claimed, and even if you don't buy into the
+existential mumbo-jumbo, it's not hard to understand the underlying insight:
+People who have no rootedness to a place are tumbleweeds, blown about on the
+currents of the zeitgeist. You have to be somebody, from somewhere, to know
+who you are.
+ -- Jeremy Iggers
+~
+You don't understand anything until you learn it more than one way.
+ -- Marvin Minsky
+~
+When you confer spiritual authority on another person, you
+must realize that you are allowing them to pick your pocket
+and sell you your own watch.
+ -- Alan Watts
+~
+What then is the education to be? Perhaps we could hardly find a
+better answer than that which the experience of the past has already
+discovered--which consists, I believe, in gymnastic for the body and
+music for the mind.
+ -- Plato
+~
+The word 'genius' isn't applicable in football.
+A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.
+ -- Joe Theisman, NFL quarterback
+~
+Sometimes the only way you can feel good about yourself is by making
+someone else look bad. And I'm tired of making other people feel good
+about themselves.
+ -- Homer Simpson
+~
+I was determined to know beans.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+Today, the notion of a star-spangled melting pot seems quaint,
+of another age. Increasingly, America is a fractured landscape,
+its people partitioned into dozens of cultural enclaves, its
+ideals reflected through differing prisms of experience. And
+this fracturing is likely to continue as the self-concept of
+America shifts from a majority white-minority black nation to
+a pluralistic society of many ethnic and racial groups. At the
+close of what's been called the American Century, during which
+the nation emerged as the dominant world power in commerce and
+politics, old myths are dying hard and new ones are just being
+forged. In this clustered world, the national identity is
+changing, and most of us don't even know it. Forget the melting
+pot. America today would be better characterized as a salad bar.
+ -- Michael J. Weiss
+~
+Personally, I'm always ready to learn,
+although I do not always like being taught.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+The Constitution only gives people the right to
+pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
+ -- Ben Franklin
+~
+Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when
+you fall down an open manhole and die.
+ -- Mel Brooks
+~
+As a general rule, the most successful man in
+life is the man who has the best information.
+ -- Benjamin Disraeli
+~
+It is one of the blessings of old friends that
+you can afford to be stupid with them.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+A child of five would understand this.
+Send someone to fetch a child of five.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns
+on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+I've had a perfectly wonderful evening.
+But this wasn't it.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+Those are my principles, and if you don't like
+them... well, I have others.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+When I picked up your book I was so convulsed with laughter
+that I had to set it down, but one day I intend to read it.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+Some people claim that marriage interferes with romance.
+There's no doubt about it. Anytime you have a romance,
+your wife is bound to interfere.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+God has made the cat to give man the
+pleasure of caressing the tiger.
+ -- Victor Hugo
+~
+We are not without accomplishment. We have
+managed to distribute poverty equally.
+ -- Nguyen Co Thatch, Vietnamese Foreign
+~
+Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be
+always cast. In the pool where you least expect
+it, will be a fish.
+ -- Ovid
+~
+If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is
+because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music
+which he hears, however measured or far away.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+The difficulty is to try and teach the multitude that something can
+be true and untrue at the same time.
+ -- Arthur Schopenhauer
+~
+God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+People often applaud an imitation and then sneer at the real thing.
+ -- Aesop
+~
+A thought which does not result
+in an action is nothing much,
+and an action which does not proceed
+from a thought is nothing at all.
+ -- Georges Bernanos
+~
+given that:
+
+Security holes are only software bugs when
+one of the software's requirements is security.
+
+we wonder:
+
+do outlook, internet explorer and, indeed, windows
+itself have 'bugs'? because that would indicate
+that microsoft has a requirement of security...
+it seems more likely that any security problems are just
+a by-product of the microsoft swiss cheese development
+methodology(tm)... if it doesn't stink and have a lot
+of holes, then it's not from microsoft.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+The biggest fool in the world is he who merely does his work
+supremely well, without attending to appearance.
+ -- Michael Korda
+~
+Now and then there is a person born who is so unlucky that he runs
+into accidents which started out to happen to somebody else.
+ -- Don Marquis
+~
+Daydreaming does not enjoy tremendous prestige in our culture,
+which tends to regard it as unproductive thought. Writers
+perhaps appreciate its importance better than most, since a
+fair amount of what they call work consists of little more
+than daydreaming edited. Yet anyone who reads for pleasure
+should prize it too, for what is reading a good book but a
+daydream at second hand? Unlike any other form of thought,
+daydreaming is its own reward. For regardless of the result
+(if any), the very process of daydreaming is pleasurable.
+And, I would guess, is probably a psychological necessity.
+For isn't it in our daydreams that we acquire some sense of
+what we are about? Where we try on futures and practice our
+voices before committing ourselves to words or deeds?
+Daydreaming is where we go to cultivate the self, or, more
+likely, selves, out of the view and earshot of other people.
+Without its daydreams, the self is apt to shrink down to the
+size and shape of the estimation of others.
+ -- Michael Pollan
+~
+Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe,
+a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride,
+and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently
+regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are
+entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and
+vagaries of the crowd.
+ -- Dame Edith Sitwell
+~
+There are times when I think that the ideal library is
+composed solely of reference books. They are like
+understanding friends--always ready to change the subject
+when you have had enough of this or that.
+ -- J. Donald Adams
+~
+Mothers, fathers, aren't supposed to change, any more than
+they are supposed to leave, or die. They must not do that.
+ -- Martin Amis
+~
+The greatest obstacle to discovery is not
+ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge.
+ -- Daniel J. Boorstin
+~
+Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing.
+Nobody listens--and then everybody disagrees.
+ -- Boris Marshalov
+~
+All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song.
+ -- Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong
+~
+Creative minds have always been known
+to survive any kind of bad training.
+ -- Anna Freud
+~
+Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.
+ -- Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower
+~
+I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry.
+That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste.
+ -- David Bissonette
+~
+I married the first man I ever kissed.
+When I tell my children that they just about throw up.
+ -- Barbara Bush
+~
+The trouble with some women is they get all excited
+about nothing--and then they marry him.
+ -- Cher
+~
+Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people
+who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm.
+But the harm does not interest them.
+ -- T. S. Eliot
+~
+When you're finished changing, you're finished.
+ -- Benjamin Franklin
+~
+It is time we start searching for the fountain of age, time that
+we stop denying our growing older and look at the actuality of our
+own experience, and that of other women and men who have gone
+beyond denial to a new place in their sixties, seventies, eighties.
+It is time to look at age on its own terms, and put names on its
+values and strengths as they are actually experienced, breaking
+through the definition of age solely as deterioration or decline
+from youth. Only then will we see that the problem is not age
+itself, to be denied or warded off as long as possible, that the
+problem is not those increasing numbers of people living beyond
+sixty-five, to be segregated from the useful, valuable, pleasurable
+activities of society so that the rest of us can keep our illusion
+of staying forever young. Nor is the basic political problem the
+burden on society of those forced into deterioration, second
+childhood, even senility. The problem is not how we can stay young
+forever, personally--or avoid facing society's problems politically
+by shifting them onto age. The problem is, first of all, how to
+break through the cocoon of our illusory youth and risk a new stage
+in life, where there are not prescribed role models to follow, no
+guidepost, no rigid rules or visible rewards, to step out into the
+true existential unknown of these new years of life now open to us,
+and to find our own terms for living it.
+ -- Betty Friedan
+~
+When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third
+of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and
+two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+Blessed are they who have nothing to say
+and who cannot be persuaded to say it.
+ -- James Russell Lowell
+~
+ Personal computers are less able to sense human presence
+than are modern toilets or outdoor floodlights that have simple
+motion sensors. Your inexpensive auto-focus camera has more
+intelligence about what is in front of it than any terminal or
+computer system.
+ When you lift your hands from your computer keyboard, it
+does not know whether the pause is reflective, a nature break,
+or an interruption for lunch. It cannot tell the difference
+between talking to you alone or in front of six other people.
+It does not know if you are in your night-or party clothes or
+no clothes at all. For all it knows, you could have your back
+to it while it was showing you something important, or you
+could be out of earshot altogether while it was speaking to you.
+ We think today solely from the perspective of what would
+make it easier for a person to use a computer. It may be time
+to ask what will make it easier for computers to deal with
+humans. For example, how can you possibly hold a conversation
+with people if you don't even know they are there? You can't
+see them, and you don't know how many there are. Are they
+smiling? Are they even paying attention? We talk longingly
+about human-computer interactions and conversational systems,
+and yet we are fully prepared to leave one participant in this
+dialogue totally in the dark. It is time to make computers see
+and hear.
+ -- Nicholas Negroponte
+~
+The energy produced by the breaking down of the
+atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who
+expects a source of power from the transformation
+of these atoms is talking moonshine.
+ -- Ernest Rutherford
+~
+Finance is the art of passing currency from
+hand to hand until it finally disappears.
+ -- Robert W. Sarnoff
+~
+ The scientific community speaks about its work in a cool
+and disinterested manner. To present an exciting profile
+would be unprofessional. Any excess of emotion would suggest
+a lack of neutrality and therefore a tendency to read what
+they want in the facts rather than reporting what they see.
+Scientific objectivity must therefore appear to be boring.
+ Scientists are well aware that their work is neither
+boring nor objective. If it were, very few discoveries would
+be made.
+ Social science, being falsely empirical, is triply
+obsessed by the obligation to present itself as the objective
+interpretation of observed reality. Since the more or less
+hard edges of scientific inquiry are not involved, social
+scientists are free to be more categorical about truth,
+reality and what they call facts. They therefore seek to be
+more boring than scientists.
+ -- John Ralston Saul
+~
+Despair is perfectly compatible with a good dinner, I promise you.
+ -- William M. Thackeray
+~
+A genius is someone who can do anything except make a living.
+ -- Joey Adams
+~
+If you like a man's laugh before you know anything of him,
+you may say with confidence that he is a good man.
+ -- Fyodor Dostoevski
+~
+Fortune befriends the bold.
+ -- John Dryden
+~
+Success in almost any field depends more on energy
+and drive than it does on intelligence. This explains
+why we have so many stupid leaders.
+ -- Sloan Wilson
+~
+Socialism is Bolshevism with a shave.
+ -- Detroit Journal
+~
+I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
+ -- Noel Coward
+~
+Give a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day.
+Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
+~
+It is a myth, not a mandate, a fable not a logic,
+and symbol rather than a reason by which men are moved.
+ -- Irwin Edman
+~
+Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you're on a dead horse, the best
+strategy is to dismount. Of course, there are other strategies. You
+can change riders. You can get a committee to study the dead horse.
+You can benchmark how other companies ride dead horses. You can
+declare that it's cheaper to feed a dead horse. You can harness
+several dead horses together. But after you've tried all these things,
+you're still going to have to dismount.
+ -- Gary Hamel
+~
+You think it's a conspiracy by the networks to put bad shows on TV.
+But the shows are bad because that's what people want. It's not like
+Windows users don't have any power; I think they are happy with
+Windows, and that's an incredibly depressing thought.
+ -- Steve Jobs
+~
+Coaches have to watch for what they don't want to see
+and listen to what they don't want to hear.
+ -- John Madden
+~
+Never forget the power of silence, that massively disconcerting
+pause which goes on and on and may at last induce an opponent to
+babble and backtrack nervously.
+ -- Lance Morrow
+~
+Florence Nightingale, on her kitten's reaction to an older cat:
+
+"The little one stands her ground, and when the old enemy comes near
+enough kisses his nose and makes the peace. That is the lesson of
+life: to kiss one's enemy's nose always standing one's ground."
+~
+ In the game known as Broken Telephone (or Chinese Whispers) a child
+whispers a phrase into the ear of a second child, who whispers it into
+the ear of a third child, and so one. Distortions accumulate, and when
+the last child announces the phrase, it is comically different from the
+original. The game works because each child does not merely degrade the
+phrase, which would culminate in a mumble, but reanalyzes it, making a
+best guess about the words the preceding child had in mind.
+ All languages change through the centuries. We do not speak like
+Shakespeare (1564-1616), who did not speak like Chaucer (1343-1400), who
+did not speak like the author of Beowulf (around 750-800). As the
+changes take place, people feel the ground eroding under their feet and
+in every era have predicted the imminent demise of the language. Yet
+the twelve hundred years of changes since Beowulf have not left us
+grunting like Tarzan, and that is because language change is a game of
+Broken Telephone.
+ A generation of speakers uses their lexicon and grammar to produce
+sentences. The younger generation listens to the sentences and tries to
+infer the lexicon and grammar, the remarkable feat we call language
+acquisition. The transmission of a lexicon and grammar in language
+acquisition is fairly high in fidelity -- you probably can communicate
+well with your parents and your children -- but it is never perfect.
+Words rise and fall in popularity, as the needs of daily life change, and
+also as the hip try to sound different from the dweebs and graybeards.
+Speakers swallow or warp some sounds to save effort, and enunciate or
+shift others to make themselves understood. Immigrants or conquerors
+with regional or foreign accents may swamp the locals and change the pool
+of speech available to children.
+ Children, for their part, do not mimic sentences like parrots but try
+to make sense of them in terms of underlying words and rules. They may
+hear a mumbled consonant as no consonant at all, or a drawn-out or
+mispronounced vowel as a different vowel. They may fail to discern the
+rationale for a rule and simply memorize its outputs as a list. Or they
+may latch on to some habitual way of ordering words and hypothesize a new
+rule to make sense of it. The language of their generation will have
+changed, though it need not have deteriorated. Then the process is
+repeated with their children. Each change may be small, but as changes
+accumulate over centuries they reshape the language just as erosion and
+sedimentation imperceptibly sculpt the earth.
+ -- Steven Pinker
+~
+Ideas won't keep: something must be done about them.
+ -- Alfred North Whitehead
+~
+Simple solutions seldom are. It takes a very unusual
+mind to undertake analysis of the obvious.
+ -- Alfred North Whitehead
+~
+Ninety-Ninety Rule n.
+ "The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the
+development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the
+other 90% of the development time." Attributed to Tom Cargill of
+Bell Labs, and popularized by Jon Bentley's September 1985
+"Bumper-Sticker Computer Science" column in "Communications of
+the ACM".
+ It was there called the "Rule of Credibility", a name which
+seems not to have stuck. Other maxims in the same vein include
+the law attributed to the early British computer scientist Douglas
+Hartree: "The time from now until the completion of the project
+tends to become constant."
+~
+Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
+ -- Edward Abbey
+~
+No matter how bad things get
+you got to go on living,
+even if it kills you.
+ -- Sholom Aleichem
+~
+A man's palate can, in time, become accustomed to anything.
+ -- Napoleon Bonaparte
+~
+Because they did not see merit where they should have seen it,
+people, to express their regret, will go and leave a lot of
+money to the very people who will be the first to throw stones
+at the next person who has anything to say and finds a difficulty
+in getting a hearing.
+ -- Samuel Butler
+~
+I praise loudly, I blame softly.
+ -- Catherine II of Russia
+~
+Deny yourself! You must deny yourself!
+That is the song that never ends.
+ -- Goethe
+~
+There are few more doleful sounds than the
+laughter of a man without humour.
+ -- Michael Holroyd
+~
+Children are the first to lose their innocence,
+artists the second: idiots never.
+ -- Augustus John
+~
+What is the good of being an island,
+if you are not a volcanic island?
+ -- Wyndham Lewis
+~
+Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you
+have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.
+ -- Emily Post
+~
+ Most human beings have to spend their lives in utter vulnerability.
+All are murderable and torturable, and survive only through the restraint
+shown by more powerful neighbors. All are born unequal, in terms of
+capacity or strength. All are born to the inherent frailty of the human
+condition, naked and helpless, vulnerable all through life to the will of
+others, limited by ignorance, limited by physical weakness, limited by
+fear, limited by the phobias that fear engenders.
+ For nearly three thousand years now, the political and social genius
+of what we can permissibly call 'Western man' has struggled with these
+brute facts of our unsatisfactory existence. Ever since the Hebrews
+discovered personal moral responsibility and the Greeks discovered the
+autonomy of the citizen, the effort has been made--with setbacks and
+defeats, with dark ages and interregnums and any number of irrelevant
+adventures on the side-to create a social order in which weak, fallible,
+obstinate, silly, magnificent man can maintain his dignity and exercise his
+free and responsible choice.
+ -- Adlai Stevenson
+~
+Let us work without theorizing. It's the only way to
+make life endurable.
+ -- Voltaire
+~
+At many human faults a cat
+Will never take offense:
+Two things though they cannot stand:
+The wretched Door, the horrid Fence.
+ -- Brian Aldiss
+~
+I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+[Chess is] as elaborate a waste of human intelligence
+as you can find outside an advertising agency.
+ -- Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) U.S. crime-fiction writer
+~
+Chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are
+doing something very clever when they are only wasting their time.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1960) Irish playwright, critic
+~
+Every moment in life is precious; that's why I play chess.
+ -- Joseph Siroker, coffee house chess player and guru
+~
+I don't want any yes-men around me. I want everybody
+to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs.
+ -- Samuel Goldwyn
+~
+A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can
+prove that you don't need it.
+ -- Bob Hope
+~
+Giving money and power to government is like
+giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
+ -- P. J. O'Rourke
+~
+The very moral person usually has quite good manners because good
+manners are usually some sort of basic consideration.
+ -- Louis Auchincloss
+~
+It takes little talent to see clearly what lies under one's nose,
+a good deal of it to know in which direction to point that organ.
+ -- W. H. Auden
+~
+On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], "Pray, Mr.
+Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers
+come out?" I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of
+ideas that could provoke such a question.
+ -- Charles Babbage
+~
+Knowledge and human power are synonymous.
+ -- Francis Bacon
+~
+The man who can drive himself further once the
+effort gets painful is the man who will win.
+ -- Roger Bannister
+~
+You grow up on the day you have your first real laugh at yourself.
+ -- Ethel Barrymore
+~
+I think one of the reasons I'm popular again is
+because I'm wearing a tie. You have to be different.
+ -- Tony Bennett
+~
+When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
+ -- Yogi Berra
+~
+With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half,
+and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.
+ -- Otto Von Bismarck
+~
+Humor is by far the most significant activity of the human brain.
+ -- Edward De Bono
+~
+I have discovered that we may be in some degree whatever character
+we choose. Besides, practice forms a man to anything.
+ -- James Boswell
+~
+There are no small parts, only small actors.
+ -- Marlon Brando
+~
+Charm is a way of getting the answer 'yes'
+without having asked any clear question.
+ -- Albert Camus
+~
+Instead of looking at life as a narrowing funnel, we can see it
+ever widening to choose the things we want to do, to take the
+wisdom we've learned and create something.
+ -- Liz Carpenter
+~
+Life at university, with its intellectual and inconclusive discussions
+at a postgraduate level is on the whole a bad training for the real world.
+Only men of very strong character surmount this handicap.
+ -- Paul Chambers
+~
+ The First Daily Sin is imitation. How can the network evening
+news programs be so similar? We're in a commercial, highly competitive
+struggle for viewers, and yet our solution for standing out in the
+marketplace is--do just what the competition is doing. CBS research shows
+that half the viewers of any given evening news broadcast--on CBS, NBC, or
+ABC--only watch that particular program one night a week. The implication
+is obvious: To these viewers, it doesn't make much of a difference which
+one they watch--or whether they watch at all.
+ The Second Daily Sin is predictability. How often are you surprised
+by something you see on the news?
+ The Third Daily Sin is artificiality. If you stop and really
+listen to how a typical television reporter tells a story, you'll hear how
+artificial it sounds. Even words--'pontiff' comes quickly to mind--that you
+never hear in real life. Nobody talks that way--except for us.
+ The Fourth Daily Sin is laziness. The people I work with put in
+long hours and are very devoted to their jobs. They're certainly not lazy
+in the conventional sense. But I think we've all become lazy in our
+thinking, in our reluctance to dig out original stories and come up with
+new ways to tell them.
+ The Fifth Daily Sin is oversimplification. Our audience is smarter
+and more thoughtful than a lot of us think. The people out there in America
+know that life is not as simple as what they see on the news: a world of
+heroes and villains, winners and losers, exploiters and victims. Yet that's
+what we show them, night after night.
+ The Sixth Daily Sin is hype. Can you remember the last 'story
+you'll never forget?' How about the one before that? I can't. Over the
+years we've exaggerated so much that we've eroded our own ability to convey
+what's truly significant.
+ The Seventh Daily Sin is cynicism. I think we're cynical about the
+audience and cynical about our ability to make a difference in peoples'
+lives. Journalists today are held in low esteem, but that doesn't have to
+be. Our viewers and listeners are also hungry for honest information, for
+help in coping with a bewildering world. We have an enormous opportunity to
+win our good name back--and insure our own survival in the bargain.
+ -- Andrew Heyward, President of CBS News
+~
+Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.
+ -- Benjamin Disraeli
+~
+Dr. Laura eats the Bible, live
+------------------------------
+ Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to
+people who call in to her radio show. Paramount Television Group is
+currently producing a "Dr. Laura" television show. She has become a
+convert to Judaism, and now she is Ba'al T'shuvah.
+ Recently, she made some statements about homosexuals, based on
+biblical edicts. The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura that
+was posted on the internet.
+
+--
+
+Dear Dr. Laura,
+ Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law.
+I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that
+knowledge with as many people as I can.
+ When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example,
+I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an
+abomination. End of debate.
+ Now I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the
+specific laws and how to best follow them.
+ a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates
+a pleasing odour for the Lord (Lev.1:9). The problem is my neighbours.
+They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
+ b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in
+Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair
+price for her?
+ c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in
+her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev.15:19-24). The problem is, how
+do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.
+ d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and
+female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend
+of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can
+you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
+ e) I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus
+35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated
+to kill him myself?
+ f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an
+Abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality.
+I don't agree. Can you settle this?
+ g) Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I
+have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses.
+Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
+ h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair
+around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.
+19:27. How should they die?
+ i) I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes
+me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
+ j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two
+different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments
+made of two different kinds of thread (cotton / polyester blend). He
+also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we
+go to the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them?
+(Lev. 24:10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family
+affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
+ I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident
+you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is
+eternal and unchanging.
+Your devoted disciple and adoring fan,
+Aaron
+~
+Logic, like whiskey, loses its beneficial effect
+when taken in too large quantities.
+ -- Lord Dunsany
+~
+It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+It is theory that decides what can be observed.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+ It would be too pat, perhaps, to say that modern people, men and
+women, expect the unexpected. But they certainly expect, or are inured
+to, constant change... Unquestionably, people sense constant movement,
+change, alteration, and 'progress'. Even clothes are supposed to change
+from year to year: there is this year's fashion, and last year's fashion,
+and the fashions of the year before.
+ Then there is the idea of 'news,' that is, of something novel
+happening every day, something worth reporting. Millions of people wake up
+in the morning and watch the news on television; they may also listen to
+radio news throughout the day and later catch the evening television news.
+It would be unthinkable to read in the newspapers or to hear on television
+that 'nothing much happened today.' There is always news, always something
+going on, always change. Some days bring major headlines; other days are
+quieter. But there is never no news: the message we get every day is that
+things are never exactly the same.
+ -- Lawrence M. Friedman, from "The Horizontal Society"
+~
+Education makes us more stupid than the brutes. A thousand voices
+call to us on every hand, but our ears are stopped with wisdom.
+ -- Jean Giraudoux
+~
+I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier
+to answer questions. I can't answer your question.
+ -- Presidential candidate GW Bush, in response to a question about
+ whether he wished he could take back any of his answers in the
+ first debate. Reynoldsburg, Ohio, Oct. 4, 2000
+~
+Notice the difference between what happens when a man
+says to himself, "I have failed three times," and what
+happens when he says, "I am a failure."
+ -- S. I. Hayakawa
+~
+If you always do what interests you,
+at least one person is pleased.
+ -- Katharine Hepburn
+~
+I cannot imagine a pleasant retired life of peace
+and meditation without a cat in the house.
+ -- Paul Von Hindenberg
+~
+Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of
+are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the
+past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping.
+ -- Eric Hoffer
+~
+It is cheering to see that the rats are
+still around--the ship is not sinking.
+ -- Eric Hoffer
+~
+Always keep faith in the mind of clear light and be safe!
+ -- Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ Until now, in the Western world, leisure was the exclusive
+possession of a privileged class, which took upon itself the task of
+playing on behalf of the whole overworked society. For all the injustices
+which this entailed, it can be argued that this inequality in the
+distribution of leisure gave the minority that enjoyed it a certain
+responsibility for the quality of its amusements.
+ Today our machines have turned leisure into an almost universal
+and obligatory state, one which many of us are finding enervating and even
+painful. To live free of the burden of grinding toil is the oldest of
+man's dreams. Yet no sooner has he rid himself of the accursed necessity
+of earning his living by the sweat of his brow, then he is confronted by a
+huge and alarming vacuum which -- if he is not to go mad -- must be quickly
+and entirely filled. With this new and abundant leisure come certain
+inescapable demands not to squander unimaginatively the resources that
+industrialization has opened for us. Many of us-consciously seldom, but
+unconsciously often-find this challenge so disturbing that we flee back to
+artificially strenuous work or even to war in order to escape the
+perplexities of choice presented to abundant leisure.
+ This is a problem which you, as members of the Mass Audience, will
+be sharing with hundreds of millions of your fellow citizens the world over.
+ -- John Houseman
+~
+If you want to write, keep cats.
+ -- Aldous Huxley
+~
+It is because the body is a machine that education is possible.
+Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an artificial
+organization upon the natural organization of the body.
+ -- Thomas H. Huxley
+~
+If you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it.
+ -- William James
+~
+Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of
+a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+The surest way to forfeit the esteem of a cat is to
+treat him as an inferior being.
+ -- Michael Joseph
+~
+When you learn not to want things so badly, life comes to you.
+ -- Jessica Lange
+~
+Don't tell me how hard you work.
+Tell me how much you get done.
+ -- James Ling
+~
+The misfortunes hardest to bear are these which never came.
+ -- James Russell Lowell
+~
+Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution.
+ -- Mae West
+~
+A bachelor is a selfish, undeserving guy who has
+cheated some woman out of a divorce.
+ -- Don Quinn
+~
+Serocki's Stricture: Marriage is always a bachelor's last option.
+~
+The gods gave man fire and he invented fire engines.
+They gave him love and he invented marriage.
+~
+When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane,
+most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are required to swear
+that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and exhausting condition
+continuously until death do them part.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+Marriage is nature's way of keeping people from fighting with strangers.
+~
+If you're upset and wonder what your wife does with
+all the grocery money, stand sideways and look at yourself.
+~
+I don't worry about terrorism;
+I was married for two years.
+ -- Sam Kinison
+~
+Every man wants a wife who is beautiful, understanding,
+economical and a good cook. Unfortunately, the law allows
+only one wife.
+~
+Men are men before they are lawyers, or physicians, or merchants, or
+manufacturers; and if you make them capable and sensible men, they
+will make themselves capable and sensible lawyers or physicians.
+ -- John Stuart Mill
+~
+ Most of America's millionaires are first-generation rich. How is
+it possible for people from modest backgrounds to become millionaires in
+one generation? Why is it that so many people with similar socioeconomic
+backgrounds never accumulate even modest amounts of wealth?
+ Most people who become millionaires have confidence in their own
+abilities. They do not spend time worrying about whether or not their
+parents were wealthy. They do not believe that one must be born wealthy.
+Conversely, people of modest backgrounds who believe that only the wealthy
+produce millionaires are predetermined to remain non-affluent. Have you
+always thought that most millionaires are born with silver spoons in their
+mouths? If so, consider the following facts that our research uncovered
+about American millionaires:
+ * Only 19 percent receive any income or wealth of any kind from a
+ trust fund or an estate.
+ * Fewer than 20 percent inherited 10 percent or more of their wealth.
+ * More than half never received as much as $1 in inheritance.
+ * Fewer than 25 percent ever received "an act of kindness" of $10,000
+ or more from their parents, grandparents, or other relatives.
+ * Ninety-one percent never received, as a gift, as much as $1 of the
+ ownership of a family business.
+ * Nearly half never received any college tuition from their parents
+ or other relatives.
+ * Fewer than 10 percent believe they will ever receive an inheritance
+ in the future.
+ America continues to hold great prospects for those who wish to
+accumulate wealth in one generation. In fact, America has always been a
+land of opportunity for those who believe in the fluid nature of our
+nation's social system and economy.
+ -- from the book "The Millionaire Next Door"
+~
+ In Rome, Athens, and Sparta, honor alone was the reward for the
+greatest of services. A wreath of oak-leaves or laurel, a statue or public
+congratulations was an immense reward for winning a battle or capturing a town.
+ In these cities, a man who had accomplished some great feat was
+sufficiently rewarded by the accomplishment itself. He could not meet any
+of his fellow-citizens without feeling the pleasure of having done
+something for them; he could calculate the extent of his services by the
+number of his countrymen. Everybody is capable of doing good to one man,
+but it is god-like to contribute to the happiness of an entire society."
+ -- Montesquieu
+~
+I'll let you in on a secret. George Bush is not going to
+be the next president of the United States. Get over it,
+folks. It's not going to happen.
+ -- Michael Moore, 9/21/2000, quoted by Eun-Kyung Kim (AP)
+~
+ As I considered the premise put forth in the meeting room: that
+the shortest road to wisdom and peace with the world is the one that turns
+inward, away from direct sensory contact with other creatures. I will not
+assert that meditation, psychotherapy, and philosophical introspection are
+unproductive, but I simply can't accept that inward is the only or best way
+for everyone to turn. The more disciplined practitioners of contemplative
+traditions can turn inward and still get beyond the self, but many others
+simply become swamped by self-indulgence. There are far too many people
+living in our society who forget daily that other creatures--five kingdoms'
+worth of them--are cohabiting the planet with us.
+ Over half a century ago, Robinson Jeffers suggested that it may be
+just as valid to turn outward: "The whole human race spends too much
+emotion on itself. The happiest and freest man is the scientist
+investigating nature or the artist admiring it, the person who is
+interested in things that are not human. Or if he is interested in human
+beings, let him regard them objectively as a small part of the great music."
+ -- Gary Paul Nabhan
+~
+SWM 33, black belt kama sutra, seeking wonder woman. bring me your
+inhibitions and i will shatter them, you sweet thing. no violence.
+no caustics. sin is the word of restriction, so come pet my crowley.
+aleister can cook; aunt jemima treatment for all.
+~
+Chance favors only the prepared mind.
+ -- Louis Pasteur
+~
+I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
+I lift my eyes and all is born again.
+ -- Sylvia Plath
+~
+Books do furnish a room.
+ -- Anthony Powell
+~
+ For the benefit of the two or three other people in this society
+who don't know what 'Cats' is about, here's the answer: It's about a bunch
+of cats. The cats jump around in a postnuclear junkyard for some two and a
+half hours, bumping and grinding to that curiously Mesozoic pop music for
+which Andrew Lloyd Webber is famous--the kind of full-tilt truckin' that
+sounds like the theme from 'The Mod Squad.' There's an Elvis impersonator
+cat, and a cat that looks like Cyndi Lauper, and a cat that looks like
+Phyllis Diller. All the other cast members look like Jon Bon Jovi with two
+weeks of facial growth.
+ Sure, 'Cats' is allegedly based upon the works of T. S. Eliot, but
+from what I could tell, the show had about as much to do with the author of
+'The Waste Land' as those old Steve Reeves movies had to do with Euripides.
+'Cats' is what 'Grease' would look like if all the cast members dressed up
+like KISS. To give you an idea of how bad 'Cats' is, think of a musical
+where you're actually glad to hear 'Memory' reprised a third time because
+all the other songs are so awful. Think of a musical where the songs are so
+bad that 'Memory' starts to sound like 'Ol' Man River' by comparison.
+That's how bad 'Cats' is.
+ -- Joe Queenan
+~
+Originality consists in trying to be like everybody else--and failing.
+ -- Raymond Radiguet
+~
+green sandwich glowing bright, thou droppest mushrooms
+on my tights, i slackly drool and whine and moan, for i
+will soon give you a better, more acidic home.
+~
+By all means marry. If you get a good wife you will become
+happy, and if you get a bad one you will become a philosopher.
+ -- Socrates
+~
+The life of the creative man is lead, directed, and controlled by
+boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes.
+ -- Saul Steinberg
+~
+The new generation of software must be designed from day one to be pirated.
+ -- CinemaElectric CEO Jim Robinson
+~
+thought is the only antidote to stupidity,
+but stupid people don't realize they need it.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+i don't have to speak
+in haiku at all times since
+i am way too cool
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+ What is more interesting in this world than our fellow human
+beings and other living creatures? Why do we know so few of what must be
+out there? What kind of philistines are we? Yet we can make a more
+practical point than this. We need to interact with other species whether
+we want to or not. They are our food and our environment: homes, scenery,
+soil, even the oxygen in the air is provided by courtesy of plants and
+photosynthesizing bacteria. We need actively to exploit our fellow
+creatures to survive. This is not an option: we have to exploit them unless
+we prefer to die. Therefore purely for selfish reasons (as well as for
+reasons that we may hope are less selfish) we also need to conserve them.
+Besides, even if we learnt to do without our fellow creatures--perhaps
+found some inexhaustible supply of food on some distant planet--they would
+not necessarily ignore us. We are flesh, too, for all our conceit, and many
+are more than happy to feed upon us. To contain, exploit, or conserve our
+fellow creatures we need to keep tabs on them.
+ -- Colin Tudge
+~
+ Nature's technology occurs on the surface of the same planet as
+that of human culture, so it endures the same physical and chemical
+limitations and must use the same materials. But nature copes and invents
+in a way fundamentally different from what we do. At the very least, the
+rate at which she alters herself is glacial by our cultural standard.
+ The very shapes of the two technologies differ dramatically. Just
+look around you. Right angles are everywhere: the edges of this page, desk
+corners, street corners, floor corners, shelves, doors, boxes, bricks, and
+on and on. Then look at field, park, or forest. Where are the right angles?
+Absent? No, but rare, which raises questions. Why so few right angles in
+nature? Why do civilizations find them so serviceable?
+ Natural and human technologies differ extensively and pervasively.
+We build dry and stiff structures; nature mostly makes hers wet and
+flexible. We build of metals; nature never does. Our hinges mainly slide;
+hers mostly bend. We do wonders with wheels and rotary motion; nature makes
+fully competent boats, aircraft, and terrestrial vehicles that lack them
+entirely. Our engines expand or spin; hers contract or slide. We fabricate
+large devices directly; nature's large things are cunning proliferations of
+tiny components.
+ -- Steven Vogel's, from "Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds
+ of Nature and People"
+~
+If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+I will be brief. Not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the
+world's shortest speech. He said I will be so brief I have already
+finished, and he sat down.
+ -- Edward O. Wilson
+~
+yahoo throws a shoe;
+trouble in digital zone
+e-log drops out chute
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Take care not to step on the foot of a learned idiot.
+His bite is incurable.
+ -- Paul Gaugin
+~
+A great sailor can sail even with a torn canvas. -- Seneca
+~
+What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists?
+In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet.
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+ Unlike the Industrial Revolution, the Biomimicry Revolution
+introduces an era based not on what we can extract from nature, but on what
+we can learn from her... 'doing it nature's way' has the potential to
+change the way we grow food, make materials, harness energy, heal
+ourselves, store information, and conduct business.
+ In a biomimetic world, we would manufacture the way animals and
+plants do, using sun and simple compounds to produce totally biodegradable
+fibers, ceramics, plastics, and chemicals. Our farms, modeled on prairies,
+would be self-fertilizing and pest-resistant. To find new drugs or crops,
+we would consult animals and insects that have used plants for millions of
+years to keep themselves healthy and nourished. Even computing would take
+its cue from nature, with software that "evolves" solutions, and hardware
+that uses the lock-and-key paradigm to compute by touch.
+ In each case, nature would provide the models: solar cells copied
+from leaves, steely fibers woven spider-style, shatterproof ceramics drawn
+from mother-of-pearl, cancer cures compliments of chimpanzees, perennial
+grains inspired by tallgrass, computers that signal like cells, and a
+closed-loop economy that takes its lessons from redwoods, coral reefs, and
+oak-hickory forests.
+ The biomimics are discovering what works in the natural world, and
+more important, what lasts. After 3.8 billion years of research and
+development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to
+survival. The more our world looks and functions like this natural world,
+the more likely we are to be accepted on this home that is ours, but not
+ours alone.
+ -- Janine M. Benyus
+~
+It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep,
+than a sheep at the head of an army of lions.
+ -- Daniel Defoe
+~
+stinky pinky in
+my eye, i must cry out at
+your nail gouge like lye.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+What one knows is, in youth, of little moment;
+they know enough who know how to learn.
+ -- Henry Adams
+~
+One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.
+ -- Walter Bagehot
+~
+A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation
+with the bricks that others throw at him or her.
+ -- David Brinkley
+~
+Nobody who is not prepared to spoil cats will get
+from them the reward they are able to give.
+ -- Compton MacKenzie
+~
+ The other night when I went into a restaurant in Santa Monica,
+there was one president--Clinton. When I ordered a pizza there
+was another one--Gore. When I paid the bill there was a third
+president--Bush, and when I walked out onto Ocean Boulevard there
+was no president because Bill is now the husband of a senator from
+New York.
+ Today I am witnessing the spectacle of a hyper-technological
+America which is sitting on the ruins of its electoral system
+waiting for absentee ballots in the mail.
+ -- Bepe Severgnini, columnist for Milan's Corriere della Sera
+~
+do you think it would hurt very much to swallow a whole egg, in shell?
+would it be better to boil it first so it's hard or to leave it runny?
+i'm wondering which way would be most likely to keep the shell from
+breaking before it exits the body...
+~
+I will do everything in my power to restrict abortions.
+ -- George W. Bush, Dallas Morning News, October 22, 1994
+~
+I saw the report that children in Texas are going hungry. Where?
+You'd think the governor would have heard if there are pockets of
+hunger in Texas.
+ -- George W. Bush, whose state ranks 2nd in total number of children
+ living in poverty, to Austin American Statesman, 12/18/99
+~
+"Please," Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "don't kill me."
+ -- Bush mocking what Karla Faye Tucker said on Larry King when asked,
+ "What would you say to Governor Bush?" prior to her execution by
+ lethal injection as reported by Talk magazine, September 1999
+~
+An atmosphere of adolescence, a lack of gravitas--a carelessness, even a
+recklessness, perhaps born of things having gone a bit too easily so far.
+ -- George Will, August 11, 1999, referring to Talk magazine's
+ interview with Bush
+~
+Sitting down and reading a 500-page book on
+public policy or philosophy or something.
+ -- GW Bush was asked to name something he isn't
+ good at by Talk magazine, September 1999 issue
+~
+Bush should not advertise any allergy to serious things. A critical
+mass of lightness in a candidate causes the public mind to snap closed,
+with the judgement, "Not ready for prime time."
+ -- George Will, August 11, 1999
+~
+Bush is taking a political party on his ride. He and it will care if
+on Nov. 7, 2000, people think of Gore or Bradley as an unexciting but
+serious professor and of him as an amiable fraternity boy, but a boy.
+ -- George Will, August 11, 1999
+~
+What I'm against is quotas. I'm against hard quotas, quotas that
+basically delineate based upon whatever. However they delineate,
+quotas, I think, vulcanize society.
+ -- George W. Bush (Austin American-Statesman 3/23/99)
+~
+Son, I love your strategy: Don't let them get to know you.
+ -- Barbara Bush
+~
+If George is elected President, it would destroy my faith
+in the office because he is such an ordinary guy.
+ -- David Rosen, Midland geologist & former neighbor of GW Bush
+~
+He's this week's pet rock.
+ -- unknown, regarding GW Bush
+~
+There ought to be limits to freedom. We're aware of the site,
+and this guy is just a garbage man.
+ -- GW Bush, commenting on the website www.gwbush.com
+~
+The Bush network is the only genuine network in the
+Republican Party. It is the Establishment.
+ -- Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard
+~
+"I will look at each piece of legislation when
+it makes it to my desk," and "I will review that
+when it makes it to my desk."
+ -- GW Bush, refusing to comment on anything
+ before it's absolutely unavoidable
+~
+Reporters noticed four Latino men sitting at the Plaza, looking bored,
+wearing matching shirts from Buena Vista Farms. Buena Vista, it turns
+out, is a horse ranch run by Gerald Parsky, Bush's California chairman.
+The four men said they were brought to the event and were being paid
+their regular wages for attending.
+ -- Salon Magazine reporting on a Bush fundraiser in California
+~
+Asked how he would define "compassionate conservatism," Bush replied:
+ "Making sure every child can read, making sure that we encourage
+ faith-based organizations... when it comes to helping neighbors in
+ need, making sure that our neighborhoods are safe, making sure that
+ the state of Texas recognizes that people from all walks of life have
+ got a shot at the Texas dream but, most importantly, making sure that
+ government is not the answer to people's problems."
+This may be the only time a candidate promised not to solve any problems
+(with the possible exception of Utah Phillips, who ran on the "Sloth &
+Indolence" platform.)
+ -- from georgebush2000.com
+~
+I'd demand a recount.
+ -- William F. Buckley, in the early '60s, in response to a
+ reporter's question asking him what he would do if he
+ were to win in his race for the office of Mayor of New York
+~
+Half of the American people have never read a newspaper.
+Half never voted for President.
+One hopes it is the same half.
+ -- Gore Vidal
+~
+Start every day off with a smile and get it over with. -- W. C. Fields
+~
+Every man wishes to be wise,
+and they who cannot be wise are almost always cunning.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+Finally, in conclusion, let me say just this.
+ -- Peter Sellers
+~
+ When issues of public policy are discussed in the outward form
+of an argument, often the conclusions reached are predetermined by
+the assumptions and definitions inherent in a particular vision of
+social processes. Different visions, of course, have different
+assumptions, so it is not uncommon for people who follow different
+visions to find themselves in opposition to one another across a
+vast spectrum of unrelated issues, in such disparate fields as law,
+foreign policy, the environment, racial policy, military defense,
+education, and many others. To a remarkable extent, however,
+empirical evidence is neither sought beforehand nor consulted after
+a policy has been instituted. Facts may be marshaled for a position
+already taken, but that is very different from systematically
+testing opposing theories by evidence. Momentous questions are
+dealt with essentially as conflicts of vision.
+ -- Thomas Sowell, from "The Vision of the Anointed"
+~
+An election is a moral horror, as bad as a battle except for the
+blood; a mud bath for every soul concerned in it.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw, "Back to Methuselah," 1921
+~
+If a person is obviously mentally disabled, such as having Down's
+syndrome or Alzheimer's, decent people respond with sympathy and
+understanding; and so why, if people merely have low IQs, are they
+treated with ridicule and contempt?
+ -- Geoff Kuenning
+~
+Always go to other people's funerals,
+otherwise they won't come to yours.
+ -- Yogi Berra
+~
+Animals are such agreeable friends--
+they ask no questions,
+they pass no criticisms.
+ -- George Eliot
+~
+All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height.
+ -- Casey Stengel
+~
+Willy
+
+Willy flies without wings,
+Fast as a shadow can go.
+Black slash on white snow.
+
+Black face, cold blue eyes
+fish pond, golden fish surprise.
+Wet paws ... cold water!
+
+Black heart on white fur
+Green eyes ... last sight for poor mouse,
+Punctured by Willy.
+
+Willy stalks field mice.
+Wild Bill to small buffalo.
+Kills them just for show.
+
+Cat slays Two in Dawn
+Homicide. Gruesome Remains
+Left On Welcome Mat.
+ -- Bill Magee
+~
+Petey
+
+Pete's eyes spit light;
+Blue diamond icicles,
+Red retinal fires.
+
+Sharp nose, fast heart, mouse
+Scrounges by the sewer. Pete
+Pounces, sharp claws out.
+
+Once quick with mouse life,
+Now just carnage: tail, fur, skull.
+Two-scoop burial.
+
+Nowhere a rabbit
+Or goldfish or cardinal
+who loves our Petey.
+
+They hate Pete there,
+Crouched on the mossy rocks,
+Prospecting for gold.
+ -- Bill Magee
+~
+Louis
+
+Louis wants to play.
+Its asthma, Lou! My asthma
+Tears us apart, m'boy.
+
+Louis -- scared by deer --
+spent all July and August
+Inside our closet.
+
+We don't let Louis out.
+He is too dumb even for inside.
+Eyes blue oceans of space.
+
+Hot air fluffs Louis.
+Willy warms the newspapers.
+Pete? Purrs in her arms.
+ -- Bill Magee
+~
+dharma farm glistens
+like an earthy gem; yaks romp
+on verdant old hills.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Noir comme le diable, [ Black as the devil,
+chaud comme l'enfer, [ hot as hell,
+pur comme un ange, [ pure as an angel,
+doux comme l'amour. [ sweet as love.
+ -- Talleyrand, 18th century French diplomat, describing his concept
+ of a good cup of coffee
+~
+Coffee has two virtues. It is wet and it is warm. -- Dutch proverb
+~
+Coffee is the common man's gold, and like gold, it brings
+to every person the feeling of luxury and nobility.
+ -- Sheik Abd-al-Kadir, In Praise of Coffee, 1587
+~
+Another head--and a black alpaca jacket and a
+serviette this time--to tell us coffee is ready.
+Not before it is time, too.
+ -- D. H. Lawrence, from "Sea and Sardinia"
+~
+Give a frontiersman coffee and tobacco,
+and he will endure any privation,
+suffer any hardship, but let him be without
+these two necessaries of the woods, and he
+becomes irresolute and murmuring.
+ -- U.S. Army Lt. William Whiting, 1849
+~
+Coffee is real good when you drink it it gives you time to think.
+It's a lot more than just a drink; it's something happening.
+Not as in hip, but like an event, a place to be, but not like a
+location, but like somewhere within yourself. It gives you time,
+but not actual hours or minutes, but a chance to be, like be
+yourself, and have a second cup.
+ -- Gertrude Stein
+~
+Last comes the beverage of the Orient shore,
+Mocha, far off, the fragrant berries bore.
+Taste the dark fluid with a dainty lip,
+Digestion waits on pleasure as you sip.
+ -- Pope Leo XII
+~
+A very good drink they call Chaube that is almost as black as ink
+and very good in illness, especially of the stomach. This they
+drink in the morning early in the open places before everybody,
+without any fear or regard, out of clay or China cups, as hot as
+they can, sipping it a little at a time.
+ -- German physician and botanist Leonhard Rauwolf in 1582
+~
+The little campfires, rapidly increasing to hundreds in number,
+would shoot up along the hills and plains, and as if by magic,
+acres of territory would be illuminous with them. Soon they
+would be surrounded by the soldiers, who made it an inevitable
+rule to cook their coffee first.
+ -- John D. Bilings, a Union veteran, in his book, Hardtack and Coffee
+~
+Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass
+all four essential food groups:
+alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fat.
+ -- Alex Levine
+~
+Strong coffee, much strong coffee, is what awakens me.
+Coffee gives me warmth, waking, an unusual force and
+a pain that is not without very great pleasure.
+ -- Napoleon Bonaparte
+~
+I would rather suffer with coffee than be senseless.
+ -- Napoleon Bonaparte
+~
+The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity
+as sugar or coffee. And I pay more for that ability than for
+any other under the sun.
+ -- John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
+~
+If you want to improve your understanding, drink coffee;
+it is the intelligent beverage.
+ -- Sydney Smith
+~
+Wine is for aging, not coffee.
+ -- Ken Hutchinson, Starsky and Hutch
+~
+I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
+ -- T. S. Elliot
+~
+After a few months' acquaintance with European "coffee" one's mind
+weakens, and his faith with it, and he begins to wonder if the rich
+beverage of home, with it's clotted layer of yellow cream on top of
+it, is not a mere dream after all, and a thing which never existed.
+ -- Mark Twain, in "A Tramp Abroad"
+~
+The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the
+cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot
+be expected to reproduce.
+ -- Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr.
+~
+It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means
+it's too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make
+it weak. But if you pour too much cream in it, you won't even know you
+ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be
+strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep.
+ -- Malcolm X, 196, Message to the Grass Roots
+~
+Make my coffee like I like my men: hot, black, and strong.
+ -- Willona Wood, Good Times
+~
+Never drink black coffee at lunch;
+it will keep you awake in the afternoon.
+ -- Jilly Cooper, 1970, "How to Survive from Nine to Five"
+~
+Resolve to free yourselves from the slavery
+of the tea and coffee and other slop-kettle.
+ -- William Cobbett, 1829, "Advise to Young Men"
+~
+Tobacco, coffee, alcohol, hashish, prussic acid,
+strichnine, are weak dilutions: the surest poison is time.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Society and Solitude: Old Age"
+~
+Coffee, according to the women of Denmark, is to the body
+what the Word of the Lord is to the soul.
+ -- Isak Dinesen, 1934
+~
+Coffee: we can get it anywhere, and get as loaded
+as we like on it, until such teeth-chattering,
+eye-bulging, nonsense-gibbering time as we may be
+classified unable to operate heavy machinery.
+ -- Joan Frank, 1991
+~
+Many people are like instant coffee:
+the minute they get in hot water they dissolve.
+ -- Anonymous, from Toronto Globe and Mail; July 10, 1993
+~
+The discovery of coffee has enlarged the realm of illusion
+and given more promise to hope.
+ -- Isidore Bourdon
+~
+The powers of a man's mind are directly proportional
+to the quantity of coffee he drank.
+ -- Sir James MacKintosh, 18th century philosopher
+~
+If it wasn't for coffee, I'd have no discernible personality at all.
+ -- David Letterman Esquire Interview Fall '94
+~
+Ah! How sweet coffee tastes!
+Lovelier than a thousand kisses,
+sweeter far than muscatel wine!
+ -- From J. S. Bach's "Coffee Cantata," 1732
+~
+You make good coffee... You're a slob,
+but you make good coffee.
+ -- Cher, in "Moonstruck"
+~
+See how special you are? I serve you coffee in the parlor.
+ -- Anthony Quinn to Sophia Loren in "The Black Orchid"
+~
+The first cup is for the guest,
+the second for enjoyment,
+the third for the sword.
+ -- Arabic proverb about coffee
+~
+The vacuum pot is truly the CD player of coffeemakers;
+all you taste is the coffee.
+ -- Corby Kummer, food expert
+~
+People are kind of like zombies in Hong Kong nowadays.
+You don't see that glow anymore. In terms of colour
+Hong Kong looks a bit grey. To counter that, I think
+we should give out free espresso samples to give people
+more caffeine; triple espresso with Irish cream syrup,
+iced! People just need to get a bit more wired.
+ -- David Wu, Actor and Channel V VJ, quoted in Post Magazine 29 August 99
+~
+a small fish is this
+with so many other big
+tasks still to complete
+~
+For myself I am an optimist--it does not seem
+to be much use being anything else.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one
+is constantly making exciting discoveries.
+ -- A. A. Milne
+~
+Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
+ -- Pablo Picasso
+~
+There are two means of refuge from the
+miseries of life: music and cats.
+ -- Albert Schweitzer
+~
+Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator,
+but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
+ -- W. H. Auden
+~
+A clever man commits no minor blunders.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+my fingers have slipped;
+keyboard greasy from pizza
+sloppily consumed.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+One could not be a successful scientist without realizing that,
+in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers
+and mothers of scientists, a goodly number of scientists are
+not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.
+ -- James Watson
+~
+Fine things books, but perhaps the moment has come to stop taking them
+so seriously. Who was it that said people who are always reading never
+discover anything? I'm not sure if that is true, but I do know that
+reading and thinking are not necessarily the same thing. Sometimes
+reading supplies the most cunning of all means of avoiding thought. It
+would be good once in awhile to try thinking without the stimulus of
+books, to become not an out of-the-box -- never, please, that -- but at
+least an out-of-the-book thinker. Books may furnish a room, but there
+surely are other things quite as suitable for furnishing a mind. Time,
+I think, for me to attempt to find out what these might be.
+ -- Joseph Epstein
+~
+Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.
+ -- John Kenneth Galbraith
+~
+You can observe a lot by just watching. -- Yogi Berra
+~
+No wonder Al Gore thinks he is president--this is a most confusing time.
+The leading rap singer is white, the world's best golfer is black, and
+Bill Clinton just got back from Vietnam.
+ -- Paul Harvey, Early December 2000
+~
+The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
+discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I've found it!), but "That's funny...".
+ -- Isaac Asimov
+~
+Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+Dr. Seuss takes a look at election recounts:
+I cannot count them in a box.
+I cannot count them with a fox.
+I cannot count them by computer.
+I will not with a Roto-Rooter.
+I cannot count them card-by-card.
+I will not 'cause it's way too hard.
+I cannot count them on my fingers.
+I will not while suspicion lingers.
+I'll leave the country in a jam--
+I won't count ballots, Sam-I-Am.
+~
+ For some years, we have been surprised and distressed by the
+intellectual trends in certain precincts of American academia.
+Vast sectors of the humanities and the social sciences seem to
+have adopted a philosophy that we shall call, for want of a better
+term, "postmodernism": an intellectual current characterized by
+the more-or-less explicit rejection of the rationalist tradition
+of the Enlightenment, by theoretical discourses disconnected from
+any empirical test, and by a cognitive and cultural relativism
+that regards science as nothing more than a 'narration,' a 'myth'
+or a social construction among many others.
+ To respond to this phenomenon, one of us (Sokal) decided to try
+an unorthodox (and admittedly uncontrolled), experiment: submit to
+a fashionable American cultural-studies journal, "Social Text," a
+parody of the type of work that has proliferated in recent years,
+to see whether they would publish it. The article, entitled
+"Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics
+of Quantum Gravity", is chock-full of absurdities and blatant
+non-sequiturs. In addition, it asserts an extreme form of cognitive
+relativism: after mocking the old-fashioned "dogma" that "there
+exists an external world, whose properties are independent of any
+individual human being and indeed of humanity as a whole", it
+proclaims categorically that "physical `reality', no less than
+social `reality', is at bottom a social and linguistic construct".
+By a series of stunning leaps of logic, it arrives at the conclusion
+that "the [Pi] of Euclid and the G of Newton, formerly thought to be
+constant and universal, are now perceived in their ineluctable
+historicity; and the putative observer becomes fatally de-centered,
+disconnected from any epistemic link to a space-time point that can
+no longer be defined by geometry alone". The rest is in the same vein.
+ And yet, the article was accepted and published. Worse, it was
+published in a special issue of 'Social Text' devoted to rebutting the
+criticisms leveled against postmodernism and social constructivism by
+several distinguished scientists. For the editors of 'Social Text,'
+it was hard to imagine a more radical way of shooting themselves in
+the foot.
+ -- Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, "Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern
+ Intellectuals' Abuse of Science."
+~
+May you live all the days of your life.
+ -- Jonathan Swift
+~
+ We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication
+below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its
+faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
+ 'I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa
+Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me
+the truth, is there a Santa Claus?' -- Virginia O'Hanlon
+ Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by
+the skepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except they see.
+They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little
+minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are
+little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in
+his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured
+by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
+ Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
+ He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and
+you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.
+Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would
+be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike
+faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We
+should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light
+with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
+ Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies.
+You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on
+Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus
+coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no
+sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are
+those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies
+dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not
+there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and
+unseeable in the world.
+ You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside,
+but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man,
+nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could
+tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain
+and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real?
+Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
+ No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand
+years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will
+continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
+ Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!
+ -- The editorial "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus," first printed
+ in the New York Sun in 1897.
+~
+Most Internet appliances that I've seen are simply dumbed-down
+PCs, and some analysts call any damn thing that can access the
+Internet--other than a PC--an Internet appliance, even if it's
+your cell phone or a wireless PDA. That leads to some huge
+market projections, which are pretty much meaningless as a
+single figure. I think the idea of Internet appliances as a
+unique market is a pipe dream, with a lot of people sucking
+off that hookah.
+ -- Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, a market
+ research firm
+~
+Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.
+ -- Immanuel Kant
+~
+Ah but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?
+ -- Robert Browning
+~
+She played with her cat, and it was a wonder to watch the white hand
+and the white paw frolic in the shade of night.
+ -- Paul Verlaine
+~
+Just because something doesn't do what you planned
+it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
+ -- Thomas Alva Edison
+~
+Spare no expense to make everything as economical as possible.
+ -- Samuel Goldwyn
+~
+smirking idiot
+drools on oval office desk
+while country expires
+ -- about the dubya years
+~
+brave new president
+laughs as he pulls death switch for
+the innocents too
+ -- about the dubya years
+~
+they call me a shrub
+but i shrug and ask daddy
+for black ops killing
+ -- about the dubya years
+~
+educatedest
+moron ever known on earth:
+gee dubya bee, dude.
+ -- about the dubya years
+~
+bush bipartisan
+means "we do it my way" and
+bend over for me
+ -- about the dubya years
+~
+smiling lies, dumb looks,
+idea-free, insults all,
+my prez--GWB!
+ -- about the dubya years
+~
+my feeling is that humans are both divine and full of sh*t.
+most people are drowning in their own mental diarrhea.
+
+solution? a sewer pipe for the mind, perhaps. or at least to
+realize that the contagion is part of us and has to be purified
+from within. there is no external enemy to kill or persecute;
+all evil deeds and words and thoughts are our own property.
+no one else can take them away for you; you must "dispose of
+properly". clean these damaged mental constituents using your
+will to heal your consciousness.
+~
+If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will
+change a past or future event, then you are residing on another
+planet with a different reality system.
+ -- William James
+~
+Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns;
+he should be drawn and quoted.
+ -- Fred Allen
+~
+A day without rebooting is like a day without Microsoft. -- fred t. hamster
+~
+I've met many thinkers and many cats,
+but the wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.
+ -- Hippolyte Taine
+~
+ People living and working in a business system cannot change it.
+Their perspectives are foreshortened, their information gathering and
+measurement systems reinforce the past, and their incentives encourage
+continuity. Archimedes proclaimed, 'Give me where to stand, and I will move
+the earth.' But where should those who might change a business system be
+standing?
+ The answer is that every organization needs two business systems.
+Borrowing a term from linguistics, we shall call them the 'surface system'
+and the 'deep system.' The surface system is comprised of the organized
+tasks of the business processes, with their attendant jobs, structures,
+systems, and values. But this surface system is in periodic need of major
+change. Accomplishing that change is the job of the deep system.
+ The deep system creates no customer value; it makes no products and
+delivers no services. It doesn't process orders, develop new products, or
+create value for customers. Rather it monitors, governs, adjusts, and
+reforms the surface system that does create customer value. A company's
+deep system bears the responsibility for detecting external changes,
+determining what those changes mean, and intervening to modify or transform
+the surface system accordingly. The deep system, working beneath the
+surface, embodies the capacity to change.
+ The deep system continually hurls challenges: Is this still the
+right way or the best way to do things? If not, what is? The deep system
+ensures that the appropriate internal change--moderate or radical--takes
+place, shaping and reshaping the organization to take account of, and
+whenever possible take advantage of, ongoing external change.
+ -- Michael Hammer
+~
+There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to
+conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the
+introduction of a new order of things.
+ -- Nicolas Machiavelli
+~
+Only those who take leisurely what the people of the world are busy
+about can be busy about what the people of the world take leisurely.
+ -- Chang Ch'ao
+~
+I am opposed to millionaires, but it would
+be dangerous to offer me the position.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Never eat more than you can lift. -- the muppet Miss Piggy
+~
+tired of knowing
+politics are poison, but
+it has to be said...
+
+dubya bush will lead
+to lower expectations
+at every level
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+ Distance changes utterly when you take the world on foot. A mile
+becomes a long way, two miles literally considerable, ten miles
+whopping, fifty miles at the very limits of conception. The world,
+you realize, is enormous in a way that only you and a small community
+of fellow hikers know. Planetary scale is your little secret.
+ Life takes on a neat simplicity, too. Time ceases to have any
+meaning. When it is dark, you go to bed, and when it is light again
+you get up, and everything in between is just in between. It's quite
+wonderful, really.
+ You have no engagements, commitments, obligations, or duties; no
+special ambitions and only the smallest, least complicated of wants;
+you exist in tranquil tedium, serenely beyond the reach of
+exasperation, 'far removed from the seats of strife,' as the early
+explorer and botanist William Bartram put it. All that is required
+of you is a willingness to trudge.
+ There is no point in hurrying because you are not actually going
+anywhere. However far or long you plod, you are always in the same
+place: in the woods. It's where you were yesterday, where you will
+be tomorrow. The woods is one boundless singularity. Every bend in
+the path presents a prospect indistinguishable from every other, every
+glimpse into the trees the same tangled mass. For all you know, your
+route could describe a very large, pointless circle. In a way, it
+would hardly matter.
+ -- Bill Bryson, "A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the
+ Appalachian Trail."
+~
+You can't cheat an honest man. -- W. C. Fields
+~
+Most conversations are simply monologues
+delivered in the presence of a witness.
+ -- Margaret Millar
+~
+There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down
+at a typewriter and open a vein.
+ -- Red Smith
+~
+Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence
+should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary
+sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no
+unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
+ -- William Strunk Jr.
+~
+ The small and elite group of scientists who create most of the
+flavor in most of the food now consumed in the United States are
+called 'flavorists.' They draw on a number of disciplines in their
+work: biology, psychology, physiology, and organic chemistry. A
+flavorist is a chemist with a trained nose and a poetic sensibility.
+Flavors are created by blending scores of different chemicals in
+tiny amounts--a process governed by scientific principles but
+demanding a fair amount of art. In an age when delicate aromas and
+microwave ovens do not easily co-exist, the job of the flavorist is
+to conjure illusions about processed food and, in the words of one
+flavor company's literature, to ensure 'consumer likeability.' The
+flavorists with whom I spoke were discreet, in keeping with the
+dictates of their trade. They were also charming, cosmopolitan, and
+ironic. They not only enjoyed fine wine but could identify the
+chemicals that give each grape its unique aroma. One flavorist
+compared his work to composing music. A well-made flavor compound
+will have a 'top note' that is often followed by a 'dry-down' and a
+'leveling-off,' with different chemicals responsible for each stage.
+The taste of a food can be radically altered by minute changes in the
+flavoring combination. 'A little odor goes a long way,' one
+flavorist told me.
+ In order to give a processed food a taste that consumers will
+find appealing, a flavorist must always consider the food's
+'mouthfeel'--the unique combination of textures and chemical
+interactions that affect how the flavor is perceived. Mouthfeel can
+be adjusted through the use of various fats, gums, starches,
+emulsifiers, and stabilizers. The aroma chemicals in a food can be
+precisely analyzed, but the elements that make up mouthfeel are much
+harder to measure. How does one quantify a pretzel's hardness, a
+french fry's crispness? Food technologists are now conducting basic
+research in rheology, the branch of physics that examines the flow and
+deformation of materials. A number of companies sell sophisticated
+devices that attempt to measure mouthfeel. The TA.XT2i Texture
+Analyzer, produced by the Texture Technologies Corporation, of
+Scarsdale, New York, performs calculations based on data derived from
+as many as 250 separate probes. It is essentially a mechanical mouth.
+It gauges the most-important rheological properties of a food--bounce,
+creep, breaking point, density, crunchiness, chewiness, gumminess,
+lumpiness, rubberiness, springiness, slipperiness, smoothness,
+softness, wetness, juiciness, spreadability, springback, and tackiness.
+ -- Eric Schlosser, from "Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good",
+ Atlantic Monthly, 2001.
+~
+We haven't failed. We now know a thousand things that
+won't work, so we are much closer to finding what will.
+ -- Thomas Edison
+~
+If you surveyed a hundred typical middle-aged Americans, I bet you'd find that
+only two of them could tell you their blood types, but every last one of them
+would know the them song from 'The Beverly Hillbillies'.
+ -- Dave Barry
+~
+The first thing to learn in intercourse with others is
+non-interference with their own particular ways of being
+happy, provided those ways do not assume to interfere by
+violence with ours.
+ -- William James
+~
+My dad was the town drunk. Usually that's not so bad, but New York City?
+ -- Henny Youngman
+~
+Ninety percent of the politicians give the other
+ten percent a bad name.
+ -- Henry Kissinger
+~
+You can imagine my embarrassment when I killed the wrong guy.
+ -- Joe Valachi
+~
+We must abandon the prevalent belief in the
+superior wisdom of the ignorant.
+ -- Daniel Boorstin
+~
+ If the primary effect of the media in the late twentieth century was
+to turn nearly everything that passed across their screens into
+entertainment, the secondary and ultimately more significant effect was
+to force nearly everything to turn itself into entertainment in order to
+attract media attention. Daniel Boorstin had coined the term 'pseudo-
+event' to describe events that had been concocted by public relations
+practitioners to get attention from the press. Movie premieres,
+publishing parties, press conferences, balloon crossings, sponsored
+sporting contests, award ceremonies, demonstrations and hunger strikes,
+to name just a few examples, all were synthetic, manufactured pseudo-
+events that wouldn't have existed if someone hadn't been seeking
+publicity and if the media hadn't been seeking something to fill their
+pages and airwaves, preferably something entertaining.
+ But the idea of pseudo-events almost seemed quaint by the late
+twentieth century. Most people realized that the object of virtually
+everyone in public life of any sort was to attract the media and that
+everyone from the top movie stars to the parents of septuplets now had
+to have a press agent to promote them. What most people were also coming
+to realize, if only by virtue of how much the media had grown, was that
+pseudo-events had proliferated to such an extent that one could hardly
+call them events anymore because there were no longer any seams between
+them and the rest of life, no way of separating the pseudo from the
+so-called authentic. Almost everything in life had appropriated the
+techniques of public relations to gain access to the media, so that it
+wasn't the pseudo-event one was talking about anymore when one cited the
+cleverness of PR men and women: it was pseudo-life.
+ Yet not even pseudo-life did full justice to the modern condition.
+That's because the media were not just passively recording the public
+performances and manipulations of others, even when life was nothing but
+manipulations. Having invited these performances in the first place,
+the media justified covering them because they were receiving media
+attention, which is every bit as convoluted as it sounds. The result
+was to make of modern society one giant Heisenberg effect, in which the
+media were not really reporting what people did; they were reporting
+what people did to get media attention. In other words, as life was
+increasingly being lived for the media, so the media were increasingly
+covering themselves and their impact on life.
+ -- Neal Gabler, in "Life, the Movie"
+~
+So little time, so little to do.
+ -- Oscar Levant
+~
+Consistency requires you to be as ignorant
+today as you were a year ago.
+ -- Bernard Berenson
+~
+Who becomes a CPO? Stephanie Perrin, the chief privacy officer of
+Montreal-based Zero-Knowledge Systems, explains: "Obviously, we're
+not going to just pick somebody from the legal department," because
+privacy is more than a matter of just following the law. "You have
+to have a fundamental commitment to--dare I say it?--morality.
+Privacy is not just good business. We are framing the information
+age, and it is important to take that job seriously. We really do
+look at privacy as a human right, and not just a luxury item for
+spoiled North Americans. We're talking about the global information
+infrastructure."
+~
+The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love.
+ -- Pearl Bailey
+~
+He's simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed.
+ -- H.H. Munro
+~
+No easy problems ever come to the president of the United States.
+If they are easy to solve, someone else has solved them.
+ -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
+~
+Your presence in the class is disruptive and affects the other students!
+ -- A teacher's complaint to the teenage Albert Einstein
+~
+ When you're in a world of experts and so-called professionals, the
+common sense of the people is marginalized.
+ I'll give you an example. We're talking about building a building
+not too far from where I live, in this warehouse district. It's an old,
+totally undistinguished warehouse in what has been designated a historic
+district. So we're working up the Environmental Impact Report, and you hire
+a consultant. The consultant is this young lady who says, 'The developer
+wants to tear this whole warehouse down and build an eight-story building,
+and that would have a negative impact on the historic warehouse district.'
+ I say, 'Wait a minute. Why? It's an eight-story building. What's
+different? Why do you say it's negative? Why isn't it positive? It will
+bring more people -- there are not enough people down here.'
+ 'No,' she said, 'in my professional judgment...' And that is given
+weight by the courts. Her opinion could have more sway than the city
+council, the manager, the mayor, and all the people of Oakland put together.
+ That's amazing. That's what I call 'expertise versus common sense.'
+What do they call those guys in Russia: the nomenklatura? The class of
+folks who run things. I think that's an important issue: reclaiming the
+power of ordinary people to control their lives. Every time we turn around,
+we've got some kind of a state or federal rule or regulation.
+ 'In my professional judgment...' That whole academic discipline was
+probably created less than 25 years ago, and that lore -- I call it lore;
+these are like stories you tell around the campfire -- is then raised to
+the level of legal significance with greater authority than the vote of the
+people and the elected representatives. The people have lost their
+democratic right to make a decision over the shape of their lives, and you
+can find that happening on a lot of issues more controversial than historic
+preservation.
+ -- Jerry Brown
+~
+Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade.
+ -- Rudyard Kipling
+~
+Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
+ -- Lilly Tomlin
+~
+Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life it is perhaps
+the greatest of God's gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of
+arts and of sciences.
+ -- Freeman Dyson
+~
+You make men love their government and their country by giving them the
+kind of government and the kind of country that inspire respect and love;
+a country that is free and unafraid, that lets the discontented talk in
+order to learn the causes of their discontent and end those causes, that
+refuses to impel men to spy on their neighbors, that protects its citizens
+vigorously from harmful acts while it leaves the remedies for objectionable
+ideas to counterargument and time.
+ -- Zechariah Chafee, Jr.
+~
+Kites rise highest against the wind--not with it.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+Shall I tell you the secret of the true scholar? It is this: every
+man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+A cucumber should be well-sliced, dressed with
+pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+ Technology is often defined as the creation of tools to gain control
+over the environment. However, this definition is not entirely sufficient.
+Humans are not alone in their use or even creation of tools. Orangutans in
+Sumatra's Suaq Balimbing swamp make tools out of long sticks to break open
+termite nests. Crows fashion tools from sticks and leaves. The leaf-cutter
+ant mixes dry leaves with its saliva to create a paste. Crocodiles use tree
+roots to anchor dead prey.
+ What is uniquely human is the application of knowledge--recorded
+knowledge--to the fashioning of tools. The knowledge base represents the
+genetic code for the evolving technology. And as technology has evolved,
+the means for recording this knowledge base has also evolved, from the oral
+traditions of antiquity to the written design logs of nineteenth-century
+craftsmen to the computer-assisted design databases of the 1990s.
+ Technology also implies a transcendence of the materials used to
+comprise it. When the elements of an invention are assembled in just the
+right way, they produce an enchanting effect that goes beyond the mere
+parts. When Alexander Graham Bell accidentally wire-connected two moving
+drums and solenoids (metal cores wrapped in wire) in 1875, the result
+transcended the materials he was working with. For the first time, a human
+voice was transported, magically it seemed, to a remote location. Most
+assemblages are just that: random assemblies. But when materials--and in
+the case of modern technology, information--are assembled in just the
+right way, transcendence occurs. The assembled object becomes far greater
+than the sum of its parts.
+ -- Ray Kurzweil
+~
+All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.
+ -- Sean O'Casey
+~
+The foresight of the astronomer who predicts with complete precision
+the state of the solar system many years in advance is absolutely the
+same in kind as that of the savage who predicts the next sunrise.
+The only difference lies in the extent of their knowledge.
+ -- Auguste Comte
+~
+Nothing strengthens the judgment and quickens
+the conscience like individual responsibility.
+ -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton
+~
+ The bug, that perverse and elusive malfunctioning of hardware and
+later of software, was born in the nineteenth century. It was already
+accepted shop slang as early as 1878, when Thomas Edison described his
+style of invention in a letter to a European representative: 'The first
+step is an intuition and it comes with a burst, then difficulties arise--
+this thing gives out and then that--"Bugs"--as such little faults and
+difficulties are called--show themselves, and months of intense watching,
+study and labor are requisite before commercial success--or failure--is
+certainly reached.'
+ Edison implies that this use of 'bug' had not begun in his laboratory
+but was already standard jargon. The expression seems to have originated
+as telegrapher's slang. Western Union and other telegraph companies, with
+their associated branch offices, formed America's first high-technology
+system. About the time of Edison's letter, Western Union had over twelve
+thousand stations, and it was their condition that probably helped inspire
+the metaphor. City offices were filthy, and clerks exchanged verse about
+the gymnastics of insects cavorting in the cloakrooms. When, in 1945, a
+moth in a relay crashed the Mark II electromechanical calculator that the
+Navy was running at Harvard--it can still be seen taped in the original
+logbook--the bug metaphor had already been around for at least seventy-
+five years.
+ -- Edward Tenner, from "Why Things Bite Back"
+~
+Look back, and smile on perils past.
+ -- Sir Walter Scott
+~
+I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.
+ -- Marie Curie
+~
+Cast a cold eye
+On life, on death.
+Horseman, pass by!
+ -- William Butler Yeats' auto-epitath
+~
+ The bug, that perverse and elusive malfunctioning of hardware and
+later of software, was born in the nineteenth century. It was already
+accepted shop slang as early as 1878, when Thomas Edison described his
+style of invention in a letter to a European representative: 'The first
+step is an intuition and it comes with a burst, then difficulties arise--
+this thing gives out and then that--"Bugs"--as such little faults and
+difficulties are called--show themselves, and months of intense watching,
+study and labor are requisite before commercial success--or failure--is
+certainly reached.'
+ Edison implies that this use of 'bug' had not begun in his
+laboratory but was already standard jargon. The expression seems to have
+originated as telegrapher's slang. Western Union and other telegraph
+companies, with their associated branch offices, formed America's first
+high-technology system. About the time of Edison's letter, Western Union
+had over twelve thousand stations, and it was their condition that probably
+helped inspire the metaphor. City offices were filthy, and clerks exchanged
+verse about the gymnastics of insects cavorting in the cloakrooms. When, in
+1945, a moth in a relay crashed the Mark II electromechanical calculator
+that the Navy was running at Harvard--it can still be seen taped in the
+original logbook--the bug metaphor had already been around for at least
+seventy-five years.
+ -- Edward Tenner, "Why Things Bite Back"
+~
+But the true threats to stability and peace are these nations that are not
+very transparent, that hide behind the--that don't let people in to take a
+look and see what they're up to. They're very kind of authoritarian regimes.
+The true threat is whether or not one of these people decide, peak of anger,
+try to hold us hostage, ourselves; the Israelis, for example, to whom we'll
+defend, offer our defenses; the South Koreans.
+ -- George W. Bush, Media roundtable, Washington, D.C., March 13, 2001
+~
+The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others.
+ -- Homer
+~
+It wasn't until late in life that I discovered
+how easy it is to say "I don't know".
+ -- W. Somerset Maugham
+~
+It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a
+pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young.
+ -- Konrad Lorenz
+~
+He is the best physician who is the most ingenious inspirer of hope.
+ -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
+~
+Failure is not an option.
+ -- Gene Kranz
+~
+ The year 1950 was the last full cry of urban America, at least on
+the surface. It was the year many of the cities visited in this book
+reached their historic peaks in population. Everybody was working, in folk
+memory, and in fact. Armies clad in overalls poured out of plants at
+quitting time or watched as the next shift filed in. Houses cost a couple
+of thousand bucks, or in high-cost cities some fifteen thousand. The
+mortgage was often less than a hundred a month. The teeming ethnic ghettos
+of the early century had given way to a more comfortable life, with
+religion and ethnicity, race and class still used as organizing principles
+for the neighborhood. The rough edges of the immigrant 'greenhorns' were
+worn smooth, and a confident younger generation now entered a fuller,
+richer American life. Grandma and Grandpa had their accents and old ways
+intact, and still mumbled sayings in the language your parents used when
+they didn't want you to understand. You could still find Il Progresso,
+Freiheit, Norske Tidende, and Polish Daily Zgoda on the newsstands, but the
+neighborhoods themselves were no longer alien places. It was the ghetto,
+yes, but made benign by assimilation.
+ It was this world that the first surge tide into the suburbs left
+behind. They were people for whom the city had done its work, making
+Americans out of families from Dublin to Donetsk. America had given the
+urban young educations, and expectations. For many, those expectations had
+been nurtured through world war and economic depression. Something better
+was needed for the baby boomers.
+ Today we look back on it all in hurt and wonder. How did this
+happen? Where did that good life go? When an accidental detour or a missed
+expressway exit brings us into contact with the world we left behind, we
+can still place all the blame firmly and squarely elsewhere. The shuttered
+factories and collapsing row houses, the vacant storefronts and rutted
+streets are regarded with the same awe reserved for the scenes of natural
+disasters. We look out on a world that somehow, in the American collective
+memory, destroyed itself.
+ -- Ray Suarez, PBS journalist
+~
+The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our
+enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.
+ -- G. K. Chesterton
+~
+Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember.
+ -- Oscar Levant
+~
+If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner.
+ -- Tallulah Bankhead
+~
+Kids don't watch when they are stimulated and look away when
+they are bored. They watch when they understand and look away
+when they are confused.
+ -- Malcolm Gladwell
+~
+We especially need imagination in science. It is not all
+mathematics, nor all logic, it is somewhat beauty and poetry.
+ -- Maria Mitchell
+~
+The masons have a "temple of living stones".
+Well, I have a temple of stoned living.
+Except that the temple is my parents' basement.
+~
+Pain is just another form of information.
+ -- Don DeLillo
+~
+ The traditional image of Asian countries--and the one I held before
+we moved there--was of overwhelmingly poor societies: city dwellers
+starving in the streets and farmers slaving to raise barely enough rice
+to feed a family, while a tiny clique of well-connected magnates lived
+behind barbed-wire fences in ornate mansions. Today, those scenes can
+still be found in parts of East Asia. But for the most part, the Asian
+countries are building a huge middle class, in which most people have
+about as much as everybody else.
+ Japan has been the model; when Japan became a rich country, it did
+so in ways that spread the wealth broadly and evenly. In opinion polls
+today, more than 90 percent of the Japanese people describe themselves
+as 'middle class.' In the other 'high-performing Asian economies' the
+economic boom has also been broadly distributed...
+ You can legitimately question whether equal distribution of a
+nation's wealth is a sign of social success. The American dream, in
+economic terms, at least, has generally been the dream of enormous
+success--not of making as much money as everybody else but rather of
+getting really rich. And that dream has been one of the key reasons
+for the dynamism and resiliency of the United States over the decades.
+On the other hand, the egalitarian distribution of wealth, and the
+resulting sense that everybody is getting a relatively fair shake, is
+surely one of the reasons that Asian countries have civil and stable
+societies.
+ -- T. R. Reid, "Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living in the East
+ Teaches Us About Living in the West"
+~
+Who will underrate the influence of loose popular
+literature in debauching the popular mind?
+ -- Walt Whitman
+~
+There are so many ways of earning a living and most of them are failures.
+ -- Gertrude Stein
+~
+Nothing shocks me. I'm a scientist.
+ -- Indiana Jones
+~
+Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.
+ -- Charles Lamb
+~
+Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog.
+Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.
+ -- E. B. White
+~
+ This idea of breaking the world into pieces and then explaining
+the pieces in terms of smaller pieces is called reductionism. It
+would be perfectly justified to consider Murray Gell-Mann, the father
+of the quark, to be the century's arch-reductionist. But very early
+on, long before mushy notions of holism became trendy, Gell-Mann
+appreciated an important truth: While you can reduce downward, that
+doesn't automatically mean you can explain upward. People can be
+divided into cells, cells into molecules, molecules into atoms, atoms
+into electrons and nuclei, nuclei into subatomic particles, and those
+into still tinier things called quarks. But, true as that may be,
+there is nothing written in the laws of subatomic physics that can be
+used to explain higher-level phenomena like human behavior. There is
+no way that one can start with quarks and predict that cellular life
+would emerge and evolve over the eons to produce physicists. Reducing
+downward is vastly easier than explaining upward--a truth that bears
+repeating.
+ -- George Johnson, "Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the
+ Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics"
+~
+Perhaps no mightier conflict of mind occurs ever again in a lifetime
+than that first decision to unseat one's own tooth.
+ -- Gene Fowler
+~
+The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the
+old ones that ramify, for those brought up as most of us have
+been, into every corner of our minds.
+ -- John Maynard Keynes
+~
+ In the centuries preceding the introduction of the printing press,
+those who held power reinforced it by uses of language that mystified the
+powerless and kept them subservient. Even more so in today's world, power
+is inextricably tied to the use of language, and today's priesthood of
+professionals in many fields employs jargon-fueled mystification. That is a
+political use of language that deliberately excludes the 'powerless' lay
+audience from participation. The doctor whose technical terms confuse, no
+less than the politician whose equivocations obfuscate, the lawyer whose
+terms intimidate, and the accountant whose explanations obscure, is taking
+advantage of audiences through what are called 'gatekeeper' uses of
+language. They include euphemisms, jargon and other devices designed to
+prevent rather than augment the free flow of knowledge.
+ Lawyers have been particularly egregious in this practice.
+Gatekeeper language also frequently masks what physicians do especially in
+circumstances that can be fraught with emotion. A relative of a cancer
+patient, seeking straight and hard informational answers to questions --
+how bad is the situation, how much time does she have left, is there any
+hope -- was informed by her doctor that his relative's cancer was
+'treatable' and her prognosis was 'guarded...'
+ The philosopher Jrgen Habermas provides an insight into the
+political nature of gatekeeper uses of language through his identification
+of the 'scientization of the public sphere,' a process now occurring in
+many societies. In this trend, elites effectively disqualify members of the
+public from being able to participate in policy discussions by insisting
+that only specialists can really understand what is going on. When
+politicians come to believe that only they can understand what is going on
+in the high councils of government, and that their job is to translate it
+for us and to protect themselves in the process, the language they aim at
+the electorate takes on more and more aspects of purposeful deceit.
+ -- Tom Shachtman, "The Inarticulate Society"
+~
+If you think you are too small to make a difference,
+try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.
+ -- African proverb
+~
+It does not do to leave a dragon out of your calculations,
+if you live near him.
+ -- J. R. R. Tolkien
+~
+Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers
+is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.
+ -- Ben Hecht
+~
+Friendships, like marriages, are dependent on avoiding the unforgivable.
+ -- John S. MacDonald
+~
+authority does not exist.
+we are all equally feeble when compared
+with the profundity of the universe.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Sports do not build character. They reveal it.
+ -- Heywood Hale Broun
+~
+Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information
+about life to last him the rest of his days.
+ -- Flannery O'Connor
+~
+Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food:
+frequently there must be a beverage.
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+ We live with strangers. Those we love most, with whom we share
+a shelter, a table, a bed, remain mysterious. Wherever lives overlap
+and flow together, there are depths of unknowing. Parents and children,
+partners, siblings, and friends repeatedly surprise us, revealing the
+need to learn where we are most at home. We even surprise ourselves
+in our own becoming, moving through the cycles of our lives. There is
+strangeness hidden in the familiar.
+ At the same time there is familiarity hidden in the strange. We can
+look with curiosity and respect at the faces of men and women we have
+never met. Learning to recognize these strangers with whom we share an
+increasingly crowded and interdependent world, we can imagine ourselves
+joined in a single family, perhaps by a marriage between adventurous
+grandchildren.
+ Strangers marry strangers, whether they have been playmates for
+years or never meet before the wedding day. They continue to surprise
+each other through the evolutions of love and the growth of affection.
+Lovers, gay and straight, begin in strangeness and often, for the zest
+of it, find ways to increase their differences.
+ Children arrive like aliens from outer space, their needs and
+feelings inaccessible, sharing no common language, yet for all their
+strangeness we greet them with love. Traditionally, the strangeness of
+infants has been understood as temporary, the strangeness of incomplete
+beings who are expected to become predictable and comprehensible. This
+expectation has eased the transition from generation to generation, the
+passing on of knowledge and responsibility, on which every human society
+depends. Yet the gap between parent and child, like the gap between
+partners, is not left behind with the passage of time. Today, in a
+world of rapid change, it is increasing, shifting into new rhythms still
+to be explored.
+ -- Mary Catherine Bateson, in "Full Circles, Overlapping Lives:
+ Culture and Generation in Transition"
+~
+Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.
+ -- Niels Bohr
+~
+At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future,
+tradition has placed 10,000 men to guard the past.
+ -- Maurice Maeterlink
+~
+Before you run in double harness, look well to the other horse.
+ -- Ovid
+~
+There is nothing in the dark that isn't there when the lights are on.
+ -- Rod Serling
+~
+The overly sure belief that one knows the truth,
+but that this truth doesn't need to be tested or verified,
+is the root of all human errors.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Any fool can make a rule and every fool will mind it.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+How many cares one loses
+when one decides
+not to be something
+but to be someone.
+ -- Coco Chanel
+~
+If someone says 'can't', that shows you what to do.
+ -- John Cage
+~
+Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together.
+ -- Eugene Ionesco
+~
+If a thing can not go on forever, it will come to an end.
+ -- Herbert Stein
+~
+Nothing ever gets anywhere.
+The earth keeps turning round and round and gets nowhere.
+The moment is the only thing that counts.
+ -- Jean Cocteau
+~
+Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow;
+don't walk behind me, I may not lead;
+walk beside me, and just be my friend.
+ -- Albert Camus
+~
+Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our brightest
+blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+The following is a poem made up entirely of quotations from George
+W. Bush. The quotes have been arranged, for aesthetic reasons only,
+by Washington Post writer Richard Thompson.
+
+ MAKE THE PIE HIGHER
+ by George W. Bush
+
+ I think we all agree, the past is over.
+ This is still a dangerous world.
+ It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
+ and potential mental losses.
+
+ Rarely is the question asked
+ Is our children learning?
+ Will the highways of the internet
+ become more few?
+ How many hands have I shaked?
+
+ They misunderestimate me.
+ I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
+
+ I know that the human being
+ and the fish can coexist.
+
+ Families is where our nation finds hope,
+ where our wings take dream.
+
+ Put food on your family!
+ Knock down the tollbooth!
+ Vulcanize Society!
+
+ Make the pie higher! Make the pie higher!
+
+~
+Those crazy kids!
+~
+When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard", I am always
+tempted to ask: "Compared to what?"
+ -- Sydney Harris
+~
+What is laid down, ordered, factual is never enough
+to embrace the whole truth: life always spills over
+the rim of every cup.
+ -- Boris Pasternak
+~
+Hard is the herte that loveth nought in May.
+ -- Geoffrey Chaucer
+~
+Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.
+ -- G. K. Chesterton
+~
+{{ your mental acuity sharpens, your self image improves, your breath
+becomes minty fresh, the problems in your life all seem simpler and you
+feel you can deal with them each separately and conquer them one by one,
+your hair grows back in all the right places and stops growing in your
+ears and other inappropriate places, when i snap my fingers, you will
+feel wholly refreshed and renewed... }}
+
+*SNAP*
+
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+If you owe the bank $100, that's your problem.
+If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem.
+ -- J. Paul Getty
+~
+ The Hutterites (who came out of the same tradition as the Amish
+and the Mennonites) have a strict policy that every time a colony
+approaches 150, they split it in two and start a new one. "Keeping
+things under 150 just seems to be the best and most efficient way to
+manage a group of people," Bill Gross, one of the leaders of a
+Hutterite colony outside Spokane told me. "When things get larger
+than that, people become strangers to one another."
+ The Hutterites, obviously, didn't get this idea from contemporary
+evolutionary psychology. They've been following the 150 rule for
+centuries... At 150, the Hutterites believe, something happens--
+something indefinable but very real--that somehow changes the nature
+of community overnight. "In smaller groups people are a lot closer.
+They're knit together, which is very important if you want to be
+effective and successful at community life," Gross said. "If you
+get too large, you don't have enough work in common. You don't have
+enough things in common, and then you start to become strangers and
+that close-knit fellowship starts to get lost."
+ Gross spoke from experience. He had been in Hutterite colonies
+that had come near to that magic number and seen first-hand how
+things had changed. "What happens when you get that big is that the
+group starts, just on its own, to form a sort of clan." He made a
+gesture with his hands, as if to demonstrate division. "You get two
+or three groups within the larger group. That is something you
+really try to prevent, and when it happens it is a good time to
+branch out."
+ -- Malcolm Gladwell, "The Tipping Point"
+~
+If men could regard the events of their own lives with more open
+minds, they would frequently discover that they did not really
+desire the things they failed to obtain.
+ -- Andre Maurois
+~
+Middle age is when you're sitting at home on Saturday night
+and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you.
+ -- Ogden Nash
+~
+The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
+ -- Walter Bagehot
+~
+ I think a power to do something is of value. Whether the result
+is a good thing or a bad thing depends on how it is used, but the
+power is a value. Once in Hawaii I was taken to see a Buddhist
+temple. In the temple a man said, "I am going to tell you something
+that you will never forget." And then he said, "To every man is
+given the key to the gates of heaven. The same key opens the gates
+of hell."
+ And so it is with science. In a way it is a key to the gates of
+heaven, and the same key opens the gates of hell, and we do not have
+any instructions as to which is which gate. Shall we throw away the
+key and never have a way to enter the gates of heaven? Or shall we
+struggle with the problem of which is the best way to use the key?
+That is, of course, a very serious question, but I think that we
+cannot deny the value of the key to the gates of heaven.
+ All the major problems of the relations between society and
+science lie in this same area. When the scientist is told that he
+must be more responsible for his effects on society, it is the
+applications of science that are referred to. If you work to develop
+nuclear energy you must realize also that it can be used harmfully.
+Therefore, you would expect that, in a discussion of this kind by a
+scientist, this would be the most important topic. But I will not
+talk about it further. I think that to say these are scientific
+problems is an exaggeration. They are far more humanitarian problems.
+The fact that how to work the power is clear, but how to control it is
+not, is something not so scientific and is not something that the
+scientist knows so much about.
+ -- Richard P. Feynman, "The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen
+ Scientist"
+~
+If once a man indulges himself in Murder, very soon he comes to think
+little of Robbing, and from Robbing he comes next to Drinking and
+Sabbath-breaking, and from that to Incivility and Procrastination.
+ -- Thomas De Quincey
+~
+These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper,
+but minds alive on the shelves.
+ -- Gilbert Highet
+~
+Let us not look back in anger,
+nor forward in fear,
+but around in awareness.
+ -- James Thurber
+~
+Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with
+the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for
+the right purpose, and in the right way--that is not easy.
+ -- Aristotle
+~
+A nation in which grown men say things like "I am not a happy camper"
+at momentous junctures is manifestly not the Shining City on the Hill
+that our forefathers dreamed about.
+ -- Joe Queenan
+~
+ Among the devices that we use to impose order upon a complicated
+(but by no means unstructured) world, classification--or the division
+of items into categories based on perceived similarities--must rank
+as the most general and most pervasive of all. And no strategy of
+classification cuts deeper--while providing such an even balance of
+benefits and difficulties--than our propensity for division by two,
+or dichotomy.
+ Some basic attributes of surrounding nature do exist as complem-
+entary pairings--two large lights in the sky representing day and
+night; two sexes that must couple their opposing parts to produce a
+continuity of generations--so we might argue that dichotomization
+amounts to little more than good observation of the external world.
+But far more often than not, dichotomization leads to misleading or
+even dangerous oversimplification. People and beliefs are not either
+good or evil (with the second category ripe for burning); and
+organisms are not either plant or animal, vertebrate or invertebrate,
+human or beast. We seem so driven to division by two, even in
+clearly inappropriate circumstances, that I must agree with several
+schools of thought (most notably Claude Levi-Strauss and the French
+structuralists) in viewing dichotomization more as an inherent
+mechanism of the brain's operation than as a valid perception of
+external reality.
+ -- Stephen Jay Gould
+~
+Crude classifications and false generalizations
+are the curse of the organized life.
+ -- H. G. Wells
+~
+Whosoever shall not fall by the sword or by famine,
+shall fall by pestilence, so why bother shaving?
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+Those who really deserve praise are the people who, while human
+enough to enjoy power, nevertheless pay more attention to justice
+than they are compelled to do by their situation.
+ -- Thucydides
+~
+It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
+ -- Grace Hopper
+~
+The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil
+is for good men to do nothing.
+ -- Edmund Burke
+~
+If the aborigine drafted an IQ test, all of
+Western civilization would presumably flunk it.
+ -- Stanley Garn
+~
+It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.
+ -- Diogenes Laertes
+~
+ The human race has reached a critical time in its social evolution
+when it has no choice but to make peace with its biological origins and
+to learn how to live once again as a member and partner of the natural
+community rather than as its dominator and destroyer. In other words,
+we must rediscover how to live as our savage ancestors once lived--in
+nature, rather apart from it, much less above it. We must, that is,
+invent the civilized analogue of the hunter-gatherer way of life, the
+only sustainable mode of human existence the planet has ever known.
+Suggesting that we live in a much simpler and more natural way does not
+imply a return to the Stone Age or anything like it: we have many
+possibilities open to us that were not available to our forebears, for
+we have been enormously enriched and enlightened by the long experience
+of civilization (or at least so one hopes). Nevertheless, how such a
+profound transformation of civilization toward a more experienced and
+wiser savagery can be achieved is obviously an immensely difficult
+question, because it will clearly entail radical changes in every aspect
+of our way of life.
+ Just how radical is suggested by one of the most poignant and
+pointed critiques of modern civilization ever uttered. Breaking into
+a filmed interview on the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, an
+anonymous Kayapo Indian woman shouted, "We don't want your dams. Your
+mothers did not hold you enough. You are all orphans." It is perhaps
+too simple to say that the good society is one in which your mother--
+and by extension your father, your community, and indeed your entire way
+of life--holds you enough, so that you grow up feeling that the world is
+a good place and that life is intrinsically satisfying just as it is and
+that there is thus no need to make it more satisfying by accumulating
+endless wealth and power at others' expense. But this at least points
+in the right direction: to become more experienced and wiser savages, to
+meet the real political challenge of the twenty-first century, we shall
+have to create cultures so rich and nurturing that we would have no need
+to pursue happiness; we could simply enjoy it.
+ -- William Ophuls, in "Requiem for Modern Politics: The Tragedy of
+ the Enlightenment and the Challenge of the New Millennium."
+~
+The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.
+ -- Jonas Salk
+~
+In Washington, it's dog eat dog.
+In academia, it's exactly the opposite.
+ -- Robert Reich
+~
+I have had many troubles in my life, but the worst of them never came.
+ -- James A. Garfield
+~
+There comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget
+something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance,
+therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.
+ -- Arthur Conan Doyle
+~
+The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
+ -- Edward Gibbon
+~
+I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired
+at nine o'clock every morning.
+ -- Peter de Vries
+~
+It is no secret that organized crime in America takes in over forty
+billion dollars a year. This is quite a profitable sum, especially
+when one considers that the Mafia spends very little for office supplies.
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.
+ -- W. Edwards Deming
+~
+A man is called a good fellow for doing things which, if done
+by a woman, would land her in a lunatic asylum.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+Those who desire to give up Freedom
+in order to gain Security, will not have,
+nor do they deserve, either one.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson
+~
+There's no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery.
+You can't do any business from there.
+ -- Colonel (Harlan) Sanders
+~
+To imagine is everything, to know is nothing at all.
+ -- Anatole France
+~
+There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion.
+There are only intersecting monologues.
+ -- Rebecca West
+~
+You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.
+ -- Dave Barry
+~
+ Memory's malfunctions can be divided into seven fundamental transgressions
+or 'sins.' Just like the ancient seven deadly sins, the memory sins occur
+frequently in everyday life and can have serious consequences for all of us.
+Transience, absent-mindedness, and blocking are sins of omission: we fail to
+bring to mind a desired fact, event, or idea. Transience refers to a weakening
+or loss of memory over time. It's probably not difficult for you to remember
+now what you have been doing for the past several hours. But if I ask you
+about the same activities six weeks, six months, or six years from now, chances
+are you'll remember less and less.
+ Absent-mindedness involves a breakdown at the interface between attention
+and memory. Absent-minded memory errors--misplacing keys or eyeglasses, or
+forgetting a lunch appointment--typically occur because we are preoccupied with
+distracting issues or concerns, and don't focus attention on what we need to
+remember.
+ The third sin, blocking, entails a thwarted search for information that we
+may be desperately trying to retrieve. We've all failed to produce a name to
+accompany a familiar face. This frustrating experience happens even though we
+are attending carefully to the task at hand, and even though the desired name
+has not faded from our minds--as we become acutely aware when we unexpectedly
+retrieve the blocked name hours or days later.
+ In contrast to these three sins of omission, the next four sins of
+misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence are all sins of
+commission: some form of memory is present, but it is either incorrect or
+unwanted. The sin of misattribution involves assigning a memory to the wrong
+source: mistaking fantasy for reality, or incorrectly remembering that a friend
+told you a bit of trivia that you actually read about in a newspaper.
+Misattribution is far more common than most people realize, and has potentially
+profound implications in legal settings. The related sin of suggestibility
+refers to memories that are implanted as a result of leading questions,
+comments, or suggestions when a person is trying to call up a past experience.
+ The sin of bias reflects the powerful influences of our current knowledge
+and beliefs on how we remember our pasts. We often edit or entirely rewrite
+our previous experiences--unknowingly and unconsciously--in light of what we
+now know or believe. The result can be a skewed rendering of a specific
+incident, or even of an extended period in our lives, which says more about how
+we feel now than about what happened then.
+ The seventh sin -- persistence -- entails repeated recall of disturbing
+information or events that we would prefer to banish from our minds altogether:
+remembering what we cannot forget, even though we wish that we could. Recall
+the last time that you suddenly awoke at 3:00 a.m., unable to keep out of your
+mind a painful blunder on the job or a disappointing result on an important
+exam. In more extreme cases of serious depression or traumatic experience,
+persistence can be disabling and even life-threatening.
+ -- Daniel Schacter, "The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets
+ and Remembers."
+~
+When I was a young man I observed that nine out of ten things I did were
+failures. I didn't want to be a failure, so I did ten times more work.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+People demand freedom of speech as a compensation
+for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
+ -- Soeren Kierkegaard
+~
+Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
+Live the life you have imagined.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+Brave men are all vertebrates; they have their softness
+on the surface and their toughness in the middle.
+ -- G. K. Chesterton
+~
+Being willing to accept that the past--
+even the priceless, irreplaceable past--
+will be largely lost is a sign of mental health.
+ -- Tim Cavanaugh
+~
+We are what we repeatedly do.
+Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
+ -- Aristotle
+~
+Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. -- Voltaire
+~
+It requires wisdom to understand wisdom:
+the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
+ -- Walter Lippman
+~
+What difference does it make how much you have?
+What you do not have amounts to much more.
+ -- Seneca
+~
+ We now all live in a society marked by increasing, not decreasing,
+interconnection and mutual reliance. Each of our lives is affected by
+more people than ever before. We generally need the cooperation of
+more people than ever to accomplish even those goals we set for
+ourselves. This insight needs no elaborate demonstration; one is
+reminded of it with every smoggy breath we take, and every time we step
+on an airplane and ponder how our life depends on the competent,
+attentive behavior of dozens of strangers, from the pilot to the air
+traffic controller to the ground mechanic who was supposed to inspect
+the extent of the metal fatigue on the wings. Technology increases the
+links that tie people together, voluntarily or not, and the complexity
+of our economic system and the organizations we work for multiplies
+these linkages.
+ To exercise control over what happens to you as an individual, you
+must be involved with others in a process that decides what happens to
+you and your fellow citizens collectively. We can no longer separate
+the quality of personal life from the quality of social life. To
+preserve private space, we must also preserve the commons.
+ That is one reason why even in a society so seduced by and attached
+to autonomy, many people are now getting fed up with what can only be
+called acts of vandalism against the public space. Threatening,
+disrespectful, wanton, and manifestly selfish acts--from the warfare of
+crack dealers and gangs to the shameless greed of the S&L thieves and
+the destruction of our very environment by the industrial polluters--
+are poisonous to everyone, not just those directly harmed. Of course,
+we pay for such things as taxpayers and as consumers, but that is not
+the most important cost. All of us are morally impoverished by these
+assaults on the quality and integrity of our common life.
+ -- Willard Gaylin and Bruce Jennings, "The Perversion of Autonomy:
+ The Proper Uses of Coercion and Constraints in a Liberal Society"
+~
+Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common
+belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young.
+ -- W. Somerset Maugham
+~
+Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
+ -- B. F. Skinner
+~
+The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved--
+loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
+ -- Victor Hugo
+~
+If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
+ -- Seneca
+~
+Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world.
+ -- Lily Tomlin
+~
+The wicked leader is one whom the people despise.
+The good leader is one whom the people revere.
+The great leader is one about whom the people say,
+"We did it ourselves."
+ -- Lao Tzu
+~
+Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.
+ -- Marcus Aurelius
+~
+Ideas pull the trigger, but instinct loads the gun.
+ -- Don Marquis
+~
+No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one
+concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
+ -- Niccolo Machiavelli
+~
+Every exit is an entry somewhere.
+ -- Tom Stoppard
+~
+Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us
+nothing but the shape of the spoon.
+ -- E. M. Forster
+~
+We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers
+connect us with our fellow men.
+ -- Herman Melville
+~
+There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.
+ -- Bertrand Russell
+~
+If this is coffee, please bring me some tea,
+but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+All men who have turned out worth anything have had
+the chief hand in their own education.
+ -- Sir Walter Scott
+~
+Few things can help an individual more
+than to place responsibility on him,
+and to let him know that you trust him.
+ -- Booker T. Washington
+~
+The last time somebody said, "I find I can write much
+better with a word processor," I replied, "They used to
+say the same thing about drugs."
+ -- Roy Blount, Jr.
+~
+The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn
+When teachers themselves are taught to learn.
+ -- Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), German playwright, poet
+~
+Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.
+ -- John Lehman
+~
+Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time.
+Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become
+ugly with time.
+ -- Jean Cocteau
+~
+To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+the best part about killing software bugs is that
+there's no goo nor exoskeleton fragments left behind.
+~
+Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares
+about doing it right, or doing it better.
+ -- John Updike
+~
+Great spirits have always encountered
+violent opposition from mediocre minds.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+There's a fine line between genius and
+insanity. I have erased this line.
+ -- Oscar Levant
+~
+Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's
+original, you will have to ram it down their throats.
+ -- Howard Aiken
+~
+Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves,
+or we know where we can find information upon it.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+ Historically, consumer acceptance of new technologies has been
+slow and cumbersome, delaying anticipated profits by decades.
+Indeed, consumer acceptance of any innovation is typically slow,
+despite extraordinary benefits and convenience.
+ When cake mixes were first created, they required consumers to
+only add water--a major behavioral shift. Consumers felt a cake
+made with such a mix could not possibly be as good as a homemade
+cake. So cake mix formulas were revised to require the addition of
+an egg and milk. The new mixes met with great success, because the
+behavior shift required of consumers was minor. Eventually some
+consumers became comfortable adding only water (some never will).
+ -- Kathy Biro
+~
+An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even
+how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what
+you know and what you don't.
+ -- Anatole France
+~
+A man is a worker. If he is not that he is nothing.
+ -- Joseph Conrad
+~
+All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely
+players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one
+man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
+ -- Shakespeare, "As You Like It"
+~
+Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.
+ -- James Bryant Conant
+~
+ I say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined this
+government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.
+We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before
+us many, many months of struggle and suffering.
+ You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea,
+and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given
+us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the
+dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.
+ You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory.
+Victory at all costs--Victory in spite of all terrors--Victory, however
+long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.
+ Let that be realized. No survival for the British Empire, no
+survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for
+the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward
+toward his goal.
+ I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause
+will not be suffered to fail among men. I feel entitled at this
+juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, "Come then,
+let us go forward together with our united strength."
+ -- Winston Churchill, first speech to Parliament, May 13, 1940
+~
+Be it religion, love under all its forms, literature, or art,
+there is not a single spiritual force that does not become an
+object of commercial exploitation.
+ -- Etienne Gilson
+~
+History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.
+ -- James Joyce from "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"
+~
+Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon,
+but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!
+ -- John Parker, leader of the "Minutemen", April 19, 1775
+~
+These are the times that try men's souls.
+ -- Tom Paine
+~
+ Yesterday, December 7, 1941--a day which will live in infamy--the
+United states of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by
+naval and air forces of the empire of Japan... The attack yesterday
+on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and
+military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives
+have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported
+torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu... Japan
+has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the
+Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves.
+The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and
+well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our
+nation.
+ As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all
+measures be taken for our defense, that always will our whole nation
+remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long
+it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American
+people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.
+ I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the
+people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the
+uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery
+shall never again endanger us. Hostilities exist. There is no
+blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests
+are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the
+unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable
+triumph. So help us God.
+ -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
+~
+Our strength grows out of our weakness.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
+I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
+I shall use my time.
+ -- Jack London
+~
+What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly;
+it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
+ -- Tom Paine
+~
+it's hard not to blame microsoft for the new worm. they point at
+their feeble little patch (which actually doesn't stop all the
+types of attack nimda uses), but why aren't their operating systems
+automatically getting the patch if it's critical? also, why are
+there so many huge gaping holes in the first place? they'll never
+stop plugging them... it's like a dyke made out of sponges.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+after i got my millionth annoying spam today, i decided that there must
+be something to it after all. perhaps i can write spam all day while
+wearing only underpants and make money by magic too. clearly no one has
+shut off the spammers' internet connections yet, so they survive somehow.
+subsistence-level living based on a life of evil, here i come!
+i like to call this:
+"my frist spam"
+
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++-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
+~
+Courage is grace under pressure. -- Ernest Hemingway
+~
+To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years.
+To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that
+gentleness is to be expected only from the strong.
+ -- Leo Rosten
+~
+ The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are
+worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all
+attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy
+ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of
+treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence.
+ It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation,
+enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by
+violence without a struggle, or be cheated out of them by the artifices of
+false and designing men.
+ Of the latter we are in most danger at present; let us therefore be aware
+of it. Let us contemplate our forefathers and posterity; and resolve to
+maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the
+latter.
+ Instead of sitting down satisfied with the efforts we have already made,
+which is the wish of our enemies, the necessity of the times, more than ever,
+calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and perseverance.
+Let us remember that 'if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty,
+we encourage it, and involve others in our doom.' It is a very serious
+consideration, which should deeply impress our minds, that millions yet unborn
+may be the miserable sharers in the event.
+ -- Samuel Adams, tasty American Patriot
+~
+The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is
+before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out
+to meet it.
+ -- Thucydides
+~
+I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself
+I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore,
+and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble
+or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of
+truth lay all undiscovered before me.
+ -- Isaac Newton
+~
+As a rule, software systems do not work well until they have been
+used, and have failed repeatedly, in real applications.
+ -- Dave Parnas
+~
+Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+When fanatics are on top, there is no limit to oppression.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
+Willing is not enough; we must do.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+tkelele ekki eekkle cthulhu hurf hurf hurf *plat*
+ -- H. P. Lovecraft's "cat" ejecting a hairball
+~
+If we survive danger it steels our courage more than anything else.
+ -- Reinhold Niebuhr
+~
+Computer Science is no more about computers
+than astronomy is about telescopes.
+ -- Edsger W. Dijkstra
+~
+What we become depends on what we read after all of the
+professors have finished with us. The greatest university
+of all is a collection of books.
+ -- Thomas Carlyle
+~
+The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in
+higher esteem those that think alike than those who think differently.
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.
+ -- Tom Paine
+~
+clean underwear is
+crucial in these turbulent
+final days of earth...
+
+president shrub does
+wonders for sagging garment
+industry's profits.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+will afghanis have
+christian values? hate the bombs,
+but love the bombers?
+~
+Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.
+ -- John Locke
+~
+Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, "Certainly,
+I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it.
+ -- Theodore Roosevelt
+~
+Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve
+greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
+ -- William Shakespeare
+~
+fred had a job but
+then he frittered it away
+waxing poetic.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Half this game is ninety percent mental.
+ -- Yogi Berra
+~
+Action may not always bring happiness;
+but there is no happiness without action.
+ -- Benjamin Disraeli
+~
+The world is faced with a transcendent conflict between those who love life
+and those who love death both for themselves and their enemies.
+ -- Charles Krauthammer
+~
+doomed bovines eat sand
+scrape on cactus in AZ
+then chowed on and gone
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+To find out what one is fitted to do,
+and to secure an opportunity to do it,
+is the key to happiness.
+ -- John Dewey
+~
+I have never understood Brahms. I believe he was
+burning the midnight oil trying to be complicated.
+ -- Albert Einstein, in a conversation with Peter G. Neumann
+~
+Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training.
+ -- Anna Freud
+~
+It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to
+entertain a thought without accepting it.
+ -- Aristotle
+~
+The fastest way to succeed is to look as if you're playing
+by somebody else's rules, while quietly playing by your own.
+ -- Michael Korda
+~
+tie your future to
+a brick; microsoft sinking
+fast as cement shoes
+~
+Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction.
+Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers is another.
+ -- G. K. Chesterton
+~
+We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
+ -- Thomas Alva Edison
+~
+Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet
+of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.
+ -- Gene Fowler
+~
+Any activity becomes creative when the doer
+cares about doing it right, or doing it better.
+ -- John Updike
+~
+Experience with technology teaches us that once a technology makes
+something possible, it gets applied, whether for good or bad.
+ -- Donald A. Norman
+~
+The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in
+other men the conviction and the will to carry on.
+ -- Walter Lippman
+~
+Without education we are in a horrible and deadly
+danger of taking educated people seriously.
+ -- G. K. Chesterton
+~
+When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt.
+ -- Henry J. Kaiser
+~
+Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only
+the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy.
+ -- Nora Ephron
+~
+Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness
+that some things are really important, others not; and that the two
+kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs.
+ -- Christopher Morley
+~
+Nobody ever died of laughter.
+ -- Max Beerbohm
+~
+ Mein Herr looked so thoroughly bewildered that I thought it best
+to change the subject. "What a useful thing a pocket-map is!" I
+remarked.
+ "That's another thing we've learned from your Nation," said Mein
+Herr, "map-making. But we've carried it much further than you. What
+do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?"
+ "About six inches to the mile."
+ "Only six inches!" exclaimed Mein Herr. "We very soon got to six
+yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And
+then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the
+country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!"
+ "Have you used it much?" I enquired.
+ "It has never been spread out, yet," said Mein Herr: "the farmers
+objected; they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out
+the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and
+I assure you it does nearly as well."
+ -- Lewis Carroll, "Sylvie and Bruno Concluded"
+~
+The fly has an autonomous system that avoids being swatted. It has
+the ability to see and navigate and make decisions on millisecond time
+scales. We've never been able to make artificial vision systems that
+come within orders of magnitude of that, with all the computation we
+can throw at them.
+ -- Carver Mead
+~
+The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending,
+we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours;
+We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
+ -- William Wordsworth
+~
+You return and again take the proper course, guided by what?
+By the picture in mind of the place you are headed for.
+ -- John McDonald
+~
+The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who
+are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+Xtianity the Easy Way
+---------------------
+
+jesus heal my head,
+so i won't drop dead;
+god better get me real happy,
+'cause he's my celestial pappy.
+
+yo god, i'll just lie around here at home,
+you fill my pockets with money while i moan.
+it'll make me real religious,
+if you ain't fictitious...
+
+being a zealot is a lot of hassle,
+and with my faith i must wrassle.
+'til jesus gets my brain repaired,
+to humans my butt remains bared.
+
+surmounting one's lot is for others,
+who have energy unsmothered,
+by wacky notions of invisible spirits,
+that reward and punish holy twits.
+
+heaven better live up to my imagination,
+and to its oft repeated reputation;
+the next life better not suck, holy dad,
+'cause this one on earth you f*cked pretty bad.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so
+long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see
+the ones which open for us.
+ -- Alexander Graham Bell
+~
+The mind is its own place and
+in itself can make a heaven
+of hell, a hell of heaven.
+ -- John Milton
+~
+Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
+Willing is not enough; we must do.
+ -- Johann von Goethe
+~
+I've developed a new philosophy... I only dread one day at a time.
+ -- Charlie Brown, in Charles Schultz's cartoon "Peanuts"
+~
+It is hard to say exactly when the monumentalization of the trivial became
+a way of life in America. It may have been when the National Football League
+started according contests between large men in skintight pants the sort of
+solemn designations formerly reserved for armed global conflicts.
+ -- Michael Kelly, in "The Atlantic Monthly"
+~
+When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second.
+When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour.
+That's relativity.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned,
+so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
+ -- E. M. Forster
+~
+The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
+ -- Alan Kay
+~
+Unless one's predictions are confirmed more often than a random
+guesser's, we should be suspicious of their quality, however
+cogent they may have seemed when made.
+ -- Richard A. Posner
+~
+It is said an eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent a
+sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate
+in all times and situations. They presented him with the words,
+"And this, too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening
+in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.
+Small people always do that, but the really great make you
+feel that you, too, can become great.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+The belief that microsoft has done it all right this time with Windows-XP
+is just like... the suspension of disbelief that allows people to think
+it's perfectly normal to see kids flying around on brooms in the Harry
+Potter movie while they're in the darkened movie theater. It's time to
+turn on the lights in your mental theater...
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+We always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love--
+first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage.
+ -- Albert Camus
+~
+ The majority of important television commercials take the form of
+religious parables organized around a coherent theology. Like all religious
+parables, they put forward a concept of sin, intimations of the way to
+redemption, and a vision of Heaven. They also suggest what are the roots of
+evil and what are the obligations of the holy.
+ Consider, for example, the Parable of the Ring Around the Collar. This
+is to television scripture what the Parable of the Prodigal Son is to the
+Bible, which is to say it is an archetype containing most of the elements of
+form and content that recur in the genre.
+ The narrative structure of the Parable of the Ring Around the Collar is,
+indeed, comfortably traditional. The story has a beginning, a middle, and an
+end. A married couple is depicted in some relaxed setting--a restaurant, say--
+in which they are enjoying each other's company and generally having a
+wonderful time. But then a waitress approaches their table, notices that the
+man has a dirty collar, stares at it boldly, sneers with cold contempt, and
+announces to all within hearing the nature of his transgression. The man is
+humiliated and glares at his wife with scorn, for she is the source of his
+shame. She, in turn, assumes an expression of self-loathing mixed with a
+touch of self-pity...
+ The parable continues by showing the wife at home using a detergent
+that never fails to eliminate dirt around the collars of men's shirts...
+ In television-commercial parables, the root cause of evil is
+"Technological Innocence", a failure to know the particulars of the
+beneficent accomplishments of industrial progress...
+ Technological innocence refers not only to ignorance of detergents,
+drugs, sanitary napkins, cars, salves, and foodstuffs, but also to
+ignorance of technical machinery such as savings banks and transportation
+systems.
+ -- Neil Postman, "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age
+ of Show Business"
+~
+Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some
+blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.
+Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a
+spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+I don't know much about being a millionaire,
+but I'll bet I'd be darling at it.
+ -- Dorothy Parker
+~
+term: Microflaccidity
+definition: An addiction to Microsoft products accompanied by a decrease in IQ.
+~
+Poetry is what gets lost in translation.
+ -- Robert Frost
+~
+Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey "people". People
+say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war.... Each
+instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense
+of the rest....
+ -- C. S. Lewis
+~
+[Hollywood is] a place where they shoot too many films and not enough actors.
+ -- Walter Winchell
+~
+Money sometimes makes fools of important persons,
+but also makes important persons of fools.
+ -- Walter Winchell
+~
+I made my money by selling too soon.
+ -- Bernard Baruch
+~
+Tell me who admires you and loves you, and I will tell you who you are.
+ -- Charles Augustin Sainte-Beauve
+~
+False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often
+endure long; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm,
+for everyone takes a salutory pleasure in proving their falseness.
+ -- Charles Darwin
+~
+I never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back.
+ -- Zsa-Zsa Gabor
+~
+I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from
+listening carefully. Most people never listen.
+ -- Ernest Hemingway
+~
+Ten point list of lessons learned
+from the high-tech industry failures during 2001:
+
+ 1) Prediction tools must improve.
+ 2) It's hugely difficult to build chicken and egg simultaneously.
+ 3) Venture capital firms' demands that startups generate $50 million
+ in revenue within three years were unrealistic.
+ 4) Companies used narrowcast to broadcast.
+ 5) Free is folly.
+ 6) We all, like sheep, will go astray (with enough pressure).
+ 7) Many startups were fundamentally uncreative and "un-Internet."
+ 8) Too early to market? Too bad.
+ 9) New stuff doesn't replace old.
+ 10) Nothing changes overnight.
+
+ -- Webmergers.com
+~
+The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy.
+ -- John Galsworthy
+~
+The ultimate result of shielding men from the
+effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
+ -- Herbert Spencer
+~
+Sports is the toy department of human life. -- Howard Cosell
+~
+First keep the peace within yourself,
+then you can also bring peace to others.
+ -- Thomas Kempis
+~
+What one has not experienced, one will never understand in print.
+ -- Isadora Duncan
+~
+Newspapermen learn to call a murderer "an alleged murderer" and the
+King of England "the alleged King of England" to avoid libel suits.
+ -- Stephen Leacock
+~
+I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places.
+He told me to quit going to those places.
+ -- Henny Youngman
+~
+Never mistake motion for action. -- Ernest Hemingway
+~
+The first duty of a leader is to make himself
+be loved without courting love. To be loved
+without "playing up" to anyone--even to himself.
+ -- Andre Malraux
+~
+All you need in this life is ignorance and
+confidence, and then success is sure.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited
+energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of
+order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence.
+ -- Norman Podhoretz
+~
+If only I could master the skill of telefecalkinesis, the act of
+sh*tting on someone from any distance. Another useful skill is
+evilknievelportation, the ability to jump out of the way right
+before some horrible accident occurs. This is useful to avoid
+the telefecalkinetics.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six,
+result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual
+expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.
+ -- Charles Dickens, in "David Copperfield"
+~
+Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest
+way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless.
+ -- Sinclair Lewis
+~
+It's the wonder of the world, it's a rocket to the moon, it gets you high,
+it gets you low, but once you get that glow... Love, love, hooray for love,
+who was ever too blase for love? Make this the night for love. If we have
+to fight, let's fight for love. Some sigh and cry for love--Ah, but in
+Pa-ree they die for love. Some waste away for love. Just the same--hooray
+for love!
+ -- Harold Arlen
+~
+Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
+ -- Philip K. Dick
+~
+Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long.
+ -- Ogden Nash
+~
+Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.
+ -- Petrarch
+~
+The young have aspirations that never come to pass,
+the old have reminiscences of what never happened.
+ -- H.H. Monroe (Saki)
+~
+An inventor is a person who makes an ingenious arrangement
+of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce
+~
+There's nothing quite like doing nothing.
+ -- John Ong
+~
+For a successful technology, reality must take precedence
+over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
+ -- Richard Feynmann
+~
+The mind commands the body and the body obeys.
+The mind commands itself and finds resistance.
+ -- St. Augustine
+~
+ The English word "way" is perhaps the nearest translation that we can
+make to the Chinese word tao. It is usually pronounced "dow." The Tao
+means many things. Primarily, it means the way of nature, the process of
+the universe. But it also means a way of life, a way of living in
+accordance with that process. We have lost the idea that our occupations
+are vocations. Our idea of an occupation is that it is a way of making
+money. We make a very, very destructive division between work and play.
+We spend eight hours, or whatever it may be, at work in order to earn the
+money to enjoy ourselves in the other eight hours. And that is a perfectly
+ridiculous way of living. It is much better to be very poor indeed than to
+do something so stupid as boring ourselves and wasting ourselves for eight
+hours in order to be able to enjoy ourselves the other eight hours. The
+result of this fantastic division between work and play is that work
+becomes drudgery, and play becomes empty. When we say that our occupation
+should also be our vocation, we are speaking of a conception of life within
+which work and play should be identical.
+ It is interesting that Hindus, when they speak of the creation of the
+universe, do not call it the work of God, they call it the play of God,
+the Vishnu-lila, lila meaning "play." And they look upon the whole
+manifestation of all the universes as a play, as a sport, as a kind of
+dance--lila perhaps being somewhat related to our word lilt. We in the
+West have tended to lose the idea of our work, our profession, as being a
+way, a tao.
+ Now, mind you, these ways I am talking about in Asia are not followed
+by an enormous number of people, except in a kind of nominal, superficial
+way. And I am not trying to make any vast comparisons between Asian society
+and Western society or to say that the total Asian way of life is superior
+to ours. I do not think it is, but I do not think it is necessarily
+inferior, either; it is just different. But the fact remains that there is
+an aspect of Asian religion and philosophy that is very subdued in Western
+religion and philosophy, so that you might say that the Way, in the sense of
+the Chinese Tao, does not quite exist in the West, in any recognizable form.
+It does exist, yes. It exists unofficially, it exists occasionally, but it
+is never clearly recognized.
+ -- Alan Watts, "The Way of Zen"
+~
+It is not certain that everything is uncertain.
+ -- Blaise Pascal
+~
+We used to think that
+if we knew one, we knew two,
+because one and one are two.
+We are finding that we must
+learn a great deal more about "and".
+ -- Sir Arthur Eddington
+~
+The so-called Pythagoreans, who were the first to take up mathematics,
+not only advanced this subject, but, saturated with it, they fancied
+that the principles of mathematics were the principles of all things.
+ -- Aristotle
+~
+Civilization advances by extending the number of important
+operations which we can perform without thinking of them.
+ -- Alfred North Whitehead
+~
+Any solution to a problem changes the problem.
+ -- R. W. Johnson
+~
+I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure,
+could walk on a cloud without coming through.
+ -- Jules Verne
+~
+Pay no attention to what the critics say; there has
+never been set up a statue in honor of a critic.
+ -- Jean Sibelius
+~
+Do not ask things to happen as you wish, but wish them to
+happen as they do happen, and your life will go smoothly.
+ -- Epictetus
+~
+One of the things most beguiling to cat lovers is the
+intractability of a cat... its refusal to surrender
+the least part of its spiritual independence.
+ -- Marguerite Steen
+~
+Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed.
+Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery
+and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they
+might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say
+to myself, "It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams
+come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
+ -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
+~
+I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the
+morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.
+ -- Frank Sinatra
+~
+The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk, they're sober.
+ -- William Butler Yeats
+~
+Drinking provides a beautiful excuse to pursue the one activity that
+truly gives me pleasure, hooking up with fat, hairy girls.
+ -- Ross Levy
+~
+What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch?
+ -- Tee Mans
+~
+Life is a waste of time, time is a waste of life, so get
+wasted all of the time and have the time of your life.
+ -- Michelle Mastrolacasa
+~
+I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy.
+ -- Tom Waits
+~
+Newscasters have gotten so repellant,
+talk shows so superficial,
+sitcoms so unfunny,
+dramas so mundane,
+movies so predictable,
+that the Food Network offers the best
+fare on TV in every sense of the word.
+ -- Florence King
+~
+My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four.
+Unless there are three other people.
+ -- Orson Welles
+~
+The people's good is the highest law. -- Cicero
+~
+In all recorded history there has not been one economist who
+has had to worry about where the next meal would come from.
+ -- Peter Drucker
+~
+The great thing in this world
+is not so much where we stand,
+as in what direction we are moving.
+ -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
+~
+Reality is the leading cause of stress
+amongst those in touch with it.
+ -- Jane Wagner
+~
+If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.
+ -- Bill Lyon
+~
+The nice thing about egotists is that
+they don't talk about other people.
+ -- Lucille S. Harper
+~
+Wisdom outweighs any wealth. -- Sophocles
+~
+A problem is a chance for you to do your best. -- Duke Ellington
+~
+It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing.
+It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.
+ -- Mother Teresa
+~
+The human mind is like an umbrella--it functions best when open.
+ -- Walter Gropius
+~
+They always say that time changes things, but
+you actually have to change them yourself.
+ -- Andy Warhol
+~
+If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the
+computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles
+per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
+ -- Robert X. Cringely
+~
+The man who says he is willing to meet you
+halfway usually is a poor judge of distance.
+ -- Laurence J. Peter
+~
+To do two things at once is to do neither.
+ -- Publilius Syrus
+~
+We live in an age when pizza gets to your home before the police.
+ -- Jeff Marder
+~
+Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.
+ -- Quentin Crisp
+~
+Hell, there are no rules here, we're trying to accomplish something.
+ -- Thomas Edison
+~
+The days of the digital watch are numbered. -- Tom Stoppard
+~
+A little drowsing cat is an image of perfect beatitude.
+ -- Champfleury
+~
+World peace must develop from inner peace.
+Peace is not just mere absence of violence.
+Peace is, I think, the manifestation of human compassion.
+ -- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
+~
+The human mind treats a new idea the same way
+the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.
+ -- P. B. Medawar
+~
+A hat should be taken off when you greet a
+lady and left off for the rest of your life.
+Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.
+ -- P. J. O'Rourke
+~
+Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends.
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+It is a very sad thing that nowadays
+there is so little useless information.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+I was born not knowing and have had only a
+little time to change that here and there.
+ -- Richard Feynman
+~
+I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the
+best of them, and I know how bad I am.
+ -- Joseph Baretti
+~
+Delusions of grandeur make me feel a lot better about myself.
+ -- Jane Wagner
+~
+It's a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn't want to hear.
+ -- Dick Cavett
+~
+Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't
+mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.
+ -- Edward R. Murrow
+~
+What can you say about a society that says that
+God is dead and Elvis is alive?
+ -- Irv Kupcinet
+~
+Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.
+ -- G. K. Chesterton
+~
+Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?
+ -- Edgar Bergen, as "Charlie McCarthy"
+~
+A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can
+do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done.
+ -- Fred Allen
+~
+Whatever you do will be insignificant,
+but it is very important that you do it.
+ -- Mahatma Gandhi
+~
+Cats know how to obtain food without labor,
+shelter without confinement,
+and love without penalties.
+ -- W. I. George
+~
+Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad.
+ -- Diogenes the Cynic
+~
+When it is not necessary to make a decision,
+it is necessary not to make a decision.
+ -- Lord Falkland
+~
+Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew
+and for several days we had nothing to live on but food and water.
+ -- W. C. Fields
+~
+Why isn't there a special name for the tops of your feet? -- Lily Tomlin
+~
+I took a speed reading course and read "War and
+Peace" in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.
+ -- Michel de Montaigne
+~
+I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it.
+ -- Groucho Marx
+~
+In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. -- Andy Warhol
+~
+Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
+ -- Lewis Carroll
+~
+The reason grandparents and grandchildren get
+along so well is that they have a common enemy.
+ -- Sam Levenson
+~
+A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.
+ -- Herman Melville
+~
+The prayer of the scientist if he prayed, which is not likely:
+Lord, grant that my discovery may increase knowledge and help other men.
+Failing that, Lord, grant that it will not lead to man's destruction.
+Failing that, Lord, grant that my article in "Brain" be published before
+the destruction takes place.
+ -- Walker Percy, in "Love in the Ruins"
+~
+Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by
+confessing our parents' shortcomings.
+ -- Laurence J. Peter
+~
+Cooperate on Standards, Compete on Implementation
+ -- Sun Corporations's Founding Principle
+~
+If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive.
+ -- Sam Goldwyn
+~
+Someday I want to be rich. Some people get so rich they lose
+all respect for humanity. That's how rich I want to be.
+ -- Rita Rudner
+~
+Kids who have yet to master spelling or basic math are in no position to
+dogmatize about scientific questions like global warming or nuclear power.
+ -- Thomas Sowell
+~
+If you can't ride two horses at the same time you shouldn't be in the circus.
+ -- Dennis Healey
+~
+ Whenever a person walks in on the middle of a film or a conversation, or
+starts a new friendship, opens a book, takes a new job, or moves to a new
+city, his first need is to orient himself. We all must know, in a general
+way, what to expect so that we can plan and respond intelligently and feel
+comfortable. And although all animals work with their senses and brains to
+orient themselves, human being do something unique. We live less simply and
+directly in the world than do other animals. We make a version of a world,
+an interpretation of it, and then we live in that. The degree of comfort
+and success that we achieve in our lives depends on how well that
+interpretation suits our circumstances.
+ Another way to state this idea is that genetically built into people is
+a special organizing mode of perception. The philosopher Susanne Langer
+calls this mode transformational: we are co-creators of our own perceptions.
+In the very act of physically perceiving, we interpret; we transform the raw
+data gathered by our senses into complex symbolic meanings. We literally
+cannot function and survive without seeing in our world evidence of order
+and purpose. We take nothing at face value; we systematize, explain, weave
+a large network of connected meanings.
+ While nonhuman animals toil for their lives, play, or lie in the sun--do
+whatever is suitable for the moment--only people fret and practice and
+struggle to achieve distant or abstract goals. We are the only animals who
+live partly removed from our immediate physical circumstances. This
+extravagance is the source of our language, art, science, music, religions,
+philosophies: those things we value most. Aside from such direct physical
+causes of death as hunger, exposure, old age, or disease, the one
+circumstance we truly cannot survive is living in a raw, uninterpreted
+place--in chaos. Each of us either finds a meaning in some traditional
+religion or philosophy or patches together one of his own, or else he
+panics, loses the will to live, and, in one way or another perishes.
+ -- Shirley Park Lowery, "Familiar Mysteries: The Truth in Myth"
+~
+I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific
+problems is just as dumb as the next guy.
+ -- Richard Feynman
+~
+The operating system for the *world* is too important a resource to be
+entrusted to just one proprietary company. No one company can handle
+the responsibility, nor can any one company be trusted to stay honest
+and fair when wielding such awesome power.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Middle age is when you've met so many people that every
+new person you meet reminds you of someone else.
+ -- Ogden Nash
+~
+Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself.
+ -- A. H. Weiler
+~
+I was walking down the street wearing glasses when the prescription ran out.
+ -- Steven Wright
+~
+Sometimes I think we're alone. Sometimes I think we're not.
+In either case, the thought is staggering.
+ -- R. Buckminster Fuller
+~
+Birds fly over the rainbow, why then oh why can't I?
+ -- E. Y. Harburg
+~
+The software business is the worst
+of all possible business models,
+except for all the others.
+ -- Marc Andreessen
+~
+Instant gratification takes too long.
+ -- Carrie Fisher
+~
+Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.
+ -- John Kenneth Galbraith
+~
+No one can have a higher opinion of him than I have,
+and I think he's a dirty little beast.
+ -- W. S. Gilbert
+~
+Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but
+man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
+ -- Reinhold Niebuhr
+~
+The great tragedy of Science--the slaying of a
+beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.
+ -- Thomas H. Huxley
+~
+Against logic there is no armor like ignorance. -- Laurence J. Peter
+~
+In mathematics you don't understand things.
+You just get used to them.
+ -- John von Neumann
+~
+Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?
+ -- James Thurber
+~
+As for me, except for an occasional heart attack,
+I feel as young as I ever did.
+ -- Robert Benchley
+~
+Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.
+ -- Benjamin Franklin
+~
+When ideas fail, words come in very handy. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages,
+may be preserved by quotation.
+ -- Benjamin Disraeli
+~
+Hi Mark,
+I am not familiar with the command RTFM.
+I tried giving it but got an warning that the command does not exist.
+Regards,
+Sodip
+ -- A real user's response to advice
+~
+A happy childhood has spoiled many a promising life.
+ -- Robertson Davies
+~
+The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two
+opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the
+ability to function.
+ -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
+~
+Everything you've learned in school as "obvious" becomes less and
+less obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there
+are no solids in the universe. There's not even a suggestion of a
+solid. There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces.
+There are no straight lines.
+ -- R. Buckminster Fuller
+~
+ Our happiness doesn't depend on somebody else's action or on anything
+else. It doesn't depend on our success, but rather on the effort we're
+willing to put into everything we do. Even if people disappoint or fail
+us left and right, even if people turn against us, hurt us, lie about us,
+don't understand us, even if they think they know everything about us and
+judge us unfairly, they can't infringe upon our happiness. True happiness
+means that we have a deep-seated peace and tranquility that transcends all
+the difficulties of life, that cannot be disturbed by the chaos and
+warfare that might touch our lives.
+ Digging in the trenches of a Nazi concentration camp Victor Frankl once
+said to a fellow inmate: "This is where you've got to find your happiness--
+right here in this trench, in this camp." It is a simple matter of fact:
+you can be just as happy in a concentration camp, horrific and terrible as
+it surely is, as you can in any other circumstance in life.
+ For this is where we're supposed to find our happiness--where we are
+now, wherever that might happen to be, in all that we do, in whatever
+circumstances we find ourselves. Being happy involves the intense
+struggle of entering intimately into all that we do.
+ -- "The Monks of New Skete, In the Spirit of Happiness"
+~
+Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour,
+Rains from the sky a meteoric shower
+Of facts . . . they lie unquestioned, uncombined.
+Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill
+Is daily spun; but there exists no loom
+To weave it into fabric.
+ -- Edna St. Vincent Millay, from "Upon This Age"
+~
+An ignorant person is one who doesn't know what you have just found out.
+ -- Will Rogers
+~
+Everybody gets so much information all day long
+that they lose their common sense.
+ -- Gertrude Stein
+~
+Rationalists, wearing square hats,
+Think, in square rooms,
+Looking at the floor,
+Looking at the ceiling.
+They confine themselves
+To right-angled triangles.
+If they tried rhomboids,
+Cones, waving lines, ellipses--
+As, for example, the ellipse of the half-moon--
+Rationalists would wear sombreros.
+ -- Wallace Stevens
+~
+I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.
+ -- G. K. Chesterton
+~
+fat in dee head / fat in dee mind / thin on dee love / absent dee kind
+yon falwell got dee big head / falwell got dee tiny brain
+falwell don' like what you be liken' / falwell hate what he don' understan'
+which be everyteen' for dis one / falwell dee bigot boy.
+ -- love poem to jerry f.
+~
+The cat is, above all things, a dramatist.
+ -- Margaret Benson
+~
+I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed
+us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
+ -- Galileo Galilei
+~
+The human mind treats a new idea the same way
+the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.
+ -- P. B. Medawar
+~
+I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
+ -- Bertrand Russell
+~
+The key to being a good manager is keeping the people
+who hate me away from those who are still undecided.
+ -- Casey Stengel
+~
+Reality is nothing but a collective hunch. -- Lily Tomlin
+~
+To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. -- Thomas Edison
+~
+If I knew I was going to live this long,
+I'd have taken better care of myself.
+ -- Mickey Mantle
+~
+What we anticipate seldom occurs; what we least expected generally happens.
+ -- Benjamin Disraeli
+~
+The cat is the mirror of the human mind, personality and attitude,
+just as the dog mirrors his human's physical appearance.
+ -- Winfred Carriere
+~
+Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy?
+I don't know and I don't care.
+ -- William Safire
+~
+Historians are like deaf people who go on
+answering questions that no one has asked them.
+ -- Leo Tolstoy
+~
+There are two moments worthwhile in writing, the one when you
+start and the other when you throw it in the waste-paper basket.
+ -- Samuel Beckett
+~
+The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems
+to be vastly greater than that of any other animal.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you
+looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.
+ -- Poul Anderson
+~
+common sense is just the things your parents tell you that
+actually make it into your brain when you're a kid.
+
+ don't touch hot things,
+ look both ways when crossing the street,
+ don't eat dirt.
+
+these ones work; thus they survive.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Men have become the tools of their tools. -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the
+ego, and lessens the frictions of social contacts.
+ -- Clare Booth Luce
+~
+You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.
+ -- Henry Ford
+~
+When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries
+disappear and life stands explained.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Why was I born with such contemporaries? -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact. -- Edmund Burke
+~
+What's on your mind, if you will allow the overstatement? -- Fred Allen
+~
+The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof,
+a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an
+oracle, is inborn in us.
+ -- Paul Valery
+~
+The mad mind does not halt. If it halts, it is enlightenment.
+ -- Chinese Zen Saying
+~
+He who controls his mind and has cut off desire and anger realizes the Self.
+ -- The Bhagavad Gita
+~
+A fly, when it exists, has as much being as God. -- Soren Kierkegaard
+~
+Our final experience, like our first, is conjectural.
+We move between two darknesses.
+ -- E. M. Forster
+~
+If you have not lived through something, it is not true. -- Kabir
+~
+I like a view but I like to sit with my back to it. -- Gertrude Stein
+~
+Lightning flashes!
+So bright in the eyes of those
+clutching at the thought of death.
+ -- Issa
+~
+The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you,
+the better you will hear what is sounding outside.
+And only she who listens can speak.
+ -- Dag Hammarskjold
+~
+If knowledge does not liberate the self from the self,
+then ignorance is better than such knowledge.
+ -- Sina'i
+~
+When the eye wakes up to see again,
+it suddenly stops taking anything for granted.
+ -- Frederick Franck
+~
+Only when we know little things do we know
+anything; doubt grows with knowledge.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
+~
+Among corn stalks
+wind rippling
+just for the corn.
+ -- Soen Nakagawa
+~
+He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates,
+knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.
+ -- Plato
+~
+Words are just like a man carrying a lamp to look for
+his property, by which he can say: this is my property.
+ -- The Lankavatara Sutra
+~
+That best portion
+ of a good man's life,
+His little, nameless,
+ unremembered acts
+Of kindness and love.
+ -- William Wordsworth
+~
+I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm
+some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself
+in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer.
+ -- Henri Matisse
+~
+Life is like stepping onto a boat that is about to sail out to sea and sink.
+ -- Shunryu Suzuki
+~
+Such stillness
+The cries of the cicadas
+Sink into the rocks.
+ -- Basho
+~
+We live in a rainbow of chaos. -- Paul Cezanne
+~
+love's like a purple dinosaur because it can't outrun a truck,
+life's like a bowl of nixons sometimes you f*ck.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
+ -- Napoleon Bonaparte
+~
+Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the
+imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not
+unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of
+thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what
+we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
+ -- Richard Feynman
+~
+The playful kitten, with its pretty little tigerish gambols, is infinitely
+more amusing than half the people one is obliged to live with in the world.
+ -- Lady Sydney Morgan
+~
+The mystery of life is not a problem to be
+solved but a reality to be experienced.
+ -- Aart Van Der Leeuw
+~
+Have no designs on becoming a Buddha. This has nothing
+whatever to do with sitting or lying down.
+ -- Dogen
+~
+When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves,
+it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
+ -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
+~
+We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big
+difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which,
+over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
+ -- Marian Wright Edelman
+~
+Golf is a good walk spoiled.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+The day we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity. -- Seneca
+~
+Life is stressful enough without customer service. -- Thomas Oliver
+~
+To assume a cat's asleep is a grave mistake.
+He can close his eyes and keep both his ears awake.
+ -- Aileen Fisher
+~
+Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged
+in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+The tendency has always been strong to believe that whatever received
+a name must be an entity or being, having an independent existence of
+its own. And if no real entity answering to the name could be found,
+men did not for that reason suppose that none existed, but imagined
+that it was something peculiarly abstruse and mysterious.
+ -- John Stuart Mill
+~
+You aren't a failure until you start blaming others for your mistakes.
+ -- John Wooten
+~
+ The master, Hseuh-feng, asked a newly arrived monk where
+he had come from. The monk answered: "From the Monastery of
+Spiritual Light."
+ The master said, "In the daytime we have sunlight; in the
+evening, lamplight. What is spiritual light?"
+ The monk had no answer.
+ The Master said, "Sunlight. Lamplight."
+ -- Zen mondo
+~
+There is no wealth but life. -- John Ruskin
+~
+Approach it and there is no beginning; follow it
+and there is no end. You can't know it, but you
+can be it, at ease in your own life.
+ -- Lao-Tzu
+~
+And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where
+we started and know the place for the first time.
+ -- T. S. Eliot
+~
+There's an old saying in Tennessee--I know it's in Texas, probably in
+Tennessee--that says: Fool me once, shame on [pause] shame on you.
+[Pause] Fool me [long, uncomfortable, agonizing pause] you can't get
+fooled again.
+ -- Bush at East Literature Magnet School in Nashville yesterday.
+~
+Concentration is my motto--first honesty,
+then industry, then concentration.
+ -- Andrew Carnegie
+~
+Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence. -- Charles de Gaulle
+~
+If you would make a man happy, do not add to his possessions but
+subtract from the sum of his desires.
+ -- Seneca
+~
+Live life like your hair is on fire. -- Ashley Brilliant
+~
+ City people have a hard time handling the silences when they first
+come out to the country. After a certain period of solitude, I myself
+experiencing an aloneness that is sometimes disturbing, but the country
+eventually cleanses my spirit and purges my body of the sounds, fumes and
+toxins of urban life. I think cities feed psychological stress and tension
+in many ways, including an overload of electrical forces and energy. When
+you go to a country cabin without electricity, you will be surprised at how
+tensions fall away.
+ Some practitioners advocate that urban dwellers removed from the
+country find a space in the yard or the garden and dig a hole deep enough
+to enfold the body. Lie down in the hole. Make sure your body can lie just
+below the surface of the ground. Stay in this hollow of earth. You will be
+surprised how rested you will feel simply because you have escaped for a
+moment the man-made influences. You have retreated for a moment to Mother
+Earth's very simple electrical systems. For the chemical and electrical
+balance of the body to be calibrated, you have to stay close to the earth
+itself, align yourself with its polarity so that your body can find harmony
+between the interior world and the exterior universe.
+ Once we become detached from nature, we begin to think we can do
+without it. The lights of the Great White Way overpower the stars. It is
+very hard to see the brightest constellation when you live in or near a
+city. The dark solitude of the country reunites you with the universe of
+the stars. The woods and hills restore in you something primal in yourself.
+The sea's pulse sets your own heartbeat.
+ -- James Earl Jones, "Voices and Silences"
+~
+Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
+ -- Jonathan Swift
+~
+i think i found my other leak now. and this was a frelling dumb one.
+somehow the deletion of the memory was commented out. wtf?
+arrrrrrrhhhh... i don't know what i'm doing....
+i hate the C and everything coded in it.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+When men are pure, laws are useless;
+when men are corrupt, laws are broken.
+ -- Benjamin Disraeli
+~
+Only the mediocre are always at their best. -- Jean Giraudoux
+~
+If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome;
+if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent;
+if you believe the military, nothing is safe.
+ -- Lord Salisbury
+~
+He is indebted to his memory for his jests
+and to his imagination for his facts.
+ -- Richard Brinsley Sheridan
+~
+If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of
+arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the
+physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of
+poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability.
+ -- Vannevar Bush
+~
+As a public company, and as a CEO, you have to worry about the stock price
+to some extent. But you figure out after a while that there are very few
+things you can do in the short term that can positively impact stock price.
+If you build a great company, the value of the company goes up. That's very
+important for employees to realize coming out of this age of day trading,
+mass hysteria and "we're all going to be bazillionaires." You've got to get
+people saying: "Why are we really here?" Well, we're here to build a great
+company. That takes time. You may have a great day today and the stock goes
+down, and you may have a horrible day tomorrow and the stock goes up. Short
+term, they don't have a lot to do with each other. But over a long period of
+time you build a great company, and it's going to be worth a lot. Customers
+will reward it. Shareholders will reward it. Employees will want to be a
+part of it and beat our door down to want to work here.
+ -- Michael Dell, Founder of Dell Computers
+~
+Cats have the gift of appearing at ease in any situation--high, low or
+anywhere in between.
+ -- Dr. Morag Kerr
+~
+I am no more humble than my talents require. -- Oscar Levant
+~
+Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.
+ -- Albert Schweitzer
+~
+It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there
+is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+The torch of doubt and chaos, this is what the sage steers by. -- Chuang-Tzu
+~
+I would patch them, but I have not a half-sheet of paper.
+Ah, well--at least torn windows don't need to be pushed open.
+The blowing wind puts out my lamp.
+Rain falling from the eaves wets my inkstone.
+ -- Ikkyu
+~
+The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning.
+Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.
+ -- Erich Fromm
+~
+I tell you: one must still have chaos in one,
+to give birth to a dancing star.
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+At that pond
+ the frog is growing old now--
+ among fallen leaves.
+ -- Buson
+~
+Consciousness is a being,
+the nature of which
+is to be conscious of
+the nothingness of its being.
+ -- Jean-Paul Sartre
+~
+Since it is all too clear,
+It takes time to grasp it.
+When you understand that it's foolish
+To look for fire with fire,
+The meal is already cooked.
+ -- Wu-men
+~
+May you live all the days of your life. -- Jonathan Swift
+~
+How could there be any question of acquiring
+or possessing, when the one thing needful for
+a man is to /become/--to /be/ at last, and to die
+in the fullness of his being.
+ -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
+~
+Death, the most dreaded of evils, is therefore of no concern to us;
+for while we exist death is not present,
+and when death is present we no longer exist.
+ -- Epicurus
+~
+Singing and danching are the voice of dharma. -- Hakuin
+~
+All great truths begin as blasphemies. -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+Hope is not a strategy. -- Thomas McInerney
+~
+I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month,
+and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson
+~
+As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now
+to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+Sometimes the veil between human and animal intelligence wears
+very thin--then one experiences the supreme thrill of keeping
+a cat, or perhaps allowing oneself to be owned by a cat.
+ -- Catherine Manley
+~
+I'm never going to be famous. My name will never be writ large on the
+roster of Those Who Do Things. I don't do any thing. Not one single
+thing. I used to bite my nails, but I don't even do that any more.
+ -- Dorothy Parker
+~
+One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the
+belief that one's work is terribly important.
+ -- Bertrand Russell
+~
+The universality of change, when completely understood, is the seeing
+into the heart of all things, and the Mind that thus understands is
+the Mind that truly seeks the way.
+ -- Nagarjuna
+~
+The spirit down here in man and the spirit up there in the sun,
+in reality are only one spirit, and there is no other one.
+ -- The Upanishads
+~
+To free oneself is nothing--the really arduous task is to
+know what to do with one's freedom.
+ -- Andre Gide
+~
+I hate women because they always know where things are. -- James Thurber
+~
+I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting. -- Mark Twain
+~
+Be careful about reading health books.
+You may die of a misprint.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Autumn, cloud blades on the horizon.
+The west wind blows from ten thousand miles.
+Dawn, in the clear morning air.
+Farmers busy after long rain.
+The desert trees shed their few green leaves.
+The mountain pears are tiny but ripe.
+A Tartar flute plays by the city gate.
+A single wild goose climbs into the void.
+ -- Tu Fu
+~
+When you get there, there isn't any there there. -- Gertrude Stein
+~
+I want to sing like birds sing,
+not worrying who hears or what they think.
+ -- Jelaluddin Rumi
+~
+The practice of zazen is not
+for gaining a mystical mind.
+Zazen is for allowing a clear mind--
+as clear as a bright autumn day.
+ -- Shunryu Suzuki
+~
+... and he was almighty because he had wrenched
+from chaos the secret of its nothingness.
+ -- Jean-Paul Sartre
+~
+Practice thirty more years. -- Zen proverb
+~
+Student: "Roshi, what are you doing here?"
+Suzuki-roshi: "Nothing special."
+ -- Zen mondo
+~
+After the leaves fall in the village at the foot of Ogura Peak,
+one can see through the tree branches the moon shining in the clear.
+ -- Saigyo
+~
+Chaos often breeds life, where order breeds habit.
+ -- Henry Adams
+~
+You yourselves must make the exertion.
+The Buddhas are only teachers.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words,
+and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns your
+light inward to illuminate your self. Body and mind of themselves will
+drop away, and your original face will be manifest.
+ -- Dogen
+~
+Next time you have a bad day, imagine this: You are a Siamese twin.
+Your brother that is attached to you at the shoulder is gay.
+You are not. But you only have one ass.
+~
+From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition
+is something up with which I will not put.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+The meaning of life is to see. -- Hui-Neng
+~
+Fundamentally not one thing exists. -- Hui-Neng
+~
+In the blue heavens, cold geese calling.
+On the empty hills, leaves flying.
+ -- Ryokan
+~
+When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+An intense love of solitude, distaste for involvement in worldly
+affairs, persistence in knowing the Self and awareness of the goal
+of knowing--all this is called true knowledge.
+ -- The Bhagavad Gita
+~
+Some people are born to lift heavy weights.
+Some are born to juggle with golden balls.
+ -- Max Beerbohm
+~
+Every man serves a useful purpose: A miser, for
+example, makes a wonderful ancestor.
+ -- Lawrence J. Peter
+~
+Smokey the Bear Sutra
+
+Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago,
+the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite
+Void gave a Discourse to all the assembled elements
+and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings,
+the flying beings, and the sitting beings -- even grasses,
+to the number of thirteen billion, each one born from a
+seed, assembled there: a Discourse concerning
+Enlightenment on the planet Earth.
+
+"In some future time, there will be a continent called
+America. It will have great centers of power called
+such as Pyramid Lake, Walden Pond, Mt. Rainier, Big Sur,
+Everglades, and so forth; and powerful nerves and channels
+such as Columbia River, Mississippi River, and Grand Canyon
+The human race in that era will get into troubles all over
+its head, and practically wreck everything in spite of
+its own strong intelligent Buddha-nature."
+
+"The twisting strata of the great mountains and the pulsings
+of volcanoes are my love burning deep in the earth.
+My obstinate compassion is schist and basalt and
+granite, to be mountains, to bring down the rain. In that
+future American Era I shall enter a new form; to cure
+the world of loveless knowledge that seeks with blind hunger:
+and mindless rage eating food that will not fill it."
+
+And he showed himself in his true form of
+
+ SMOKEY THE BEAR
+
+ a.. A handsome smokey-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs,
+showing that he is aroused and
+ watchful.
+
+ b.. Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath
+appearances; cuts the roots of useless
+ attach- ments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war;
+
+ c.. His left paw in the Mudra of Comradely Display -- indicating that all
+creatures have the full right to live to
+ their limits and that deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions, and
+lizards all grow in the realm of the
+ Dharma;
+
+ d.. Wearing the blue work overalls symbolic of slaves and laborers, the
+countless men oppressed by a
+ civilization that claims to save but often destroys;
+
+ e.. Wearing the broad-brimmed hat of the West, symbolic of the forces that
+guard the Wilderness, which is the
+ Natural State of the Dharma and the True Path of man on earth: all true
+paths lead through mountains --
+
+ f.. With a halo of smoke and flame behind, the forest fires of the
+kali-yuga, fires caused by the stupidity of
+ those who think things can be gained and lost whereas in truth all is
+contained vast and free in the Blue Sky
+ and Green Earth of One Mind;
+
+ g.. Round-bellied to show his kind nature and that the great earth has
+food enough for everyone who loves her
+ and trusts her;
+
+ h.. Trampling underfoot wasteful freeways and needless suburbs; smashing
+the worms of capitalism and
+ totalitarianism;
+
+ i.. Indicating the Task: his followers, becoming free of cars, houses,
+canned foods, universities, and shoes;
+ master the Three Mysteries of their own Body, Speech, and Mind; and
+fearlessly chop down the rotten
+ trees and prune out the sick limbs of this country America and then burn
+the leftover trash.
+
+Wrathful but Calm. Austere but Comic. Smokey the Bear will
+Illuminate those who would help him; but for those who would hinder or
+slander him,
+
+ HE WILL PUT THEM OUT.
+
+Thus his great Mantra:
+
+ Namah samanta vajranam chanda maharoshana
+ Sphataya hum traks ham nam
+
+ "I DEDICATE MYSELF TO THE UNIVERSAL DIAMOND
+ BE THIS RAGING FURY DESTROYED"
+
+And he will protect those who love woods and rivers,
+Gods and animals, hobos and madmen, prisoners and sick
+people, musicians, playful women, and hopeful children:
+
+And if anyone is threatened by advertising, air pollution, television,
+or the police, they should chant SMOKEY THE BEAR'S WAR SPELL:
+
+ DROWN THEIR BUTTS
+ CRUSH THEIR BUTTS
+ DROWN THEIR BUTTS
+ CRUSH THEIR BUTTS
+
+And SMOKEY THE BEAR will surely appear to put the enemy out
+with his vajra-shovel.
+
+ a.. Now those who recite this Sutra and then try to put it in practice
+willl accumulate merit as countless as the
+ sands of Arizona and Nevada.
+
+ b.. Will help save the planet Earth from total oil slick.
+
+ c.. Will enter the age of harmony of man and nature.
+
+ d.. Will win the tender love and caresses of men, women, and beasts.
+
+ e.. Will always have ripe blackberries to eat and a sunny spot under a
+pine tree to sit at.
+
+ f.. AND IN THE END WILL WIN HIGHEST PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT.
+
+ thus have we heard.
+~
+I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a
+nice letter saying that I approved of it.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+We are here to witness the creation and to abet it. -- Annie Dillard
+~
+Today is the eighth of the month, tomorrow is the thirteenth. -- Zen proverb
+~
+Often I am still listening when the song is over.
+ -- Marquis de Saint-Lambert
+~
+Worldly acquisitions of wealth and the need of clinging to them, as well as
+the pursuit of the Eight Worldly Aims, I regard with as much loathing and
+disgust as a man who is suffering from biliousness regardeth the sight of
+rich food. Nay, I regard them as if they were the murderers of my father;
+therefore it is that I am assuming this beggarly and penurious mode of life.
+ -- Milarepa
+~
+Vast solitude
+My thinning body
+Transparent autumn
+ -- Soen Nakagawa
+~
+Maturity is only a short break in adolescence. -- Jules Feiffer
+~
+It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker
+that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.
+ -- Adam Smith
+~
+Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable
+that we have to alter it every six months.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who
+can't talk for people who can't read.
+ -- Frank Zappa
+~
+ Bodhidharma sat facing the wall. The Second Patriarch, after standing
+outside in the snow for so long, cut off his arm. "My mind is not yet
+at peace. Please, Master, put my mind at peace."
+ Bodhidharma said: "Bring me your mind and I will pacify it for you."
+ The Second Patriarch replied: "Although I have searched for my mind,
+it is totally ungraspable."
+ Bodhidharma said: "In that case I have pacified your mind for you."
+~
+Explanation of the unspeakable cannot be finished. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness.
+ -- Mother Teresa
+~
+Since it is the practice of enlightenment,
+that practice has no beginning and
+since it is enlightenment within the practice,
+that realization has no end.
+ -- Dogen
+~
+The quieter you become, the more you can hear. -- Baba Ram Dass
+~
+As long as you seek for something, you will get
+the shadow of reality and not reality itself.
+ -- Shunryu Suzuki
+~
+Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least
+triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to
+recollect how often we have told it to the same person?
+ -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
+~
+I love being married. It's so great to find that one
+special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.
+ -- Rita Rudner
+~
+I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+A happy childhood has spoiled many a promising life. -- Robertson Davies
+~
+At this point in history genius has become
+a commodity, an ambition, even a lifestyle.
+ -- Marjorie Garber
+~
+A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world. -- Jean le Carre
+~
+Martyrdom is the only way in which a
+man can become famous without ability.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
+For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
+ -- Christopher Smart
+~
+It's not autumn's cold that keeps me awake,
+but what I feel before the grasses and trees in my courtyard.
+My banana tree has lost its leaves; my parasol tree is old;
+and night after night--the sound of wind, the sound of rain.
+ -- Chujo Joshin
+~
+I believe in an ultimate decency of things. -- Robert Louis Stevenson
+~
+Autumn light
+fills the room
+vacancy.
+ -- Soen Nakagawa
+~
+We have two eyes to see two sides of things, but there must be a third eye
+which will see everything at the same time and yet not see anything.
+That is to understand Zen.
+ -- D. T. Suzuki
+~
+Yes it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth
+sometimes comes to the top.
+ -- Virginia Woolf
+~
+Having precise ideas often leads to a man doing nothing. -- Paul Valery
+~
+The cat was a creature of absolute convictions,
+and his faith in his deductions never varied.
+ -- Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
+~
+Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay
+any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose
+any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
+ -- John F. Kennedy
+~
+With Henry Adams we see the moment when the pronouncements
+of philosophers ceased to be greeted with forehead slaps of
+recognition or shouts of "Heretic!" and began to be met
+with mumbles of "Oh, shut up."
+ -- P. J. O'Rourke
+~
+The nature of mind, when understood, no human words can
+compass or disclose. Enlightenment is naught to be obtained,
+and he that gains it does not say he knows.
+ -- Bodhidharma
+~
+As long as you haven't experienced this: to die and so to grow,
+you are only a troubled guest on the dark earth.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+Nirvana is right here, before our eyes. -- Hakuin
+~
+It is the stars not known to science that I would know,
+the stars which the lonely traveler knows.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+You've got to take the bitter with the sour. -- Sam Goldwyn
+~
+And a man shall be free, and as pure as the day prior to
+his conception in his mother's womb, when he has nothing,
+wants nothing and knows nothing.
+ -- Meister Eckhart
+~
+Words, like eyeglasses, blur everything they do not make clear.
+ -- Joseph Joubert
+~
+Outside mind there is no Buddha,
+Outside Buddha there is no mind.
+ -- Ma-Tsu
+~
+They are ill discoverers that think there is no land,
+when they can see nothing but sea.
+ -- Sir Francis Bacon
+~
+My father hated radio and could not wait for television to be
+invented so he could hate that too.
+ -- Peter de Vries
+~
+Opportunity is missed by most people because
+it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
+ -- Thomas Alva Edison
+~
+Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead. -- Benjamin Franklin
+~
+When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus,
+it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV
+has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained.
+ -- Edward R. Murrow
+~
+In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others.
+ -- Andre Maurois
+~
+The art of medicine consists in amusing the
+patient while nature cures the disease.
+ -- Voltaire
+~
+I am enlightened, and always have been, simultaneously
+with the beginning of the universe.
+ -- The Buddha, first words after realizing the truth
+~
+A billion stars go spinning through the night,
+blazing high above your head.
+But in you is the presence that will be,
+when the stars are dead.
+ -- Rainer Maria Rilke
+~
+The goal of Buddhism is to bring about right human life, not to have
+the teaching, or teacher, or sentient beings, or Buddhism, or Buddha.
+But if you think that without any training you can have that kind of
+life, that is a big mistake.
+ -- Shunryu Suzuki
+~
+So much of what we call management consists
+in making it difficult for people to work.
+ -- Peter Drucker
+~
+People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.
+ -- Hermann Hesse
+~
+Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from
+acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.
+ -- W. Somerset Maugham
+~
+Everything you know is wrong. -- Firesign Theatre
+~
+One day Yuan-wu took the high seat, and said:
+ A monk asked Yun-men: 'Where did all the buddhas come from?'
+ Yun-men answered: 'The East Mountain walks over the water.'
+ But if I were asked, I would not answer that way.
+ I would say: 'A fragrant breeze comes of itself from the south,
+ and in the palace a refreshing coolness stirs.'
+ -- Zen mondo
+~
+I would believe only in a god who could dance. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+The moon floats above the pines, and the night veranda is cold as the
+ancient, clear sound comes from your finger tips. The old melody usually
+makes the listeners weep, but Zen music is beyond sentiment. Do not play
+again unless the Great Sound of Lao-tzu accompanies you.
+ -- Hseuh-T'ou
+~
+Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow. -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+Logically considered, Zen may be full of contradictions and repetitions.
+But as it stands above all things, it goes serenely on its own way.
+ -- D. T. Suzuki
+~
+Clouds come from time to time--and bring a chance
+to rest from looking at the moon.
+ -- Basho
+~
+Listen. Make a way for yourself inside yourself.
+Stop looking in the other way of looking.
+ -- Jelaluddin Rumi
+~
+Do not be an embodiment of fame; do not be a storehouse of schemes;
+do not be an undertaker of projects; do not be a proprietor of wisdom.
+Wander where there is no trail. Hold on to all that you have received
+from Heaven but do not think you have gotten anything. Be empty, that
+is all. The Perfect Man uses his mind like a mirror--going after nothing,
+welcoming nothing, responding but not storing.
+ -- Chuang-Tzu
+~
+In the end, everything is a gag. -- Charlie Chaplin
+~
+One can not be certain of living
+even into the evening.
+In the dim first light
+I watch the waves
+from a departing boat.
+ -- Shinkei
+~
+The truth dazzles gradually, or else the world would be blind.
+ -- Emily Dickinson
+~
+All things in this world are impermanent.
+They have the nature to rise and pass away.
+To be in harmony with this truth brings true happiness.
+ -- Buddhist Chant
+~
+True words always seem paradoxical but no other form
+of teaching can take their place.
+ -- Lao-Tzu
+~
+Did you not know that at the edge of a deep valley there is an excellent
+pine tree growing up straight in spite of the many years of cold?
+ -- Keizan Zenji
+~
+Death destroys a man, but the idea of death saves him.
+ -- E. M. Forster
+~
+In a snowfall that covers the winter grass
+a white heron uses his own whiteness to disappear.
+ -- Dogen
+~
+Settle the self on the self. -- Shunryu Suzuki
+~
+Finished, finished...
+when it is completely finished
+there is nothing to finish.
+ -- Soen Nakagawa
+~
+I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity. -- Tom Stoppard
+~
+Which is the more beautiful, feline movement or feline stillness?
+ -- Elizabeth Hamilton
+~
+We cannot speak without incurring some risk, at least in theory;
+the only way of being absolutely safe is to say nothing.
+ -- Isaiah Berlin
+~
+Numerous studies demonstrate that people can be motivated to creativity
+simply with the addition of an instruction to "be creative."
+ -- Richard Saul Wurman
+~
+ Our obsessions with history and prophecy perhaps reflect an inability
+to comprehend the implications of geological time. The mind's traditional
+organization of duration into past, present, and future really has more
+relevance to the five-thousand-year-old earth of the seventeenth century
+than it does to the five-billion-year-old one of the twentieth. Past and
+future require certain limitations and symmetries to be meaningful--there
+must be a plot or at least a story. But time is really not much like a
+story. It is more like an ocean current that rises from imperfectly
+perceived depths and flows into unseen distances.
+ This immensity might seem to diminish the present--the living moment--
+to utter insignificance, but actually the present looms much larger in
+geological time than in historical time. If time is a story, the present
+is merely a hiatus between the significant events that were and will be.
+If time is an ocean, however, the present is not less important than the
+other moments, which stretch away on all sides, any more than a single
+water molecule in an ocean is less important than the others. In a sense
+each living moment is the whole of time--an eternal present--because it
+can't be set apart from all the other moments.
+ -- David Rains Wallace, from "Idle Weeds"
+~
+Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+We are generally the better persuaded by the reasons we
+discover ourselves than by those given to us by others.
+ -- Blaise Pascal
+~
+You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
+ -- J. M. Barrie
+~
+Television has raised writing to a new low. -- Samuel Goldwyn
+~
+I detest life-insurance agents; they always argue
+that I shall some day die, which is not so.
+ -- Stephen Leacock
+~
+People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.
+ -- A. J. Liebling
+~
+He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+If the voter cannot grasp the details of the problems of the day because he
+has not the time, the interest or the knowledge, he will not have a better
+public opinion because he is asked to express his opinion more often.
+ -- Walter Lippmann
+~
+i have eliminated every fault,
+except for pride...
+doomed to walk the earth
+another time.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular. -- Laurence J. Peter
+~
+Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige's wall there was this one: "Matters of
+great concern should be treated lightly." Master Ittei commented, "Matters
+of small concern should be treated seriously." Among one's affairs there
+should not be more than two or three matters of what one could call great
+concern. If these are deliberated upon during ordinary times, they can be
+understood. Thinking about things previously and then handling them lightly
+when the time comes is what this is all about. To face an event and solve
+it lightly is difficult if you are not resolved beforehand, and there will
+always be uncertainty in hitting your mark. However, if the foundation is
+laid previously, you can think of the saying, "Matters of great concern
+should be treated lightly," as your basis for action.
+ -- Hagakure, book of the samurai
+~
+There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with
+a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road.
+But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still
+get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be
+perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding
+extends to everything.
+ -- Hagakure, book of the samurai
+~
+I deserve good things.
+I am entitled to my share of happiness.
+I refuse to beat myself up.
+I am attractive person.
+I am fun to be with.
+ -- Stuart Smalley
+~
+The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous,
+the sensible man hardly anything.
+ -- Goethe
+~
+In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car.
+ -- Lawrence Summers
+~
+ I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the
+river of life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him.
+I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the
+starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and
+brotherhood can never become a reality.
+ I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must
+spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear
+destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will
+have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is
+stronger than evil triumphant.
+ I believe that even amid today's motor bursts and whining bullets,
+there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded
+justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can
+be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of
+men.
+ I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three
+meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and
+dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what
+self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still
+believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be
+crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive
+goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.
+ -- Martin Luther King, Jr
+~
+Every increased possession loads us with new weariness. -- John Ruskin
+~
+If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind,
+what is the significance of a clean desk?
+ -- Lawrence J. Peter
+~
+I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is two weeks.
+ -- Totie Fields
+~
+I am not young enough to know everything. -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+I had never held a position for more than four years,
+and did not so much plan my new jobs as flee my old ones.
+ -- Joseph Epstein
+~
+It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward.
+ -- The White Queen, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland
+~
+I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by
+ the animosities he excites among his opponents.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+All things are difficult before they are easy. -- Thomas Fuller
+~
+There's no business like show business, but
+there are several businesses like accounting.
+ -- David Letterman
+~
+All truth passes through three stages.
+First, it is ridiculed.
+Second, it is violently opposed.
+Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
+ -- Arthur Schopenhauer
+~
+Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence
+but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to
+shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
+ -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
+~
+Talent is like the battery in a car. It'll get you started,
+but if the generator is bad, you don't go very far.
+ -- Ellis Marsalis
+~
+No man ever listened himself out of a job. -- Calvin Coolidge
+~
+I was unable to devote myself to the learning of this algebra and the continued
+concentration upon it, because of obstacles in the vagaries of time which
+hindered me; for we have been deprived of all the people of knowledge save for
+a group, small in number, with many troubles, whose concern in life is to
+snatch the opportunity, when time is asleep, to devote themselves meanwhile to
+the investigation and perfection of a science; for the majority of people who
+imitate philosophers confuse the true with the false, and they do nothing but
+deceive and pretend knowledge, and they do not use what they know of the
+sciences except for base and material purposes; and if they see a certain
+person seeking for the right and preferring the truth, doing his best to refute
+the false and untrue and leaving aside hypocrisy and deceit, they make a fool
+of him and mock him.
+ -- Omar Khayyam, "Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra"
+~
+It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish. -- Aeschylus
+~
+Imagine what it would be like if TV actually were good.
+It would be the end of everything we know.
+ -- Marvin Minsky
+~
+Many engineering deadlocks have been broken by people who are not engineers
+at all. This is simply because perspective is more important than IQ.
+ -- Nicholas Negroponte
+~
+We are doomed to choose, and every choice may entail an irreparable loss.
+ -- Isaiah Berlin
+~
+California is a fine place to live--if you happen to be an orange.
+ -- Fred Allen
+~
+Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first call promising.
+ -- Cyril Connolly
+~
+It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both
+incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted
+by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper.
+ -- Rod Serling
+~
+All successful newspapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose. They
+never defend anyone or anything if they can help it; if the job is forced
+on them, they tackle it by denouncing someone or something else.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+The corollary of constant change is ignorance. This is not often
+talked about: we computer experts barely know what we're doing.
+ -- Ellen Ullman
+~
+The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others.
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo. -- H. G. Wells
+~
+Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that,
+once it is competently programmed and working smoothly,
+it is completely honest.
+ -- Isaac Asimov
+~
+Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by
+confessing our parents' shortcomings.
+ -- Laurence J. Peter
+~
+No opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing
+when they are feeling sensible.
+ -- W. H. Auden
+~
+All truths are easy to understand once they are
+discovered; the point is to discover them.
+ -- Galileo Galilei
+~
+We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is inconsequential.
+Hence the fact that many inventions had their birth as toys.
+ -- Eric Hoffer
+~
+Considering how dangerous everything is,
+nothing is really very frightening.
+ -- Gertrude Stein
+~
+A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude
+without providing you with company.
+ -- Gian Vincenzo Gravina
+~
+What the world needs is more geniuses with humility.
+There are so few of us left.
+ -- Oscar Levant
+~
+In the end, we will remember not the words of
+our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
+ -- Martin Luther King
+~
+Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the
+living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children,
+and by children to adults.
+ -- Thomas Szasz
+~
+You must first have a lot of patience to learn to have patience.
+ -- Stanislaw W. Lec
+~
+I know the answer! The answer lies within the heart of all mankind!
+The answer is 12? I think I'm in the wrong building.
+ -- Charles M. Schulz in "Peanuts"
+~
+The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who
+hate me away from those who are still undecided.
+ -- Casey Stengel
+~
+What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+People who've never fired a gun ("weapon", in Army-talk) explain "fire power"
+realities. Nobody--yet--would pretend to be an expert on brain surgery. But
+military tactics and modern warfare? What could be easier, right?
+ -- Kenneth G. Robinson
+~
+When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.
+ -- William Wrigley Jr.
+~
+Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an
+international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+Thought is only a flash between two long nights, but this flash is everything.
+ -- Henri Poincare
+~
+A well-laid business plan is no guarantee against the
+disappearance of the industry on which it is based.
+ -- Tim Cavanaugh
+~
+The way to protect human freedom is to make sure that your society is one
+in which the benefits of being a member of the society are so tempting and
+so great that people will take responsibility in order for it to happen.
+ -- Daniel Dennett
+~
+Technology seems to always start out promising specialization and
+personalization. In the end, it delivers more homogenization instead.
+ -- Lee Gomes
+~
+Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.
+ -- Thomas H. Huxley
+~
+Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. -- Frank Zappa
+~
+Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence
+as you can find outside an advertising agency.
+ -- Raymond Chandler
+~
+The only way to discover the limits of the possible
+is to go beyond them into the impossible.
+ -- Ben Hecht
+~
+Life is full of misery, loneliness, and
+suffering--and it's all over much too soon.
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+An economist is a man who states the obvious in terms of the incomprehensible.
+ -- Alfred A. Knopf
+~
+The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
+ -- B. F. Skinner
+~
+In great affairs men show themselves as they wish to be seen;
+in small things they show themselves as they are.
+ -- Nicholas Chamfort
+~
+Pain is no evil, unless it conquers us. -- Charles Kingsley
+~
+There's no reason to burn books if you don't read them. The education system
+in this country is just terrible, and we're not doing anything about it.
+ -- Ray Bradbury
+~
+Each of us inevitable; each of us limitless--
+each of us with his or her right upon the earth.
+ -- Walt Whitman
+~
+In science, the credit goes to the man who convinces the
+world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs.
+ -- Sir William Osler
+~
+It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept
+anything but the best, you very often get it.
+ -- W. Somerset Maugham
+~
+Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to,
+with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
+ -- Marcus Aurelius
+~
+We have a natural opportunity to investigate the connections
+of a problem when looking back at its solution.
+ -- George Polya
+~
+Money teaches us to count, but science, inasmuch as it is
+not governed by money, might yet teach us to think.
+ -- Christopher M. Kelty
+~
+Painting, like flipping burgers or shearing sheep, is physical labor. It is
+enough nowadays to declare yourself an artist and then to declare some artifact
+in the vast world of found objects to be *your* work of art.
+ -- Thomas M. Disch
+~
+The art of creation is older than the art of killing. -- Ed Koch
+~
+In wisdom gathered over time I have found that
+every experience is a form of exploration.
+ -- Ansel Adams
+~
+Anyone who in discussion relies upon authority
+uses not his understanding but his memory.
+ -- Leonardo Da Vinci
+~
+We've had a taste of Siemens before in the past. -- Bonafide PHB
+~
+The awareness of the ambiguity of one's highest achievements (as well
+as one's deepest failures) is a definite symptom of maturity.
+ -- Paul Tillich
+~
+A guilty conscience needs to confess.
+A work of art is a confession.
+ -- Albert Camus
+~
+When I examine myself and my methods of thought,
+I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy
+has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing
+positive knowledge.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.
+ -- Laurence J. Peter
+~
+No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into
+account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.
+ -- Isaac Asimov
+~
+We have profoundly forgotten everywhere that cash-payment is not
+the sole relation of human beings.
+ -- Thomas Carlyle
+~
+No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone.
+His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his
+relation to the dead poets and artists.
+ -- T. S. Eliot
+~
+There's a moment coming. It's not here yet. It's still on the way.
+It's in the future. It hasn't arrived. Here it comes.
+Here it is... It's gone.
+ -- George Carlin
+~
+Irresponsibility is part of the pleasure of all art;
+it is the part the schools cannot recognize.
+ -- James Joyce
+~
+It is easy to spot an informed man--
+his opinions are just like your own.
+ -- Miguel de Unamuno
+~
+If you see in any given situation only what everybody else
+can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of
+your culture that you are a victim of it.
+ -- S. I. Hayakawa
+~
+If you are going through hell, keep going. -- Winston Churchill
+~
+ The Founders of the American nation were one of the most creative
+groups in modern history. Some among them, especially in recent years,
+have been condemned for their failures and weaknesses--for their racism,
+sexism, compromises, and violations of principle. And indeed moral
+judgments are as necessary in assessing the lives of these people as of
+any others. But we are privileged to know and to benefit from the outcome
+of their efforts, which they could only hopefully imagine, and ignore their
+main concern: which was the possibility, indeed the probability, that their
+creative enterprise--not to recast the social order but to transform the
+political system--would fail: would collapse into chaos or autocracy.
+Again and again they were warned of the folly of defying the received
+traditions, the sheer unlikelihood that they, obscure people on the outer
+borderlands of European civilization, knew better than the established
+authorities that ruled them; that they could successfully create something
+freer, ultimately more enduring than what was then known in the centers of
+metropolitan life.
+ Since we inherit and build on their achievements, we now know what the
+established world of the eighteenth century flatly denied but which they
+broke through convention to propose -- that absolute power need not be
+indivisible but can be shared among states within a state and among
+branches of government, and that the sharing of power and the balancing of
+forces can create not anarchy but freedom.
+ We know for certain what they could only experimentally and prayerfully
+propose--that formal, written constitutions, upheld by judicial bodies, can
+effectively constrain the tyrannies of both executive force and populist
+majorities.
+ We know, because they had the imagination to perceive it, that there
+is a sense, mysterious as it may be, in which human rights can be seen to
+exist independent of privileges, gifts, and donations of the powerful, and
+that these rights can somehow be defined and protected by the force of law.
+ We casually assume, because they were somehow able to imagine, that
+the exercise of power is no natural birthright but must be a gift of those
+who are subject to it."
+ -- Bernard Bailyn, from "To Begin The World Anew: The Genius and
+ Ambiguities of the American Founders
+~
+Discretion in speech is more than eloquence. -- Francis Bacon
+~
+I fell asleep reading a dull book, and I dreamed that
+I was reading on, so I awoke from sheer boredom.
+ -- Heinrich Heine
+~
+I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep
+contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could
+share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation.
+It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill
+of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a rose of early peas just peeping
+forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green.
+ -- Nathaniel Hawthorne
+~
+Another cause of your sickness, and the most important:
+you have forgotten what you are.
+ -- Boethius
+~
+All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of
+their motives there lies a mystery. Writing a book is a horrible,
+exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.
+One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on
+by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.
+ -- George Orwell
+~
+When a man mistakes his thoughts for persons and things, he is mad.
+ -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
+~
+Did you ever see dishonest calluses on a man's hands? Hardly.
+When a man's hands are callused and women's hands are worn,
+you may be sure honesty is there. That's more than you can
+say about many soft white hands.
+ -- Henry Ford
+~
+The march of invention has clothed mankind with powers of which
+a century ago the boldest imagination could not have dreamt.
+ -- Henry George
+~
+The American invents
+as the Greek chiseled,
+as the Venetian painted,
+as the modern Italian sings.
+ -- Willis M. West
+~
+If it's mechanical, has tits, or wheels, it will give you trouble.
+ -- dano
+~
+Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.
+ -- Charles Chaplin
+~
+A small nose means a small penis. Small noses make for difficult breathing
+and small penises make for difficulty breeding.
+ -- rando
+~
+Executives are like joggers. If you stop a jogger, he goes on running
+on the spot. If you drag an executive away from his business, he goes
+on running on the spot, pawing the ground, talking business. He never
+stops hurtling onwards, making decisions and executing them.
+ -- Jean Baudrillard
+~
+Every man bears in himself the germs of every human quality;
+but sometimes one quality manifests itself, sometimes another,
+and the man often becomes unlike himself,
+while still remaining the same man.
+ -- Leo Tolstoy
+~
+You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.
+ -- Anton Checkov
+~
+If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going.
+ -- Professor Irwin Corey
+~
+When you wish to instruct be brief--so that people's minds can
+quickly grasp what you have to say, understand your point, and
+retain it accurately. Unnecessary words just spill over the
+side of a mind already crammed to the full.
+ -- Cicero
+~
+I just don't understand why anyone is unable to realize what a disaster
+a meeting is for a business. Never meet. If it can't be settled in a
+five minute conversation, it's probably insoluble no matter how many
+people talk about it for however long.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Writing comes more easily if you have something to say. -- Sholem Asch
+~
+We the unwilling,
+led by the unknowing,
+are doing the impossible
+for the ungrateful.
+We have done so much for so long with so little
+We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
+ -- Blue Collar Lament
+~
+Endure, and save yourself for happier times. -- Virgil
+~
+I don't think being funny is anyone's first choice. -- Woody Allen
+~
+i thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly
+spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
+which is natural which is infinite which is yes
+ -- ee cummings
+~
+None but myself ever did me any harm. I was, I may say, the only enemy to
+myself: my own projects, that expedition to Moscow, and the accidents which
+happened there, were the causes of my fall. I must say, though, that those
+who failed to oppose me, who readily agreed with me, accepted all my views,
+and yielded easily to my opinions, were those who did me the most injury,
+and were my worst enemies, because, by surrendering to me so easily, they
+encouraged me to go too far... I was then too powerful for any man, except
+myself, to injure me.
+ -- Napoleon Bonaparte
+~
+If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better
+mousetrap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the
+world will make a beaten path to his door.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, attributed by Sarah B. Yule, Borrowings, 1889
+~
+Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+All conservatives are such from personal defects.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+The reliance on Property, including the reliance on governments which
+protect it, is the want of self-reliance.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+We are symbols, and inhabit symbols.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+Fame is proof that people are gullible.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+What is the hardest task in the world? To think....
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+The greatest discovery of any generation is that a
+human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.
+ -- William James
+~
+Were we perfectly acquainted with the object,
+we should never passionately desire it.
+ -- Francois De La Rochefoucauld
+~
+The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot
+stove lid again. But he won't sit upon a cold stove lid, either.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+There were two "Reigns of Terror", if we could but remember and consider it;
+the one wrought murder in hot passions, the other in heartless cold blood;
+the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one
+inflicted death upon a thousand persons, the other upon a hundred million;
+but our shudders are all for the horrors of the momentary Terror, so to
+speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe compared with
+lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty and heartbreak? A city
+cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief terror that we have
+all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France
+could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror--that
+unspeakable bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see
+in its vastness or pity as it deserves.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.
+ -- William Blake
+~
+To be wholly overlooked, and to know it, are intolerable. -- John Adams
+~
+In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
+In practice, there is.
+ -- Yogi Berra
+~
+The charm, one might say the genius, of memory is that it is choosy,
+chancy and temperamental; it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly
+photographs the small boy outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust.
+ -- Elizabeth Bowen
+~
+Literature is the art of writing something that will be
+read twice; journalism what will be read once.
+ -- Cyril Connolly
+~
+It takes at least a couple of decades to realize that you were well taught.
+All true education is a delayed-action bomb assembled in the classroom for
+explosion at a later date. An educational fuse of 50 years long is by no
+means unusual.
+ -- Kenneth D. Gangel
+~
+When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy,
+it ceases to be a subject of interest.
+ -- William Hazlitt
+~
+Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the
+industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+An author is a fool who, not content with boring those
+he lives with, insists on boring future generations.
+ -- Charles de Montesquieu
+~
+Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you
+don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's
+a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.
+ -- Charlie Parker
+~
+If knowledge can create problems, it is not through
+ignorance that we can solve them.
+ -- Isaac Asimov
+~
+A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. -- Sir Francis Bacon
+~
+The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice.
+And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little
+we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our
+thoughts and deeds.
+ -- R. D. Laing
+~
+People who are unhappy with the way things are tend to remain unhappy
+even after they have changed them. The nature of their unhappiness
+is such that change does not slake it.
+ -- Michael Lewis
+~
+The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments of
+production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication,
+draws all nations into civilization.
+ -- Karl Marx
+~
+I learned one really sad fact from my career as a columnist: nobody changes
+their mind about anything. Ever. Once we form the opinion, we become
+evidence processors and we just collect all the evidence that supports our
+opinion and reject all the evidence that disputes it.
+ -- Bob Metcalfe
+~
+I keep the subject of my inquiry constantly before me, and wait till the first
+dawning opens gradually, by little and little, into a full and clear light.
+ -- Isaac Newton
+~
+The end of the road map is a cliff that both sides will fall off.
+ -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, on the Mideast peace effort, 2003.
+~
+Once we admit that there is room for newness--that there are vastly more
+conceivable possibilities than realized outcomes--we must confront the fact
+that there is no special logic behind the world we inhabit, no particular
+justification for why things are the way they are. Any number of arbitrary
+small perturbations along the way could have made the world as we know it
+turn out very differently.
+ -- Paul Romer
+~
+Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be
+sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.
+ -- Robert Louis Stevenson
+~
+All human beings should try to learn before they die
+what they are running from, and to, and why.
+ -- James Thurber
+~
+The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the
+world; the humorist makes fun of himself.
+ -- James Thurber
+~
+All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really
+happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all
+that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and
+the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse, and sorrow, the people and the places
+and how the weather was.
+ -- Ernest Hemingway
+~
+The true conquests, the only ones that leave no regret,
+are those that have been wrested from ignorance.
+ -- Napoleon Bonaparte
+~
+No love, no friendship can cross the path of our
+destiny without leaving some mark on it forever.
+ -- Francois Mauriac
+~
+Better beware of notions like genius and inspiration; they are a sort of magic
+wand and should be used sparingly by anybody who wants to see things clearly.
+ -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
+~
+A thick skin is a gift from God. -- Konrad Adenauer
+~
+Far from idleness being the root of all evil,
+it is rather the only true good.
+ -- Soren Kierkegaard
+~
+It is the wretchedness of being rich that you have to live with rich people.
+ -- Logan Pearsall Smith
+~
+The secret of joy is the mastery of pain. -- Anais Nin
+~
+Everything is practice. -- Pele
+~
+However much we guard ourselves against it, we tend to shape ourselves in
+the image others have of us. It is not so much the example of others we
+imitate, as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of
+ourselves in their words.
+ -- Eric Hoffer
+~
+It is astonishing what you can do when you have
+a lot of energy, ambition and plenty of ignorance.
+ -- Alfred P. Sloan Jr.
+~
+The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.
+ -- G. K. Chesterton
+~
+If there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex? -- Art Hoppe
+~
+For all these new and evolutionary facts, meanings, purposes,
+new poetic messages, new forms and expressions, are inevitable.
+ -- Walt Whitman
+~
+A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king,
+and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
+ -- Hamlet
+~
+Only he is an artist who can make a riddle out of a solution. -- Karl Kraus
+~
+Love demands infinitely less than friendship. -- George Jean Nathan
+~
+People only see what they are prepared to see. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one
+dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are
+relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past,
+present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in
+the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.
+ -- Anais Nin
+~
+I hate house work! You make the beds, you do the dishes and six months
+later you have to start all over again.
+ -- Joan Rivers
+~
+The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only
+a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and
+deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the
+man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
+ -- William Blake
+~
+If a man watches three football games in a row
+he should be declared legally dead.
+ -- Erma Bombeck
+~
+To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at. -- Claude Monet
+~
+Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence,
+by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and
+rewards of grownups, and opportunities for action in all spheres of life.
+Adolescence should be a time of useful action, while book learning and
+scholarship should be a preoccupation of adults.
+ -- Eric Hoffer
+~
+Being defeated appears to be an inexhaustible
+wellspring of intellectual progress.
+ -- Reinhart Koselleck
+~
+Any genuine teaching will result, if successful, in someone's knowing
+how to bring about a better condition of things than existed earlier.
+ -- John Dewey
+~
+George Orwell, on why someone might write a book...
+
+ 1. Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered
+after death, to get your own back on grownups who snubbed you in childhood,
+etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend that this is not a motive, and a strong
+one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians,
+lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen-in short, with the whole top crust
+of humanity. The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish. After
+the age of about thirty they abandon individual ambition and live chiefly for
+others or are simply smothered under drudgery. But there is also the minority
+of gifted, willful people who are determined to live their own lives to the
+end, and writers belong to this class. Serious writers, I should say, are on
+the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested
+in money.
+ 2. Esthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on
+the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact
+of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good
+story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not
+to be missed. Above the level of a railway guide, no book is quite free from
+esthetic considerations.
+ 3. Historical impulse. Desire to see things as they are, to find out true
+facts and store them up for the use of posterity.
+ 4. Political purpose -- using the word "political" in the widest possible
+sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other
+people's idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once
+again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art
+should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.
+~
+The only true exploration, the only real Fountain of Youth, will not be
+in visiting foreign lands, but in having other eyes, in looking at the
+universe through the eyes of others.
+ -- Marcel Proust
+~
+They said it couldn't be done but sometimes it doesn't work out that way.
+ -- Casey Stengel
+~
+To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. -- Cicero
+~
+Nobody ever died of laughter. -- Max Beerbohm
+~
+A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for. -- W. C. Fields
+~
+Women speak because they wish to speak, whereas a man speaks
+only when driven to speech by something outside himself--like,
+for instance, he can't find any clean socks.
+ -- Jean Kerr
+~
+Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all-time thing. You don't win
+once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them
+right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
+ -- Vince Lombardi
+~
+It is by logic that we prove but by intuition that we discover.
+ -- Henri Poincare
+~
+Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win,
+by fearing to attempt.
+ -- William Shakespeare, "Measure for Measure"
+~
+Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom
+of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before.
+ -- Edith Wharton
+~
+Family quarrels are bitter things. They don't go according to any rules.
+They're not like aches or wounds; they're more like splits in the skin
+that won't heal because there's not enough material.
+ -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
+~
+One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with
+gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is
+so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for
+the growing plant and for the soul of the child.
+ -- Carl Jung
+~
+Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute. -- Josh Billings
+~
+One can know a man from his laugh, and if you like a man's laugh before
+you know anything of him, you may confidently say that he is a good man.
+ -- Fyodor Dostoevsky
+~
+When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision,
+then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
+ -- Aurdre Lorde
+~
+Fascism should more properly be called corporatism,
+since it is the merger of state and corporate power.
+ -- Benito Mussolini
+~
+Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop. -- Ovid
+~
+There is hardly anything in the world that some men cannot make a little
+bit worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price
+only are this man's lawful prey.
+ -- John Ruskin
+~
+The globe has been circumnavigated, but no man ever yet has; you may survey
+a kingdom and note the results in maps, but all the savants in the world
+could not produce a reliable map of the poorest human personality.
+ -- Alexander Smith
+~
+Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death.
+ -- Harold Wilson
+~
+Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
+ -- John Wooden
+~
+One important key to success is self-confidence.
+An important key to self-confidence is preparation.
+ -- Arthur Ashe
+~
+If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will
+change a past or future event, then you are residing on another
+planet with a different reality system.
+ -- William James
+~
+As people grow up, they change brands. -- Al Ries
+~
+If there is just one beam of sunshine coming into a room,
+you can be sure that the cat is lazing in its heat.
+ -- Stuart and Linda MacFarlane
+~
+If your parents never had children, chances are you won't, either.
+ -- Dick Cavett
+~
+If the human race wishes to have prolonged and indefinite period
+of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful
+and helpful way toward one another.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+All charming people have something to conceal, usually
+their total dependence on the appreciation of others.
+ -- Cyril Connolly
+~
+Part of the function of memory is to forget; the omni-retentive mind will break
+down and produce at best an idiot savant who can recite a telephone book, and
+at worst a person to whom every grudge and slight is as yesterday.
+ -- Christopher Hitchens
+~
+Try to be one of the people on whom nothing gets lost. -- Henry James
+~
+If a man hasn't discovered something that
+he would die for, he isn't fit to live.
+ -- Martin Luther King Jr.
+~
+The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of
+60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.
+ -- C. S. Lewis
+~
+Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+I am happy to engage in discussion with those who accept that technology and
+affluence are a net plus, but who worry about their troubling side effects.
+Spare me, however, the sensitive souls who deplore technological advance and
+economic growth over their cell phones on their way to the airport.
+ -- Charles Murray
+~
+There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish
+together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between.
+ -- Sir Thomas Beecham
+~
+The incompetent with nothing to do can still make a mess of it.
+ -- Laurence J. Peter
+~
+The universe is full of magical things patiently
+waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
+ -- Eden Phillpotts
+~
+Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the
+usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and
+nobody thinks of complaining.
+ -- Jef Raskin
+~
+My life needs editing. -- Mort Sahl
+~
+Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better. -- Emile Coue
+~
+Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My
+opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-
+seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.
+ -- Flannery O'Connor
+~
+There is nothing so wrong in this world that a sensible
+woman can't set it right in the course of an afternoon.
+ -- Jean Giraudoux
+~
+There is no one, no matter how wise he is, who has not in his youth said
+things or done things that are so unpleasant to recall in later life that
+he would expunge them entirely from his memory if that were possible.
+ -- Marcel Proust
+~
+Adults are obsolete children. -- Dr. Seuss
+~
+Barbie would also be tired of Microsoft's licensing bullsh*t.
+ -- Maury Cesterino, Chief Software Architect, Mattel, Inc.
+~
+When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we
+fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.
+Sooooo, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!
+ -- Brian O'Rourke
+~
+A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+Allowing a schizophrenic in a cowboy costume to represent himself in a
+death penalty case gives new meaning to the term "frontier justice."
+ -- Jim Marcus, executive director of the Texas Defender Service.
+~
+Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves
+you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.
+ -- D. H. Lawrence
+~
+Creativity is not merely the innocent spontaneity of our youth
+and childhood; it must also be married to the passion of the
+adult human being, which is a passion to live beyond one's death.
+ -- Rollo May
+~
+Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
+ -- Martin Luther King
+~
+Life Shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. -- Anais Nin
+~
+Freedom is the sure possession of those alone
+who have the courage to defend it.
+ -- Pericles
+~
+Psychoanalysis is that spiritual disease of
+which it considers itself to be the cure.
+ -- Karl Kraus
+~
+Teaching is arduous work, entailing much grinding detail and
+boring repetition--a teacher, it has been said, never says
+anything once--interrupted only occasionally by moments of
+always surprising exultation. And I should like to add that
+I don't think I learned a thing from my students, except that,
+as one student evaluation informed me, I tend to jingle the
+change in my pocket.
+ -- Joseph Epstein
+~
+All humanity is passion; without passion, religion, history,
+novels, art would be ineffectual.
+ -- Honore de Balzac
+~
+We do not sit in such-and-such a way because a carpenter has built
+a chair in such-and-such a way; rather, the carpenter makes the chair
+as he does because someone wants to sit that way.
+ -- Adolf Loos
+~
+No brilliance is required in law, just common sense
+and relatively clean fingernails.
+ -- John Mortimer
+~
+Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body. -- Seneca
+~
+True friends stab you in the front. -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice. -- Henry Ford
+~
+Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse. It's a bum's life.
+The principal benefit acting has afforded me is the money to pay for
+my psychoanalysis.
+ -- Marlon Brando
+~
+Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.
+ -- Theodore Levitt
+~
+Life need not be easy provided only that it is not empty. -- Lise Meitner
+~
+Some of us cannot be optimists, but all of us can be bigamists.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+No more frisking as of old,
+Or chasing his shadow over the lawn,
+But a dignified old person, tickling
+His nose against twig or flower in the border,
+Until evening falls and bed-time's in order...
+My cat and I grow old together.
+ -- A. L. Rowse
+~
+Logic, like whiskey, loses its beneficial effect when taken
+in too large quantities.
+ -- Lord Dunsany
+~
+The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and
+mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.
+ -- Thomas A. Edison
+~
+Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative
+pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little
+falls into lazy habits of thinking.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+Engineering can be seen as a family of paths crossing a solution space--in
+this case a space defined by all the possible arrangements and combinations
+of geometry, time, and material properties that might satisfy the particular
+specifications of a design. Filtering a good design out of these possibilities
+by simple, direct calculation is impossible both because of the enormous number
+of variables and because there are always elements in the specifications--like
+aesthetics or ergonomics or compatibility with the corporate image--that can't
+be reduced to a number or folded into a common denominator. What humans do in
+these cases is: think up a completely wrong (but sincerely felt) approach to
+the problem, jump in, fail, and then do an autopsy. Each failure contains
+encrypted somewhere on its body directions for the next jump: "strengthen this
+part," "tie this down next time," "buy a better battery." Good engineering is
+not a matter of creativity or centering or grounding or inspiration or lateral
+thinking, as useful as those might be, but of decoding the clever, even witty,
+messages solution space carves on the corpses of the ideas in which you
+believed with all your heart, and then building the road to the next message.
+ -- Fred Hapgood, from "Up the Infinite Corridor: MIT and Technical
+ Imagination"
+~
+The hardest part of gaining any new idea is
+sweeping out the false idea occupying that niche.
+ -- Robert Heinlein
+~
+Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, "We've always done
+it this way." I try to fight that. That's why I have a clock on my
+wall that runs counter-clockwise.
+ -- Grace Hopper
+~
+What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.
+ -- Theodore Roethke
+~
+A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
+an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+I have always felt that everybody on earth goes about in disguise.
+ -- Sean O'Faolain
+~
+At bottom, every man knows perfectly well that he is a unique being,
+only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a
+marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever
+be put together a second time.
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the
+lack of contradiction a sign of truth.
+ -- Blaise Pascal
+~
+If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.
+The more things you do, the more you can do.
+ -- Lucille Ball
+~
+The car as we know it is on the way out. To a large extent, I deplore
+its passing, for as a basically old-fashioned machine, it enshrines a
+basically old-fashioned idea: freedom. In terms of pollution, noise and
+human life, the price of that freedom may be high, but perhaps the car,
+by the very muddle and confusion it causes, may be holding back the
+remorseless spread of the regimented, electronic society.
+ -- J. G. Ballard
+~
+I live in company with a body, a silent companion, exacting and eternal.
+ -- Eugene Delacroix
+~
+History never looks like history when you are living through it.
+ -- John W. Gardner
+~
+In a cat's eyes round as golden bells,
+The mad Spring's flame glows.
+On a cat's gently closed lips,
+The soft Spring's drowsiness lies.
+On a cat's sharp whiskers,
+The green Spring's life dances.
+ -- Jang-Hi Lee
+~
+People always talk to me about my drinking; they never ask me about my thirst.
+ -- Oscar Levant
+~
+Algebraic symbols are used when you do not know what you are talking about.
+ -- Philippe Shnoebelen
+~
+We don't stop playing because we grow old;
+we grow old because we stop playing.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+Competitions are for horse, not artist. -- Bela Bartok
+~
+I feel that if a person has problems communicating
+the very least he can do is to shut up.
+ -- Tom Lehrer
+~
+It is, of course, totally pointless to call a cat when it is intent
+on the chase. They are deaf to the interruptive nonsense of humans.
+They are on cat business, totally serious and involved.
+ -- John D. MacDonald
+~
+Look wise, say nothing, and grunt. Speech was given to conceal thought.
+ -- Sir William Osler
+~
+The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
+ -- Robertson Davies
+~
+Where do the words come from? The same mysterious place, I suspect,
+where notes of music go. They precede ideas, and are inseparable
+from them. For myself, I bow my head, touch wood, and utter a small
+prayer that the flow of them never cease.
+ -- Joseph Epstein
+~
+The only thing that I'd rather own than Windows is English, because then I
+could charge you two hundred and forty-nine dollars for the right to speak it.
+ -- Scott McNealy, quoted at BrainyQuotes
+~
+Only a monopolist could study a business and ruin it by giving away products.
+ -- Scott McNealy, quoted at ThinkExist.com
+~
+Try moving off NT easily. You can move from Solaris to HP/UX to AIX or DEC
+easily relative to moving off of NT, which is like a Roach Motel. Once you
+check in, you never check out.
+ -- Scott McNealy, quoted at World of Quotes
+~
+With Microsoft the first hit is always free--remember that all your life.
+ -- Scott McNealy, quoted at CNet
+~
+I am convinced that if General Motors could eliminate [Microsoft] Office from
+their entire company, they could get the 1999 cars out next year at half price.
+ -- Scott McNealy, quoted at Anti-Microsoft Association Web site
+~
+We've got bayonets fixed, and we'll go into any cave no matter how dark and
+dank it is. And in the air war [against Microsoft to win new developers],
+we'll go after any developer and not just let them turn over to the dark side.
+ -- Scott McNealy, quoted at News.com
+~
+Microsoft is now talking about the digital nervous system.
+I guess I would be nervous if my system was built on their technology too.
+ -- Scott McNealy, November 4, 1998, quoted at CNN.com
+~
+Every time you turn on your new car, you're turning on 20 microprocessors.
+Every time you use an ATM, you're using a computer. Every time I use a
+settop box or game machine, I'm using a computer. The only computer you
+don't know how to work is your Microsoft computer, right?
+ -- Scott McNealy, quoted at Anti-Microsoft Association Web site
+~
+Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hittin'. -- Yogi Berra
+~
+"I've seen things like this before," he told the daily Il Messaggero.
+"Demons occupy a house and appear in electrical goods."
+ -- Gabriele Amorth, one of the Catholic Church's exorcists, quoted
+ in an article about Canneto di Caronia, a town where electronics
+ catch on fire.
+~
+Nature is an unlimited broadcasting station,
+through which God speaks to us every hour,
+if we only will tune in.
+ -- George Washington Carver
+~
+To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream;
+not only plan, but also believe.
+ -- Anatole France
+~
+The first step to getting the things
+you want out of life is this:
+Decide what you want.
+ -- Ben Stein
+~
+A scientist will never show any kindness for
+a theory which he did not start himself.
+ -- Mark Twain, in "A Tramp Abroad"
+~
+Grief upon griefs!
+Disappointments upon disappointments.
+What then?
+This is a gay, merry world notwithstanding.
+ -- John Adams
+~
+What is now proved was once imagined. -- William Blake
+~
+We haven't had any tea for a week.
+The bottom is out of the universe.
+ -- Rudyard Kipling
+~
+If a man has no tea in him, he is incapable
+of understanding truth and beauty.
+ -- Japanese Proverb
+~
+Dogs eat.
+Cats dine.
+ -- Ann Taylor
+~
+Telephone, n.: An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the
+advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
+~
+I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers
+his enemies; for the hardest victory is the victory over self.
+ -- Aristotle
+~
+Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him
+with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words or in good order.
+ -- Francis Bacon
+~
+Magnetism, as you recall from physics class, is a powerful force
+that causes certain items to be attracted to refrigerators.
+ -- Dave Barry
+~
+One sees great things from the valley, only small things from the peak.
+ -- G. K. Chesterton
+~
+Encountering sufferings will definitely contribute to the elevation
+of your spiritual practice, provided you are able to transform the
+calamity and misfortune into the path.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Tranquility: Daily Wisdom",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+In Buddhism, both learning and practice are extremely important, and they must
+go hand in hand. Without knowledge, just to rely on faith, faith, and more
+faith is good but not sufficient. So the intellectual part must definitely be
+present. At the same time, strictly intellectual development without faith and
+practice, is also of no use. It is necessary to combine knowledge born from
+study with sincere practice in our daily lives. These two must go together.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western
+ Buddhists", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The nature of beings is ever enlightened,
+yet not realizing this, they wander endlessly in samsara.
+May intense compassion arise within me
+for sentient beings, whose suffering knows no bounds.
+
+In the moment of love, when the vibrant power of intense compassion
+is uncontained, the empty essence shines forth nakedly.
+May I never step off this supreme path of unity that never goes awry,
+and practice it at all times, day and night.
+ -- "The Eighth Situpa on the Third Karmapa's Mahamudra Prayer", translated
+ by Lama Sherab Dorje, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice.
+ -- Following the Equator
+~
+Love is metaphysical gravity. -- R. Buckminster Fuller
+~
+Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it.
+Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+In accordance with the conditioning of desire, fear, disgust, and so forth--
+the conditioning of habitual tendencies that one has been accustomed to since
+beginningless time--mind itself appears as body, enjoyments, abode, and so
+forth. Yet, childish ordinary individuals do not comprehend that these
+[appearances] are the identity of their own minds. Conceiving of mind as being
+"here" and objects "over there," they hold the separation, the vast divide
+between the apprehended and apprehender, to be established in actuality. This
+is entirely imputation, or a deluded misapprehension of the way things are, as
+when not knowing that the dream elephant is personal experience, but instead
+apprehending it as an actual elephant in the external world.
+ -- "Speech of Delight: Mipham's Commentary on Shantarakshita's Ornament
+ of the Middle Way", translated by Thomas H. Doctor.
+~
+Instead of prompting the appearance of delusions and/or hallucinations,
+many of the patients receiving Valium displayed a progressive development
+of dislikes and hates. The patients themselves deliberately used the term
+"hate". This hatefulness first involved non-significant figures in the
+patients' environment, progressed from there to the involvement of key
+figures such as aides, nurses and physicians, and went on to the involvement
+of important personal figures such as parents and spouses... This
+hatefulness was of a peculiar type. The patients were unhappy with it; they
+realized that it was unnatural and without basis, but were impotent to do
+anything about it. Many of them, exhibiting real distress, would inquire,
+"Why do I feel like this?"
+ -- P.E. Feldman, Journal of Neuropsychiatry
+~
+The greatest book is not the one whose messages engraves itself on the brain,
+but the one whose vital impact opens up other viewpoints, and from writer to
+reader spreads the fire that is fed by various essences, until it becomes a
+great conflagration.
+ -- Romain Rolland
+~
+The world is a looking glass and gives back
+to every man the reflection of his own face.
+ -- William M. Thackeray
+~
+Travel is only glamorous in retrospect. -- Paul Theroux
+~
+Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which
+difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
+ -- John Quincy Adams
+~
+Beware the fury of a patient man. -- John Dryden
+~
+I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works
+to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets
+anyone suspect the labors it has cost me.
+ -- Henri Matisse
+~
+You might find this discussion of attitudes threatening or insulting. No one
+wants to be told they're practicing incorrectly. We don't want to hear that
+we are uptight or repressed, that we are unskillful in dealing with our pain.
+We just want to continue doing what we are doing. But there's a Tibetan saying
+that the highest teaching is the one that reveals practice and any mistake you
+might be making, it will only result in what you most truly desire--progress in
+your spiritual development. Remember, I know of these mistakes because I've
+made them all myself. Practice involves a radical transformation of our being,
+and we have to learn to face and eventually to dissolve all the attitudes we
+have about everything, not only meditation. So check yourself out.
+ -- Bruce Newman, in "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism: Notes from a
+ Practitioner's Journey"
+~
+Nothing is better than the unintended humor of reality. -- Steve Allen
+~
+At this point, a vote for Bush is a character flaw. -- Janeane Garofalo
+~
+It is inexcusable for scientists to torture animals; let them make
+their experiments on journalists and politicians.
+ -- Henrik Ibsen
+~
+Heredity is what sets the parents of a teenager wondering about each other.
+ -- Laurence J. Peter
+~
+Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. -- Theodore Roosevelt
+~
+I have taken all knowledge to be my province. -- Sir Francis Bacon
+~
+Genius is childhood recaptured at will. -- Charles Baudelaire
+~
+Generally speaking, whenever we perceive things, our perception is deluded, in
+that we project onto things a status of existence and a mode of being which is
+simply not there. We exaggerate things, and the way they then appear falsely
+to our minds gives rise to afflictive emotions. When we see our friends or
+enemies, for instance, we superimpose on them a quality of desirability or
+undesirability that is beyond the actual facts of the situation, and this
+superimposition or exaggeration sparks off fluctuating states of emotion in
+our mind. Towards our friends we feel strong attachment and desire, and
+towards our enemies powerful anger and hatred. So if we are serious about
+trying to purify our minds of these afflictive emotions, an understanding of
+emptiness becomes crucial.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
+ Perfection", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+If you examine the nature of your own mind, you will realize that the
+pollutants, such as afflictive emotions and thoughts rooted in a distorted
+way of relating to the world, are actually unstable. No matter how powerful
+an affliction, when you cultivate the antidote of true insight into the nature
+of reality, it will vanish because of the power of the antidote, which
+undermines its continuity. However, there is nothing that can undermine the
+basic mind itself; nothing that can actually interrupt the continuity of
+consciousness. The existence of the world of subjective experience and
+consciousness is a natural fact. There is consciousness. There is mind.
+There is no force that can bring about a cessation of your mental continuum.
+ -- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, in "Illuminating the Path to
+ Enlightenment", published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive
+~
+When we habituate our minds to being fearless, to being brave and open towards
+our emotions, fearlessness will also arise naturally. In order for this to
+happen we must train in applying antidotes to our thought patterns that are
+caught up in fear. In this way, we transcend fear first through a conceptual
+process, which later becomes nonconceptual, a natural fearlessness. In order
+to become fearless in this way, we need determination and the willingness to
+face our emotions. With that strong determination and courage, fearlessness
+will arise effortlessly.
+ -- from Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of
+ Avalokiteshvara, trans. by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The
+ Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The strongest element of growth lies in the human choice. -- George Eliot
+~
+But again, I warn you my son: If you want to continue to be a devoted yogi,
+generally you should never cling to dreams. If you do, you will eventually
+expose yourself to the influence of the four maras. If your dreams are
+positive, do not have any expectations. If we are filled with hopes and
+expectations, even positive things can turn negative. If your dreams are
+negative, don't take them too seriously. Learn to see negative dreams as
+illusion, not real. Then, although a dream seems negative, because we realize
+that it isn't real, it becomes a positive thing that prepares us for further
+development and realization in the spiritual path. This is the practice of
+a yogi.
+ -- "The Life of Gampopa", by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, Snow Lion Publications
+~
+In our time it is broadly true that political writing is bad writing. Where
+it is not true, it will generally be found that the writer is some kind of
+ rebel, expressing his private opinions and not a "party line." Orthodoxy,
+of whatever color, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style. The political
+dialects to be found in pamphlets, leading articles, manifestos, White Papers
+and the speeches of under-secretaries do, of course, vary from party to party,
+but they are all alike in that one almost never finds in them a fresh, vivid,
+home-made turn of speech. When one watches some tired hack on the platform
+mechanically repeating the familiar phrases--bestial atrocities, iron heel,
+bloodstained tyranny, free peoples of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder--
+one often has a curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being
+but some kind of dummy: a feeling which suddenly becomes stronger at moments
+when the light catches the speaker's spectacles and turns them into blank
+discs which seem to have no eyes behind them. And this is not altogether
+fanciful. A speaker who uses that kind of phraseology has gone some distance
+towards turning himself into a machine. The appropriate noises are coming out
+of his larynx, but his brain is not involved, as it would be if he were
+choosing his words for himself. If the speech he is making is one that he
+is accustomed to make over and over again, he may be almost unconscious of
+what he is saying, as one is when one utters the responses in church. And
+this reduced state of consciousness, if not indispensable, is at any rate
+favorable to political conformity.
+ -- George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language"
+~
+An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful.
+A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life
+when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.
+ -- George Orwell
+~
+Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart. -- Seneca
+~
+I am a devilish fellow, who has mastered many arts. -- August Strindberg
+~
+Every real thought on every real subject
+knocks the wind out of somebody or other.
+ -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
+~
+Come, lovely cat, and rest upon my heart,
+And let my gaze dive in the cold
+Live pools of thine enchanted eyes that dart
+Metallic rays of green and gold.
+ -- Charles Baudelaire
+~
+A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution. -- Hazel Nicholson
+~
+As every cat owner knows,
+nobody owns a cat.
+ -- Ellen Perry Berkeley
+~
+One of the most important practices is that of tolerance, patience. Tolerance
+can be learned only from an enemy; it cannot be learned from your guru. At
+these lectures, for instance, you cannot learn tolerance, except perhaps when
+you are bored! However, when you meet your enemy who is really going to hurt
+you, then, at that moment you can learn tolerance. Shantideva makes a
+beautiful argument; he says that one's enemy is actually a good spiritual
+guide because in dependence upon an enemy one can cultivate patience, and in
+dependence upon patience one accumulates great power of merit. Therefore, it
+is as if an enemy were purposefully getting angry in order to help you
+accumulate merit.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
+ Buddhist Path to Peace", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+In the intermediate stages of practice, you must be like a farmer during the
+harvest. Once he has determined that it is time to reap his crop, he works
+at it continuously, no matter what anyone tells him. Just as a farmer works
+to make the most of the crop he has grown, we who now have opportunities and
+conditions which are so valuable to our practice, should use them
+immediately, understanding that there is no time to be wasted.
+ -- "The Life of Gampopa", by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, Snow Lion Publications
+~
+I'm growing old, I delight in the past. -- Henri Matisse
+~
+Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation
+with us--that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
+ -- Tom Paine
+~
+Things equal out pretty well.
+Our dreams seldom come true,
+but then neither do our nightmares.
+ -- Charles Kennedy
+~
+Inner development comes step by step. You may think "Today my inner calmness,
+my mental peace is very small," but still, if you compare, if you look five,
+ten, or fifteen years back, and think, "What was my way of thinking then? How
+much inner peace did I have then and what is it today?", comparing it with what
+it was then, you can realize that there is some progress, there is some value.
+This is how you should compare--not with today's feeling and yesterday's
+feeling, or last week or last month, even not last year, but five years ago.
+Then you can realize what improvement has occurred internally. Progress comes
+by maintaining constant effort in daily practice.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Men give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have lies in this; when
+I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before
+me. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort that I have made is
+what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor
+and thought.
+ -- Alexander Hamilton
+~
+Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the
+young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that
+it cares for its helpless members.
+ -- Pearl S. Buck
+~
+It is important for us to have a stable and peaceful mind, for it is mostly
+through our mind that we experience suffering and problems. With diligence,
+we can establish our minds in peace by abandoning the afflictions that create
+obstacles. Meditation makes this possible because it establishes a steady
+mind. Among the many types of meditation, calm abiding (shamatha) and deep
+insight (vipashyana) are central to this process. In calm abiding, our mind
+is focused inwardly, which allows us to suppress the afflictions so that they
+do not actually manifest. There is a sense of distance between us and the
+afflictions. It is not possible, however, to eradicate them with calm abiding
+alone; deep insight is necessary to remove them at the root.
+ -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art & Teachings of the 17th Karmapa
+ Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Learning from experience is a faculty almost never practiced.
+ -- Barbara Tuchman
+~
+ If you persevere in this practice of recognizing the state of natural
+light, it will progressively become easier to repeat the lucid recognition
+that you are dreaming. There will arise a steady awareness within the dream,
+and you will know that you are dreaming. When you look in a mirror, you see
+a reflection. Regardless of whether it is beautiful or ugly, you know that
+it is a reflection. This is similar to knowing that a dream is a dream, to
+being lucid. Whether the dream is tragic or ecstatic, you are aware that it
+is merely a dream.
+ Awareness within the Dream State becomes a way to develop oneself and to
+break one's heavy conditioning. With this awareness, one can manipulate the
+dream material. For example, one can dream whatever one wishes, or one can
+pick up a desired theme. One can continue dreaming from where one left off
+on a previous occasion.
+ -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, in "Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light"
+~
+Responsibility educates. -- Wendell Phillips
+~
+What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid
+of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that
+which he thinks he already knows.
+ -- Epictetus
+~
+There are two kinds of food--food for mental hunger and food for physical
+hunger. Thus a combination of these two--material progress and spiritual
+development is the most practical thing. I think that many Americans,
+particularly young Americans, realize that material progress alone is not
+the full answer for human life. Right now all of the Eastern nations are
+trying to copy Western technology. We Easterners such as Tibetans, like
+myself, look to Western technology feeling that once we develop material
+progress, our people can reach some sort of permanent happiness. But when
+I come to Europe or North America, I see that underneath the beautiful
+surface there is still unhappiness, mental unrest, and restlessness. This
+shows that material progress alone is not the full answer for human beings.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness", Snow Lion
+~
+Nobody sees a flower--really--it is so small it takes time--we haven't
+time--and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.
+ -- Georgia O'Keeffe
+~
+The eighth root downfall is to regard our physical bodies, or the skandhas or
+aggregates of our psycho-physical makeup, as impure and base. The reason why
+this is a root downfall is because Vajrayana sees everything as sacred. All
+appearances is a form of divinity, all sound is the sound of mantra, and all
+thought and awareness is the divine play of the transcending awareness, the
+Mahamudra experience. The potential for that sacredness exists within our
+present framework, so to speak, of the five skandhas. Acknowledging psycho-
+physical aggregates of an individual as the potential of the Buddhas of the
+five families, or the five elements, or the five feminine aspects, and so
+forth, is to recognize that, in tantra, the potential for the transformation
+exists within our present situation. To disparage that potential as something
+useless or impure or unwholesome is a root downfall, a basic contradiction,
+from the point of view of tantric practice.
+ -- H.E. Kalu Rinpoche, in "Foundations of Tibetan Buddhism", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Terrorists and totalitarians have always been two sides of one coin;
+a totalitarian out of office is a terrorist.
+ -- David Gelernter
+~
+Now that as humans we have met with spiritual teachings and have met a teacher,
+we should not be like a beggar doing nothing meaningful year after year, ending
+up empty-handed at death. I, an ordinary monk in the lineage of Buddha
+Shakyamuni, humbly urge you to make efforts in spiritual practice. Examine the
+nature of your mind and cultivate its development. Take into account your
+welfare in this and future existences, and develop competence in the methods
+that produce happiness here and hereafter. Our lives are impermanent and so
+are the holy teachings. We should cultivate our practice carefully.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+Time makes more converts than reason. -- Tom Paine
+~
+We operate under a jury system in this country, and as much as
+we complain about it, we have to admit that we know of no better
+system, except possibly flipping a coin.
+ -- Dave Barry
+~
+To be dead is to stop believing in
+The masterpieces we will begin tomorrow.
+ -- Patrick Kavanagh, Irish poet
+~
+The obvious is always least understood. -- Klemens von Metternich
+~
+We are decent 99 percent of the time, when we could easily be vile.
+ -- R. W. Riis
+~
+The whole world loves a maverick, but the whole world wants
+the maverick to achieve something nobler than simple rebellion.
+ -- Kevin Patterson
+~
+ Insofar as the destructive effects of anger and hateful thoughts are
+concerned, one cannot get protection from wealth; even if one is a
+millionaire, one is subject to these destructive effects of anger and
+hatred. Nor can education guarantee that one will be protected from
+these effects. Similarly, the law cannot guarantee protection. Even
+nuclear weapons, no matter how sophisticated the defense system may be,
+cannot give one protection or defend one from these effects.
+ The only factor that can give refuge or protection from the destructive
+effects of anger and hatred is the practice of tolerance and patience.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Theoretically it may be comfortable to have compassion for "all sentient
+beings," but through our practice we realize that "all sentient beings" is
+a collection of individuals. When we actually try to generate compassion
+for each and every individual, it becomes much more challenging. But if we
+cannot work with one individual, then how can we work with all sentient
+beings? Therefore it is important for us to reflect more practically, to
+work with compassion for individuals and then extend that compassion further.
+ -- "Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara",
+ translated by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The Dzogchen Ponlop
+ Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating
+the problem in a way that will allow a solution.
+ -- Bertrand Russell
+~
+I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.
+ -- Jonathan Swift
+~
+The worst, the hardest, the most disagreeable thing that you may have
+to do may be the thing that counts most, because it is the hard discipline,
+and it alone, that makes possible the highest efficiency.
+ -- Elihu Root
+~
+I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
+I learn by going where I have to go.
+ -- Theodore Roethke
+~
+Don't let yesterday use up too much of today. -- Cherokee proverb
+~
+Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world. -- T'ien Yiheng
+~
+Women are like tea bags. They don't know how strong
+they are until they get into hot water.
+ -- Eleanor Roosevelt
+~
+There are two appropriate methods of mahamudra meditation to give rise to
+the primordial awareness of the dharmadhatu: looking while the mind is
+resting and looking while the mind is moving. The approach to the first
+method is the meditation of calm abiding. One lets one's mind rest until
+it abides calmly, and then with precision one looks at it. One looks for
+how it rests, for where it abides, and whoever or whatever it is that
+abides there. This is looking at the true nature of the mind while the
+mind is resting.
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from "Everyday Consciousness and
+ Buddha-awakening", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+It is better to debate a question without settling it
+than to settle a question without debating it.
+ -- Joseph Joubert
+~
+What is the purpose of the Dharma? Just like other spiritual traditions,
+Buddhadharma is an instrument for training the mind--something we use to try
+to work out the problems that we all experience; problems that originate
+mainly at the mental level. Negative emotional forces create mental unrest,
+such as unhappiness, fear, doubt, frustration and so forth; these negative
+mental states then cause us to engage in negative activities, which in turn
+bring us more problems and more suffering. Practicing Dharma is a way of
+working out these problems, be they long-term or immediate. In other words,
+Dharma protects us from unwanted suffering.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion.
+~
+Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the
+symbol of his liberty--his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when
+it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.
+ -- Aldous Huxley
+~
+Everything in the world has a hidden meaning... Men, animals, trees, stars,
+they are all hieroglyphics. When you see them you do not understand them.
+You think they are really men, animals, trees, stars. It is only years
+later that you understand.
+ -- Nikos Kazantzakis, from "Zorba the Greek"
+~
+One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things
+like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool.
+ -- George Orwell
+~
+A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
+ -- John Lennon
+~
+ For a romantic relationship to survive, more than romantic love is needed.
+We need to love the other person as a human being and as a friend. The sexual
+attraction that feeds romantic love is an insufficient basis on which to
+establish a long-term relationship. Deeper care and affection, as well as
+responsibility and trust, must be cultivated.
+ In addition, we do not fully understand ourselves and are a mystery to
+ourselves. Needless to say, other people are even more of a mystery to us.
+Therefore, we should never presuppose, with a bored attitude that craves
+excitement, that we know everything about our partner because we have been
+together so long. If we have the awareness of the other person being a
+mystery, we will continue to pay attention and be interested in him or her.
+Such interest is one key to a long-lasting relationship.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, from "Buddhism for Beginners", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Two cats can live as cheaply as one, and their owner has twice as much fun.
+ -- Lloyd Alexander
+~
+Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the
+same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least
+twice as fast as that!
+ -- Lewis Carroll
+~
+Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its
+instrument. To perform this difficult office it is sometimes necessary
+for him to sacrifice happiness and everything that makes life worth living
+for the ordinary human being.
+ -- Carl Jung
+~
+Vision without action is a daydream;
+action without vision is a nightmare.
+ -- Japanese proverb
+~
+To satisfy a cat, a new state of being needs to be
+created--halfway between in and out.
+ -- Stuart and Linda MacFarlane
+~
+The Perfection of Zeal
+ 1. Thus, one who has patience should cultivate zeal, because Awakening is
+established with zeal, and there is no merit without zeal, just as there is no
+movement without wind.
+ 2. What is zeal? It is enthusiasm for virtue. What is said to be its
+antithesis? It is spiritual sloth, clinging to the reprehensible, apathy, and
+self-contempt.
+ 3. Spiritual sloth arises from indolence, indulging in pleasures, sleep,
+and craving for lounging around due to one's apathy toward the miseries of the
+cycle of existence.
+ 4. Scented out by the hunters, the mental afflictions, you have entered the
+snare of rebirth. Why do you not recognize even now that you are in the mouth
+of death?
+ -- Shantideva, in "A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life", trans. from the
+ Sanskrit and Tibetan by Vesna A. Wallace and B. Alan Wallace, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+I have a perfect horror of words that are not backed up by deeds.
+ -- Theodore Roosevelt
+~
+Sufferings arise from specific causes and conditions, which are collected by
+individual sentient beings. That being so, it is extremely important that
+individual sentient beings know what is to be practiced and what is to be
+given up--what brings suffering and what brings long-lasting happiness. We
+must show sentient beings the right path, which brings happiness and the wrong
+path, which brings suffering. Therefore, when we talk about benefiting other
+sentient beings, it is through showing them the path and helping them
+understand what is to be given up and what is to be practiced. This is how
+we can help other sentient beings.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Stages of Meditation", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+We make our lives miserable by being miserable, so why not do exactly the
+opposite, and make our lives happy, joyful, and harmonious, by being happy,
+joyful, and harmonious? We create our own lives and yet we think that
+something else is doing it. All we have to do is change our mental
+reactions towards the opposite direction. And the way to do that is to
+meditate, otherwise we won't have the strength of mind to do it. A mind
+that can meditate is a mind that is one-pointed. And a mind that is one-
+pointed, the Buddha said, is like an ax that has been sharpened. It has a
+sharp edge that can cut through everything. If we want to remove stress
+and strain, and have a different quality of life, we have every opportunity.
+We need to strengthen our mind to the point where it will not suffer from
+the things which exist in the world.
+ -- from "Buddhism Through American Women's Eyes", edited by Karma Lekshe
+ Tsomo, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study
+mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and
+philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation,
+commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study
+painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
+ -- John Adams
+~
+There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more
+easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.
+ -- Benjamin Franklin
+~
+Thank God I have the seeing eye, that is to say, as I lie in bed I can walk
+step by step on the fells and rough land seeing every stone and flower and
+patch of bog and cotton pass where my old legs will never take me again.
+ -- Beatrix Potter
+~
+Umpire's heaven is a place where he works third base every game.
+Home is where the heartache is.
+ -- Ron Luciano
+~
+There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
+Other than the meditation that occurs, where is the one who is meditating?
+There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
+Other than the behavior that occurs, where is the one who is behaving?
+There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
+Other than the samaya vow that occurs, where is the one who is guarding it?
+There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
+Other than the fruition that occurs, where is the one who is realizing it?
+You should look at your own mind, observing it again and again.
+ -- from "Self-Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness", translation
+ and commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+You must understand that I'm just as interested in someone I've
+known for ten minutes as in someone I've known for ten years.
+ -- Alberto Giacometti
+~
+Now in our day-to-day lives we know that the more stable, calm and contented
+our mind is, the more feelings and experiences of happiness we will derive
+from it. The more undisciplined, untrained, and negative our mind is, the
+more we suffer mentally, and physically as well. So we can see only too well
+that a disciplined and contented mind is the source of our happiness.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
+ Perfection", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+If we do not wish merely to know intellectually about the view of emptiness,
+but rather wish to experience it ourselves in our own continuum, we should
+build a firm foundation for this. Then, according to our mental ability we
+should hear and consider both the sutras and treatises which teach the profound
+view of emptiness as well as the good explanations of them by the experienced
+Tibetan scholars in their commentaries. Together with this, we should learn
+to make our own ways of generating experience of emptiness accord with the
+precepts of an experienced wise man.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Buddhism of Tibet", published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+A great deal of our suffering comes from having too many thoughts. And, at
+the same time, the way we think is not sane. We are only concerned by our
+immediate satisfaction and forget to measure its long-term advantages and
+disadvantages, either for ourselves or for others. But such an attitude
+always goes against us in the end. There is no doubt that by changing our
+way of seeing things we could reduce our current difficulties and avoid
+creating new ones.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+If, motivated by the attainment of fame and gain for this life and hoping to
+look good in the eyes of others, one's behavior appears to be temporarily
+beautiful and one appears to be diligent in moral conduct, hearing, and
+contemplation, then one should think, "What is the use of appearing good in the
+eyes of others when my practice does not counteract the afflictions? When my
+practice does counteract the afflictions then even if it is not beautiful,
+what have I got to lose?
+ -- Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub, from "Three Visions: Fundamental Teachings of
+ the Sakya Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you,
+well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best
+preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+If you can't describe what you are doing as a process,
+you don't know what you're doing.
+ -- W. Edwards Deming
+~
+Our Dharma practice is the best offering to make to our teachers. If we have
+material possessions, talents, and time, we can offer those. However, we don't
+neglect our practice, for that is what our teacher cares about most. When we
+follow the Dharma instructions we've received and keep whatever precepts we've
+taken, that pleases our teacher more than anything else.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, in "Taming the Mind", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+If organized religion is the opium of the masses, then
+disorganized religion is the marijuana of the lunatic fringe.
+ -- Principia Discordia
+~
+When you are proclaiming peace with your lips,
+be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.
+ -- St. Francis of Assisi
+~
+Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.
+ -- Albert Einstein, "The World as I See It", 1934.
+~
+It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie
+which is being systematically repeated. If something is in me which can be
+called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the
+world so far as our science can reveal it.
+ -- Albert Einstein, in "Albert Einstein : The Human Side", from a 1954
+ letter to an atheist.
+~
+This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of the herd nature, the military
+system, which I abhor. That a man can take pleasure in marching in formation
+to the strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been
+given his big brain by mistake; a spinal cord was all he needed.
+ -- Albert Einstein, "The World as I See It", 1934.
+~
+I'm not a teacher, but an awakener. -- Robert Frost
+~
+It is very important to understand the context of the Buddhist emphasis on
+recognizing that we are all in a state of suffering, otherwise there is a
+danger we could misunderstand the Buddhist outlook, and think that it involves
+rather morbid thinking, a basic pessimism and almost an obsessiveness about the
+reality of suffering. The reason why Buddha laid so much emphasis on
+developing insight into the nature of suffering is because there is an
+alternative--there is a way out, it is actually possible to free oneself from
+it. This is why it is so crucial to realize the nature of suffering, because
+the stronger and deeper your insight into suffering is, the stronger your
+aspiration to gain freedom from it becomes. So the Buddhist emphasis on the
+nature of suffering should be seen within this wider perspective, where there
+is an appreciation of the possibility of complete freedom from suffering. If
+we had no concept of liberation, then to spend so much time reflecting on
+suffering would be utterly pointless.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama's Book of Awakening", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+A cat is a demure animal; it will not come into the living room
+wagging its tail and knocking over lamps and tables.
+ -- H. Monger Burdock
+~
+There is no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat.
+ -- Wesley Bates
+~
+Lack of understanding of the true nature of happiness, it seems to me, is the
+principal reason why people inflict sufferings on others. They think either
+that the other's pain may somehow be a cause of happiness for themselves or
+that their own happiness is more important, regardless of what pain it may
+cause. But this is shortsighted, no one truly benefits from causing harm to
+another sentient being. Whatever immediate advantage is gained at the expense
+of someone else is short-lived. In the long run causing others misery and
+infringing their rights to peace and happiness result in anxiety, fear and
+suspicion within one-self. Such feelings undermine the peace of mind and
+contentment which are the marks of happiness.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness", Snow Lion
+~
+When we're told that things are mere deceptive appearances, we shouldn't
+misinterpret it as license to act in any way we please. Of course, none of
+us would be so silly! Appearances are extremely powerful. You dream your
+house is on fire and you're surrounded by flames. You can't escape and feel
+terrified. You wake up soaked in sweat and screaming. What a relief! It was
+just a nightmare and none of it actually happened, but while it all seemed to
+be happening, you were in anguish.
+ -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+A man is not old until his regrets take the place of dreams.
+ -- John Barrymore
+~
+I am independent! I can live alone and I love to work. -- Mary Cassatt
+~
+If one ever wishes to retain one's fantasies about the good sense
+of the people in the realm of literary taste, one does best never
+to consult the bestseller lists.
+ -- Joseph Epstein
+~
+The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere. -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
+~
+Speaking of others' faults can also be a way to distract ourselves from
+acknowledging our own painful emotions. For example, if we feel hurt or
+rejected because a dear one hasn't called us in a long time, rather than
+feel the suffering nature of our attachment, we criticize our loved one
+for being unreliable and inconsiderate.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, in "Taming the Mind", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+A consistent man believes in destiny, a capricious man in chance.
+ -- Benjamin Disraeli
+~
+The things that we love tell us what we are. -- St. Thomas Aquinas
+~
+Everything on this planet functions according to the law of nature. Particles
+come together, and on the basis of their co-operation everything around us, our
+whole environment, can develop and be sustained. Our own body too has the same
+structure. Different cells come together and work together in co-operation,
+and as a result, human life is sustained. In a human community the same law
+and principle of co-operation applies. Even for an aeroplane to fly or for a
+single machine to work, it can only do so by depending on many other factors,
+and with their co-operation. Without them it is impossible. Just so, to
+sustain everyday life in human society we need co-operation.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Dzogchen: Heart Essence of the Great Pefection"
+~
+We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the byways and
+untrodden depths of the wilderness, and travel and explore
+and tell the world the glories of our journey.
+ -- John Hope Franklin
+~
+Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+Be happy. Talk happiness. Happiness calls out responsive gladness in
+others. There is enough sadness in the world without yours.
+ -- Helen Keller
+~
+There are two ways to slide easily through life:
+to believe everything or to doubt everything;
+both ways save us from thinking.
+ -- Alfred Korzybski
+~
+We shall not cease from exploration. And at the end of our exploring will be
+to arrive where we started and to know the place for the first time.
+ -- T.S. Eliot
+~
+I conceive that pleasures are to be avoided if greater pains
+be the consequence, and pains to be coveted that will terminate
+in greater pleasures.
+ -- Michel de Montaigne
+~
+A plot, if there is to be one, must be a secret. A secret that, if we only
+knew it, would dispel our frustration, lead us to salvation; or else the
+knowing of it in itself would be salvation. Does such a luminous secret
+exist? Yes, provided it is never known. Known, it will only disappoint us.
+ -- Umberto Eco
+~
+The subjects that were dearest to the examiners were almost invariably those I
+fancied least... I should have liked to be asked to say what I knew. They
+always tried to ask what I did not know. When I would have willingly displayed
+my knowledge, they sought to expose my ignorance. This sort of treatment had
+only one result: I did not too well in examinations.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+One of the great movements in my lifetime among educated people is the need to
+commit themselves to action. Most people are not satisfied with giving money;
+we also feel we need to work.
+ -- Peter Drucker
+~
+One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind.
+ -- Dorothea Lange
+~
+The universe is made of stories, not of atoms. -- Muriel Rukeyser
+~
+Chemists are a strange class of mortals, impelled by an almost maniacal impulse
+to seek their pleasures amongst smoke and vapour, soot and flames, poisons and
+poverty, yet amongst all these evils I seem to live so sweetly that I would
+rather die than change places with the King of Persia.
+ -- Johann Joachim Becher
+~
+Cherishing children is the mark of a civilized society. -- Joan Ganz Cooney
+~
+Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end. -- Igor Stravinsky
+~
+Purifying the unwholesome: In the past we have engaged in unwholesome physical,
+verbal, and mental actions. All these actions are of the past and cannot be
+touched; we cannot reach back and wipe them away. They have left detrimental
+imprints on our mind-stream that obstruct our spiritual practice and manifest
+as suffering when they come to full maturation, giving rise to misfortune and
+grief. However, these imprints can be affected, and even purified, by our
+present behavior. They are like seeds carried along in the current of our
+mind-stream. We cannot annihilate them without a trace, but we can burn them
+so that they have little or no potency to cause damaging results.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Seven-Point Mind Training", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+First it is important to recognize the human form as rare and precious. It is
+not enough just to obtain this precious human form which has great potential;
+rather, you should use that potential to its fullest extent by taking its
+essence. For example, if a person's ascent to high office is not followed by
+good work for the community and people, it is not very beneficial and
+worthwhile. If, on the basis of full use of the potential, one is able to
+accomplish great feats, that would truly be a great success. Therefore, it is
+important initially to recognize all the significance and great potential of
+this human existence.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Path to Bliss", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+We haven't had any tea for a week.
+The bottom is out of the universe.
+ -- Rudyard Kipling
+~
+Does one's integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that
+usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills
+conflicting in one man, Freedom cannot be conceived simply.
+ -- Flannery O'Connor, in "Wise Blood", 1952
+~
+We may seek a fortune for no greater reason than to secure the respect
+and attention of people who would otherwise look straight through us.
+ -- Alain de Botton
+~
+Only in the most unusual cases is it useful to determine whether
+a book is good or bad; for it is just as rare for it to be one or
+the other. It is usually both.
+ -- Robert Musil
+~
+A lie gets halfway around the world before
+the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+Like yourself, everyone else from their own side equally does not want
+suffering and equally wants happiness. For example, among ten ill people,
+each of them just wants happiness; from their side they are all ill, and
+they all want to be freed from their illness. Hence there is no possible
+reason for making a biased exception, treating a certain one better and
+neglecting the others. It is impossible to select one out for better
+treatment. Moreover, from your own viewpoint, all sentient beings, in
+terms of their connection with you over the course of lifetimes, have in
+the past helped you and in the future will help again. Thus, you also
+cannot find any reason from your own side to treat some better and others
+worse.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
+ Buddhist Path to Peace", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption.
+ -- Raymond Chandler
+~
+Life is not a spectacle or a feast; it is a predicament. -- George Santayana
+~
+Mediocre men often have the most acquired knowledge. -- Claude Bernard
+~
+When we practice, initially, as a basis we control ourselves, stopping the
+bad actions which hurt others as much as we can. This is defensive. After
+that, when we develop certain qualifications, then as an active goal we
+should help others. In the first stage, sometimes we need isolation while
+pursuing our own inner development; however, after you have some confidence,
+some strength, you must remain with, contact, and serve society in any
+field--health, education, politics, or whatever.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Kindness, Clarity and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Other paths that are aimed at "sudden awakening" lead one on an unmapped
+journey that may offer no clear indications of progress. In contrast, in this
+practice we have definite sign-posts along the way. Look at your mental
+distortions and see how they are doing. After practicing for a month, a year,
+six years, are the mental distortions somewhat diminished? Do wholesome
+qualities arise more readily, more frequently, more deeply? At the very root
+of the mental distortions, is the self-grasping attenuated? Is there less
+self-centeredness and greater humility? Is there more loving concern for the
+welfare of others? All of these are causes that lead either to well-being or
+to misery.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Seven-Point Mind Training", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+In the jungle of samsara arisings are ceaseless, there is never any let up in
+the interplay between past, present and future and in the turbulent interchange
+between inner thoughts and outer events. 'I', 'me' and 'mine' are tossed about
+like corks in the waves. There is no exit from this on the level of 'I'.
+There is no way to think yourself out of samsara. Even the thoughts that
+everything is empty, or is Padmasambhava, or pure from the very beginning do
+not help for no thought can unlock the door to awakening. The key is not
+shaped like a thing; it is not a thought, a feeling or a sensation. It's not
+something outer or inner. The key is your own nature, how you have been from
+the very beginning, simple, raw, naked, uncontrived, free of all constructs.
+ -- Nuden Dorje, in "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text", Snow Lion
+~
+Great ideas originate in the muscles. -- Thomas A. Edison
+~
+If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. -- Mark Twain
+~
+Mathematics is a game played according to certain
+simple rules with meaningless marks on paper.
+ -- David Hilbert
+~
+When you are poor enough, everything has some value. -- Barbara Ann Porte
+~
+I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have
+been only a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and
+then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst
+the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
+ -- Isaac Newton
+~
+In ancient times, a candidate for initiation into the Mysteries was led through
+a series of dark chambers, virtually a labyrinth, beset by terrifying sounds
+and ominous presences. And then in the adytum, the final chamber, there was a
+sudden illumination. The enthroned hierophant tells the candidate, "Behold the
+light, my child! It is your own being and nature." Just this epopteia, or
+sudden illumination, is the introduction to the Clear Light that is one's own
+original nature. The course of the initiation in the ancient Mystery Religions
+simulates the experience of death and rebirth and leads the candidate into what
+lies beyond, so that one no longer need fear death. This initiatory process
+may be compared to the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
+ -- John Myrdhin Reynolds, in "The Golden Letters", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+If only I had the theorems! Then I should find the proofs easily enough.
+ -- Bernhard Riemann
+~
+Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent,
+literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.
+ -- Barbara Tuchman
+~
+But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot
+hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
+have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+A memory is more atmospheric than accurate, more an evolving fiction than a
+sacred text. And thank heavens. If rude, shameful, or brutal memories
+can't be expunged, they can at least be diluted. So is nothing permanent
+and fixed in life? By definition life is a fickle noun, an event in
+progress. Still, we cling to philosophical railings, religious icons,
+pillars of belief. We forget on purpose that Earth is rolling at 1,000
+miles an hour, and, at the same time, falling elliptically around our sun,
+while the sun is swinging through the Milky Way, and the Milky Way migrating
+along with countless other galaxies in a universe about 13.7 billion years
+old. An event is such a little piece of time and space, leaving only a
+mindglow behind like the tail of a shooting star. For lack of a better
+word, we call that scintillation memory.
+ -- Diane Ackerman, in "An Alchemy Of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of
+ the Brain"
+~
+Many people who approach the practice of Buddhism are willing to sacrifice one
+or two hours of their day in order to perform some ritual practice or engage in
+meditation. Time is relatively easy to give up, even though their life may be
+very busy. But, they are not willing to change anything of their personality--
+they are not willing to forgo anything of their negative character. With this
+type of approach to Buddhism, it hardly matters how much meditation we do, our
+practice remains merely a hobby or a sport. It does not touch our lives. In
+order actually to overcome our problems, we have to be willing to change--
+namely to change our personality. We need to renounce and rid ourselves of
+those negative aspects of it that are causing us so much trouble.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama & Alexander Berzin in "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
+ Mahamudra"
+~
+Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into
+you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into
+you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
+ -- John Muir
+~
+Whoso does not see that genuine life is a battle
+and a march has poorly read his origin and his destiny.
+ -- Lydia Child
+~
+The more intelligent one is, the more men of originality
+one finds. Ordinary people find no difference between men.
+ -- Blaise Pascal
+~
+The last proceeding of reason, is to recognize that
+there is an infinity of things beyond it.
+ -- Blaise Pascal
+~
+Argument is the worst sort of conversation. -- Jonathan Swift
+~
+No burden is so heavy for a man to bear as a succession of happy days.
+ -- Max Planck
+~
+Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+I decline utterly to be impartial between the fire brigade and the fire.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+The self that is grasped by ignorance should be refuted, but we should not
+refute the conventionally existent self. If we refute the self that is merely
+conventionally existent, that is like a seeing a person and saying, "Oh, I
+didn't see the person." Or we might look at another person and say, "All I
+see is the basis of designation of the person or the visual form of the body."
+This is no way to speak. It would be impossible to maintain any valid or
+justifiable use of language in this way. We would be negating the existence
+of a merely designated self, but we would not negate the self that is refuted
+by means of the wisdom that investigates the nature of emptiness. Once again,
+the self to be negated is the self which is grasped by ignorance.
+ -- Gen. Lamrimpa, in "Realizing Emptiness: Madhyamaka Insight Meditation",
+ translated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+In general, the countries of the East have had less material progress and thus
+have great suffering from poverty. In the West, though poverty is not severe,
+there is the suffering of worry and not knowing satisfaction. In both East and
+West, many persons spend their lives in jealousy and competition; some think
+only of money, and when they meet with conditions unfavourable to their wish
+develop a dislike or enmity for these unfavourable circumstances from the very
+orb of their heart. Within and between countries people are disturbed, not
+trusting and believing each other, having to spend their lives in continual
+lies and deceit. Since the most we can live is a hundred years, what point is
+there in spending our lives in jealousy, deceit, and competition?
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Deity Yoga", translated and edited by Jeffrey
+ Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+She was fascinated by baths. I suppose total immersion in water
+must have seemed to her a peculiar method of cleansing oneself.
+ -- Elizabeth Peters
+~
+The uncompromising self-examination of a Rembrandt self-portrait remains,
+almost four centuries on, far more 'shocking' than a museum installation
+of cow carcasses.
+ -- Ralph Peters
+~
+Complaint is the largest tribute Heaven receives. -- Jonathan Swift
+~
+Mere belief in a source of refuge is not firm; unless there is valid cognition,
+you are going only on the assertion that Buddhism is good. Refuge is not an
+act of partisanship but is based on analysing what scriptures are reasonable
+and what scriptures are not. In order for the mind to engage one-pointedly in
+practice, there must be reasoned conviction that only the Buddhist path is
+non-mistaken and capable of leading to the state of complete freedom from
+defects and possession of all auspicious attainments. One should engage in
+honest investigation, avoiding desire and hatred and seeking the teaching that
+sets forth the means for fulfilling the aims of trainees.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Tantra in Tibet", trans. & ed. by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+A bad peace is even worse than war. -- Tacitus
+~
+The way of fortune is like the milky way in the sky; which is a number of
+smaller stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together; so it is a number
+of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that
+make men fortunate.
+ -- Francis Bacon
+~
+Ability will never catch up with the demand for it. -- Confucius
+~
+There is more to life than increasing its speed. -- Mahatma Gandhi
+~
+If cats could talk, they wouldn't. -- Nan Porter
+~
+I read the newspaper avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction.
+ -- Aneurin Bevan
+~
+ The teeth, hair and nails are not I, nor am I bone, blood, mucus, phlegm,
+pus or lymph.
+ Bodily oil is not I, nor is sweat, fat or the entrails either. The cavity
+of the entrails is not I, nor is excrement or urine.
+ Flesh is not I, nor are the sinews, warmth nor air. The bodily cavities are
+not I, nor is any one of the six types of consciousness.
+ If the self truly exists in the manner in which it appears, then it should be
+identifiable as one inspects the components of a person one by one. Following
+the above verses, no part of the body, including the four elements and space,
+nor the six types of consciousness can be identified as the self. This implies
+that the self that experiences joy and sorrow and that appears to the mind as
+if it existed independently does not exist at all. This is ascertained by
+engaging in such analysis.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Transcendent Wisdom", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Once, on behalf of his mother, Kyogom produced a thangka of the five buddha
+families. He asked the guru, Gampopa, to bless it quickly.
+ Gampopa agreed, saying, "Burn this stick of incense and make a mandala
+offering."
+ He then transformed himself into the Buddha, and from his ushnisha there
+radiated a glorious light that dissolved into the thangka. The air resounded
+with the tinkling of bells and the drumbeat of the damaru, and the sky was
+filled with parasols, auspicious banners, and canopies. The sound of cymbals
+was heard, and a rain of flowers fell from the sky.
+ When Kyogom saw this, the lama said, "This is the way to do a rapid
+consecration."
+ -- Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, in "The Life of Gampopa", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+The absolute nature of the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill
+treatment means that no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a
+state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any
+other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for torture.
+ -- Theo van Boven, UN official charged with monitoring incidents of torture
+~
+No executive, legislative, administrative, or judicial measure authorizing
+recourse to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
+can be considered as lawful under international law.
+ -- Theo van Boven, UN official charged with monitoring incidents of torture
+~
+In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a
+long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians
+will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an
+unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time--literally
+--substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the
+first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally
+unprepared for it.
+ -- Peter F. Drucker
+~
+Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food. -- Hippocrates
+~
+One of the lessons of the Web is that if people have access to information,
+they will consume it, whether they are hungry or not.
+ -- Lee Gomes
+~
+If cats seem distant and aloof, it is because this is not their native
+planet--they are here just to visit and dominate.
+ -- Hank Roll
+~
+History is the only laboratory we have in which to test
+the consequences of thought.
+ -- Etienne Gilson
+~
+In journalism it is simpler to sound off than it is to find out.
+It is more elegant to pontificate than it is to sweat.
+ -- Harold Evans
+~
+If we have only cultivated undistracted meditative concentration and lack the
+supreme knowledge that realizes how things actually are, it is impossible to
+see ultimate reality. On the other hand, if we have the correct view of
+understanding identitylessness but no meditative concentration in which the
+mind rests one-pointedly, our mind will be distracted by other objects, not be
+under control, and thus not be workable. Consequently, it will be impossible
+for the light of wisdom to shine clearly and realize ultimate reality. Another
+analogy for the need to combine calm abiding and superior insight as an
+inseparable unity is a sharp scalpel in the steady hand of an experienced
+surgeon. If the scalpel is blunt or the surgeon's hand shaky, the operation
+cannot be performed properly. In the same way, when the mind rests in a state
+that involves both stillness and a crisp wakefulness or awareness, it is like
+a steady hand that deftly operates on our objects of investigation with the
+sharp blade of superior insight.
+ -- Karl Brunnhoelzl, in "The Center of the Sunlit Sky: Madyhamaka in the
+ Kagyu Tradition, Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Golf is the only sport where the ball doesn't move until you hit it.
+ -- Ted William
+~
+... when a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men
+of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact
+that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending
+any save the most elemental--men whose whole thinking is done in terms of
+emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand.
+So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost.
+
+... all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and
+mediocre--the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is
+a virtual vacuum.
+
+The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is
+perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of
+the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the
+plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the
+White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
+ -- H. L. Mencken (July 26, 1920, in the Baltimore Sun):
+~
+The mastery of the turn is the story of how aviation became practical as a
+means of transportation. It is the story of how the world became small.
+ -- William Langewiesche
+~
+Flight's greatest gift is to let us look around. I mean a simple form of
+looking around, and one that requires little instruction--just gazing down at
+the ordinary scenery sliding by below. The best views are views of familiar
+things, like cities and farms and bottlenecked freeways. So set aside the
+beauty of sunsets, the majesty of mountains, the imprint of winds on golden
+prairies. The world beneath our wings has become a human artifact, our most
+spontaneous and complex creation. Tourists may not like to contemplate the
+evidence, with its hints of greed and self-destruction, but the fact remains
+that the old sterilized landscapes--like designated outlooks and pretty parks
+and sculpted gardens--have become obsolete, and that it is largely the airplane
+that has made them so. The aerial view is something entirely new. We need to
+admit that it flattens the world and mutes it in a rush of air and engines, and
+that it suppresses beauty. But it also strips the facades from our
+constructions, and by raising us above the constraints of the treeline and the
+highway it imposes a brutal honesty on our perceptions. It lets us see
+ourselves in context, as creatures struggling through life on the face of a
+planet, not separate from nature, but its most expressive agents. It lets us
+see that our struggles form patterns on the land, that these patterns repeat to
+an extent which before we had not known, and that there is a sense to them.
+ -- William Langewiesche, "Inside The Sky: Meditation on Flight"
+~
+A lot of good arguments are spoiled by some fool
+who knows what he is talking about.
+ -- Miguel de Unamuno
+~
+Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real. -- Jules Verne
+~
+We have the bias of considering some people to be enemies and others to be
+friends. If this really were true such that an enemy always remained an enemy
+and a friend always remained a friend, then there might be a reason to hate
+certain people and love others. But, again, this is not the case. There is
+no certainty in relationships.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
+ Buddhist Path to Peace", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are. -- George Santayana
+~
+It is said that the awareness of a buddha is completely even, like the ocean,
+taking in equally the joys and sorrows of all people, friends, loved ones,
+relatives, and those never met. This is the meaning of a statement made by so
+many of the world's great spiritual teachers, "Love your enemy." It doesn't
+mean love the person you hate. You can't do that. Love those who hate you.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
+ Mind-Training", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal
+does this--no dog exchanges bones with another.
+ -- Adam Smith
+~
+Art is not about thinking something up.
+It is the opposite--getting something down.
+ -- Julia Cameron
+~
+Although we regard the realization of the selflessness of persons as something
+particularly exalted and therefore difficult to achieve, in fact, if you look
+directly at your mind and see its nature, you will realize this selflessness.
+This is not a matter of trying to convince yourself that there is no self in
+the mind. It is simply a matter of looking. And when you look, you will see
+that there is no mind, and that therefore there is no self that could be
+imputed on the basis of the mind.
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Pointing out the Dharmakaya", Snow Lion
+~
+Cold! If the thermometer had been an inch longer we'd have frozen to death.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. -- Henry Fielding
+~
+Material progress is for the sake of achieving that happiness and relieving
+that suffering which depends upon the body. But it is indeed difficult to
+remove all suffering by these external means and thereby achieve complete
+satisfaction. Hence there comes to be a great difference between seeking
+happiness in dependence upon external things and seeking it in dependence
+upon one's own internal spiritual development. Furthermore, even if the
+basic suffering is the same, there is a great difference in the way we
+experience it and in the mental discomfort that it creates, depending upon
+our attitude towards it. Hence our mental attitude is very important in
+how we spend our lives.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Kindness, Clarity and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Love is a condition in which the happiness of another
+person is essential to your own.
+ -- Robert Heinlein
+~
+Looking at a cat, like looking at clouds or stars or the ocean, makes
+it difficult to believe there is nothing miraculous in this world.
+ -- Leonard Michaels
+~
+Waking in the night
+the lamp is low
+the oil freezing.
+ -- Matsuo Basho
+~
+Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are.
+ -- Thomas Carlyle
+~
+ If you have love, deities and humans will love you and will naturally
+gravitate toward you. Moreover, the Conqueror defeated Mara's armies with the
+power of love, so love is the supreme protector, and so forth. Thus, although
+love is difficult to develop, you must strive to do so.
+ The way to cultivate love is as follows. Just as you can develop compassion
+once you have repeatedly thought about how living beings are made miserable by
+suffering, develop love by thinking repeatedly about how living beings lack all
+happiness, both contaminated and uncontaminated. When you become familiar with
+this, you will naturally wish for beings to be happy. In addition, bring to
+mind various forms of happiness and then offer them to living beings.
+ -- from "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment",
+ Volume 2, Snow Lion Publications
+~
+There is no less invention in aptly applying a thought found
+in a book, than in being the first author of the thought.
+ -- Pierre Bayle
+~
+You'll never need a lawn ornament if you have a cat in the yard.
+ -- Katherine Palmer Peterson
+~
+Karma has four main characteristics. The first is its increasing effect:
+goodness heralds further goodness and evil heralds further evil. Secondly,
+karma is definite: in the long run, goodness always produces joy and negativity
+always produces suffering. Thirdly, one never experiences a joy or sorrow that
+does not have an according karmic cause. And lastly, the karmic seeds that are
+placed on the mind at the time of an action will never lose their potency even
+in a hundred million lifetimes, but will lie dormant within the mind until one
+day the conditions that activate them appear.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion
+~
+The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat. -- Jules Reynard
+~
+ There are generally two kinds of buddhist meditation: stabilizing meditation
+and analytical meditation. The stabilizing type of meditation gets the brain
+very mellow. It is a soothing of the mind to a clear state of calm, like a
+still lake. Stabilization allows all thoughts to flow through the mind without
+attachment to any of them. But the analytical type of meditation uses the
+power of logic to examine what is bothering one. Through meditative analysis,
+problems are conquered by finding their root causes and by developing
+techniques for mitigating the effects of those causes on the mind. Analysis
+can focus on topics such as impermanence, suffering, the need for patience,
+and other topics.
+ These two phases of meditation are not practiced at different times of the
+day, but from instant to instant. At first, when one is a beginner, one must
+actively work to stabilize the mind and release all the distractions. But
+just when one starts to doze off because this process is so relaxing, one
+switches over to analytical meditation to keep the brain moving and to balance
+out the bliss.
+ One has to pay careful attention to the state of one's mind to determine
+what is needed at a particular time. But this wakeful refocusing of the
+attention helps to develop mindfulness, which in turn helps develop
+understanding and concentration. Later on, the switch between analytical
+and stabilizing meditations will happen somewhat more automatically; if
+thoughts start swirling too fast, the meditative mind seeks stabilization. If
+things get too calm or placid, then analysis can bring the balance back to
+thinking and improving.
+ Analysis is insufficient by itself, because it might be all about what's
+currently "wrong" or it might produce a billion approaches to improving the
+mind which cannot all be followed, but it would miss out on just enjoying our
+somewhat short existence. Complete realization of the enjoyability of
+sentience and sapience seems to come from stabilization, not analysis. And
+stabilization is not enough by itself either, because one sees the result
+of too much placidity in a person asleep in bed: they have a cow-like calm
+without any thoughts breaking the surface to cause future progress. The
+impetus behind the push towards enlightenment seems to come from analysis,
+because one cannot see why one would want to fully awake and aware unless
+one can logically compare that state with the current one. Thus analytical
+and stabilizing meditations are the dynamic duo of meditation, the laurel
+and the hardy, the R and the D, the anion and the cation, for without both
+the ultimate mental state is unattainable.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+The bad news: there is no key to the universe.
+The good news: it was never locked.
+ -- Swami Beyondananda
+~
+What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of
+frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the
+first law of nature.
+ -- Voltaire
+~
+A man's manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+If I wished to punish a province, I would have it governed by philosophers.
+ -- Frederick the Great
+~
+I know that many people have difficulty thinking of spirits in the way I
+describe them. There are many spirits described in Tibetan texts related to
+specific places in Tibet. I'm not sure, if we live in New York or Tokyo, that
+it's very helpful to try to connect to those spirits. When we are in Western
+cities, rather than thinking of spirits living in mountain passes or caves, we
+might find it easier to think that spirits travel the streets, creating anger
+and agitation in the drivers. When we experience aggressive driving, it is a
+good idea to breathe evenly and relax. Otherwise, we may find ourselves
+connected to traffic demons!
+ -- "Healing with Form, Energy and Light: The Five Elements in Tibetan
+ Shamanism, Tantra and Dzogchen", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools.
+Let's start with typewriters.
+ -- Frank Lloyd Wright
+~
+As long as algebra is taught in school, there will be prayer in school.
+ -- Cokie Roberts
+~
+In Tantra the term bodhicitta assumes a more specific connotation. The essence
+of enlightenment or "Buddha-nature," revealed in the sutras of the third
+turning of the wheel of Dharma, is equated to the subtle essence (thig le) of
+the human body, the coarse aspect of which is present in the seminal fluid and
+in the ovum. Thus in Tantra, bodhicitta is recognized as the seed of the
+manifestation of the infinite mandalas and deities who are all already
+contained in potentiality in the energy structure of the physical body itself,
+what is known as the "vajra body." However in spite of this underlying
+recognition as its base, tantric practice entails visualization and commitments
+of body voice, and mind to achieve the transformation of the energies of impure
+vision into the pure dimension of the mandala and of the deities.
+ -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu and Adriano Clemente, in "The Supreme Source: The
+ Fundamental Tantra of the Dzogchen Semde Kunjed Gyalpo", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books
+I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me.
+ -- Anatole France
+~
+It is impossible to keep a straight face in
+the presence of one or more kittens.
+ -- Cynthia E. Varnardo
+~
+I always explain that violence is not the human way. I believe that,
+fundamentally, human nature is positive, gentle; therefore, the non-violent way
+is the human way. Also, whatever result we achieve through non-violence has no
+negative side effect. Through violence, even though we may get some kind of
+satisfaction, negative side effects are also incurred. Then, most importantly,
+whether we like it or not, we have to live side by side with the Chinese; thus,
+in the long future, generation to generation, in order to live happily,
+peacefully, it is extremely important, while we are carrying on the struggle,
+to accord with the principle of non-violence.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates discuss
+ Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Mencken's Creed
+
+ I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind--
+that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have
+been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
+ I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless
+to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent,
+can be anything but vicious.
+ I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must
+necessarily make war upon liberty...
+ I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence
+of witches, and deserves no more respect.
+ I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech...
+ I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what
+it is made of, and how it is run.
+ I believe in the reality of progress.
+ I--But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it
+is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be
+free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be
+ignorant.
+ -- H. L. Mencken
+~
+ The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small
+electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying
+even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is
+nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and
+the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds
+are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre--the man
+who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual
+vacuum.
+ The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is
+perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the
+people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the
+plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White
+House will be adorned by a downright moron.
+ -- Henry Louis Mencken, "Bayard vs. Lionheart", Baltimore Evening Sun,
+ 26 July 1920.
+~
+The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of
+wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.
+ -- Anais Nin
+~
+There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
+ -- Sir Francis Bacon
+~
+I say that the art of sculpture is eight times as great as any other art based
+on drawing, because a statue has eight views and they must all be equally good.
+ -- Benvenuto Cellini
+~
+ When we talk about patience or tolerance, we should understand that there are
+many degrees, starting from a simple tolerance, such as being able to bear a
+certain amount of heat and cold, progressing toward the highest level of
+patience, which is the type of patience and tolerance found in the great
+practitioners, the Bodhisattvas on the high levels of the Buddhist path.
+Since patience or tolerance comes from a certain ability to remain firm and
+steadfast, to not be overwhelmed by the adverse situations or conditions that
+one faces, one should not see tolerance or patience as a sign of weakness, but
+rather as a sign of strength coming from a deep ability to remain steadfast and
+firm. We can generally define patience or tolerance in these terms. We find
+that even in being able to tolerate a certain degree of physical hardship, like
+a hot or cold climate, our attitude makes a big difference.
+ If we have the realization that tolerating immediate hardship can have long-
+term beneficial consequences, we are more likely to be able to tolerate
+everyday hardships. Similarly, in the case of those on the Bodhisattva levels
+of the path practicing high levels of tolerance and patience, intelligence also
+plays a very important role as a complementary factor.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the
+background. They fade on the page and live on the stage when set to music.
+ -- Stephen Sondheim
+~
+All the good ideas I ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
+ -- Grant Wood
+~
+Completely pure desirous attachment expresses itself through Buddha Amitabha.
+A person guided by desire, attachment, or grasping becomes diffused and loses
+power over phenomena. Through completely purified desirous attachment,
+however, one is able to gain control over, and to independently coordinate,
+everything. This is because the entourage, possessions, merit, and so forth
+are controlled by the power of this Buddha. In this way Amitabha grants us the
+empowering enlightened activity and the empowering extraordinary achievements.
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Everyday Consciousness and
+ Buddha-awakening", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+No harm's done to history by making it something someone would want to read.
+ -- David McCollough
+~
+If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and
+only one sentence passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement
+would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the
+atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, if you wish to call it that) that all
+things are made of atoms--little particles that move around in perpetual
+motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but
+repelling upon being squeezed into one another.
+ -- Richard P. Feynman
+~
+The third aspect of the practice of generosity is giving the gift of the
+Dharma by making the teachings available. Through the Dharma, we can bring
+understanding into the lives of others and help them remove their patterns of
+ignorance. We do not have to be great scholars to practice generosity through
+the Dharma. We may know just one line of the Dharma, but if we know that one
+line clearly and correctly, we can genuinely express it to others and help
+them. If we know four lines of the teachings, through those four lines we can
+help to clear up someone's ignorance or lessen someone's problems and
+sufferings. What counts is not how much we know but how correctly we know it
+and how sincerely we use it to help others. We should not wear the mask of the
+Dharma, pretending we know a great deal and are doing great things, while
+hiding ugliness inside us.
+ -- Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, in "Dharma Paths", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+One difference between the destructive, negative emotions on the one side and
+constructive, positive emotions on the other is that constructive, positive
+emotions have a strong grounding in valid experience and reasoning. In fact,
+the more we analyze these positive emotions, the more they are enhanced.
+Negative, afflictive emotions, by contrast, are usually quite superficial.
+They have no grounding in reason and often arise out of habit rather than
+reasoned thought processes.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment",
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Whenever you travel on an airplane, the flight attendants demonstrate what to
+do in an emergency. They tell you to put the oxygen mask over your own nose
+before putting it over your child's nose. That's not because you should be
+selfish, but because if you pass out, you won't be able to help anyone at all.
+So you see, the essential point is that we must first subdue our own minds
+before we can effectively serve others.
+
+If you have failed to subdue your own mind, even if a thousand Buddhas surround
+you, they will be of no benefit. If you want to subdue your enemies, you must
+subdue your own mind. If you want to bring about world peace, subdue your
+mind. A subdued mind is the Lama. A subdued mind is the Dakini, the chosen
+deity, and the Buddha. A subdued mind is the pure land. You are already
+imbued with the Buddha-nature. This is your inherent nature. What actual
+benefit have you gotten from the essential nature of your mind?
+ -- Karma Chagme, in "A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on
+ the Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+From: non-verbal sys-admin
+To: support technician
+Subject: harriet crash
+
+ harriet crashed this afternoon
+ it is back online now
+ looks like a bad drive in the array
+ i have an ibm ticket opened
+ hope to have it serviced sometime tomorrow
+
+ the current state or the repair
+ should not affect core team work in build
+
+---
+
+From: support technician
+To: non-verbal sys-admin
+Subject: Re: harriet crash
+
+ capital letters
+ complete sentences, grammar
+ needless in haiku
+~
+I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little,
+they become its visible soul.
+ -- Jean Cocteau
+~
+I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death; but an infinite
+ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.
+ -- George Fox
+~
+Besides the first degree of eminence in science, a professor with us must be
+of sober and correct morals and habits, having the talent of communicating his
+knowledge with facility, and of an accommodating and peaceable temper. The
+latter is all important for the harmony of the institution.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson
+~
+Like all the best families, we have our share of eccentricities,
+of impetuous and wayward youngsters and of family disagreements.
+ -- Queen Elizabeth II
+~
+We do not see, or we forget, that the birds that are idly singing around us
+mostly live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life.
+ -- Charles Darwin
+~
+Obstacles to our practice may be external, internal or secret. The external
+ones consist of natural disasters, harm inflicted by human and nonhuman
+beings, sicknesses and so forth. Internal obstacles are our own disturbed
+states of mind and emotions and all the obstructions to liberation and full
+knowledge of all phenomena. Secret obstacles are seemingly good
+circumstances, which distract the practitioner and make him or her forget
+about practice. For instance, one might gain a good reputation as a sincere
+practitioner and thereby attract followers and wealth, which in the end make
+one neglect one's practice.
+ -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "Eight Verses for Training the Mind",
+ Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+From Linus Benedict Torvalds Oct 5 1991, 8:53 am
+Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
+From: torva...@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
+Date: 5 Oct 91 05:41:06 GMT
+Local: Fri, Oct 4 1991 10:41 pm
+Subject: Free minix-like kernel sources for 386-AT
+
+Do you pine for the nice days of minix-1.1, when men were men and wrote
+their own device drivers? Are you without a nice project and just dying
+to cut your teeth on a OS you can try to modify for your needs? Are you
+finding it frustrating when everything works on minix? No more all-
+nighters to get a nifty program working? Then this post might be just
+for you :-)
+
+As I mentioned a month(?) ago, I'm working on a free version of a
+minix-lookalike for AT-386 computers. It has finally reached the stage
+where it's even usable (though may not be depending on what you want),
+and I am willing to put out the sources for wider distribution. It is
+just version 0.02 (+1 (very small) patch already), but I've successfully
+run bash/gcc/gnu-make/gnu-sed/compress etc under it.
+
+Sources for this pet project of mine can be found at nic.funet.fi
+(128.214.6.100) in the directory /pub/OS/Linux. The directory also
+contains some README-file and a couple of binaries to work under linux
+(bash, update and gcc, what more can you ask for :-). Full kernel
+source is provided, as no minix code has been used. Library sources are
+only partially free, so that cannot be distributed currently. The
+system is able to compile "as-is" and has been known to work. Heh.
+Sources to the binaries (bash and gcc) can be found at the same place in
+/pub/gnu.
+
+ALERT! WARNING! NOTE! These sources still need minix-386 to be compiled
+
+(and gcc-1.40, possibly 1.37.1, haven't tested), and you need minix to
+set it up if you want to run it, so it is not yet a standalone system
+for those of you without minix. I'm working on it. You also need to be
+something of a hacker to set it up (?), so for those hoping for an
+alternative to minix-386, please ignore me. It is currently meant for
+hackers interested in operating systems and 386's with access to minix.
+
+The system needs an AT-compatible harddisk (IDE is fine) and EGA/VGA. If
+you are still interested, please ftp the README/RELNOTES, and/or mail me
+for additional info.
+
+I can (well, almost) hear you asking yourselves "why?". Hurd will be
+out in a year (or two, or next month, who knows), and I've already got
+minix. This is a program for hackers by a hacker. I've enjouyed doing
+it, and somebody might enjoy looking at it and even modifying it for
+their own needs. It is still small enough to understand, use and
+modify, and I'm looking forward to any comments you might have.
+
+I'm also interested in hearing from anybody who has written any of the
+utilities/library functions for minix. If your efforts are freely
+distributable (under copyright or even public domain), I'd like to hear
+from you, so I can add them to the system. I'm using Earl Chews estdio
+right now (thanks for a nice and working system Earl), and similar works
+will be very wellcome. Your (C)'s will of course be left intact. Drop me
+a line if you are willing to let me use your code.
+
+ Linus
+
+PS. to PHIL NELSON! I'm unable to get through to you, and keep getting
+"forward error - strawberry unknown domain" or something.
+~
+Question: How do things exist if they are empty of inherent existence?
+
+His Holiness: The doctrines of emptiness and selflessness do not imply the non-
+existence of things. Things do exist. When we say that all phenomena are void
+of self-existence, it does not mean that we are advocating non-existence, that
+we are repudiating that things exist. Then what is it we are negating? We are
+negating, or denying, that anything exists from its own side without depending
+on other things. Hence, it is because things depend for their existence upon
+other causes and conditions that they are said to lack independent self-
+existence.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will,
+But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.
+ -- Thomas Moore
+~
+Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things,
+in which smiles, and kindnesses, and small obligations, given habitually,
+are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort.
+ -- Sir Humphrey Davy
+~
+It is only when I am doing my work that I feel truly alive.
+ -- Federico Fellini
+~
+When you engage in a project or an activity that helps other sentient beings,
+there is no question of a time limit. You must do it continuously. This is
+how you should train your mind. If you think you will achieve enlightenment or
+bodhichitta within a few days or months, and if you think that you will get
+enlightened after entering into a retreat for three years and three months, you
+are mistaken. When I hear the suggestion that you will attain Buddhahood if
+you go into retreat for three years and three months, sometimes I jokingly say
+that this is just like communist propaganda. I tell my Western friends that
+wanting to practice the most profound and the quickest path is a clear sign
+that you will achieve no result. How can you achieve the most profound and the
+vast in the shortest way? The story of the Buddha says that he achieved
+Buddhahood after three countless aeons. So harboring an expectation to achieve
+Buddhahood within a short time-like three years and three months-is a clear
+indication that you will make no real progress. We have to be practical.
+There is no use in fooling others with your incomplete knowledge.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Stages of Meditation", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Buddhist moral philosophy is strikingly pragmatic. Something is valuable
+insofar as it is relevant to people's lives and useful for achieving their
+happiness. If it will bring happiness for oneself and others, pursue it; if it
+will bring suffering, better to avoid it. There are no absolute dictates;
+ethical personal behavior is seen as simply the most practical way to cope with
+the difficulties of the human condition. Although guidelines and copious
+illustrations are given, nothing is absolute or definitive. The power and
+freedom to make decisions rests with the individual. There is no arbitrary or
+mysterious force controlling our lives; there is simply the law of cause and
+effect. Of course, decisions are dependent upon many factors. The choices we
+make are conditioned by circumstances, both outer and inner, but ultimately
+human beings have free will to decide. Individuals make decisions and
+experience the consequences of their decisions.
+ -- from "Buddhism Through American Women's Eyes", edited by Karma Lekshe
+ Tsomo, Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Chemistry stands at the pivot of science. On the one hand it deals with biology
+and provides explanations for the processes of life. On the other hand it
+mingles with physics and finds explanations for chemical phenomena in the
+fundamental processes and particles of the universe. Chemistry links the
+familiar with the fundamental.
+ -- P. W. Atkins
+~
+In a cat's eyes, all things belong to cats. -- English Proverb
+~
+A university is what a college becomes when the faculty
+loses interest in students.
+ -- John Ciardi
+~
+Ye can lead a man up to the university, but ye can't make him think.
+ -- Finley Peter Dunne
+~
+The new electronic interdependence recreates the
+world in the image of a global village.
+ -- Marshall McLuhan
+~
+One of the ways in which cats show happiness is by sleeping.
+ -- Cleveland Amory
+~
+For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life. -- William Blake
+~
+Love is a kind of warfare. -- Ovid
+~
+Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what
+is excellent in others belong to us as well.
+ -- Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire, 1694
+~
+ From a Buddhist point of view, one might be able to distinguish different
+states of dreaming. Generally speaking, a dream is a dream, something you
+can't control. But for the highly advanced meditator, there could be
+possibilities for gaining certain insights through dreams.
+ I know some Tibetans who lived in Tibet prior to the 1959 uprising. Before
+their escape from Tibet, they did not know about the natural trails and passes
+by which to get over the Himalayas into India. Some of these people I met had
+very clear dreams of these tracks and, years later, when they actually had to
+follow the actual trails, they found that they were already familiar with them
+because of the very clear dreams they had had previously.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
+ with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", ed. by Zara Houshmand,
+ Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, Snow Lion Publications
+~
+I think, for the rest of my life, I shall refrain from looking up things.
+It is the most ravenous time-snatcher I know. You pull one book from the
+shelf, which carries a hint or a reference that sends you posthaste to
+another book, and that to successive others.
+ -- Carolyn Wells (1862-1942), Mystery Writer
+~
+It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life
+that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that
+goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
+ -- Arnold Toynbee
+~
+Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity,
+we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second
+time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
+ -- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
+~
+ One method for disciples to develop bodhichitta entails recognizing all
+beings as having been their mothers in some previous life and focusing on
+their mothers' kindness. Similarly, guru-meditation requires focusing on
+their mentors' kindness.
+ Many Westerners, however, have difficulty focusing on the kindness of their
+mothers. Unable to find the goodness and kindness in their mothers, most
+cannot find any goodness in themselves either. Although they may be desperate
+for love and kindness, their mental blocks often prevent them from recognizing
+and appreciating the kindness of others, for instance their spiritual mentors.
+No matter how much kindness they receive, it is never enough.
+ One of the reasons for being unable to acknowledge our mothers' kindness
+may be that they fail to live up to our models of ideal parents. Similarly,
+when our spiritual mentors have shortcomings and do not live up to our models
+of ideal teachers, we may also have difficulty recognizing their kindness.
+Like children yearning for ideal love, we feel cheated if our mentors fail
+to meet our expectations.
+ -- Alexander Berzin, in "Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy
+ Relationship", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.
+ -- Edward Abbey
+~
+I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis
+and I don't deserve that either.
+ -- Jack Benny
+~
+I have come to believe over and over again that what is most
+important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at
+the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.
+ -- Audre Geraldine Lorde
+~
+The word dharma in Sanskrit means "that which holds". All existents are
+dharmas, phenomena, in the sense that they hold or bear their own entity or
+character. Also, a religion is a dharma in the sense that it holds persons
+back or protects them from disasters. Here the term dharma refers to the
+latter definition. In rough terms, any elevated action of body, speech or
+mind is regarded as a dharma because through doing such an action one is
+protected or held back from all sorts of disasters. Practice of such
+actions is practice of dharma.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Buddhism of Tibet", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+What will survive of us is love. -- Philip Larkin
+~
+Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
+ -- Elbert Hubbard
+~
+Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.
+ -- Erica Jong
+~
+Optimism can make you look stupid but cynicism always makes you look cynical.
+ -- Calum Fisher
+~
+An architect proves his skill by turning the defects of a site into advantages.
+ -- Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini
+~
+Physicists and astronomers see their own implications in the world
+being round, but to me it means that only one-third of the world is
+asleep at any given time and the other two-thirds is up to something.
+ -- Dean Rusk
+~
+What is my purpose in life, what is my responsibility? Whether I like it or
+not, I am on this planet, and it is far better to do something for humanity.
+So you see that compassion is the seed or basis. If we take care to foster
+compassion, we will see that it brings the other good human qualities. The
+topic of compassion is not at all religious business; it is very important to
+know that it is human business, that it is a question of human survival, that
+is not a question of human luxury. I might say that religion is a kind of
+luxury. If you have religion, that is good. But it is clear that even without
+religion we can manage. However, without these basic human qualities we cannot
+survive. It is a question of our own peace and mental stability.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An
+ Anthology of Writings By and About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited
+ by Sidney Piburn, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.
+ -- Benjamin Disraeli
+~
+ We often get angry when something we consider undesirable happens. But what
+use is this anger? If we can change the situation, then let's go ahead and do
+it. There's no need to be angry. It's very useful to think like this when
+confronted with social problems and injustice. They can be changed, so rather
+than be angry, it's wiser to work calmly to improve the society.
+ On the other hand, if the situation can't be changed, anger is equally
+useless. Once our leg is broken, we can't unbreak it. All of the corruption
+in the world can't be solved in a year. Getting angry at something we can't
+alter makes us miserable. Worrying about or fearing something that hasn't
+happened immobilizes us. Shantideva said in A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way
+of Life:
+ Why be unhappy about something If it can be remedied? And what is the
+ use of being unhappy about something If it cannot be remedied?
+ -- Thubten Chodron, in "Open Heart, Clear Mind", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+From the Hacker's Lexicon:
+
+Heisenbug /hi:'zen-buhg/ from Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in
+quantum physics n. A bug that disappears or alters its behavior when one
+attempts to probe or isolate it. Antonym of Bohr bug; see also mandelbug,
+schroedinbug. In C, nine out of ten heisenbugs result from either
+fandango on core phenomena (esp. lossage related to corruption of the
+malloc arena) or errors that smash the stack.
+
+Schroedinbug MIT: from the Schroedinger's Cat thought-experiment in
+quantum physics n. A design or implementation bug in a program which
+doesn't manifest until someone reading source or using the program in an
+unusual way notices that it never should have worked, at which point the
+program promptly stops working for everybody until fixed. Though this
+sounds impossible, it happens; some programs have harbored latent
+schroedinbugs for years. Compare heisenbug, Bohr bug, mandelbug.
+
+Bohr bug /bohr buhg/ from quantum physics n. A repeatable bug; one that
+manifests reliably under a possibly unknown but well-defined set of
+conditions. Antonym of heisenbug; see also mandelbug, schroedinbug.
+
+Mandelbug /mon'del-buhg/ from the Mandelbrot set n. A bug whose
+underlying causes are so complex and obscure as to make its behavior
+appear chaotic or even non-deterministic. This term implies that the
+speaker thinks it is a Bohr bug, rather than a heisenbug. See also
+schroedinbug.
+~
+If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in
+music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+Nothing's impossible I have found,
+For when my chin is on the ground,
+I pick myself up, Dust myself off,
+Start all over again.
+ -- Dorothy Fields
+~
+You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats.
+ -- Colonial American Proverb
+~
+The essence of dharma practice is to bring about a discipline within the mind,
+a state of mind free of hatred, lust and harmful intentions. Hence the entire
+message of the buddhadharma could be summed up in two succinct statements:
+"Help others," and "If you cannot help them, at least do not harm others."
+It is a grave error to think that apart from such a disciplining of the
+physical and mental faculties there is something else called "the practice of
+dharma." Various, and in some cases divergent, methods to achieve such an
+inner discipline have been taught in the scriptures by the Buddha.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+It is not the strongest of the species that survive,
+nor the most intelligent,
+but the one most responsive to change.
+ -- Charles Darwin
+~
+As progress is made in dream practice, dreams become clearer and more detailed,
+and a larger part of each dream is remembered. This is a result of bringing
+greater awareness into the dream state. Beyond this increased awareness in
+ordinary dreams is a second kind of dream called the dream of clarity, which
+arises when the mind and the prana are balanced and the dreamer has developed
+the capacity to remain in non-personal presence. Unlike the samsaric dream, in
+which the mind is swept here and there by karmic prana, in the dream of clarity
+the dreamer is stable. Though images and information arise, they are based
+less on personal karmic traces and instead present knowledge available directly
+from consciousness below the level of the conventional self.
+ -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn than to contemplate.
+ -- Rene Descartes
+~
+Be careful when reading health books--you might die of a misprint.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+The practice of pure perception is effective when it is practiced a lot. In
+pure perception, look beyond the surface and imagine that other people are none
+other than expressions of buddha-mind. We can choose to focus on positive
+attributes. What we attend to becomes our reality and if we attend to the
+buddhas in situations, in things, in other people it is the buddhas we engage
+with and the reality of the buddhas that becomes our reality.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Buddhism with an Attitude: Tibetan Seven-Point
+ Mind-Training", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Correctness is clearly the prime quality. If a system does not do what it
+is supposed to do, then everything else about it matters little.
+ -- Bertrand Meyer
+~
+The path to genuine co-operation is again through sincere compassion and love.
+Sometimes we misunderstand compassion as being nothing more than a feeling of
+pity. Compassion is much, much more. It embraces not only a feeling of
+closeness, but also a sense of responsibility. When you develop compassion, it
+will help you enormously to generate inner strength and self-confidence, and to
+reduce your feelings of fear and insecurity. So compassion and love, embodied
+in an attitude of altruism, are qualities that are of tremendous importance for
+the individual, as well as for society and the community at large.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
+ Perfection", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The value of transmission is not only that of introducing the state of
+knowledge, but lies also in its function of bringing about the maturing of the
+transmission, right up until one reaches realization. For this reason the
+relationship that links master and disciple is a very close one. The master,
+in Dzogchen, is not just like a friend who helps and collaborates with the
+disciple; rather the master is himself or herself the path. This is because
+the practice of contemplation develops through the unification of the state of
+the disciple with that of the master. The master is extremely important, too,
+at the Sutra and the Tantra levels of teaching, in the former because he or she
+is the holder of Buddha's teachings, and in the latter because he or she is the
+source of all the manifestations of transformation.
+ -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, in "Dzogchen: The Self-perfected State",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Setting the Appropriate Motivation
+ It is very important before receiving any Dharma teaching to set a proper
+motivation, or reaffirm and enhance that motivation if we already basically
+have it. This is important not only for those who are listening to a spiritual
+discourse, but also for the person delivering it. If a discourse or
+explanation is given with an attitude of pride, competitiveness or jealousy, it
+will not do as a Dharma teaching. A Buddhist teaching must be given with the
+sincere wish to benefit all beings by means of it.
+ Likewise, the listeners to a Buddhist teaching must have a proper
+motivation, always thinking, "What new point can I learn from this that will
+help me be of more benefit to others?" If we sit here with the notion to learn
+something about mahamudra so that we can make a display of ourselves and
+proudly talk to others about mahamudra so that they will consider us an
+erudite, spiritual person, we have a completely wrong motivation.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+There is one simple Divinity found in all things, everything has Divinity
+latent within itself. For she enfolds and imparts herself even unto the
+smallest beings. Without her presence nothing would have being, because she
+is the essence of the existence of the first unto the last being.
+ -- Giordano Bruno, "The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast", (1582)
+~
+Even to have come forth is something, since I see that being able to conquer
+is placed in the hands of fate. However, there was in me, whatever I was able
+to do, that which no future century will deny to be mine, that which a victor
+could have for his own: Not to have feared to die, not to have yielded to any
+equal in firmness of nature, and to have preferred a courageous death to a
+noncombatant life.
+ -- Giordano Bruno, "De Monade"
+~
+Thus is the excellence of God magnified and the greatness of his kingdom made
+manifest; He is glorified not in one, but in countless suns; not in a single
+earth, a single world, but in a thousand thousand, I say in an infinity of
+worlds!
+ -- Giordano Bruno
+~
+The real story of our times is seldom told in the horse-puckey-filled memoirs
+of dopey, self-serving presidents or generals, but in the outrageous, demented
+lives of guys like Lenny Bruce, Giordano Bruno, Scott Fitzgerald--and Paul
+Krassner. The burrs under society's saddle. The pains in the ass.
+ -- Harlan Ellison
+~
+The Tibetan word that is usually translated as "blessing" or "inspiration" can
+more literally be translated as "to transform into magnificence." We are
+asking the Buddhas to transform our minds into magnificence. How that happens
+isn't by the Buddha going in and pulling some switches inside our mind.
+Because our mind is conditioned and changing, the mental energy of the Buddha's
+realizations can affect our energy, so to speak. Conditioned phenomena affect
+each other, so the force of Tara's realizations can positively affect our mind.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+A botnet is comparable to compulsory military service for windows boxes.
+ -- Stromberg
+~
+The greatest strength is gentleness. -- Iroquois proverb
+~
+Whether or not we actually achieve the realisation of bodhicitta and to what
+level or depth we gain such a realisation depends upon the force of our
+experience of great compassion. This great compassion, which aspires to free
+all sentient beings from suffering, is not confined to the level of mere
+aspiration. It has a dimension of far greater power, which is the sense of
+commitment or responsibility to personally bring about this objective of
+fulfilling others' welfare. In order to cultivate this powerful great
+compassion, we need to train our mind separately in two other factors. One is
+to cultivate a sense of empathy with or closeness to all sentient beings, for
+whose sake we wish to work so that they become free from suffering. The other
+factor is to cultivate a deeper insight into the nature of the suffering from
+which we wish others to be relieved.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Lighting the Way", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Religion does not mean just precepts, a temple, monastery, or other external
+signs, for these as well as hearing and thinking are subsidiary factors in
+taming the mind. When the mind becomes the practices, one is a practitioner
+of religion, and when the mind does not become the practices one is not.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Deity Yoga", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Hamlet's Cat's Soliloquy
+
+To go outside, and there perchance to stay
+Or to remain within: that is the question:
+Whether 'tis better for a cat to suffer
+The cuffs and buffets of inclement weather
+That Nature rains on those who roam abroad,
+Or take a nap upon a scrap of carpet,
+And so by dozing melt the solid hours
+That clog the clock's bright gears with sullen time
+And stall the dinner bell.
+To sit, to stare Outdoors, and by a stare to seem to state
+A wish to venture forth without delay,
+Then when the portal's opened up, to stand
+As if transfixed by doubt.
+To prowl; to sleep;
+To choose not knowing when we may once more
+Our readmittance gain: aye, there's the hairball;
+For if a paw were shaped to turn a knob,
+Or work a lock or slip a window-catch,
+And going out and coming in were made
+As simple as the breaking of a bowl,
+What cat would bear the household's petty plagues,
+The cook's well-practiced kicks, the butler's broom,
+The infant's careless pokes, the tickled ears,
+The trampled tail, and all the daily shocks
+That fur is heir to, when, of his own free will,
+He might his exodus or entrance make
+With a mere mitten?
+Who would spaniels fear,
+Or strays trespassing from a neighbor's yard,
+But that the dread of our unheeded cries
+And scratches at a barricaded door
+No claw can open up, dispels our nerve
+And makes us rather bear our humans' faults
+Than run away to unguessed miseries?
+Thus caution doth make house cats of us all;
+And thus the bristling hair of resolution
+Is softened up with the pale brush of thought,
+And since our choices hinge on weighty things,
+We pause upon the threshold of decision.
+ -- shakespaw
+~
+It is not good to begin many different works, saying "This looks good; that
+looks good", touching this, touching that, and not succeeding in any of them.
+If you do not generate great desires but aim at what is fitting, you can
+actualise the corresponding potencies and become an expert in that. With
+success, the power or imprint of that practice is generated.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Tantra in Tibet", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Through the skillful methods of tantra, meditators are able to cultivate
+pleasure in a way that actually aids in spiritual progress. Afflicted
+grasping and desires based on mistaken ideas are the problem, not happiness
+and pleasure. If the pursuit of happiness and pleasure can be separated
+from afflictive emotions, then it can be incorporated into the path and
+will even become a powerful aid to the attainment of enlightenment.
+ -- John Powers, in "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+REFUGE
+What kind of refuge does Buddhism offer? How are Buddhists and non-Buddhists
+differentiated? From the viewpoint of refuge, a Buddhist is someone who
+accepts Buddha, his doctrine, and the spiritual community as the final refuge.
+From the viewpoint of philosophy, a Buddhist is someone who asserts the four
+views that guarantee a doctrine as being Buddhist. With respect to the three
+refuges, called the Three Jewels, it is said that the Buddha is the teacher of
+refuge but that the actual refuge is the Dharma, the doctrine. Buddha himself
+said, "I teach the path of liberation. Liberation itself depends upon you."
+From the same perspective, Buddha said, "You are your own master." The
+spiritual community are those who assist one in achieving refuge.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard", Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+Bodhisattvas are motivated by universal compassion, and they seek the ultimate
+goal of buddhahood in order to be of service to others. They embark on this
+path with the generation of the mind of enlightenment, which Geshe Rabten
+states is "the wish for Supreme Enlightenment for the sake of others. The sign
+of the true Bodhicitta is the constant readiness to undergo any sacrifice for
+the happines of all beings." Unlike ordinary beings, who think of their own
+advantage, bodhisattvas consider how best to benefit others.
+ -- John Powers, in "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Why are there fierce protectors? Peaceful deities such as Tara have a certain
+energy that calms and gladdens our mind. But sometimes our mind is so
+belligerent and stuck that we need the kind of energy that goes "Pow!" to wake
+us up or to pull us out of unproductive behavior. For this reason, the
+Buddhas' wisdom and compassion appear in the form of these wrathful deities to
+demonstrate clean-clear wisdom and compassion that act directly. This active
+wisdom doesn't vacillate and pamper us. This wisdom doesn't say, "Well,
+maybe," or, "Poor you. You deserve to be treated well, not like that horrible
+person treated you." Instead, it's forceful: "Cut it out! Stop those false
+expectations and preconceptions right now!" Sometimes we need that strong,
+wise energy to be in our face to wake us up to the fact that our afflictions
+and old patterns of thought and behavior are making us miserable.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator"
+~
+I never joined the army because at ease was never that easy to me. Seemed
+rather uptight still. I don't relax by parting my legs slightly and putting
+my hands behind my back. That does not equal ease. At ease was not being
+in the military. I am at ease, bro, because I am not in the military.
+ -- Mitch Hedberg
+~
+The human essence of good sense finds no room with anger. Anger, jealousy,
+impatience, and hatred are the real troublemakers; with them problems cannot
+be solved. Though one may have temporary success, ultimately one's hatred or
+anger will create further difficulties. With anger, all actions are swift.
+When we face problems with compassion, sincerely and with good motivation, it
+may take longer, but ultimately the solution is better, for there is far less
+chance of creating a new problem through the temporary "solution" of the
+present one.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Kindness, Clarity and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Killing and eating meat are interrelated, so do we have to give up eating
+animal products? I myself once tried to give it up, but health problems arose
+and two years later my doctors advised me to again use meat in my diet. If
+there are people who can give up eating meat, we can only rejoice in their
+noble efforts. In any case, at least we should try to lessen our intake of
+meat and not eat it anywhere where it is in scarce supply and our consumption
+of it would cause added slaughter.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The mind is beyond expression, thought and conceptualization, because it is
+empty. Yet, there is phenomena and appearance. The objects that you cling to
+in this waking reality are dreamlike, but if you do not inquire into the nature
+of this dream, you remain attracted as though there were really something here.
+Upon examination, you find that these objects have no true existence at all and
+are just like space. A practitioner who understands that phenomena lack
+inherent existence and resemble space should then examine himself or herself to
+discover whether he or she possesses an individual self. Then it will be
+discovered that there is no truly existing examiner either.
+ -- Gyatrul Rinpoche, from "The Generation Stage in Buddhist Tantra",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
+ -- Isaac Asimov
+~
+In discursive meditations it is imperative that one's growing disenchantment
+with mundane existence is complemented with growing confidence in the real
+possibility of true freedom and lasting joy that transcends the vicissitudes
+of conditioned existence. Without this faith and the yearning for such
+liberation, the meditations may easily result in profound depression, in which
+everything seems hollow, unreal, and futile. Thus instead of polarizing one's
+desires towards the single-pointed pursuit of nirvana, one is reduced to a
+debilitating kind of spiritual sloth.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Balancing the Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach
+ to Refining Attention", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+I believe that in human actions, the prime mover is motivation. On the spot,
+it is important to tackle the symptoms of problems, but in the long run, it is
+necessary to look at the motivation and whether there is possibility to change
+it. For the long run, this is crucial. As long as the negative motivation is
+not changed, then although there might be certain rules and methods to stop
+counterproductive actions, human beings have the ability through various ways
+to express their negative feeling. Thus, for the long run, we need to look at
+our motivation and try to change it. This means that we must try to cultivate
+the right kind of motivation and try to reduce the negative motivation.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates Discuss
+ Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+When we talk of karma or action, it entails action committed by an agent, in
+this case, oneself, in the past. So what type of future will come about, to a
+large extent, lies within one's own hands and can be determined by the kind of
+initiatives that one takes now. Not only that, but karma should not be
+understood in terms of passive, static kind of force, but rather in terms of
+active process. This indicates that there is an important role for the
+individual agent to play in determining the course of the karmic process.
+Consider, for instance, a simple act like fulfilling our need for food. In
+order to achieve that simple goal one must take action on one's own behalf: one
+needs to look for food, to prepare it, to eat it. This shows that even a
+simple act, even a simple goal is achieved through action.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Nothing is easier than to bring others down to our level, particularly in
+cultures where it is taken as a sign of keen intelligence to view every person
+and situation as a challenge to "name the ten things wrong with this picture."
+The presence of Guru Rinpoche in so many forms in our world makes us question
+life in a way pre-1959 persons rarely had to. Life isn't the same after
+meeting the Dalai Lama or Kyentse Rinpoche and others. We can't erase them
+from our minds, as inconvenient as these open doors to enlightenment might be.
+We had other plans; we didn't ask to see so vividly another totally different
+horizon.
+ The question, "How can I integrate this into my daily life?" doesn't plumb
+the depth of the inquiry. I have translated for lamas in North America,
+Europe, and Asia, and have found this to be the typical North American
+question. I think the best answer is, "You can't; don't even try." But I
+have to wonder about the question itself. What do you do when an event or an
+encounter changes your life? If you won a 10,000,000 dollar jackpot, if a
+dear friend dies, or if you fall deeply in love, do you ask, "How can I
+integrate this into my daily life?" Some events change us, are earth-
+shattering, and are not meant to be integrated into what can sometimes feel
+like a rat race existence. Meeting Guru Rinpoche is one such event.
+ -- Ngawang Zangpo, in "Guru Rinpoche: His Life and Times", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Now in terms of the actual practice, when one is immersed in the contemplation
+of the clear light, since all dualistic appearances vanish, it becomes
+impossible to distinguish the object from the consciousness perceiving it.
+They seem to become as if they were one, like water mixed with water. Of
+course, strictly speaking, there are two entities, subject and object, but
+within the experience of the clear light this duality is lost.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Guardians of the teachings
+ There are eight principal classes of Guardians each with many subdivisions.
+Some are highly realized beings, others not realized at all. Every place--
+every continent, country, city, mountain, river, lake or forest--has its
+particular dominant energy, or Guardian, as have every year, hour and even
+minute: these are not highly evolved energies. The various teachings all have
+energies which have special relationships with them: these are more realized
+Guardians. These energies are iconographically portrayed as they were
+perceived when they manifested to masters who had contact with them, and their
+awesome power is represented by their terrifyingly ferocious forms, their many
+arms and heads, and their ornaments of the charnel ground. As with all the
+figures in tantric iconography, it is not correct to interpret the figures of
+the guardians as merely symbolic, as some Western writers have been tempted to
+do. Though the iconographic forms have been shaped by the perceptions and
+culture of those who saw the original manifestation and by the development of
+tradition, actual beings are represented.
+ -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra
+ and Dzogchen, Teachings of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu", compiled and edited by
+ John Shane, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+5. When others out of jealousy treat me unreasonably, with abuse, slander, and
+so on, I will learn to take all loss and offer the victory to them. When any
+type of deserved or undeserved slander, prompted by jealousy, and so forth,
+and unpleasant verbal abuse [comes to one], do not lose patience. Keep a
+peaceful mind. Further, when problems arise, do not say "It is his fault,
+not mine!" Accept the blame, as did Geshe Lang ri thang pa. [Reflect:]
+ "Whoever created this mess, it includes me! I have [a hand in it] also."
+The reason for this is that we must endeavor toward generosity and the various
+modes of ethical behavior, for the sake of purifying our many misdeeds and
+completing the accumulations [of merit and wisdom].
+ Therefore, when one shows kindness to slanderers, even if one does not
+deserve the abuse and slander, it is said to be necessary for purifying our
+misdeeds when problems arise. Taking all blame on ourselves prevents our evil
+karma from arising.
+ Geshe Lang ri thang pa speaks of a person from the Valley of Phan who
+sometimes gave a little butter cake to the Lamas, and at other times slandered
+them for no reason. The Lamas regarded him with great kindness. This
+cleansed their misdeeds and helped their accumulation of the two collections.
+They claimed that his slanderous talk was great. Shantideva's
+bodhisattvacaryavatara says:
+ Therefore, since patience can be generated
+ In dependence upon a very hate filled mind
+ And because it is the cause of patience,
+ Make offerings to it as if it was the most excellent doctrine!
+More correct even than this statement is that ethics and patience lead to
+great merit, and to the end of misdeeds such as anger. Therefore it is said
+that the hardest practice is patience. [Learn] the patience that is keeping
+still no matter what happens.
+ -- Lo Jong
+~
+I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.
+ -- Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)
+~
+All sentient beings are exactly the same in that every one desires happiness
+and seeks to avoid misery. We are not isolated entities disconnected from
+each other. The happiness and suffering of other beings affect us. This
+mutual relation is obvious. Sentient beings have been kind and have benefited
+us directly and indirectly throughout beginningless time. These beings are
+intrinsically the same as us in their pursuit of happiness and effort to avoid
+suffering. Thus, it is essentially logical for us to train in cultivating an
+impartial attitude wishing for the happiness of all beings.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ Our exaggerated sense of self and our compulsion to find happiness for this
+larger-than-life self we have fabricated cause us to ignore, neglect and harm
+others. Of course, it is our right to love and take care of ourselves, but
+not at the expense of others. While "As long as I'm alright" is our motto,
+we have no hesitation in acting with total disregard for others.
+ We may find this description of self-concern altogether too crass to apply
+to us. "I'm not like that," we object, but though we may not consciously
+think in this way, when self-concern is operating, our behavior shows a cold
+indifference to others. Conflicts between partners, parents and children and
+with other family members, conflicts between students and teachers and on a
+larger scale within and between countries have their source in personal and
+collective self-concern.
+ Buddhas and Bodhisattvas see clearly that our neglect of others, our self-
+preoccupation and our disregard for the connection between actions and their
+effects are responsible for all our miseries.
+ -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path: An
+ Oral Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Ordinarily, it is difficult to remember one's past life. Such recollections
+seem to be more vivid when the child is very young, such as two or three, and
+in some cases even younger. ...When the present body is fully formed, the
+ability to recall past life seems to diminish.
+ The mental associations with this life become increasingly dominant. There
+is a close relationship during the first few years of one's life with the
+continuum of consciousness from the previous life. But as experiences of this
+life become more developed and elaborate, they dominate.
+ It is also possible within this lifetime to enhance the power of the mind,
+enabling one to reaccess memories from previous lives. Such recollection
+tends to be more accessible during meditative experiences in the dream state.
+Once one has accessed memories of previous lives in the dream state, one
+gradually recalls them in the waking state.
+ -- H.H Dalai Lama, in "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
+ The Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", Edited by Zara Houshmand,
+ Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Relaxation involves a kind of awareness which reverses the normal tendency
+that we have. Because, as we have seen, this ordinary sense of self that we
+have lacks inherent self existence, it has to keep constructing itself and
+that requires a particular kind of effort. The ego's root feeling is that if
+I do not hold myself together there will be a falling apart into something
+chaotic and difficult. So there is anxiety, an energetic anxiety which is
+located in the body, in the whole energetic system of the body and
+interpersonal turbulence reminds us again and again "If I don't keep it
+together, I will get in trouble." The belief in reincarnation indicates that
+for many lifetimes we have been caught up in this anxiety, this nervous
+contraction which is holding our ordinary grasping sense of self in place.
+ -- from "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje entitled
+ 'The Mirror of Clear Meaning,'" commentary by James Low, Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Buddhas are always striving for the welfare of beings migrating in cyclic
+existence. In every hour and minute they create limitless forms of welfare
+for beings throughout billions of emanations of their body, speech and mind.
+For instance, in this aeon--an aeon being a period of an extremely great
+number of years--they will appear in the aspect of one thousand supreme
+Emanation Bodies (Nirmanakaya) as Buddhas, and each will have his own new
+teaching.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Buddhism of Tibet", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Spiritual Mentors
+ The Buddhist teachings differentiate between flash insights (nyam, nyams),
+and stable realizations (togpa, rtogs-pa). A flash insight does not make a
+significant change in one's life, but may lead in that direction. A stable
+realization, on the other hand, whether it be partial or complete, actually
+produces a noticeable improvement that lasts. The distinction we are drawing
+here between Dharma instructors and spiritual mentors derives from this
+difference. Dharma instructors may have either insight or realization,
+whereas spiritual mentors need to have some level of stable realization.
+ -- Alexander Berzin, in "Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a
+ Healthy Relationship, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Not even computers will replace committees, because committees buy computers.
+ -- Edward Shepherd Mead
+~
+If you can't do what you want, do what you can. -- Lois McMaster Bujold
+~
+Human history is work history. The heroes of the people are work heroes.
+ -- Meridel le Sueur
+~
+It is not the man who has too little,
+but the man who craves more, that is poor.
+ -- Seneca
+~
+Drive-in banks were established so most of the
+cars today could see their real owners.
+ -- E. Joseph Crossman
+~
+I base my fashion taste on what doesn't itch. -- Gilda Radner
+~
+It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish.
+ -- J.R.R. Tolkien
+~
+You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that
+make you want to live to be a hundred.
+ -- Woody Allen
+~
+No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.
+ -- Elbert Hubbard
+~
+Do not look where you fell but where you slipped.
+~
+There is nothing more demoralizing than a small but adequate income.
+ -- Edmund Wilson
+~
+Measure not the work until the day's out and the labor done.
+ -- Elizabeth Barret Browning
+~
+Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
+ -- Robert Louis Stevenson
+~
+We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from
+artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.
+ -- Alfred E. Newman, Mad Magazine
+~
+The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.
+ -- Richard Bach
+~
+You are what you are--and not what people think you are. -- O.W. Polen
+~
+Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.
+ -- Aristotle
+~
+From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.
+ -- Arthur Ashe
+~
+I touch the future. I teach. -- Christa McAuliffe
+~
+Curiosity is one of the permanent and
+certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+People ask for criticism, but they only want praise. -- W. Somerset Maugham
+~
+Money is like muck, not good except it be spread. -- Sir Francis Bacon
+~
+The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting
+otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.
+ -- Theodore Rubin
+~
+We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.
+ -- Wernher von Braun
+~
+The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and
+write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.
+ -- Alvin Toffler
+~
+Wealth is the possession of whatever gives us happiness,
+contentment or a sense of significance.
+ -- Ernest Wilson
+~
+To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+I bought some batteries, but they weren't included. -- Steven Wright
+~
+The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool.
+ -- Jane Wagner
+~
+People who work sitting down get paid
+more than people who work standing up.
+ -- Ogden Nash
+~
+It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. -- Sir Edmund Hillary
+~
+What we should ask of ourselves is growth, not perfection. -- Pat Boone
+~
+Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand. -- Unknown
+~
+The purpose of life is to fight maturity. -- Dick Wertheimer
+~
+Your true value depends entirely on what you are compared with. -- Bob Wells
+~
+A good mind possesses a kingdom. -- Lucius Anaaeus Seneca
+~
+I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the
+position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles he has
+overcome while trying to succeed.
+ -- Booker T. Washington
+~
+An intelligence test sometimes shows a man how smart
+he would have been not to have taken it.
+ -- Laurence J. Peter
+~
+I have not lost my mind--it's backed up on disk somewhere. -- Unknown
+~
+Wise men talk because they have something to say;
+fools, because they have to say something.
+ -- Plato
+~
+Don't waste a thousand dollars' worth of emotion over a 5-cent triviality.
+ -- Anonymous
+~
+Fortune does not change men, it unmasks them. -- Suzanne Necker
+~
+Some people are born on third base and go
+through life thinking they have hit a triple.
+ -- Barry Switzer
+~
+I can't understand why people are scared of new ideas.
+I'm frightened of the old ones.
+ -- John Cage
+~
+It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on. -- Samuel Goldwyn
+~
+When we practice, initially, as a basis we control ourselves, stopping the bad
+actions which hurt others as much as we can. This is defensive. After that,
+when we develop certain qualifications, then as an active goal we should help
+others. In the first stage, sometimes we need isolation while pursuing our
+own inner development; however, after you have some confidence, some strength,
+you must remain with, contact, and serve society in any field--health,
+education, politics, or whatever.
+
+There are people who call themselves religious-minded, trying to show this by
+dressing in a peculiar manner, maintaining a peculiar way of life, and
+isolating themselves from the rest of society. That is wrong. A scripture of
+mind-purification (mind-training) says, "Transform your inner viewpoint, but
+leave your external appearance as it is." This is important. Because the
+very purpose of practicing the Great Vehicle is service for others, you should
+not isolate yourselves from society. In order to serve, in order to help, you
+must remain in society.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness",
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The indivisible nature of mind is said to possess a "mobile quality." This
+mobile quality is described as currents of energy which flow through the
+channels of various parts of the body, presiding over physical as well as
+mental functions, and pass through the nostrils as breathing. Such currents
+of energy, called "winds" (rlung, vayu), serve as the bridge between body and
+mind.
+ The winds are a blend of two types of energy, one associated with
+emotionality, called karmic or conditioned wind (las kyi rlung), and the other
+related to the original state of the individual, called pristine awareness
+wind (ye shes kyi rlung). Distinguished in terms of the three principles,
+darkness (tamas), mobility (rajas), and buoyancy (sattva), winds are of three
+types: wind of Rahu, solar wind, and lunar wind. Moreover, the winds are
+differentiated as the five root winds (rtsa ba'i rlung), the natures of the
+five elements, and five branch winds (yan lag gi rlung), produced through the
+five elemental transformations. The winds of the five elements, or five
+mandalas, flow back and forth through the right and left nostrils in the order
+of generation of the elements and of birth (first space, then wind, fire,
+water, earth) and in the order of dissolution of the elements and of death
+(first earth, then water, and so on), respectively. In one day, they are
+exhaled and inhaled 21,600 times, divided between the two nostrils, a time
+corresponding to eight periods or watches (thun). The outward movement of
+these energy currents as the breath diminishes the strength of the wind
+associated with pristine awareness. Therefore, when outward movement
+increases, there occur signs of death. If the winds are held inside,
+pristine awareness wind is strengthened. Hence, many extraordinary powers
+such as longevity are gained through breath control techniques for "holding
+the winds" in the central channel.
+ -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, in "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six,
+ Part Four: Systems of Buddhist Tantra, The Indestructible Way of
+ Secret Mantra"
+~
+When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
+ -- Jimi Hendrix
+~
+ ...you should have the deep conviction that cessation of the sufferings and
+the delusions is possible, and also that it is possible within your mind.
+True cessation is a state where you have destroyed the delusions at their root
+so that there remains no potential for their re-emergence. Such a cessation
+can be realized only through the true paths that penetrate into the nature of
+reality.
+ When you develop this conviction, you will also be able to develop faith in
+a being who has really mastered cessation, who is the Buddha--a person who has
+fully accomplished the realization of the dharma. If you contemplate along
+such lines, you will be able to develop a very deep faith and conviction in
+Buddha Shakyamuni and see him as an incomparable master.
+ What distinguishes Buddhist practitioners from others is the factor of
+taking refuge. But merely seeking a refuge out of the fear of suffering is
+not unique to Buddhists; non-Buddhists could also have such a motivation. The
+unique practice of refuge that Buddhists should have is that of taking refuge
+in the Buddha out of a deep conviction in his exceptional qualities and
+realizations. If you think in such terms you will be able to understand Lama
+Tsongkhapa's profound praise of Buddha Shakyamuni: "Those who are far from his
+doctrine always reinforce the illusion of self-existence that they have within
+themselves, whereas those who follow his guidance will be able to free
+themselves from such confusions."
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Bliss", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...they say that the initial realization of the nature of the mind is the
+first breakthrough. It's a very important point in all Buddhist schools. At
+that moment, you cease to be an ordinary person. You become in Buddhist
+parlance an arya, a noble one. It doesn't mean you are finished. It doesn't
+mean you are a high level bodhisattva. We can fall back from this. But
+still, this is a big breakthrough. We now understand what is true and what is
+not true. We don't have to take it all on faith any more. It is a direct
+non-dual experience. The point is that it is very easy. It's not difficult,
+and it's not something that can only be attained after years and years of
+practice.
+ Our main obstacle is the fact that we don't know how to relax our minds
+enough to be open to this experience. In the back of our minds we keep
+thinking this is something so difficult and so advanced. For this reason we
+don't recognize what is in front of our face. This is why a teacher can be
+extraordinarily helpful. A teacher living within that realization is able--
+if the mind of the disciple is completely open--to transmit his or her
+experience. The problem here is that we have too many hopes and fears; it
+creates a barrier. It is very hard to be open. You can't just will it.
+ -- Ani Tenzin Palmo, in "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on
+ Practical Buddhism"
+~
+The Level of Initial Capacity
+
+All the essential spiritual practices related primarily to the achievement of
+rebirth in the higher realms belong to what Atisha calls the 'small capacity'.
+
+Verse 3
+ Know that those who by whatever means
+ Seek for themselves no more
+ Than the pleasures of cyclic existence
+ Are persons of the least capacity.
+ [Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment]
+
+...the principal means for attaining birth in the higher realms is the ethical
+discipline of refraining from the ten negative actions of body, speech and
+mind. These comprise three actions of the body--killing, stealing and sexual
+misconduct; four verbal actions--lying, divisive speech, harsh speech and
+frivolous speech; and three mental actions--covetousness, ill-will and
+harbouring wrong views. To live an ethically sound life, it helps to remind
+ourselves of what are known as the four reflections, namely the preciousness
+of human life; the inevitability of our death and the uncertainty of the time
+of death; the infallibility of the law of cause and effect and the workings of
+karma; and understanding the nature of suffering. Concerning the first
+reflection, some Tibetan masters have said that when we contemplate the
+preciousness of this human existence, we should literally cultivate the
+determination to make our human life something precious in itself, rather than
+allowing it to be wasted or to become a cause of future suffering.
+
+Contemplating these four reflections gives us the courage to engage earnestly
+in the practice of the Dharma in order to free ourselves from the possibility
+of rebirth in the lower realms. This involves a process of training our mind,
+not just at the mental level but also at the level of our emotions and
+actions. Living an ethical life is not a case of adhering to a set of
+regulations imposed on us from outside, such as the laws of a country. Rather
+it involves voluntarily embracing a discipline on the basis of a clear
+recognition of its value. In essence, living a true ethical life is living a
+life of self-discipline. When the Buddha said that 'we are our own master, we
+are our own enemy', he was telling us that our destiny lies in our own hands.
+
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+In his autobiography Freedom in Exile, His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks of
+his attachment as a child to the monastery's Master of the Kitchen,
+commenting, "I sometimes think that the act of bringing food is one of the
+basic roots of all relationships." And the connection between giving food and
+understanding the interrelationship of all life is recognized also in stories
+about the belated discovery of an enlightened master who lived humbly as a
+monastery cook; or the stories of a great lama who gathers his disciples to
+test their progress, only to discover that the most highly realized of all is
+the cook, who has neither meditated nor studied, but who simply served the
+others.
+ May you have long life,
+ may the house be filled with grain,
+ and may you have the luck
+ to make use of this abundance.
+ -- Tibetan drinking song
+
+ -- Tsering Wangmo and Zara Houshmand, in "The Lhasa Moon Tibetan Cookbook"
+~
+The Level of Middling Capacity
+
+In the following verse Atisha describes the characteristics of spiritual
+trainees of the middling capacity.
+
+Verse 4
+ Those who seek peace for themselves alone,
+ Turning away from worldly pleasures
+ And avoiding destructive actions
+ Are said to be of middling capacity.
+ -- Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment
+
+The phrase "destructive actions" refers to the afflictions that, together with
+karma, constitute the origin of suffering. This is why practitioners at the
+level of middling capacity concentrate on the spiritual practices that are
+primarily aimed at the elimination of the afflictions. Broadly speaking,
+these practices fall into two categories. One is training the mind to
+cultivate the genuine desire to gain freedom from cyclic existence, which is
+often referred to as the cultivation of renunciation. The other is
+cultivating the path to bring about the fulfillment of that wish for
+renunciation. In order to train one's mind in this way, one needs to reflect
+upon the defects of cyclic existence and to develop an understanding of the
+causation chain of karma and the afflictions. Through these reflections one
+cultivates the wish to gain freedom and then embarks upon the path to bring
+about that freedom.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Number of Recitations
+ The sixth section of the yoga of speech concerns measuring the accumulation
+of mantra recitations. How do you know when you have recited enough of a
+particular mantra? Generally speaking, you should count a mantra until you
+achieve some common spiritual power and ideally until you achieve the supreme
+spiritual attainment. Wouldn't that be the best way?
+ After all, if you are really hungry, don't you eat until you are satisfied?
+Similarly, if you plan a trip to San Francisco, you want to travel until you
+arrive at your destination. You would not travel halfway and be satisfied
+with that, would you? In the same way, when you recite a mantra, you have a
+specific goal in mind: to gain the supreme spiritual attainment--buddhahood.
+Wouldn't it be wise to keep on reciting the mantra until you have achieved
+your goal, or at least until you achieve some perceptible improvement?
+ -- Gyatrul Rinpoche, in "The Generation Stage in Buddhist Tantra", published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The Level of Great Capacity
+
+Atisha continues his discussion on the three capacities by turning his
+attention to spiritual trainees at the highest level.
+
+Verse 5
+ Those who, through their personal suffering,
+ Truly want to end completely
+ All the suffering of others
+ Are persons of supreme capacity.
+ -- Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment
+
+Practitioners at this level use their deep understanding of the nature of
+suffering, derived from reflection on their personal experience, to recognise
+the fundamental equality of oneself and others insofar as the desire to
+overcome suffering is concerned. This then leads to the arising of a
+spontaneous wish to free all sentient beings from their suffering, a wish
+which becomes the powerful impetus for engaging in spiritual practices aimed
+at bringing about this altruistic objective.
+
+The most important practice in relation to this altruistic goal is the
+generation of bodhicitta, the altruistic aspiration to attain buddhahood for
+the benefit of all beings.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in Lighting the Way, Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The Meaning of Empowerment
+ As for empowerment in general, what does the term wang, or empowerment,
+signify? To begin with, our fundamental nature--what we term "the buddha
+nature", or tathagatagarbha, the very nature of our mind, is inherently
+present within us as a natural attribute. This mind of ours, the subject at
+hand, has been going on throughout beginningless time, and so has the more
+subtle nature of that mind. On the basis of the continuity of that subtle
+nature of our mind rests the capacity we have to attain enlightenment. This
+potential is what we call "the seed of buddhahood", "buddha nature", "the
+fundamental nature", or tathagatagarbha. We all have this buddha nature, each
+and every one of us. For example, this beautiful statue of Lord Buddha here,
+in the presence of which we are now sitting, is a representation that honours
+someone who attained buddhahood. He awakened into that state of enlightenment
+because his nature was the buddha nature. Ours is as well, and just as the
+Buddha attained enlightenment in the past, so in the future we can become
+buddhas too.
+ In any case, there dwells within us all this potential which allows us to
+awaken into buddhahood and attain omniscience. The empowerment process draws
+that potential out, and allows it to express itself more fully. When an
+empowerment is conferred on you, it is the nature of your mind--the buddha
+nature--that provides a basis upon which the empowerment can ripen you.
+Through the empowerment, you are empowered into the essence of the buddhas of
+the five families. In particular, you are "ripened" within that particular
+family through which it is your personal predisposition to attain buddhahood.
+ So, with these auspicious circumstances established in your mindstream,
+and when you reflect on what is taking place and maintain the various
+visualizations, the conditions are right for the essence of the empowerment to
+awaken within you, as a state of wisdom which is blissful yet empty--a very
+special state that is the inseparability of basic space and awareness. As you
+focus your devotion in this way, it allows this special quality of mind, this
+new capability, as it were, to awaken.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
+ Perfection", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Value Our Good Circumstances
+ We often focus on a few circumstances in our life that aren't going well
+instead of all those that are. Although we all have problems, when we over-
+emphasize their importance, we easily begin thinking that we are incapable and
+worthless. Such self-hatred immobilizes us and prevents us from developing
+our good qualities and sharing them with others.
+ When we look at the broad picture, however, we can see many positive things
+in our life. We can rejoice that we are alive and appreciate whatever degree
+of good health we have. We also have food (often too much!), shelter,
+clothing, medicine, friends, relatives, and a myriad of good circumstances.
+Many of the people reading this book live in peaceful places, not in war-torn
+areas. Many have jobs they like, and family and friends they appreciate. We
+shouldn't take these for granted. Most importantly, from a spiritual
+viewpoint, we have access to an authentic path, qualified teachers to guide
+us, and kind companions who encourage us. We have genuine spiritual
+aspirations and the time to cultivate these. Thinking about these good
+conditions one by one, we will be filled with joy, and any sense of being
+incapable and hopeless will vanish.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, in "Working with Anger", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+15. This fresh state of present awareness, unspoiled
+
+ This fresh state of present awareness (da lta'i shes pa)
+ Unspoiled by dualistic thoughts,
+ Effortlessly sustained in the natural state,
+ Is Buddha Kuntu Zangpo's wisdom mind.
+
+ Do not hope or fear for good or bad outcomes.
+ Regardless of what formulation of thought occurs,
+ they arise and are liberated simultaneously;
+ Their essential nature is empty awareness.
+ Reach that unmoving, unassailable state.
+
+I, Jnana, spoke these words immediately In response to
+Zangmo's supplication. May this be virtuous!
+ -- from "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice" translated and
+ introduced by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion
+~
+ Concern for others to be happy and compassion wishing them to be free from
+suffering are needed not only as the basis for a bodhichitta motivation for
+mahamudra* practice, but also for keeping that practice on course to its
+intended goal. When we have changed our focus in life from the contents of
+our experience to the process of experience, there is great danger of becoming
+fixated on mind itself. This is because the direct experience of mind itself
+is totally blissful--in a calm and serene sense--and entails extraordinary
+clarity and starkness. Concern for others is one of the strongest forces that
+brings us back down to earth after having been up in the clouds. Although all
+appearances exist as a function of mind, other beings do not exist merely in
+our head. Their suffering is real and it hurts them just as much as ours
+hurts us.
+ Furthermore, to be concerned about someone does not mean to be frantically
+worried about this person. If we are fixated on our child's problems at
+school, for example, we lose sight that whatever appearance of the problems
+our mind gives rise to is a function of mind. Believing the appearance to be
+the solid reality "out there," we again feel hopeless to do anything and thus
+become extremely anxious and tense. We worry to the point of becoming sick
+and we over-react toward our child, which does not help. If we focus instead
+on the process of mind that gives rise to our perception of the problem as if
+it existed as some horrible monster "out there," we do not eliminate our
+concern for our child, only our worry. This allows us to take whatever clear
+and calm action is necessary to alleviate the problem. Thus not only is
+compassion necessary for successful practice of mahamudra, but mahamudra
+realization is necessary for successful practice of compassion.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+ * "Mahamudra" is a Sanskrit word meaning "great seal" and refers to the
+ nature of all phenomena. Mahamudra also refers to sophisticated Buddhist
+ systems of meditation and practice to realize this great sealing nature.
+~
+Better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one.
+ -- Chinese Proverb
+~
+45. This fresh present knowing, unbound
+
+This fresh present knowing,
+Unbound by the intellect that clings to meditation,
+Is naked unobstructed non-meditation.
+Relax at ease
+And settle in the state of naturalness.
+This is the meaning of realization of meditation.
+
+When thoughts move, let them.
+Movement arises and is liberated without a trace.
+When there is no movement, don't search for it.
+This is empty luminosity, naked empty awareness.
+Tantric practice without suppression or
+ cultivation of thoughts
+Brings the accomplishment of the destruction
+ of hope and fear.
+
+There is nothing more to add to this.
+Madman Dudjom said this:
+Let it remain like this in your heart.
+ -- from "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice", translated and
+ introduced by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...karma refers not only to our actions but, more importantly, to the
+motivation or intention behind them. The acts themselves are not the primary
+cause of our suffering; rather, it arises from the world of our intentions or,
+in other words, from our thoughts and emotions. These afflictive states of
+mind underlie our negative karma and are therefore the source of our
+suffering.
+
+ Obviously, these afflictions won't go away simply by saying prayers or
+wishing them away; they can only be eliminated by cultivating their
+corresponding remedies or antidotes. To understand how this process of
+applying the antidote works we can observe our physical world. For instance,
+we can contrast heat and cold: if we are suffering from the effects of too
+cold a temperature, then we increase the thermometer on our heater or air-
+conditioning unit and adjust it to our comfort. Thus, even in the physical
+world we can see instances where opposing forces counter each other.
+
+ ...From our own personal experience we recognise that anger and hostility
+disturb our peace of mind and, more importantly, that they have the potential
+to harm others. Conversely, we recognise that positive emotions like
+compassion and loving kindness can engender in us a deep sense of peace and
+serenity, beneficial results that we can extend to others as well. This
+appreciation of their great value naturally leads to a desire to cultivate
+these positive emotions. It is through this gradual process that the
+antidotes work in decreasing and eventually eliminating their opposing forces
+in the mental realm, the realm of our thoughts and emotions.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", published by Snow Lion
+~
+Starting Dzogchen Practice
+ When we start to practice, in order to grasp the normal mind, our first
+practice consists in engaging our mind. For example, if we have a problem of
+some kind, we may go to a movie to distract ourselves from our problem.
+Likewise when we start to practice, we try to calm down our problem-creating
+mind in order to be able to observe the nature of thought. The observation of
+the arising, abiding, and dissolving of thought in the empty state of the mind
+is an essential practice in Dzogchen in order to discover that moving thoughts
+are of the same nature as the thoughtless state of the mind. Since we are not
+accustomed to meditation, it seems very difficult, and every slight sound or
+movement, outside or inside the mind itself, becomes a major distraction
+interfering with our ability to continue to practice. In order to overcome
+this problem, we engage the mind in a practice so that it is not so easily
+distracted, by focusing attention so that the movement of the mind caused by
+thought or sense perception does not have the power to divert our
+concentration. This first stage, of grasping the mind, is concentration
+practice, described in detail in the Bonpo 'Ati' system.
+ -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in "Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of
+ Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic
+religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and
+theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a
+religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and
+spiritual, as a meaningful unity
+ -- Albert Einstein in "Albert Einstein: The Human Side", edited by Helen
+ Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press, 1954
+~
+Techniques for Improvement
+ All of us have attained a human life; we are, in a sense, incomparable among
+the various types of sentient beings, as we are able to think about many
+topics with a subtler mind and are endowed with vaster capabilities. Dogs,
+birds, and so forth do communicate, but only humans can settle and ascertain
+deep topics on the basis of words; it is obvious that there are no other
+sentient beings capable of as many thoughts and techniques. Nowadays, humans
+are engaging in many activities that were not even objects of thought a
+century or two ago. The metaphors of the poets of the past, such as "the
+wonderful house of the moon", are becoming actualities.
+ ...People have made great effort right up to this century, thinking to
+become free from suffering, but we cannot point to even one person in the
+world, no matter how rich he or she is, who has no worry--except for those
+who have the inner happiness of renouncing the material way of life. Without
+internal renunciation it is difficult to achieve happiness and comfort.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins from "Deity Yoga",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. -- Confucius
+~
+Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake,
+zucchini bread and pumpkin pie.
+ -- Jim Davis (Garfield)
+~
+A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions
+than anything else in the world.
+ -- Edmond de Concourt
+~
+Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. -- Jimi Hendrix
+~
+There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
+ -- Hamlet (by William Shakespeare)
+~
+People who have what they want are fond of telling people
+who haven't what they want that they really don't want it.
+ -- Ogden Nash
+~
+There are only two ways of telling the complete
+truth--anonymously and posthumously.
+ -- Thomas Sowell
+~
+The easiest way for your children to learn
+about money is for you not to have any.
+ -- Katharine Whitehorn
+~
+If you look good and dress well, you don't need a purpose in life.
+ -- Robert Pante
+~
+Do not go where the path may lead, go instead
+where there is no path and leave a trail.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+I have a simple philosophy.
+Fill what's empty.
+Empty what's full.
+Scratch where it itches.
+ -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth
+~
+Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.
+ -- John Archibald Wheeler
+~
+You know that children are growing up when they start
+asking questions that have answers.
+ -- John J. Plomp
+~
+The average man, who does not know what to do with his life,
+wants another one which will last forever.
+ -- Anatole France
+~
+Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is
+a broken winged bird that canot fly.
+ -- Langston Hughes
+~
+Spare no expense to save money on this one. -- Samuel Goldwyn
+~
+It is absurd to divide people into good and bad.
+People are either charming or tedious.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute
+powerlessness make you pure?
+ -- Harry Shearer
+~
+Parents were invented to make children happy
+by giving them something to ignore.
+ -- Ofden Nash
+~
+Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
+ -- Jules de Gaultier
+~
+I'm a kind of paranoiac in reverse.
+I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.
+ -- J. D. Salinger
+~
+If you find it in your heart to care for
+somebody else, you will have succeeded.
+ -- Maya Angelou
+~
+Time is an illusion.
+Lunchtime doubly so.
+ -- Douglas Adams
+~
+Acquaintance, n.:
+A person whom we know well enough to borrow from,
+but not well enough to lend to.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
+~
+The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
+ -- Eleanor Roosevelt
+~
+Eighty percent of success is showing up. -- Woody Allen
+~
+Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. -- Don Marquis
+~
+The only reason some people get lost in thought
+is because it's unfamiliar territory.
+ -- Paul Fix
+~
+A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has
+a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.
+ -- Thomas Szasz
+~
+Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. -- Steven Wright
+~
+Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast. -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
+ -- William Shakespeare
+~
+If you can find something everyone agrees on, it's wrong. -- Mo Udall
+~
+I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money. -- Pablo Picasso
+~
+The shortest distance between two points is under construction.
+ -- Noelie Altito
+~
+Lack of money is no obstacle.
+Lack of an idea is an obstacle.
+ -- Ken Hakua
+~
+Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.
+ -- Marcus Valerias Martialis
+~
+Great minds discuss ideas;
+average minds discuss events;
+small minds discuss people.
+ -- Eleanor Roosevelt
+~
+I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there. -- Herb Caen
+~
+When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: "Whose?"
+ -- Don Marquis
+~
+Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. -- Mahatma Gandhi
+~
+I'm living so far beyond my income that we may
+almost be said to be living apart.
+ -- ee cummings
+~
+I try to avoid looking forward or backward,
+and try to keep looking upward.
+ -- Charlotte Bronte
+~
+My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me. -- Henry Ford
+~
+Without democracy, religion becomes extreme.
+With religion, democracy becomes more spiritual.
+ -- Mohammad Khatami, president of Iran
+~
+For fast acting relief, try slowing down. -- Lily Tomlin
+~
+A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.
+ -- Jonathan Swift
+~
+Poor people have more fun than rich people, they say; and
+I notice it's the rich people who keep saying it.
+ -- Jack Parr
+~
+Whatever you are, be a good one. -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
+ -- Malcolm Forbes
+~
+Never spend your money before you have it. -- Thomas Jefferson
+~
+Confusion is always the most honest response. -- Marty Indik
+~
+Doing nothing is very hard to do... you never know when you're finished.
+ -- Leslie Nielsen
+~
+Free advice is worth the price. -- Robert Half
+~
+A person who trusts no one can't be trusted. -- Jerome Blattner
+~
+There is nobody so irritating as somebody with
+less intelligence and more sense than we have.
+ -- Don Herold
+~
+He that plants trees loves others besides himself. -- Dr. Thomas Fuller
+~
+To find something you can enjoy is far better
+than finding something you can possess.
+ -- Glenn Holm
+~
+An intellectual is a man who takes more words than
+necessary to tell more than he knows.
+ -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
+~
+Not everything that can be counted counts, and not
+everything that counts can be counted.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+Brain, n.: an apparatus with which we think we think.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
+~
+There is always some madness in love.
+But there is always some reason in madness.
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
+ -- Martin Luther King Jr.
+~
+Good resolutions are simply checks that men
+draw on a bank where they have no account.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+The murals in restaurants are on par with the food in mueseums.
+ -- Peter De Vries
+~
+Money can't buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy.
+ -- Spike Milligan
+~
+Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate. -- Thomas Jones
+~
+It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis.
+ -- Margaret Bonnano
+~
+Yesterday is history.
+Tomorrow is a mystery.
+Today is a gift.
+That's why it's called the present.
+ -- Anonymous
+~
+Money is in abundance, where are you? -- Reverend Ike
+~
+Santa Claus had the right idea. Visit everyone once a year.
+ -- Victor Borge
+~
+Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.
+ -- Jules Renard
+~
+You cannot fix what you will not face. -- James Baldwin
+~
+There are too many people, and too few human beings. -- Robert Zend
+~
+Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.
+ -- Herman Wouk
+~
+A good listener is usually thinking about something else. -- Kin Hubbard
+~
+If it weren't for baseball, many kids wouldn't
+know what a millionaire looked like.
+ -- Phyllis Diller
+~
+Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+Everybody likes a kidder, but nobody lends him money. -- Arthur Miller
+~
+Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off
+their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time.
+ -- Edith Wharton
+~
+If computers get too organized, we can organize
+them into a committee--that will do them in.
+ -- Bradley's Bromide
+~
+It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.
+ -- Rene Descartes
+~
+If we stand tall it is because we stand
+on the backs of those who came before us.
+ -- Yoruba Proverb
+~
+The trouble with jogging is that, by the time you realize
+you're not in shape for it, it's too far to walk back.
+ -- Franklin P. Jones
+~
+I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.
+ -- Rita Rudner
+~
+By the time we've made it, we've had it. -- Malcolm Forbes
+~
+It was such a lovely day I thought it a pity to get up.
+ -- W. Somerset Maugham
+~
+It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau
+~
+Accomplishing the impossible means only that
+the boss will add it to your regular duties.
+ -- Doug Larson
+~
+Government big enough to supply everything you need
+is big enough to take everything you have...
+The course of history shows that as a government grows,
+liberty decreases.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson
+~
+Computers can figure out all kinds of problems, except
+the things in the world that just don't add up.
+ -- James Magary
+~
+Traditions are group efforts to keep the unexpected from happening.
+ -- Barbara Tober
+~
+The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
+ -- Flora Whittemore
+~
+When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.
+ -- Marquis de la Grange
+~
+If more of us valued food and cheer and song
+above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
+ -- J.R.R. Tolkien
+~
+While I was in Malaysia, I saw a T-shirt depicting a surfboard aloft huge
+waves. Sitting on the surfboard was a figure meditating cross-legged. The
+slogan read, "Riding the waves of life, be mindful, be happy." That's it.
+Awareness. Being present. Knowing thoughts as thoughts, emotions as
+emotions. It's just like riding a surfboard. You gradually develop the
+poise to cruise along on the roughest seas until, no longer immersed in
+the waves, you are riding on top of them. Of course you have to start
+with small waves until you get your balance. Then the higher the wave, the
+better! Likewise, when we begin to train in awareness, it is better if we
+have an atmosphere which is nonthreatening and peaceful. That's why people
+go on retreat. That's also a reason why people set aside regular sitting
+periods. But once we learn how to be balanced, we become like a surfer who
+finds that the bigger the wave, the greater the fun.
+ -- Ani Tenzin Palmo, in "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on
+ Practical Buddhism", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The word "mantra" means "mind-protection". It protects the mind from ordinary
+appearances and conceptions. "Mind" here refers to all six consciousnesses--
+eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mental consciousnesses--which are to be
+freed, or protected, from the ordinary world. There are two factors in mantra
+training, pride in oneself as a deity and vivid appearance of that deity.
+Divine pride protects one from the pride of being ordinary, and divine vivid
+appearance protects one from ordinary appearances. Whatever appears to the
+senses is viewed as the sport of a deity; for instance, whatever forms are
+seen are viewed as the emanations of a deity and whatever sounds are heard are
+viewed as the mantras of a deity. One is thereby protected from ordinary
+appearances, and through this transformation of attitude, the pride of being a
+deity emerges. Such protection of mind together with its attendant pledges
+and vows is called the practice of mantra.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins in "Tantra in Tibet",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+There is nothing new under the sun, but there are
+lots of old things we don't know.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce
+~
+Win hearts, and you have all men's hands and purses. -- William Cecil Burleigh
+~
+Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world.
+Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
+ -- Margaret Mead
+~
+He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder. -- M. C. Escher
+~
+Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn,
+whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.
+ -- Helen Keller
+~
+Training in compassion has the capacity to be both profound and vast--both
+absolute and relative. Compassion has the quality of being approachable and
+at the same time ungraspable. It manifests both the quality of shunyata,
+emptiness, or egolessness, as well as the qualities of kindness and joyfulness.
+Therefore, from the Mahayana point of view, compassion is the most important
+practice we could ever engage in. It can lead us to the full realization of
+enlightenment without any need for other practices.
+ -- from "Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of
+ Avalokiteshvara", translated by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The
+ Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Question: If the root of all suffering is attachment, are the desire to have a
+family and the desire for liberation from suffering contradictory?
+
+Answer: I think that a distinction should be made between desires that are due
+to ignorance and desires that are reasoned. In Tibetan, a difference can be
+made between "wish" and "desire"; for instance a Bodhisattva is reborn through
+his or her own wishes, not out of desire. Similarly, it is suitable to aspire
+toward liberation. Also, persons, such as Foe Destroyers, who have completely
+overcome all of the afflictive emotions, have thoughts such as, "Such and such
+is good; I need it." Merely such thoughts are not afflictive consciousnesses.
+Similarly, if we consider the desire for a family, there are persons practicing
+the Bodhisattva path who have families; also, in the scriptures of discipline,
+Buddha himself set forth vows for lay persons and vows for monks. Hence, there
+is no general prohibition of the wish to have a family.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
+ Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+In general, most non-Buddhist religions meditate on the deity as being outside
+the physical body. In these cases the deity takes the form of a refuge, or of
+a protector or messenger. Thus do they meditate, and of course this is fine.
+In the Buddhist tradition, however, the deity is not meditated on as being
+outside of the physical body. One meditates on the deity as being one's own
+essence expressing itself through oneself arising as the deity. One therefore
+thinks, "I am the deity," and with this conviction one meditates. Why is it
+justifiable to meditate in this manner? ...our own mind is in essence exactly
+the same as the mind of a Buddha. In the philosophical treatises this is
+sometimes referred to as "sugatagarbha" or "buddha-nature".
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Everyday Consciousness and Buddha-
+ Awakening", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ If things did in fact exist the way they appear--if things did exist so
+concretely--then when one looked into and investigated them, this inherent
+existence should become even clearer, more obvious. However, when you seek
+for the object designated, you cannot find it under analysis.
+ ...[That] which gives rise to the appearance of I is mind and body, but when
+you divide this into mind and body and look for the I, you cannot find it.
+Also the whole, body, is designated in dependence upon the collection of parts
+of the body; if you divide this into its parts and look for the body, you
+cannot find it either. Even the most subtle particles in the body have sides
+and hence parts. Were there something partless, it might be independent, but
+there is nothing that is partless. Rather, everything exists in dependence on
+its parts... There is no whole which is separate from its parts.
+ ...No matter what the phenomenon is, internal or external, whether it be
+one's own body or any other type of phenomenon, when we search to discover
+what this phenomenon is that is designated, we cannot find anything that is it.
+ ...However, these things appear to us as if they do exist objectively and in
+their own right, and thus there is a difference between the way things appear
+to our minds and the way they actually exist... Since phenomena appear to us
+in a way that is different from what we discover when analysing, this proves
+that their concrete appearance is due to a fault of our minds.
+ -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, translated and
+ edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, from "Kindness,
+ Clarity, and Insight" published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The Buddhist notion of diligence is to delight in positive deeds. Its
+opposite, called "le lo" in Tibetan, has three aspects. Le lo is usually
+translated as "laziness," though only its first aspect refers to laziness as
+we usually understand it. The first aspect is not doing something because of
+indolence, even though we know that it is good and ought to be done. The
+second aspect is faintheartedness. This comes about when we underestimate our
+qualities and abilities, thinking, "I'm so incompetent and weak. It would be
+good to do that, but I could never accomplish it." Not having the confidence
+of thinking, "I can do it," we end up doing nothing. The third aspect refers
+to being very busy and seeming diligent, but wasting time and energy on
+meaningless activities that will not accomplish anything in the long run.
+When we do many things for no real purpose, we fail to focus on what is truly
+worthwhile and our path has no clear direction. When we refrain from these
+three aspects of laziness, we are diligent.
+ -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, in "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three
+ Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ All events and incidents in life are so intimately linked with the fate of
+others that a single person on his or her own cannot even begin to act. Many
+ordinary human activities, both positive and negative, cannot even be
+conceived of apart from the existence of other people. Even the committing of
+harmful actions depends on the existence of others. Because of others, we
+have the opportunity to earn money if that is what we desire in life.
+Similarly, in reliance upon the existence of others it becomes possible for
+the media to create fame or disrepute for someone. On your own you cannot
+create any fame or disrepute no matter how loud you might shout. The closest
+you can get is to create an echo of your own voice.
+ Thus interdependence is a fundamental law of nature. Not only higher forms
+of life but also many of the smallest insects are social beings who, without
+any religion, law, or education, survive by mutual cooperation based on an
+innate recognition of their interconnectedness. The most subtle level of
+material phenomena is also governed by interdependence. All phenomena, from
+the planet we inhabit to the oceans, clouds, forests, and flowers that
+surround us, arise in dependence upon subtle patterns of energy. Without
+their proper interaction, they dissolve and decay.
+ -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, in "The Compassionate Life"
+~
+Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels
+ ...a buddha is someone who has attained full enlightenment through the
+cultivation of compassion and the wisdom of no-self, the absence of self-
+existence. From our discussion we also saw how the Dharma jewel is to be
+understood as the path by which we can gradually accomplish the same result as
+the fully awakened Buddha. Likewise, the Sangha jewel is the community of
+sincere practitioners who have directly realised emptiness, the ultimate
+nature of reality.
+ For those of us who consider ourselves to be practising Buddhists, it is
+crucial to have this kind of deeper understanding of the Three Jewels when we
+go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", published by Snow Lion
+~
+Being Mindful of Impermanence
+
+ Loved ones who have long kept company will part.
+ Wealth created with difficulty will be left behind.
+ Consciousness, the guest, will leave the guest house of the body.
+ Let go of this life--
+ This is the practice of Bodhisattvas.
+
+Although we have this human life with freedom and richness, which is so
+valuable and difficult to get, it cannot last forever. This is because it is
+not permanent and is subject to decay moment by moment. This life will
+eventually become non-existent because our body and mind will separate.
+Although death meditation involves reflecting on the moment by moment changing
+nature of our life, it principally entails recognizing that one day it will
+come to a complete stop and our mind will leave our body behind. Therefore,
+we must take the essence from this life each day and try to fulfill a great
+Dharma purpose because we will not have this opportunity for long.
+ -- from "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An Explanation of
+ 'The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas' ", by Geshe Jampa Tegchok,
+ edited by Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+What do we mean when we speak of a truly compassionate kindness? Compassion
+is essentially concern for others' welfare--their happiness and their
+suffering. Others wish to avoid misery as much as we do. So a compassionate
+person feels concerned when others are miserable and develops a positive
+intention to free them from it. As ordinary beings, our feeling of closeness
+to our friends and relatives is little more than an expression of clinging
+desire. It needs to be tempered, not enhanced. It is important not to
+confuse attachment and compassion.... A compassionate thought is motivated by
+a wish to help release beings from their misery.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Stages of Meditation", translated by Venerable
+ Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Tantric yogis succeed in their cultivation of wisdom more quickly than do
+practitioners of the Perfection Vehicle because the tantric yogi, employing
+deity yoga, can achieve a mind that is a union of calm abiding and special
+insight--a mind of alert one-pointedness that realizes emptiness--in far
+less time than the period of countless great aeons required for those who
+practice sutra paths alone. Tantric yogis use deity yoga to enhance
+meditation on emptiness; their use of deity yoga brings them more quickly to
+an initial direct cognition of emptiness by enhancing their ability to combine
+meditative stability with analysis.... Also, in Highest Yoga Tantra,
+powerful, subtle consciousnesses that realize emptiness are manifested,
+whereby the obstructions to liberation and omniscience are quickly overcome.
+ -- Daniel Cozort, in "Highest Yoga Tantra", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Howard C. Cutler, MD:
+ Is happiness a reasonable goal for most of us? Is it really possible?
+
+HH the Dalai Lama:
+ Yes. I believe that happiness can be achieved through training the mind.
+When I say "training the mind," in this context I'm not referring to "mind"
+merely as one's cognitive ability or intellect. Rather, I'm using the term
+in the sense of the Tibetan word Sem, which has a much broader meaning,
+closer to "psyche" or "spirit"; it includes intellect and feeling, heart
+and mind. By bringing about a certain inner discipline, we can undergo a
+transformation of our attitude, our entire outlook and approach to living.
+ When we speak of this inner discipline, it can of course involve many things,
+many methods. But generally speaking, one begins by identifying those factors
+which lead to happiness and those factors which lead to suffering. Having
+done this, one then sets about gradually eliminating those factors which lead
+to suffering and cultivating those which lead to happiness. That is the way.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, MD, in "The Art of Happiness:
+ A Handbook for Living", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+It can be difficult to accept others and to accept ourselves. "I should be
+better. I should be something different. I should have more." All of this
+is conception; it's all mental fabrication. It's just the mind churning up
+"shoulds," "ought tos," and "supposed tos." All this is conceptual rubbish,
+and yet we believe it. Part of the solution is to recognize that these
+thoughts are conceptual rubbish and not reality; this gives us the mental
+space not to believe them. When we stop believing them, it becomes much
+easier to accept what we are at any given moment, knowing we will change in
+the next moment. We'll be able to accept what others are in one moment,
+knowing that they will be different in the next moment. This is good stuff
+for everyday practice; it's very practical.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The nature of samsaric evolution is not such that death is followed by
+nothingness, nor that humans are always reborn as humans and insects as
+insects. On the contrary, we all carry within us the karmic potencies of all
+realms of cyclic existence. Many beings transmigrate from higher to lower
+realms, others from lower to higher. The selection of a place of rebirth is
+not directly in our own hands but is conditioned by our karma and delusions.
+They who possess spiritual understanding can control their destiny at the time
+of death, but for ordinary beings the process is very much an automatic chain
+reaction of karmic seeds and habitual psychic response patterns....
+ Our repeated experience of frustration, dissatisfaction and misery does not
+have external conditions as its root cause. The problem is mainly our lack of
+spiritual development. As a result of this handicap, the mind is controlled
+principally by afflicted emotions and illusions. Attachment, aversion and
+ignorance rather than a free spirit, love and wisdom are the guiding forces.
+Recognizing this simple truth is the beginning of the spiritual path.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, edited and translated by Glenn H. Mullin, in
+ "The Path to Enlightenment", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+If persons who have attained calm abiding keep their minds in calm abiding,
+not only does the force of their meditative stabilization remain but their
+other good qualities increase and do not degenerate. Similarly, persons who
+have achieved special insight have clear perception not only with respect to
+the object of observation on which they have been meditating but also with
+respect to any other object to which they turn their minds. Persons who
+cultivate calm abiding but not special insight will gain the factor of
+stability but not that of an intense clarity; they will not be able to
+manifest any antidote to the afflictive emotions. One must achieve an
+intensity of clarity in order for anything to serve as an antidote to
+ignorance, and to achieve that clarity one must cultivate special insight.
+ -- Geshe Gedun Lodro, in "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving
+ Spiritual Transformation through Meditation", translated and edited
+ by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Anne C. Klein and Leah Zahler,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+If you haven't found something strange during the day,
+it hasn't been much of a day.
+ -- John A. Wheeler
+~
+Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.
+ -- Philip K. Dick
+~
+ It is hypocrisy to say that all religions are the same. Different religions
+have different views and fundamental differences. But it does not matter, as
+all religions are meant to help in bringing about a better world with better
+and happier human beings. On this level, I think that through different
+philosophical explanations and approaches, all religions have the same goal
+and the same potential. Take the concept[s] of the creator and self-creation
+for instance. There are big differences between the two, but I feel they have
+the same purpose. To some people, the concept of the creator is very powerful
+in inspiring the development of self-discipline, becoming a good person with a
+sense of love, forgiveness and devotion to the ultimate truth--the Creator or
+God.
+ The other concept is self-creation: if one wants to be good, then it is one's
+own responsibility to be so. Without one's own efforts one cannot expect
+something good to come about. One's future is entirely dependent on oneself:
+it is self-created. This concept is very powerful in encouraging an
+individual to be a good and honest person. So you see, the two are different
+approaches but have the same goal.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Live in a Better Way: Reflections on Truth, Love
+ and Happiness", compiled and edited by Renuka Singh, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ The wise perceive that all things--persons and phenomena--arise in reliance
+upon their own causes and conditions, and that based on this process we impute
+mental labels upon things. The phenomena themselves have no true or inherent
+existence from their own side. They have no self-nature whatsoever.
+ Were persons or phenomena to have a self-presence, there would be no need
+for them to rely upon causes and conditions. Therefore one can be certain
+that even the smallest speck of matter has no true, inherent existence from
+its own side.
+ Although all things lack even the smallest speck of true existence,
+nonetheless conventionally the laws of causes and conditions operate through
+them, and conventionally all the phenomena in samsara and nirvana seem to
+exist, arising in the same manner as do illusions, dreams and a reflected
+image.
+ -- Glenn H. Mullin, in "The Six Yogas of Naropa: Tsongkhapa's commentary
+ entitled 'A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of
+ Training in the Profound Path of Naro's Six Dharmas' commonly referred
+ to as 'The Three Inspirations' ", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+| George of the Bungle |
+
+ And finally, new rule: America must recall the president. That's what this
+country needs. A good old-fashioned, California-style, recall election!
+Complete with Gary Coleman, porno actresses and action film stars. And just
+like Schwarzenegger's predecessor here in California, George Bush is now so
+unpopular he must defend his job against... Russell Crowe. Because at this
+point I want a leader who will throw a phone at somebody. In fact, let's have
+only phone throwers--Naomi Campbell can be the vice-president!
+
+ Now I kid, but seriously Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you
+anymore. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't
+start another war because you also used up the army. And now, darn the luck,
+the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor
+people. Yeah, listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit card's
+maxed out, and no one's speaking to you: mission accomplished. Now it's time
+to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did
+with your military service. And the oil company. And the baseball team.
+It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy
+or space man?
+
+ Now I know what you're saying; you're saying that there's so many other
+things that you as President could involve yourself in... Please don't. I
+know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela... and
+eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the
+church... and Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote.
+
+ But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern
+like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised you haven't
+given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert
+Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire metropolis
+to rising water and snakes. On your watch, we've lost almost all of our
+allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the
+Pentagon, and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky!
+
+ I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much
+worse it could be if you were on the other side. So, yes, God does speak to
+you... and what he is saying is: "Take a hint."
+
+ -- Bill Maher on Real Time, October 2005
+~
+ We have the ability and the responsibility to choose to direct our actions
+on a virtuous path.
+ When we weigh a particular act, to determine whether it is moral or
+spiritual, our criterion should be the quality of our motivation. When someone
+deliberately makes a resolution not to steal, if he or she is simply motivated
+by the fear of getting caught and being punished by the law, it is doubtful
+whether engaging in that resolution is a moral act, since moral considerations
+have not dictated his or her choice.
+ In another instance, the resolution not to steal may be motivated by fear of
+public opinion: "What would my friends and neighbors think? All would scorn
+me. I would become an outcast." Though the act of making a resolution may be
+positive, whether it is a moral act is again doubtful.
+ Now, the same resolution may be taken with the thought "If I steal, I am
+acting against the divine law of God." Someone else may think, "Stealing is
+nonvirtuous; it causes others to suffer." When such considerations motivate
+one, the resolution is moral or ethical; it is also spiritual. In the
+practice of Buddha's doctrine, if your underlying consideration in avoiding a
+nonvirtuous act is that it would thwart your attainment of a state
+transcending sorrow, such restraint is a moral act.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
+ Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland
+~
+ A conventional enemy may harm us, but patience and a refusal to retaliate
+can bring us benefit both in this life and in the future. However, tolerance
+towards [our own] hostile disturbing emotions and attempts at peaceful
+coexistence with them will never bring us any reward. They will do us nothing
+but harm if we don't take steps to drive them out. No conventional enemy can
+do us such harm. The most an ordinary enemy can do is to defeat us for a
+short space of time or destroy us in this life, but the disturbing emotions
+will insure our misery for many lifetimes to come.
+ Shantideva says:
+ All other foes that I appease and wait upon
+ Will show me favors, give me every aid,
+ But should I serve my dark defiled emotions,
+ They will only harm me, draw me down to grief.
+ -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "Eight Verses for Training the Mind: An Oral
+ Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ There is a story about a princess who had a small eye problem that she felt
+was really bad. Being the king's daughter, she was rather spoiled and kept
+crying all the time. When the doctors wanted to apply medicine, she would
+invariably refuse any medical treatment and kept touching the sore spot on her
+eye. In this way it became worse and worse, until finally the king proclaimed
+a large reward for whoever could cure his daughter. After some time, a man
+arrived who claimed to be a famous physician, but actually was not even a
+doctor.
+ He declared that he could definitely cure the princess and was admitted to
+her chamber. After he had examined her, he exclaimed, "Oh, I'm so sorry!"
+"What is it?" the princess inquired. The doctor said, "There is nothing much
+wrong with your eye, but there is something else that is really serious." The
+princess was alarmed and asked, "What on earth is so serious?" He hesitated
+and said, "It is really bad. I shouldn't tell you about it." No matter how
+much she insisted, he refused to tell her, saying that he could not speak
+without the king's permission.
+ When the king arrived, the doctor was still reluctant to reveal his findings.
+Finally the king commanded, "Tell us what is wrong. Whatever it is, you have
+to tell us!" At last the doctor said, "Well, the eye will get better within a
+few days--that is no problem. The big problem is that the princess will grow
+a tail, which will become at least nine fathoms long. It may start growing
+very soon. If she can detect the first moment it appears, I might be able to
+prevent it from growing." At this news everyone was deeply concerned. And the
+princess, what did she do? She stayed in bed, day and night, directing all
+her attention to detecting when the tail might appear. Thus, after a few
+days, her eye got well.
+ This shows how we usually react. We focus on our little problem and it
+becomes the center around which everything else revolves. So far, we have
+done this repeatedly, life after life. We think, "My wishes, my interests, my
+likes and dislikes come first!" As long as we function on this basis, we will
+remain unchanged. Driven by impulses of desire and rejection, we will travel
+the roads of samsara without finding a way out. As long as attachment and
+aversion are our sources of living and drive us onward, we cannot rest.
+ -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, in "Daring Steps toward Fearlessness: The Three
+ Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+buddha mind listens
+sound waves crashing over head
+immutable calm
+~
+time god shits in hand
+catapults distraction dung
+unstained mind abides
+~
+Dr. Cutler: "... one of the reasons I brought up the topic of challenge at
+work," I said to the Dalai Lama, "is because it relates to a concept that
+seems to come up frequently these days in psychological literature, the
+concept of flow.* This concept is increasingly mentioned in articles on human
+happiness, and this state can commonly occur at work... while engaged in
+activity, there's a feeling of effortlessness, a sense of total control over
+what one is doing.... Although flow can occur in any activity, some
+investigators have found that Americans experience more flow at work than they
+do in their leisure time."
+
+The Dalai Lama: "You really like this flow, Howard!" the Dalai Lama exclaimed
+with an amused chuckle. "... no matter how nice that state may be, I don't
+think it is the most important source of satisfaction, fulfillment, or
+happiness.... For one thing, you can't be in that state at all times.... So
+through this flow, even if you get some temporary kind of happiness, it will
+not be an ongoing thing. I think this flow state is not reliable or
+sustainable, and I think it's much more important to develop other sources of
+satisfaction through one's work that are brought about by training one's mind,
+shaping one's outlook and attitude, integrating basic human values in the
+workplace. For example, dealing with one's destructive emotions while at
+work, reducing anger, jealousy, greed, and so on, and practicing relating to
+others with kindness, compassion, tolerance, these are much more important and
+stable sources of satisfaction than simply trying to create flow as much as
+possible."
+
+Dr. Cutler: "...To the Dalai Lama, true happiness is associated with a sense
+of meaning, and arises on the basis of deliberately cultivating certain
+attitudes and outlooks. True happiness may take longer to generate, and
+requires some effort, but it is this lasting happiness that can sustain us
+even under the most trying conditions of everyday life."
+
+* flow is defined here as [people] being so completely absorbed in their work
+ that they lose track of time.
+
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., in "The Art of
+ Happiness at Work"
+~
+Dzogchen could be defined as a way to relax completely. This can be clearly
+understood from the terms used to denote the state of contemplation, such as
+"leave it just as it is" (cog bzhag), "cutting loose one's tension" (khregs
+chod), "beyond effort" (rtsol bral), and so on. Some scholars have classified
+Dzogchen as a "direct path," comparing it to teachings such as Zen, where this
+expression is often used. In Dzogchen texts, however, the phrases "direct
+path" and "nongradual path" (cig car) are never used, because the concept of a
+"direct path" implies necessarily that there must be, on the one hand, a place
+from which one departs, and on the other, a place where one arrives. But in
+Dzogchen there is a single principle of the state of knowledge, and if one
+possesses this state one discovers that right from the beginning one is
+already there where one wants to arrive. For this reason the state is said to
+be "self-perfected" (lhun grub).
+ -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, in "Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State", edited by
+ Adriano Clemente, translated from the Italian by John Shane, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Since the situation in which we live is much changed but the attitude of
+people who are in that situation is at variance with the times, this is one of
+the causes of unnecessary pain, unnecessary problems. Therefore, education is
+needed to communicate that the concept of violence is counterproductive, that
+it is not a realistic way to solve problems, and that compromise is the only
+realistic way to solve problems. Right from the beginning, we have to make
+this reality clear to a child's mind--the new generation. In this way, the
+whole attitude towards oneself, towards the world, towards others, can become
+more healthy. I usually call this "inner disarmament." Without inner
+disarmament, it is very difficult to achieve genuine, lasting world peace.
+ ...Through inner disarmament we can develop a healthy mental attitude, which
+also is very beneficial for physical health. With peace of mind, a calm mind,
+your body elements become more balanced. Constant worry, constant fear,
+agitation of mind, are very bad for health. Therefore, peace of mind not only
+brings tranquility in our mind but also has good effects on our body.
+ With inner disarmament, now we need external disarmament. As I mentioned
+earlier, according to today's reality, there no longer is room for war, for
+destruction. From a compassionate viewpoint, destruction, killing others, and
+discriminating even against one's enemy are counterproductive. Today's enemy,
+if you treat them well, may become a good friend even the next day.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates Discuss
+ Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+What we do for ourselves dies with us.
+What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.
+ -- Albert Pine
+~
+Q: Where does hatred come from?
+
+A: That is a question which requires long hours of discussion. From the
+Buddhist viewpoint, the simple answer is that it is beginningless. As a
+further explanation, Buddhists believe that there are many different levels of
+consciousness. The most subtle consciousness is what we consider the basis of
+the previous life, this life and future lives. This subtle consciousness is
+a transient phenomenon which comes about as a consequence of causes and
+conditions. Buddhists have concluded that consciousness itself cannot be
+produced by matter. Therefore, the only alternative is to accept the
+continuation of consciousness. So that is the basis of the theory of rebirth.
+
+Where there is consciousness, ignorance and hatred also arise naturally.
+These negative emotions, as well as the positive emotions, occur right from
+beginningless time. All these are a part of our mind. However, these
+negative emotions actually are based on ignorance, which has no valid
+foundation. None of the negative emotions, no matter how powerful, have a
+solid foundation. On the other hand, the positive emotions, such as
+compassion or wisdom, have a solid basis: there is a kind of grounding and
+rootedness in reason and understanding, which is not the case with afflictive
+emotions like anger and hatred.
+
+The basic nature of the subtle consciousness itself is something neutral. So
+it is possible to purify or eliminate all of these negative emotions. That
+basic nature we call Buddha-nature. Hatred and negative emotions are
+beginningless; they have no beginning, but there is an end. Consciousness
+itself has no beginning and no end; of this we are certain.
+
+ -- H.H. 14th Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ When the sun is freed from clouds, the sun becomes clear and bright.
+Similarly, when obstructions to omniscience are abandoned, wisdom becomes
+clear light.
+ How does wisdom that is like the sun in a sky free from clouds dawn? It
+is described as yogic direct perception. Between ordinary beings--those born
+in dependence upon their individual karma--and yogins, here we are considering
+yogins. Their wisdom is not speculation from an inferential point of view, as
+is the case with ordinary beings. Neither is it pensive and lacking in
+clarity. Rather, it sees directly, for which reason it is called yogic direct
+perception. When we ordinary beings think about a thing, there is something
+in the way, obstruction, due to which we do not see clearly and directly.
+When those obstructions--the afflictive obstructions and the obstructions to
+omniscience--have been dispelled, then knowledge arises as yogic direct
+perception.
+ When yogic direct perception arises, how does it see? It sees phenomena
+in a conventional context and it also sees reality in an ultimate context. In
+the conventional context, wisdom sees the shapes, colors, and defining
+characteristics of whatever things exist in worldly realms, individually and
+without mixing them, just as they are. This wisdom knows the varieties of
+phenomena. Similarly, in the context of reality, wisdom sees the meaning of
+emptiness directly; this wisdom knows the mode of all phenomena. In
+dependence upon release from the afflictive obstruction and the obstruction to
+omniscience, the wisdoms knowing the modes and the varieties actually arise.
+ Someone in whom those two wisdoms are present is a buddha.
+
+ -- Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Essential Practice: Lectures on
+ Kamalashila's 'Stages of Meditation in the Middle Way School' ",
+ translated by Jules B. Levinson, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Sometimes people mistakenly look on vows and pledges as if these were a
+type of punishment, but this is not at all the case. For example, just as
+we follow certain methods of eating and drinking to improve our health and
+certainly not to punish ourselves, so the rules the Shakymuni Buddha
+formulated are for controlling counter-productive ill-deeds and ultimately for
+overcoming afflictive emotions, because these are self-ruinous. Thus, to
+relieve oneself from suffering, one controls the motivations and deeds
+producing suffering for one's own sake. Realizing from his own experience
+that suffering stems from one's own afflictive emotions as well as actions
+contaminated with them, he sets forth styles of behavior to reduce the problem
+for our own profit, certainly not to give us a hard time. Hence, these rules
+are for the sake of controlling sources of harm.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba, and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Yoga Tantra:
+ Paths to Magical Feats, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Giving with an open heart brings us joy and directly benefits others. Goods
+are then shared more equitably within our society and among nations, soothing
+the ill-feeling of social inequity and promoting world peace. Sharing is a
+source of our continued existence as a species. As His Holiness the Dalai
+Lama says, it is not survival of the fittest, but survival of those who
+cooperate the most, that makes a species prosper. None of us exists
+independently; we have to depend on others simply to stay alive. Thus,
+helping others and sharing wealth benefits both self and others. Generosity
+makes us happy now, enables our species to continue to prosper, and creates
+positive karma that brings us prosperity in the future. In addition, it is an
+essential trait of an enlightened being. Who ever heard of a stingy Buddha?
+ -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ I have made the point in the past that it is not necessary to consider
+someone one's guru from the very outset simply because one has heard the
+explanation of the Buddha's teachings from that person. At first, it is much
+better if one does not have that kind of attitude toward them, simply
+regarding them as a Dharma-friend. One gets teachings, and time goes by.
+Then, when one feels that one knows that person quite well, and can take them
+as one's guru without any danger of transgressing the commitments that
+accompany such a relationship, when one has that kind of confidence, then one
+can go ahead and take him or her as one's guru. The Lord Buddha himself made
+it quite clear in both the Vinaya sutras and in the Mahayana scriptures, and
+even in the Tantrayana, in a very detailed fashion, what the qualities of a
+teacher should be. This is why I often criticize the Tibetan attitude of
+seeing whatever the guru does as good, of respecting everything that the guru
+does right from the start without the initial period of examination. Of
+course, if the guru is really qualified, then to have such an attitude is
+very worthwhile.
+ Take the cases of Naropa and Marpa, for example. Sometimes it appears as
+though some of the things Tilopa asked of Naropa, or Naropa of Marpa, were
+unreasonable. Deep down, however, these requests had great meaning. Because
+of their great faith in their gurus, Naropa and Marpa did as instructed.
+Despite the fact that they appeared to be unreasonable, because the teachers
+were qualified, their actions had some meaning. In such situations, it is
+necessary that from the disciple's side all of the actions of the teacher be
+respected. But this cannot be compared to the case of ordinary people.
+Broadly speaking, I feel that the Buddha gave us complete freedom of choice to
+thoroughly examine the person who is to be our guru. This is very important.
+Unless one is definite, one should not take them as a guru. This preliminary
+examination is a kind of precautionary measure.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists", edited
+ by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+13. Transforming suffering into the path
+ Even if someone tries to cut off your head
+ When you haven't done the slightest thing wrong,
+ Out of compassion take all his misdeeds
+ Upon yourself--
+ This is the practice of Bodhisattvas.
+ -- from "The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas"
+ by Gyelsay Togme Sangpo
+ Although we have done nothing to deserve it, someone may attack us, beat
+us, or perpetrate other forms of violence on us. Certainly it is tempting to
+get angry in such a situation, but our anger will do no good. In fact, this
+person is creating the cause for his own unfortunate rebirth by attacking us,
+and the karma he creates is even heavier if we hold any of the three sets of
+vows: pratimoksha, Bodhisattva, or tantric. Thus, we cultivate compassion,
+and wish to take the person's karma and resultant suffering on ourselves. For
+example, if a crazy person attacks a person who is sane, the latter will not
+only not fight back but try to help, by giving him medicine and wanting him to
+get well. The sane person sees that the crazy person does not know what he is
+doing. He is out of control.
+ Similarly, when someone harms us, we should recognize that he too is out
+of control and is being led by his three poisonous attitudes. Similarly, we
+can remember that we are experiencing the ripening result of harmful actions
+we did in past lives, so why blame the other person? In addition, that person
+is causing our negative karma to be exhausted now, rather than later when the
+result could be much more difficult to bear. In this way, we will not be
+angry or retaliate, but will pray for and try to help the other. In "The
+Eight Verses of Thought Transformation," it says, "Whenever I meet a person of
+bad nature who is overwhelmed by negative energy and intense suffering, I will
+hold such a rare one dear, as if I had found a precious treasure." People like
+this suffer greatly because they think only of themselves, not of others, and
+thus they are worthy of compassion, the wish that they be free from suffering
+and its causes.
+ Being patient when harmed by others does not mean that we take no action
+to prevent harm from occurring. Rather, patience frees our mind from the fog
+of anger and gives us the clarity and kindness to respond to a situation in a
+helpful way. Free of anger, we look for ways to resolve conflict other than
+seeking revenge.
+ -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, in "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage:
+ An Explanation of 'The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas' ", edited
+ by Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Some people run a race to see who is the fastest.
+I run a race to see who has the most guts.
+ -- Steve Prefontaine
+~
+ Shantideva expresses tremendous courage, which transcends all boundaries
+of space and time, in a verse of his "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life"
+(Bodhicaryavatara). He writes:
+ As long as space endures,
+ As long as sentient beings remain,
+ Until then, may I too remain
+ And dispel the miseries of the world.
+ When the altruistic intention is supported by insight into emptiness, and
+particularly by the direct realization of emptiness, one is said to have
+attained the two dimensions of bodhichitta which are known as conventional and
+ultimate bodhichitta. With both these practices of compassion and wisdom, the
+practitioner has within his or her hands the complete method for attaining the
+highest spiritual goal. Such a person is truly great and worthy of
+admiration.
+ If one is able to cultivate these spiritual qualities within oneself then,
+as Chandrakirti writes very poetically in his Entry to the Middle Way
+(Madhyamakavatara), with one wing of altruistic intention and another wing of
+insight into emptiness, one can traverse the whole of space and soar beyond
+the state of existence to the shores of fully enlightened buddhahood.
+ ...make an effort to contemplate, study and meditate, but without any
+shortsighted expectations. You should have the same attitude as Shantideva --
+that as long as space exists you will remain to dispel suffering in the world.
+When you have that kind of determination and courage to develop your capacity,
+then a hundred years, an aeon, a million years are nothing to you.
+Furthermore, you will not consider that the different human problems we have
+here and there are in any way insurmountable. Such an attitude and vision
+bring some kind of real inner strength.
+ -- H.H. the XIV Dalai Lama, in "Transforming the Mind: Teachings on
+ Generating Compassion", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, edited by
+ Dominique Side and Geshe Thupten Jinpa.
+~
+The Tantric Way of Purifying One's Views
+ The second important attitude is the Tantric way of purifying one's views,
+which means to transform one's ordinary and dualistic views and conceptions
+into a higher spiritual vision.
+ For instance, you transform the place where teachings are received from an
+ordinary classroom into a complete and perfected mandala of the deities. You
+view the teacher as a pure form of Shen Lha Okar, the Buddha of Compassion, by
+mentally transforming him from an ordinary person into an enlightened one who
+has manifested in a human body to guide all sentient beings. You transform
+your companions and classmates from ordinary beings into deities and
+goddesses, and believe that they all have love, compassion, and care for all
+sentient beings.
+ The purpose of transforming your views into pure visions toward these
+objects is to realize the extraordinary nature of this experience. This gives
+you a special reason to receive blessings and powers from the teacher (lama),
+the enlightened ones (Sangye), the deities (yidam), and the female
+manifestations of the enlightened ones (khadro), in order to develop your
+wisdom and stability. This is the essence of the practice of purifying one's
+view according to the Tantric ways.
+ -- Latri Khenpo and Geshe Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche, in "Opening the Door to
+ Bon", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+MENSA: My Ego Never Stops Aching
+~
+...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria
+than by drinking alcohol.
+ -- W. C. Fields
+~
+Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will
+satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good.
+ -- Joe Paterno
+~
+Desire is the source of endless problems. The more desires we have, the more
+we have to plan and work hard to realize them. Some time ago a businessman
+told me that the more he developed his company, the more he felt like making
+it even bigger. And the more he tried to make it bigger, the more he found he
+had to lie and fight mercilessly against his competitors. He had come to
+realize that wanting more and more made no sense, and that he only had to
+reduce the size of his business for competition to become less fierce so he
+would be able to carry out his work honestly. I found his testimony very
+true.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "365 Dalai Lama: Daily Advice from the Heart",
+ edited by Matthieu Ricard, translated by Christian Bruyat and Dominique
+ Messent
+~
+I--What Is a Treasure?
+ According to the Nyingma School, the Treasures are most often comprised of
+spiritual instructions concealed by enlightened beings for the purpose of
+discovery at a later predestined time when their message will invigorate the
+Buddhist teaching and deepen spiritual understanding. Central to this process
+is the figure of the Treasure revealer (gter ston)--the person who acts as a
+medium for the re-emergence of this inspired material into the human world.
+Accordingly, beginning in the eleventh century and continuing into the
+present, the Nyingma School identifies a large number of Treasure revealers
+and grants authoritative status to their discoveries.
+ The idea that religious truth lies concealed within the world of phenomena
+awaiting discovery by spiritually gifted people is by no means a concept
+exclusive to the Nyingma School or Tibetan Buddhism as a whole. Throughout
+Buddhist literature there are numerous descriptions of teachings being
+inherently present in the phenomenal world ready to be perceived by
+individuals possessing inspired levels of consciousness and, accordingly,
+spiritual revelations have surfaced on numerous occasions throughout the
+course of Buddhist history.
+ -- Andreas Doctor, in "Tibetan Treasure Literature: Revelation, Tradition,
+ and Accomplishment in Visionary Buddhism", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Patricia Churchland: But do you think that there is something, I am not sure
+what to call it--a kind of awareness that can exist independently of the
+brain? For example, something that survives death?
+
+Dalai Lama: Generally speaking, awareness, in the sense of our familiar, day-
+to-day mental processes, does not exist apart from or independent of the
+brain, according to the Buddhist view. But Buddhism holds that the cause of
+this awareness is to be found in a preceding continuum of awareness, and that
+is why one speaks of a stream of awareness from one life to another. Whence
+does this awareness arise initially? It must arise fundamentally not from a
+physical base but from a preceding continuum of awareness.
+
+The continuum of awareness that conjoins with the fetus does not depend upon
+the brain. There are some documented cases of advanced practitioners whose
+bodies, after death, escape what happens to everyone else and do not decompose
+for some time--for two or three weeks or even longer. The awareness that
+finally leaves their body is a primordial awareness that is not dependent upon
+the body. There have been many accounts in the past of advanced practitioners
+remaining in meditation in this subtle state of consciousness when they died,
+and decomposition of their body was postponed although the body remained at
+room temperature.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
+ with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
+ Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+The real source of my suffering is self-centeredness: my car, my possession,
+my well-being. Without the self-centeredness, the suffering would not arise.
+What would happen instead? It is important to imagine this fully and to focus
+on examples of your own. Think of some misfortune that makes you want to lash
+out, that gives rise to anger or misery. Then imagine how you might respond
+without suffering. Recognize that we need not experience the misery, let
+alone the anger, resentment, and hostility. The choice is ours.
+
+Let's continue with the previous example. You see that there is a dent in the
+car. What needs to be done? Get the other driver's license number, notify
+the police, contact the insurance agency, deal with all the details. Simply
+do it and accept it. Accept it gladly as a way to strengthen your mind
+further, to develop patience and the armor of forbearance. There is no way to
+become a Buddha and remain a vulnerable wimp. Patience does not suddenly
+appear as a bonus after full enlightenment. Part of the whole process of
+awakening is to develop greater forbearance and equanimity in adversity.
+Santideva, in the sixth chapter of his Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life,
+eloquently points out that there is no way to develop patience without
+encountering adversity, and patience is indispensable for our own growth on
+the path to awakening.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
+ Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous. -- Aristotle
+~
+Now the kilt was only for day-to-day wear. In battle, we donned a full-length
+ball gown covered in sequins. The idea was to blind your opponent with luxury.
+ -- Groundskeeper Willie
+~
+Dayata (Om) Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Swaha.
+
+A mantra is that which protects the mind. Through this mantra, which is the
+perfection of wisdom itself, we can overcome the demon of ignorance that
+possesses us and find unsurpassable happiness. It protects the minds of those
+who practice it from all fears and describes how to make the transition from
+worldly existence to the supreme state beyond sorrow. It is a mantra of great
+knowledge because it saves us from the poison of ignorance and its imprints.
+It is an unsurpassable mantra because it frees us from suffering and its
+causes as no other path of insight can. The incomparable is the state beyond
+suffering. Since it helps us to attain that state, it is comparable to the
+incomparable. It totally pacifies suffering because it rids us of all the
+troubles of the world and their causes. The world here refers to ordinary
+beings like us. Our troubles are many but foremost are birth, aging,
+sickness, and death. This mantra does not deceive us and it is true because
+wisdom sees things as they actually are without any error or deception. It is
+therefore transcendent.
+ -- from "The Heart Sutra: An Oral Teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen",
+ translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+I am interested not in converting other people to Buddhism but in how we
+Buddhists can contribute to human society, according to our own ideas. I
+believe that other religious faiths also think in a similar way, seeking to
+contribute to the common aim....
+
+Just as Buddha showed an example of contentment, tolerance, and serving others
+without selfish motivation, so did Jesus Christ. Almost all of the great
+teachers lived a saintly life--not luxuriously like kings or emperors but as
+simple human beings. Their inner strength was tremendous, limitless, but the
+external appearance was of contentment with a simple way of life.
+
+...the motivation of all religious practice is similar--love, sincerity,
+honesty. The way of life of practically all religious persons is contentment.
+The teachings of tolerance, love, and compassion are the same. A basic goal
+is the benefit of humankind--each type of system seeking in its own unique
+ways to improve human beings. If we put too much emphasis on our own
+philosophy, religion, or theory, are too attached to it, and try to impose it
+on other people, it makes trouble. Basically all the great teachers, such as
+Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ, or Mohammed, founded their new teachings with a
+motivation of helping their fellow humans. They did not mean to gain anything
+for themselves nor to create more trouble or unrest in the world.
+
+Most important is that we respect each other and learn from each other those
+things that will enrich our own practice. Ever if all the systems are
+separate, since they each have the same goal, the study of each other is
+helpful.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness", compiled
+ and edited by Sidney Piburn, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Our teacher, Sakyamuni Buddha, is one among the thousand Buddhas of this
+aeon. These Buddhas were not Buddhas from the beginning, but were once
+sentient beings like ourselves. How they came to be Buddhas is this.
+ Of body and mind, mind is predominant, for body and speech are under the
+influence of the mind. Afflictions such as desire do not contaminate the
+nature of the mind, for the nature of the mind is pure, uncontaminated by any
+taint. Afflictions are peripheral factors of a mind, and through gradually
+transforming all types of defects, such as these afflictions, the adventitious
+taints can be completely removed. This state of complete purification is
+Buddhahood; therefore, Buddhists do not assert that there is any Buddha who
+has been enlightened from the beginning.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Buddhism of Tibet: The Dalai Lama",
+ translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ ...everbody thinks that compassion is important, and everyone has
+compassion. True enough, but the Buddha gave uncommon quintessential
+instructions when he taught the methods for cultivating compassion, and the
+differences are extraordinarily important.
+ Generally, everyone feels compassion, but the compassion is flawed. In
+what way? We measure it out. For instance, some feel compassion for human
+beings but not for animals and other types of sentient beings. Others feel
+compassion for animals and some other types of sentient beings but not for
+humans. Others, who feel compassion for human beings, feel compassion for the
+human beings of their own country but not for the human beings of other
+countries. Then, some feel compassion for their friends but not for anyone
+else. Thus, it seems that we draw a line somewhere. We feel compassion for
+those on one side of the line but not for those on the other side of the line.
+We feel compassion for one group but not for another. That is where our
+compassion is flawed. What did the Buddha say about that? It is not
+necessary to draw that line. Nor is it suitable. Everyone wants compassion,
+and we can extend our compassion to everyone.
+ -- Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Lectures on Kamalashila's 'Stages of
+ Meditation in the Middle Way School' ", translated by Jules B. Levinson,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+4. Seven-Limbed Practice
+
+ The seven parts of the practice are encompassed by two practices--the
+purification of negativities and the enhancing of the store of merit. When
+you engage in the practice, it is very important to understand that each and
+every one of the seven limbs has its individual purpose and significance, and
+only with such knowledge can you engage properly in the practice. The seven
+limbs are: prostration, offering, confession, rejoicing, requesting to turn
+the wheel of the dharma, entreating not to enter into nirvana, and dedication
+of merit.
+ ...For the practice of confession, which is the third of the seven limbs,
+it is very important to have the factor of regret; without this factor there
+is no possibility of purifying the negativities.... The great yogi Milarepa
+said: "When I examined whether or not confession could purify the
+negativities, I found that it is regret that cleanses them." In order to
+generate regret, it is important to see the destructive nature of negative
+actions and also to understand the law of causality.
+ Based on a disciplined mind, we experience happiness; based on an
+undisciplined, untamed mind, we undergo suffering. We should think that if we
+are not able to make any progress from our present state of mind, which always
+indulges in negative thoughts, there is not much hope for us. So, if we are
+able to think in such terms, we will be able to really see the destructive
+nature of negative actions, and also that the store of negative actions that
+we have is inexhaustible, like a rich person's bank balance. Without the
+recognition of the destructive nature of the negative forces, we will never be
+able to develop the deep factor of regret from the depth of our hearts.
+ If we do not engage in a proper practice of dharma, it seems that we may
+expend all our store of merit in mundane pleasures. It is very important to
+have this faculty of regret in our practice of purification and confession.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), in "The Path to Bliss: A Practical
+ Guide to Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa,
+ edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+9. Glorious Lama (excerpt)
+
+...Those with faith have a refuge.
+Those with compassion have an altruistic attitude.
+Those with incisive knowledge have realization.
+Those with respect and devotion have blessings.
+
+Those with shame avoid carelessness.
+Those who avoid carelessness have a guarded mind.
+Those who have a guarded mind have vows and samaya.
+Those who have vows and samaya have spiritual attainments.
+
+Calm and self-control are signs of listening to the Dharma;
+Few passions, signs of meditation;
+Harmony with everyone is the sign of a practitioner;
+Your mind at ease, the sign of accomplishment.
+
+The root of phenomena is your own mind.
+If you tame your mind, you are a practitioner.
+If you are a practitioner, your mind is tamed.
+When your mind is tamed, that is liberation.
+ -- Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, in "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart
+ Advice", translated by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The Special Features of Dzogchen
+
+ In the early translation school of the Nyingma, a system of nine yanas is
+taught. Three of these--the paths of the Sravaka, pratyekabuddha, and
+bodhisattva--constitute the sutra tradition, while the tantric tradition
+consists of six levels--the three outer tantras and the three inner tantras.
+The tradition of Dzogchen, or Atiyoga, is considered to be the pinnacle of
+these nine yanas. The other, lower, yanas are said to be philosophical
+systems that depend on ordinary consciousness, and so the path is based on
+that ordinary consciousness. Here the distinction being made is between
+ordinary mind--sem--and pure awareness--rigpa. The ninth yana, the most
+majestic, is beyond ordinary consciousness, for its path is based on rigpa,
+not on the ordinary mind.
+ Throughout beginningless time, there has always been present, within us
+all, a pure awareness--that in-dwelling rigpa which in Atiyoga is evoked in
+all its nakedness, and which constitutes the practice.
+ ...The ground for all the phenomena of samsara and nirvana is the
+fundamental innate mind of clear light, and these phenomena are its radiance
+or display. While we are following the path, in order for all the impure
+aspects of our experience to be purified on the basis of that rigpa--or, you
+can say, that fundamental innate mind of clear light--there is no other means
+apart from that fundamental and innate state itself, which is therefore the
+very essence of the path. Finally, when the fruition is made fully evident,
+it is just this fundamental innate mind of clear light itself, free from
+obscuration, that constitutes the attainment of fruition.
+ ...Any given state of consciousness is permeated by the clear light of
+rigpa's pure awareness. However solid ice may be, it never loses its true
+nature, which is water. In the same way, even very obvious concepts... arise
+within the expanse of rigpa and that is where they dissolve. On this point,
+Dodrupchen Jikme Tenpe Nyima says that all objects of knowledge are permeated
+by clear light, just as a sesame seed is permeated by its oil. Therefore,
+even while the coarser states of the six consciousnesses are functioning,
+their subtle aspect--that of clear light--can be directly introduced by means
+of those states themselves, through blessings and through pith instructions.
+ Here lies the extraordinary and profound implication of the Dzogchen
+teachings. When you are basing your path on the fundamental innate mind of
+clear light, you will employ skilful means to block the coarse and subtle
+states of energy and mind, as a result of which the state of clear light
+becomes evident, and on this you base your path. But in Dzogchen, even while
+the six consciousnesses are fully functioning, by means of those very states
+you can be directly introduced to their subtle aspect of clear light in your
+immediate experience, and you then meditate by focusing one-pointedly on that
+aspect. As you meditate in this way, resting in this non-conceptual state,
+gradually your experience of clear light becomes increasingly profound, while
+coarser thoughts and concepts dwindle away.
+ The most difficult task is to differentiate between ordinary mind and
+rigpa. It is easy enough to talk about it. You can say, for example, that
+rigpa has never been confused, while ordinary mind has fallen under the
+influence of concepts and is mired in confusion. But to be introduced to the
+direct experience of the essence of rigpa is far from being easy. And so
+Dodrupchen says that although your arrogance might be such that you assume you
+are meditating on the ultimate meaning of rigpa, there is a danger that "you
+could end up meditating on the clear, empty qualities of your ordinary mind,
+which even non-Buddhist practitioners are capable of doing." He is warning us
+to be careful.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
+ Perfection", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa and Richard Barron
+ (Chokyi Nyima), edited by Patrick Gaffney, pub. by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Patience is like a beautiful ornament. When you become a person with
+great patience, it brings a certain element of charm to your life. You are
+loved by others, and you give no problems to your friends. You bring an
+element of joy, happiness, and calmness to other people's lives--your friends,
+your family, and the community. You do not have to ask to be accepted;
+everyone longs for your presence. Everyone looks up to you and respects you,
+not because you have worked for that or expected it, not because you were
+competing for their favor, but simply because of the nature of patience. You
+are respected and trusted, and you acquire dignity with the practice of
+patience. When you are honored, it is with sincerity, and it is something you
+can live up to.
+ ...Just hearing about patience does not mean you are experiencing it now
+or will easily develop it. To lay the ground for training the mind, you must
+first tame the mind. To tame the mind, it is extremely important to do the
+basic shamata [tranquility meditation, calm abiding] practice, which develops
+calmness and tranquility. Then you can add the practice of patience,
+understanding the benefits of patience and reminding yourself to take
+advantage of the available antidotes.
+ -- Ven. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, in "Dharma Paths", translated by Ngodup
+ Burkhar and Chojor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of
+policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.
+ -- Edward Abbey
+~
+We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
+ -- Winston Churchill
+~
+If the government would make up its mind to require for every child a good
+education, it might save itself the trouble of providing one. It might leave
+to parents to obtain the education where and how they pleased, and content
+itself with helping to pay the school fees of the poorer classes of children,
+and defraying the entire school expenses of those who have no one else to pay
+for them.
+ -- J. S. Mill
+~
+First, God created idiots.
+That was just for practice.
+Then He created school boards.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Whence it comes to pass, that for not having chosen the right course,
+we often take very great pains, and consume a good part of our time in
+training up children to things, for which, by their natural constitution,
+they are totally unfit.
+ -- Montaigne
+~
+There are two types of education...
+One should teach us how to make a living,
+And the other how to live.
+ -- John Adams
+~
+We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or
+fifteen years, and come out at last with a belly full of words and
+do not know a thing.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+ The Sanskrit word for compassion, karuna, has the implication of "that
+which blocks or prevents bliss." In general, when we develop compassion, we
+develop very strongly the attitude that cannot bear the suffering of other
+beings. We wish for it to end and for them to become free. Although we do
+not actually experience others' suffering at that time, the strength of the
+attitude that cannot bear their suffering causes our mind also to become
+unhappy. This is the general sense in which compassion blocks bliss....
+ Only the power of a union of method and wisdom--namely the union of
+compassion, as a greatly blissful awareness, and the discriminating awareness
+of voidness--allows us to attain the total release of supreme nirvana, namely
+enlightenment.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra", with
+ Alexander Berzin, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ There is a tradition of reciting prayers of request to the spiritual
+teachers of the lineage at the beginning of each study session, starting with
+the Buddha Shakyamuni and ending with our own personal teachers. What do we
+request? As we chant each verse, we take to mind the inspiring qualities of
+the great masters mentioned in it and ask them to bless us to develop
+compassion, wisdom and power similar to their own. Blessings are experienced
+in the form of a transformation which affects our body, speech and mind. Our
+mind becomes more serviceable and flexible, our way of speaking and acting
+more constructive. We become more open to the message of how to bring about
+inner transformation that has been handed down through this long line of
+spiritual teachers.
+ Our teachers pass on the instructions they have received from their own
+teachers, the knowledge they have culled from their reading and everything
+they have understood and experienced as a result of their personal practice,
+without holding anything back. They are motivated by compassion and their
+deep wish to help us. To communicate it to us they choose whatever means are
+most effective--sometimes stern, sometimes gentle. This process must take
+place in an atmosphere of mutual trust, something very rare in relationships
+today. In the past the relationship between students and teachers was even
+closer and more trusting than that between siblings--and in Tibet brothers and
+sisters generally enjoyed a close and loving bond. Today this is a dying
+tradition, yet a good relationship between student and teacher is vital even
+for the communication of secular knowledge, let alone where spiritual wisdom
+is concerned.
+ -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment: An
+ Oral Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ We have happiness of mind and freedom from anxiety to just the degree that
+our minds are tamed.... Once we want happiness and do not want suffering, we
+should engage in the means to achieve happiness and eliminate suffering.
+Practice is based on reasoning, not force; it is up to oneself.
+ The time for engaging in these techniques is now. Some feel, "I did not
+succeed in this lifetime; I will ask a lama for help in my future life." To
+think that we will practise in the future is only a hope. It is foolish to
+feel that the next life will be as suitable as this. No matter how bad our
+condition is now, since we have a human brain, we can think; since we have a
+mouth, we can recite mantra. No matter how old one may be, there is time for
+practice. However, when we die and are reborn, we are unable even to recite
+om mani padme hum. Thus, it is important to make all effort possible at this
+time when we have obtained the precious physical life-support of a human.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Deity Yoga: In Action and
+ Performance Tantra by Tsong-ka-pa", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+How would we feel if one of our children was overpowered by a serious disease
+and did some terrible things without knowing what he or she was doing? We
+should try to view someone dear who suddenly hurts us in the same light. If
+we can see that person is out of control and sick with negative emotions, we
+will not feel so much hatred and disgust. There may be resentment, and we may
+not be able to love that person more than before, but almost automatically
+there will be a certain sympathy that will lessen or end our hatred and allow
+us to forgive.
+ -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, in "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three
+ Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Compassion is a theme the Dalai Lama returns to over and over again. I
+also know he has meditated on compassion every morning without fail for the
+past half century. In an interview, I asked the Dalai Lama to give me his
+take on compassion. Lhakdor [his translator], as usual, was by his side.
+ "Compassion is something like a sense of caring, a sense of concern for
+others' difficulties and pain," the Dalai Lama said. "Not only family and
+friends, but all other people. Enemies also. Now, if we really analyze our
+feelings, one thing becomes clear. If we think only of ourselves, forget
+about other people, then our minds occupy a very small area. Inside that
+small area, even a tiny problem appears very big. But the moment you develop
+a sense of concern for others, you realize that, just like ourselves, they
+also want happiness; they also want satisfaction. When you have this sense of
+concern, your mind automatically widens. At this point, your own problems,
+even big problems, will not be so significant. The result? Big increase in
+peace of mind. So, if you think only of yourself, only your own happiness,
+the result is actually less happiness. You get more anxiety, more fear."
+ "I was thirty-two years old when I developed a strong experience of
+compassion," he told me.... "Often when I reflect on the meaning and benefits
+of altruistic mind, tears came." Lhakdor translated: "...When he meditated on
+compassion, he would sometimes be filled with joy and appreciation. And there
+is a strong sense of concern for others accompanied by a feeling of
+sadness.... And when His Holiness reflected on certain profound explanations
+on emptiness, this would also trigger a strong emotion."
+ "I think that strong conviction or strong emotions actually give more
+inner strength," the Dalai Lama explained. "So when I face some problems or
+criticism, for example, criticism from the Chinese, of course, little
+irritation sometimes..." "But then he'll have this feeling of compassion for
+them," Lhakdor translated. "He'll regret they're not making positive
+connection with him. But his sentiment is, although there is this negativity,
+may it also give positive fruit."
+ "Now, the understanding of emptiness helps a lot toward developing
+compassion. There's no doubt it reinforces compassion," the Dalai Lama said.
+Lhakdor elaborated: "Emptiness allows us to have an understanding about
+ultimate reality. It helps us to appreciate the wisdom of interdependence--a
+fundamental law of nature. We gain an appreciation that we are all basically
+related. It is because of this interrelatedness that we are able to empathize
+with the suffering of others. With empathy, compassion flows naturally. We
+develop genuine sympathy for others' suffering and the will to help remove
+their pain. Emptiness thus strengthens positive emotions like compassion."
+ Emptiness and compassion. Wisdom and method. These are the twin pillars
+of the Dalai Lama's practice--everything we need to know about spiritual
+practice. Both qualities are needed; they strengthen each other. Once we
+realize we are all interconnected, it is difficut not to feel some of
+compassion for the problems of our fellow human beings. And once we come by
+a feeling of compassion, we start to get a glimpse of the timeless truth of
+interdependence, of emptiness.
+ The Dalai Lama looked thoughtful. After some time, he turned to me, "I
+think one thing I'm quite sure," he said. "I can tell you, the twin practice
+of emptiness and compassion is... effective." Then he lapsed into Tibetan
+again. Lhakdor translated. "His Holiness can say with conviction: if you
+meditate on emptiness and compassion, so long as you make the effort, then His
+Holiness is sure that, day in and day out, you will get tangible benefit.
+Your whole attitude will change." "....These things about compassion are
+something living--according to my own experience," the Dalai Lama went on. "I
+tell some of my experiences to other people, share some of my feelings, then
+other people understand: there is something real, something living."
+ -- from "The Wisdom of Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys by"
+ His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ ...it is difficult to recognize an authentic teacher, because these
+qualities are internal. We can not depend upon external factors, but external
+factors are what we see. It is very difficult to see the inner qualities of
+another person. A businessman might be friendlier to us than our best friend,
+while his unseen motivation is merely to make a sale. Likewise, if a
+"teacher" acts in a very kind and loving manner towards us it does not
+necessarily mean that he is compassionate and selfless, because we cannot see
+his motivation. We also cannot determine a teacher's qualifications based
+upon her fame, or whether she has thousands of students. So the seeker is
+left with this paradox.
+ There is no simple solution, but there are things we can do. First, it is
+important that we familiarize ourselves with the characteristics* discussed by
+Kongtrul Rinpoche. Second, we must maintain awareness of our own motivation
+during the process of finding a teacher. Am I seeking a teacher in order to
+attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, or am I seeking
+to fulfill my need to acquire the prestige associated with a famous teacher,
+or am I merely attracted to a lama's beautiful retreat land or the social
+scene of a hip sangha, and so on.
+ These motivations need to be acknowledged if we are to recognize an
+authentic wisdom teacher, because the teacher you find is related to your
+karma, and your karma is intimately connected to your motivation.
+Fortunately, there are methods that help us purify our motivation and create
+the proper conditions for finding a wisdom teacher, such as bringing our
+awareness to our motivations as much as possible, doing daily meditation
+practice, and praying to the Triple Gem [Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha] that we
+will meet and recognize an authentic wisdom teacher.
+ -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, in "The Teacher-Student Relationship: A
+ Translation of 'The Explanation of the Master and Student Relationship,
+ How to Follow the Master, and How to Teach and Listen to the Dharma' ",
+ translated and introduced by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+
+* "Whatever lama is followed must definitely have these qualities: He holds a
+pure lineage since he has not contradicted the commitments and prohibitions of
+the three vows.... He should be very learned... clear about the sutras,
+tantras, and shastras. His mind-stream should be so saturated with compassion
+that he loves all the limitless sentient beings as his only child. He should
+be expert in the outer tripitakas and on the inner level he should be expert
+in the ritual of the four classes of tantras of the secret mantra. He should
+have manifested the outstanding noble qualities of abandomnent and realization
+in his mind-stream by having relied upon practicing the meaning of this. He
+gathers fortunate disciples by the four ways of attracting: generosity,
+pleasant speech, his conduct should benefit others, and he should act in
+accord with the dharma."
+ -- Patrul Rinpoche
+~
+...when we talk about the notion of self in Buddhism, it is important to bear
+in mind that there are different degrees or types. There are some types of
+sense of self which are not only to be cultivated but also to be reinforced
+and enhanced. For instance, in order to have a strong determination to seek
+Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, one needs a very strong
+sense of confidence, which is based upon a sense of commitment and courage.
+This requires a strong sense of self. Unless one has that identity or sense
+of self, one will not be able to develop the confidence and courage to
+strongly seek this aim. In addition, the doctrine of Buddha-nature gives us a
+lot of encouragement and confidence because we realize that there is this
+potential within us which will allow us to attain the perfection that we are
+seeking. However, there are different types of sense of self which are rooted
+in a belief in a permanent, solid, indivisible entity called "self" or "I."
+There is the belief that there is something very concrete or objective about
+this entity. This is a false notion of self which must be overcome.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience
+ from a Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+...by respecting and serving your teachers you exhaust karma whose effects you
+would otherwise experience in the miserable realms. Your action of serving
+the teacher expends these miserable effects and replaces them with only slight
+harm to your body and mind in this lifetime, either in actuality or in dreams.
+In addition, the benefits of respecting and serving your teachers are
+tremendous, such as a collection of virtue which surpasses even the roots of
+virtue that you derive from making offerings to limitless buddhas, and so
+forth. As the Sutra of Ksitigarbha says:
+ "Those whom the teachers care for will purify the karma that would
+otherwise cause them to wander through the miserable realms for ten million
+limitless eons. They purify this karma with harm to their bodies and minds in
+this lifetime. This harm includes sickness such as an infectious disease with
+fever and calamities such as famine. They may purify their karma by merely
+undergoing something as little as a dream or a scolding. They produce more
+roots of virtue in one morning than those who give gifts to, worship, or
+observe precepts from limitless tens of millions of buddhas. Those who
+respect and serve their gurus are endowed with unimaginable good qualities."
+ -- Tsong-kha-pa, in "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to
+ Enlightenment: Lam Rim Chen Mo", translated by the Lamrim Chenmo
+ Translation Committee under editorial guidance of Joshua Cutler and Guy
+ Newland, foreword by Robert A.F. Thurman, Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...if we remain clinging to this life even for one day, we are misusing
+our time. In this way, we can waste months and years on end. Because we
+don't know when our lives will finish, we should remain mindful and well
+prepared. Then, even if we die tonight, we will do so without regret. If we
+die tonight, the purpose of being well prepared is borne out; if we don't die
+tonight, there is no harm in being well prepared, because it will still
+benefit us.
+ But when we leave the world of humans, we do so without a protector or
+supporter and the total responsibility falls on us. We only have our own
+intelligence to rely on at that time, so we must expend our own effort in
+order to protect ourselves. As the Buddha said, "I have shown you the path to
+liberation; know that liberation depends on you." We must put strenuous effort
+into gaining freedom from the lower migrations, liberation from samsara,
+freedom from conventional existence and solitary salvation.
+ The body is compared to a guest house; it is a place to stay for just a
+short time and not permanently. At present, the guest of consciousness is
+staying in the guest house of the body, like renting a place to stay. When
+the day comes for consciousness to leave, the guest house of the body must be
+left behind. Not being attached to friends, the body, wealth and possessions
+is the practice of the Bodhisattvas.
+ -- His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, in "The Heart of Compassion: A Practical
+ Approach to a Meaningful Life"
+~
+ ...the Transcendent Conqueror presented the two truths with respect to all
+inner and outer things, like sprouts and everything else. Genuine truth is
+described as being simply the authentic object of the noble ones' original
+wisdom that sees what is authentic and true; there is no identity actually
+established there for conceptual mind to find. Relative truth is the false
+object seen from the perspective of the conceptual mind whose eye of wisdom is
+completely covered by the cataract of ignorance, as is the case with ordinary
+beings. It is therefore posited as being this conceptual mind. The object
+perceived does not exist in the way that this mind perceives it to be.
+ Thus, the Teacher explained that every thing found holds two natures
+within: a genuine nature and a relative one. From among these two, the object
+of the noble ones' authentic vision is the precise nature of reality, genuine
+truth, and the object of false seeing is relative truth.
+ -- Chandrakirti, in "The Moon of Wisdom: Chapter Six of Chandrakirti's
+ 'Entering the Middle Way' with Commentary from the Eighth Karmapa Mikyo
+ Dorje's 'Chariot of the Dagpo Kagyu Siddhas', translated by Ari Goldfield,
+ Jules Levinson, Jim Scott and Birgit Scott under guidance of Khenpo
+ Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...we find Agastya, born to a family of Brahmans so illustrious as to be
+called "an ornament of the earth," living as an ascetic on the island of Kara
+in the Indian Ocean.... "On what accomplishment have you set your hopes?"
+Indra asked Agastya the Bodhisattva. "What is the object of your wishes that
+has led you to leave your sorrowful friends and relatives, desert a household
+and possessions that had been your happiness, and enter this way of life that
+destroys all pleasures?"
+ The Bodhisattva replied according to the Dharma, in a way that immediately
+laid Indra's anxiety to rest. "Repeated births tend to great sorrow," he
+said. "So do the calamities of old age, sickness and death. All are just a
+disturbance to the mind. My vow is to save all sentient beings from these
+evils."
+ Relieved, Indra immediately offered, in return for such candid truth, the
+fulfillment of any desire Agastya might name. "May the fire of covetousness
+that burns insatiably even after obtaining a beloved wife, children, power and
+riches never enter my heart," Agastya said. "Excellent, excellent," applauded
+Indra and urged Agastya to request the fulfillment of still another desire.
+ "May the fire of hatred burn far from me," Agastya said. Pleased by this
+game, in which Agastya so ingeniously taught the Dharma while appearing to
+request the fulfillment of his desires, Indra urged him to go on. But this
+time he was startled to hear Agastya's words. "May I never hear, see, speak
+to, nor endure the annoyance and pain of staying with a fool," Agastya said.
+"What do you mean?" Indra asked. "Those in distress deserve sympathy; the
+root of distress is foolishness. How can you claim to be compassionate when
+you abhor the very presence of those most due sympathy?"
+ Then Agastya reasoned in this way, to prove to Indra that one should
+associate not with the foolish but with men of wisdom. "A fool cannot be
+cured even by medical treatment," he said. "Habituated to wrong conduct
+because of a deficiency in moral education, he urges his neighbors to follow
+his impetuous way, inflamed by self-conceit and the affectation of wisdom.
+When reprimanded, he becomes angry. There is no help for him." "How true,"
+Indra said. "Let me hear more jewellike, well spoken sentences."
+ "May I see, hear, live with and converse with a wise man," Agastya said,
+"for these reasons: because the wise man, walking the path of virtue, draws
+others along with him, and is never roused to impatience by harsh words spoken
+for his own good." Again Indra was delighted.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by His Holiness the
+ Dalai Lama XIV on the Jatakamala Garland of Birth Stories", translated by
+ Tenzin Dorjee
+~
+(2) What one has to abandon: how to get rid of arrogance by means of an
+antidote--
+ "I'm not beyond my karma, the deeds I've done;
+ I'll still fall ill, age, die, and leave my friends."
+ Think like this again and yet again
+ And with this remedy avoid all arrogance.
+"I will be sick, I will grow old, I will die, I will be separated from those
+I love, my relations and so forth. In such manner, the fully ripened effect
+of my actions will come to me and to no one else, and I am therefore not above
+depending on what I did in former lives." To think like this again and again
+is the antidote to such things as arrogance: make every effort not to become
+arrogant by meditating on this antidote.
+ -- "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur Rinpoche
+ by Nagarjuna", translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+For every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+Inwardly, we defend against death by the very structure of our ego. Our ego
+claims to have the ability to provide us with happiness based on its belief in
+its own permanent existence. On the one hand, to believe in ego results in
+denying death. On the other, to accept death is to question the very nature
+of ego as a permanent, on-going structure and to confront very strong defense
+mechanisms. As a result, we have strong resistance to contemplating death.
+This resistance is also the same resistance that comes up when we meditate.
+Please recognize it for what it is and move on.
+ -- Bruce Newman, in "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism: Notes from a
+ Practitioner's Journey", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Question: Could you please say something on the three kinds of suffering?
+
+His Holiness: One kind of suffering is like a headache or like yesterday's
+flu: discomfort in the nose, watery eyes, and so forth. In short, it includes
+all of those kinds of gross physical and mental sufferings that in ordinary
+parlance we usually call "suffering." This is the first category.
+
+Then the second category is as follows. When we feel hungry and begin to take
+food, at first we feel very happy. We take one mouthful, then two, three,
+four, five... eventually, though it is the same person, the same food, and
+the same time period, we begin to find the food objectionable and reject it.
+This is what is meant by the "suffering of change." Practically every worldly
+happiness and pleasure is in this second category. Compared to other forms of
+suffering, at the beginning these more subtle forms of suffering seem
+pleasurable; they seem to afford us some happiness, but this is not true or
+lasting happiness, for the more we become acquainted with them, the more
+involved we become with them, the more suffering and trouble they bring us.
+That is the second category.
+
+Now as for the third category, I think it is fair to say that it is one's own
+body. Roughly speaking, this is what it is. It is the body which is the
+fruit of afflictions, a body originally created by afflictions. Because the
+body is created by such causes, it is of the very nature of suffering. It
+comes to act as the basis of suffering. This, then, is the third category.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
+ edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications.
+~
+ One point I should make here is that some people, especially those who see
+themselves as very realistic and practical, are sometimes too realistic and
+obsessed with practicality. They may think, "The idea of wishing for the
+happiness of all beings, of wanting what is best for every single one, is
+unrealistic and too idealistic. Such an unrealistic idea cannot contribute in
+any way to transforming the mind or to attaining some kind of mental
+discipline, because it is completely unachievable."
+ ...They feel there is simply no point in thinking about all beings since
+there is an infinite number of them. They may conceivably be able to feel
+some kind of connection with some fellow human beings on this planet, but they
+feel that the infinite number of beings throughout the universe has nothing to
+do with their own experience as individuals.
+ ...What is important here, however, is to grasp the impact of cultivating
+such altruistic sentiments. The point is to try to develop the scope of our
+empathy in such a way that we can extend it to any form of life with the
+capacity to feel pain and experience happiness. It is a matter of recognizing
+living organisms as sentient, and therefore subject to pain and capable of
+happiness.
+ ...Such a universal sentiment of compassion is very powerful, and there is
+no need to be able to identify, in specific terms, with every single living
+being in order for it to be effective.
+ ...Given patience and time, it is within our power to develop this kind of
+universal compassion.
+ -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, in "The Compassionate Life",
+ edited by David Kittelstrom, sponsored by Richard Gere and the Gere
+ Foundation
+~
+Position
+ Different body postures open or compress particular energetic channels and
+influence the flow of subtle energy. We use this understanding to aid
+specific processes in the practice. The Tibetan tradition considers the
+negative emotions to be more closely associated with the primary channel on
+the right side of the body in men and on the left in women. When a man sleeps
+on his right side, the channel that carries mostly negative prana is forced a
+little closed and the left channel opens. Also the lung, the physical organ,
+on that side is a bit compressed so the opposite lung is a little more
+responsible for the breath. You are probably already familiar with effects
+from lying on your side: when you lie on your right side you find it easier to
+breathe through your left nostril. For men, we consider this position
+beneficial to the movement of the positive wisdom prana through the left
+channel. Women benefit from the reverse, opening the wisdom channel that is
+on their right side by sleeping on their left. This affects dreams in a
+positive fashion and makes the dream practice easier. Opening the flow of the
+wisdom prana is a provisional expedient, as ultimately we want the balanced
+prana to move into the central channel.
+ Furthermore, by paying attention to posture, awareness is kept more stable
+during sleep. Where I come from, most people sleep on a three-foot by six-
+foot Tibetan carpet. If one moves too much, one falls out of bed. But that
+does not usually happen, because when one sleeps on something small, the
+position of the body is held in the sleeping mind throughout the night....
+Here, in the big beds of the West, the sleeper can rotate like the hands of a
+clock and not fall, but holding the position anyway will help maintain
+awareness.
+ -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
+ edited by Mark Dahlby, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The term emptiness does not carry here any connotation of void or of absolute
+nothingness. It should be understood as the naturally open and serene state
+of the mind. Thus, to affirm the emptiness of phenomena does not in any way
+mean that they do not exist in the way that the horn of a hare or skyflowers
+do not exist. Instead, emptiness refers to the insight that, at the ultimate
+level, both interior phenomena--sensations, perceptions and the "I"--and
+exterior phenomena--all the appearances of the phenomenal world--have no real
+existence, although they do appear in different forms. The Heart Sutra
+summarizes this as follows:
+ Form is emptiness, emptiness is form,
+ Emptiness is not other than form,
+ Form is not other than emptiness.
+ -- Jerome Edou in "Machig Labdron and the Foundations of Chod", published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Nonviolence does not mean that we remain indifferent to a problem. On the
+contrary, it is important to be fully engaged. However, we must behave in a
+way that does not benefit us alone. We must not harm the interests of others.
+Nonviolence therefore is not merely the absence of violence. It involves a
+sense of compassion and caring. It is almost a manifestation of compassion.
+I strongly believe that we must promote such a concept of nonviolence at the
+level of the family as well as at the national and international levels. Each
+individual has the ability to contribute to such compassionate nonviolence.
+ How should we go about this? We can start with ourselves. We must try to
+develop greater perspective, looking at situations from all angles. Usually
+when we face problems, we look at them from our own point of view. We even
+sometimes deliberately ignore other aspects of a situation. This often leads
+to negative consequences. However, it is very important for us to have a
+broader perspective.
+ We must come to realize that others are also part of our society. We can
+think of our society as a body, with arms and legs as parts of it. Of course,
+the arm is different from the leg; however, if something happens to the foot,
+the hand should reach down to help. Similarly, when something is wrong within
+our society, we must help.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
+ Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato and
+ Richard Gere
+~
+ According to Highest Yoga Tantra, some persons attain Buddhahood in one
+lifetime, and because these persons are not born with a body adorned with the
+major and minor marks they must achieve such a body through the practice of
+deity yoga.
+ Meditation on oneself as undifferentiable from a deity is the special
+cause... for attaining Buddhahood. If one meditated only on emptiness and
+did not cultivate any method--either that of the Perfection or that of the
+Mantra Vehicle--one would fall to the fruit of a Hinayana Foe Destroyer. In
+order to attain the definite goodness of the highest achievement, Buddhahood,
+deity yoga is needed. Also, ...one must view one's body clearly as a divine
+body and train in the pride of being a deity. Without deity yoga the Mantra
+path is impossible; deity yoga is the essence of Mantra.
+ -- H.H. Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Tantra in Tibet",
+ translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Often we see other sentient beings as hassles: "This mosquito is
+disturbing me. Those politicians are corrupt. Why can't my colleagues do
+their work correctly?" and so on. But when we see sentient beings as being
+more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel, our perspective completely
+changes. For example, when we look at a fly buzzing around, we train
+ourselves to think, "My enlightenment depends on that fly." This isn't
+fanciful thinking because, in fact, our enlightenment does depend on that fly.
+If that fly isn't included in our bodhicitta, then we don't have bodhicitta,
+and we won't receive the wonderful results of generating bodhicitta--the
+tremendous purification and creation of positive potential.
+ Imagine training your mind so that when you look at every single living
+being, you think, "My enlightenment depends on that being. The drunk who just
+got on the bus--my enlightenment depends on him. The soldier in Iraq--my
+enlightenment depends on him. My brothers and sisters, the teller at the
+bank, the janitor at my workplace, the president of the United States, the
+suicide bombers in the Middle East, the slug in my garden, my eighth-grade
+boyfriend, the babysitter when I was a kid--my enlightenment depends on each
+of them." All sentient beings are actually that precious to us.
+ -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, in "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The
+ Yoga Method of Chenrezig", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ We think of ourselves as being the child of specific parents, as belonging
+to a certain gender and race, as a citizen of a specific nation, and as a
+member of a caste, class and community within that country, etc. Our
+identification with these transient reference points, be they racial,
+linguistic, cultural, conceptual, or gender-specific, can become lifelong love
+affairs, hate affairs, or guilt affairs. What Guru Rinpoche's birth
+symbolizes for me is the fact that, from the first moment, he recognized the
+unborn and undying nature of his mind, primordially pure awareness. He
+identified with that, rather than with his body, wherever it may have come
+from, be it a womb, a lotus, a stork, or a cabbage patch. Whatever physical,
+linguistic, or conceptual worlds he adopted, he wore as ephemeral ornaments on
+the infinite expanse of timeless awareness.
+ ...Guru Rinpoche was not an individual who followed a spiritual path until
+illumination. He was an enlightened being who appeared in different guises
+entirely as a manifestation to help others, including the guise of an
+individual who followed the spiritual path.
+ -- Ngawang Zangpo, in "Guru Rinpoche: His Life and Times", published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...if a person is experiencing some kind of mental dysfunction, it is
+frequently understood that the mind itself has become too withdrawn in upon
+itself, and that there is a corresponding physiological process involving the
+energies themselves, which are closely associated with consciousness, also
+entering into a dysfunctional state.
+ So, in the Buddhist view, it can happen, for example, that one's mind will
+become depressed because of some environmental event. As a result of the mind
+becoming depressed, there is a chemical, maybe an electrochemical,
+transformation in the brain that has now occurred. The mental dysfunction
+will then be aggravated. When that happens, there is a further chemical
+response, which then avalanches upon itself.
+ ...on occasion, without any special external event taking place, there can
+simply be a dysfunction or disruption in the balance of the elements within
+the body. In that event, the internal circumstances are the dominant,
+principal cause.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
+ with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism," edited by Zara
+ Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.
+ -- Ben Sweetland
+~
+You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi
+~
+ Enlightenment is not only... devoid of various types of contaminations,
+pollutions, suffering, and afflictive emotions... but is also free from
+various dualistic appearances. When you achieve such a state, you are
+unfettered from all elaborations in the form of subject-object duality and
+appearances of conventionality.
+ You are free not because the subject-object duality or conventional
+appearances are objects of elimination in the sense that they are negative
+emotions. Rather, you are free because these elaborations cease to exist when
+you reach the state of enlightenment. In such a state, the mind of
+enlightenment or omniscience is such that it is totally merged with emptiness.
+To such a mind, no elaborations exist.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections and
+ Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh
+~
+Guilt and Shame
+ When we meditate, things from the past come up, and we have to work with
+them. We may remember times when we treated others horribly--hurting their
+feelings, deceiving them, repaying their kindness with spite, manipulating
+them, cheating them. While regret for these actions is appropriate and
+necessary to purify these karmas, we often fall into guilt and shame instead.
+Guilt and shame are obstacles to overcome on the path, because they keep us
+trapped in our self-centered melodrama entitled "How Bad I Am." Regret, on the
+other hand, realizes that we erred, leads us to purify, and motivates us to
+refrain from acting like that in the future.
+ How do we counteract guilt and shame? One way is to recognize that the
+person who did that action no longer exists. You are different now. Is the
+person who did that action five years ago the same person you are now? If she
+were exactly the same person, you would still be doing the same action. The
+present "you" exists in a continuum from that person, but is not exactly the
+same as her. Look back at the person you were with compassion. You can
+understand the suffering and confusion she was experiencing that made her act
+in that way.
+ -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga
+ Method of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted,
+the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the
+voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil
+to triumph.
+ -- Haile Selassie
+~
+If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever
+that search may lead us. The free mind is no barking dog to be tethered
+on a ten-foot chain.
+ -- Adlai E. Stevenson
+~
+Our relationship with our practice must be based on reason and common sense.
+The principal subject to be learned is the nature of the two levels of reality
+[conventional and ultimate], the stages of which can be approached through a
+combination of hearing, contemplation and meditation. It is very important
+always to remember contemplation, which is the analysis and investigation of
+the teachings through the use of reason. The two truths are speaking about
+reality, not some intellectual fabrication. To investigate the teaching
+critically is fully encouraged in the same way that medical students are
+encouraged to apply their theories to real life and thus to witness their
+validity.... Time may flow on, but the essential nature of the deeper
+problems and mysteries that human beings encounter in the course of their
+lives remains the same. Contemplation of the teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni
+is merely contemplation of certain facets of reality, and it will cause to
+unfold within us a deeper understanding of ourselves, our minds, and the
+nature of our sense of being. As the teachings are merely pointing out key
+facts of life, facts that, if realized, cause one to evolve in wholesome
+directions, a critical investigation of them will only inspire trainees with
+confidence. Reason well from the beginning and then there will never be any
+need to look back with confusion and doubt.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Enlightenment", published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+b. Keeping bounteousness in mind
+
+ Possessions are ephemeral and essenceless
+ Know this and give them generously to monks,
+ To brahmins, to the poor, and to your friends:
+ Beyond there is no greater friend than gift.
+
+Having realized that possessions such as food are inconstant and fluctuate,
+that in changing and transforming they are devoid of essence, in order to make
+them meaningful try to use them properly, giving to those with good qualities
+(monks and brahmins), to those who suffer (the poor, the sick, and so forth),
+to those who help you (friends) and to those you venerate (spiritual teachers
+and parents). Even beyond the world there is no friend more sublime, more
+beneficial, than giving, because it gives rise directly and indirectly to
+ripened effects that are inexhaustible.
+
+ -- Nagarjuna, "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur
+ Rinpoche", translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ A goloptious full-up pot, too,
+ And I don't know where it's got to,
+ No, I don't know where it's gone--
+ Well, its funny.
+ -- A.A. Milne, "In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump"
+~
+With a determination to accomplish
+The highest welfare for all sentient beings
+Who surpass even a wish-granting jewel
+I will learn to hold them supremely dear.
+
+ Never mind neglecting other sentient beings, you should take them as a
+treasure through which temporary and final aims can be achieved and should
+cherish them one-pointedly. Others should be considered more dear, more
+important than yourself. Initially, it is in dependence upon sentient
+beings--others--that you generate the altruistic aspiration to highest
+enlightenment. In the middle, it is in relation to sentient beings that you
+increase this good mind higher and higher and practice the deeds of the path
+in order to achieve enlightenment. Finally, in the end, it is for the sake of
+sentient beings that you achieve Buddhahood. Since sentient beings are the
+aim and basis of all of this marvelous development, they are more important
+than even a wish-granting jewel, and should always be treated with respect,
+kindness, and love.
+
+ You might think, "My mind is so full of the afflictive emotions. How
+could I possibly do this?" However, the mind does what it is used to. What
+we are not used to, we find difficult, but with familiarity, previously
+difficult things become easy. Thus Shantideva's Engaging in the Bodhisattva
+Deeds says,
+
+ "There is nothing which, with time, you cannot get used to."
+
+ -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
+ Clarity, and Insight," edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Eventually, through the power of stabilizing meditation in which the
+mind is set one-pointedly on its object of observation, an initial mental
+pliancy--a serviceability of mind--is generated. As a sign that mental
+pliancy is about to be generated, a tingly sensation is felt at the top of the
+head. This pleasant feeling is compared to that of a warm hand placed on top
+of the head after it has been shaved. When mental pliancy has been generated,
+a favorable wind, or energy, circulates in the body, engendering physical
+pliancy. Through this wind, or air, pervading the entire body, the
+unserviceability of the body such that it cannot be directed to virtuous
+activities in accordance with your wishes is removed. The generation of
+physical pliancy, in turn, engenders a bliss of physical pliancy, a sense of
+comfort throughout the body due to the power of meditative stabilization.
+ The bliss of physical pliancy induces a bliss of mental pliancy, making
+the mind blissful. At first, this joyous mental bliss is a little too
+buoyant, but then gradually it becomes more steady; at this point, one attains
+an unfluctuating pliancy. This marks attainment of a fully qualified
+meditative stabilization of calm abiding.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Yoga
+ Tantra: Paths to Magical Feats", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The more we generate an attitude of contentment in our lives, the happier
+we will be and the more open we will be to engage in genuine Dharma practice.
+Letting go of the eight worldly concerns brings mental peace right now.
+ The defining characteristic of a thought or action being Dharma is whether
+or not we're attached to the happiness of this life. The eight worldly
+concerns are completely involved with attachment to the happiness of this
+life. How can we practice genuine Dharma when our self-centered mind is
+fixated on getting our own way and making everyone and everything around us
+suit our preferences and needs?
+ That doesn't mean the happiness of this life is bad or wrong. The Buddha
+did not say that we should suffer in this life so that we'll get our reward in
+heaven. The objects we're attached to and have aversion for aren't the
+problem; there's nothing wrong with experiencing pleasure and happiness.
+Those aren't the issue. Rather, attachment to pleasant feelings and to the
+people, objects, and situations that cause them, and aversion to unpleasant
+ones--it is these emotions that create trouble. They make us unhappy and
+propel us to harm others in order to get what we want. The troublemakers of
+attachment and hostility are what we want to abandon, not people and things.
+There is nothing wrong with being happy. But when we're attached to it, we
+actually create more unhappiness for ourselves.
+ -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+When engaging in hearing, it is important to mix the mind, to familiarize the
+mind, with what is being heard. The study of religion is not like learning
+about history. It must be mixed with your mental continuum; your mind should
+be suffused with it. A sutra says that the practices are like a mirror; your
+actions of body, speech, and mind are like a face to be seen in the mirror;
+and through the practices you should recognize faults and gradually get rid of
+them. As it is said in the oral transmission, "If there is enough space
+between yourself and the practices for someone else to walk through, then you
+are not implementing them properly."
+ -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, in "Kindness,
+ Clarity, and Insight", edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Question: What is the relationship of the mind and afflictive emotions?
+
+DL: The very entity of the mind, its nature of mere luminosity and knowing, is
+not polluted by defilements; they do not abide in the entity of the mind.
+Even when we generate afflictive emotions, the very entity or nature of the
+mind is still mere luminosity and knowing, and because of this we are able to
+remove the afflictive emotions. If you agitate the water in a pond, it
+becomes cloudy with mud; yet the very nature of the water itself is not dirty.
+When you allow it to become still again, the mud will settle, leaving the
+water pure. How are defilements removed? They are not removed by outside
+action, nor by leaving them as they are; they are removed by the power of
+antidotes, meditative antidotes.
+ -- The Dalai Lama, "A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
+ About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Every single sentient being wishes to be happy and free of suffering. By
+no means does Buddhism say this is wrong; rather, this is where we start from.
+ The very root of this yearning for happiness, this yearning to be free of
+suffering, is the fundamental expression of the buddha-nature. If for the
+time being we turn our gaze away from the myriad ways that we can stray from
+the agenda--trying to find happiness by buying a more luxurious car, or a
+bigger house, or getting a better job--and just come back to the primary
+desire of wishing to be happy, we find at the very source of our yearning for
+happiness the buddha-nature wanting to realize itself. It's like a seed that
+wants to spring into the sunlight. Sometimes it gets terribly contorted, when
+we want to injure somebody else for the sake of our own happiness, but the
+fundamental yearning is something to be embraced.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Four Immeasurables: Cultivating a Boundless
+ Heart", edited by Zara Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it
+by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.
+ -- George S. Patton
+~
+ When you meditate with concentration, there are three particular
+experiences that arise: bliss, clarity, and nonthought. Sometimes you feel
+great joy, sometimes your mind is very clear, and sometimes there is complete
+equanimity. To experience these you do not need to meditate for a long time,
+although for a beginner these experiences will not last long because of the
+limited ability of a beginner's meditation.
+ The experience of meditative bliss is greater than ordinary worldly
+happiness. Sometimes when you are meditating, a feeling of blissfulness
+suddenly arises from the subtle state of your mind and pervades your entire
+body. This bliss is healthy and brings out your inner qualities. Some people
+use drugs to induce blissfulness and visions, but drugs are external supports
+that cannot bring lasting happiness. The bliss experienced in meditation can
+last for many days, according to your ability to meditate. When you
+experience this kind of bliss, on the outside you might look very poor, but
+inside you remain very joyful.
+ The second main experience in meditation is clarity. Sometimes while
+meditating you can suddenly feel that your mind is very clear and bright.
+Even if you are meditating in the dark, you do not feel heavy or tired.
+Sometimes your body feels very light and your mind is very clear, and many
+kinds of reflections appear. Clarity brings great wisdom and the ability to
+read other people's minds, as well as to see your own past and future lives.
+ The third main experience is nonthought, or a state of equanimity without
+distractions. Beginners can also experience this. Nonthought is more settled
+than the experiences of bliss and clarity. If you have thoughts, they
+suddenly dissolve and you can remain continuously in meditation. As your
+ability to meditate develops, your mind becomes more and more settled, so that
+you can meditate for one hour or one week or one month without being
+distracted by thoughts. You simply remain in the natural state for as long as
+you want.
+ -- Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, in "Opening to Our
+ Primordial Nature", edited by Ann Helm and Michael White, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...when you probe deeply you will find that no matter how high an
+existence a realm may be, even though it may be the highest state of
+existence, as long as it is in this cycle of existence the beings there are in
+the nature of sufferings, because they have the sufferings of pervasive
+conditioning and are therefore under the influence or command of contaminated
+actions and delusions. As long as one is not able to be free from such an
+influence, there is no place for permanent peace or happiness.
+ Generally, the experiences that you normally regard as pleasurable and
+happy, such as having the physical comfort of good facilities and so forth, if
+they are examined at a deeper level, will be revealed to be changeable and
+therefore in the nature of suffering. They provide you with temporary
+satisfaction; because of that temporary satisfaction you regard them as
+experiences of happiness. But if you keep on pursuing them, they will again
+lead to the experience of suffering. Most of these pleasurable experiences
+are not really happiness in the true sense of the word, but only appear as
+pleasure and happiness in comparison to the obvious sufferings that you have.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, in "Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide
+ to Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, edited by
+ Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Once the conventional nature of the mind has been identified, then,
+through analysing its nature, finally we will gradually be able to identify
+the ultimate nature of the mind. If that is done, there is great progress
+unlike anything else.
+ At the beginning we should meditate for half an hour. When we rise from
+the session and various good and bad objects appear, benefit and harm are
+manifestly experienced. Therefore, we should develop as much as we can the
+realisation that these phenomena do not exist objectively and are mere
+dependent-arisings of appearances, like illusions [in that they only seem to
+be inherently existent]. We should meditate in this way in four formal
+sessions: at sunrise, in the morning, afternoon, and evening.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
+ Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Bodhichitta is the one practice we cannot do without. Even if we have been
+given the precious oral instructions on realizing the nature of mind, they
+will not be the sufficient cause for realization if we have not learned to
+generate Bodhichitta. The great Dzogchen yogi Patrul Rinpoche said,
+ If we have only one thing, the precious Bodhichitta is enough.
+ If we have nothing else, we must have the method of the precious
+ Bodhichitta.
+ We should learn to develop Bodhichitta in a twofold way: through our
+aspirations and through our actions. Aspiration Bodhichitta is our initial
+wish that all sentient beings be liberated from the vast ocean of samsara's
+suffering. Action Bodhichitta requires that we first generate aspiration
+Bodhichitta, and practice the Six Paramitas as the method to establish the two
+benefits of 1) attaining Buddhahood oneself to 2) be of ultimate benefit to
+others. The way to practice aspiration and action Bodhichitta was taught by
+the omniscient Patrul Rinpoche, who said,
+ The instructions for aspiration [Bodhichitta] are to practice the
+ Four Immeasurables;
+ The instructions for action [Bodhichitta] are to practice the Paramitas.
+ -- Anyen Rinpoche, "The Union of Dzogchen and Bodhichitta", translated by
+ Allison Graboski, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ What are the techniques for heightening or lowering the mind? To heighten
+the mind, you think about something that enlivens it, but not an object that
+would generate desire. For instance, you could reflect on the value of
+developing the meditative stabilization of calm abiding or on the value of
+having attained a life as a human or on the value of having human
+intelligence. Through such reflection, your mind will gain courage, thereby
+causing its mode of apprehension to become heightened.
+ If, despite such a technique, laxity is not cleared away, it is better to
+end the session and go to a place that is bright or that is high with a vast
+view where you can see a great distance. Or, expose yourself to fresh air, or
+throw cold water on your face. Then, return to the session.
+ When the mind becomes too heightened and thus scattered, what will lower
+its mode of apprehension? As a technique to withdraw the mind inside, you
+should reflect on a topic that sobers the mind, such as the suffering of
+cyclic existence, or think "In the past I have been ruined by distraction, and
+again now I will be ruined by distraction. If I do not take care now, it will
+not be good." This will lower the mode of apprehension of the mind.
+ Since this is the case, a person who is cultivating calm abiding needs to
+be in a state where such reflections will move the mind immediately.
+Therefore, prior to working at achieving calm abiding, it is necessary to have
+become convinced about many topics--such as those involved in the four
+establishments in mindfulness--through a considerable amount of analysis. In
+an actual session of cultivating calm abiding one is performing stabilizing
+meditation, not analytical meditation, but if one has engaged in considerable
+analysis of these topics previously, the force of the previous reflection
+remains with the mind and can be recalled. Thus, when you switch to such
+topics in order either to elevate or lower the mind, the mind will be
+immediately affected. In this way, if ascertainment has been generated
+previously, then reflecting on the value of meditative stabilization or the
+value of a human lifetime will immediately heighten the mind, and reflection
+on sobering topics such as the nature of the body or the ugliness of objects
+of desire will immediately lower its mode of apprehension.
+ ...recognize when laxity and excitement arise and know the techniques for
+overcoming them.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
+ Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ How is it that mistaken mind overwhelms the unmistaken mind, unmistaken
+reality? To give an example, during the day when the sun is shining one does
+not see any stars and thus one would think that there are no stars at all,
+that they just plain do not exist. Just so, afflictive emotions shine so
+brightly and are so powerful that it is as if unmistaken reality, unmistaken
+mind, does not exist at all. When you seek out this unmistaken mind from
+within, you come to understand that there is an unmistaken mind--a reality of
+the mind--that does not die, that does not scurry after pleasure and pain.
+This mind that does not follow after pleasure and pain has a mode of being
+that is emptiness--but not an emptiness in the sense of an empty house or an
+empty vessel; rather, it is endowed with the inconceivable self-effulgence of
+unmistaken reality, of pristine wisdom.
+ When you search for this that is beyond mistaken mind, mistaken mind just
+stops; gradually like dawn there comes to be a time when pristine wisdom
+manifests a little. With the beginning of dawn there is not just darkness but
+some light, and so it is when the self-effulgence, the self-color, the self-
+nature of the pristine wisdom shows itself a little; one generates a suspicion
+that there is wisdom beyond mistaken mind. As Aryadeva says, "When you
+generate doubt thinking that there might be such a reality, cyclic existence
+is torn to tatters." How does cyclic existence come to be torn to tatters, or
+wrecked, made into a mess by doubt? For instance, if a table is wrecked,
+broken up, it cannot perform the function of a table; just so, when the self-
+effulgence of unmistaken pristine wisdom begins to dawn with this state of
+doubt, cyclic existence is wrecked and torn to tatters.
+ -- Mi-pam-gya-tso, in "Fundamental Mind: The Nyingma View of the Great
+ Completeness", practical commentary by Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay,
+ translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ The Jewel in the Crown Sutra states, "Donning the armor of loving-
+ kindness, while abiding in the state of great compassion, practice
+ meditative stabilization that actualizes the emptiness possessing
+ the best of all qualities. What is the emptiness possessing the
+ best of all qualities? It is that which is not divorced from
+ generosity, ethics, patience, effort, meditative stabilization,
+ wisdom, or skillful means." Bodhisattvas must rely on virtuous
+ practices like generosity as means to thoroughly ripen all sentient
+ beings and in order to perfect the place, body, and manifold retinue.
+ -- from "Stages of Meditation" by Kamalashila
+
+...Note that practice of generosity and the other perfections is essential.
+This is because the fully enlightened state of Buddhahood is produced by the
+realization of favorable causes and conditions. There is no causeless
+production and nothing is produced by contrary causes. A Bodhisattva has many
+wonderful advantages to help enhance the welfare of sentient beings; every
+virtue performed by such a noble being is very powerful and effective.
+Therefore, Bodhisattvas earnestly engage in the practice of the method aspects
+of the path, including the six perfections, in order to swiftly actualize the
+state of Buddhahood.
+ -- The Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", translated by Venerable Geshe
+ Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Of the three kayas, the Dharmakaya is linked to our mind, Sambhogakaya to
+our speech, or communicative principle, and the Nirmanakaya to our ordinary
+body.
+ The process of the three blendings in brief is as follows.
+ We experience the clear light of the waking state naturally during cIimax,
+and it can also be induced with yogic methods. Moreover, we naturally
+experience it at the moment of going to sleep, and at the moment of death.
+The principle here is that this clear light mind as experienced in each of the
+three occasions (waking, sleep and death) is the highest experience of our
+consciousness, and in it we dwell in a mental state of blissful, formless non-
+duality similar to that of the Dharmakaya wisdom of a buddha. Thus when we
+experience the clear light mind in any of these three occasions we should
+blend it with the Dharmakaya.
+ The first movement from this clear light mind is likened to the
+Sambhogakaya experience. In the waking state this occurs in our meditation
+when we fall out of the clear light that is induced with yogic techniques and
+the conceptual mind is aroused. In sleep it occurs after the clear light of
+the moment of entering sleep passes and we begin to dream. At death it occurs
+when the clear light flash at the moment of death passes and we leave our body
+and enter the bardo realm.
+ A buddha's Sambhogakaya is only visible to an arya, or saint, and not to
+an ordinary being; in the same way our thoughts, dreams, and bardo visions are
+not visible to ordinary beings but nonetheless are experiences of form. These
+subtle form experiences are to be linked to the natural realization of the
+illusory, blissful, and perfect nature of being; they are to be seen as an
+illusory theater made manifest for the benefit of the world. In other words,
+they are to be blended with the Sambhogakaya. This is the second set of three
+blendings.
+ The third blending is that of blending rebirth with the Nirmanakaya.
+Rebirth from the bardo of the waking state occurs every time that we arise
+from a meditation session and once more go about our ordinary life; rebirth
+from the bardo of the sleep / dream state occurs when we wake up and once more
+enter the work-a-day world; and rebirth from the bardo of becoming, or death
+bardo, occurs when we complete the unwinding process of the afterlife state
+and once again are ready to enter into a new body.
+ The basic principle underlying these three blendings is that what occurs
+to us at the time of death also occurs to us in miniature form at the time of
+going to sleep and can be induced in the waking state by means of the inner
+heat yogas.
+ -- "Readings on the Six Yogas of Naropa," translated, edited and introduced
+ by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+If you want to tell people the truth,
+make them laugh,
+otherwise they'll kill you.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+In the beginning there was nothing.
+God said, "Let there be light!"
+And there was light.
+There was still nothing,
+but you could see it a whole lot better.
+ -- Ellen DeGeneres
+~
+ Now, as [in the past], the concept of a transcendent god as creator has a
+powerful and inspiring impact on the lives of those who believe in it. The
+sense that their entire destiny lies in the hands of an all-powerful,
+omniscient and compassionate being leads them to try to understand the
+workings and key message of this transcendent being. Then, when they come to
+realise that this transcendent being embodies love and infinite compassion,
+they try to cultivate love and compassion towards their fellow beings as the
+qualities through which to express love for their creator. They also gain
+confidence and inspiration through a sense of intimacy or connectedness to
+this loving, transcendent being.
+ Although, metaphysically speaking, Buddhists reject any notion of a
+transcendent creator or god, some individual Buddhists do relate to certain
+higher beings, such as the goddess Tara, as an independent and real being with
+power over their destiny. For these practitioners Tara is their sole refuge,
+their greatest object of veneration and their trusted guardian and protector.
+What this suggests is that the inclination to seek refuge in an external
+source is something deeply natural for us as human beings.
+ But it is also clear that for other people the metaphysical concept of a
+transcendent being is unacceptable. Questions form in their minds, such as:
+who created the creator--in other words--where does the transcendent being
+come from? And how can we posit a true beginning? People with this type of
+mental disposition look elsewhere for explanations.
+ -- The Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Due to misunderstanding each other's needs and concerns, miscommunication
+occurs on the international level as well [as the personal level]. In all
+these situations--personal and international--freeing ourselves from our
+narrow understanding of a situation by seeing it from the other's viewpoint is
+an effective remedy for anger. We can ask ourselves, "If I had grown up in
+that person's family, society, time in history, and cultural conditions, what
+would my needs and concerns be in this situation?"
+ When we look at the situation from the other person's viewpoint, sometimes
+we see that she perceives it differently than we thought she did. Other
+times, we realize that we have little idea of how a situation appears to
+another person or what her needs and concerns are. Therefore, we need to ask
+her; and when she responds, we need to listen, without interrupting. It is
+all too easy, when someone explains her view to us, to correct her or tell her
+that she should not feel the way she does. This only inflames the other
+person, and convinces her, with good reason, that we don't understand.
+Rather, we need to listen from our heart to what she says. After she has
+fully expressed herself, we can share our perspectives, and generally, a
+productive discussion will ensue.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, in "Working with Anger", published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ ...it is extremely important to look inward and try to promote the right
+kind of attitude, which is based on awareness of reality. A sense of caring
+for others is crucial. And it is actually the best way of caring for oneself.
+...the moment you think of others, this automatically opens our inner door--
+you can communicate with other people easily, without any difficulties. The
+moment you think just of yourself and disregard others, then because of your
+own attitude, you also get the feeling that other people also have a similar
+attitude toward you. That brings suspicion, fear. Result? You yourself lose
+inner calmness. Therefore, I usually say that although a certain kind of
+selfishness is basically right--self and the happiness of that self are our
+original right, and we have every right to overcome suffering--but selfishness
+that leads to no hesitation to harm another, to exploit another, that kind of
+selfishness is blind. Therefore, I sometimes jokingly describe it this way:
+if we are going to be selfish, we should be wisely selfish rather than
+foolishly selfish.
+ I feel that the moment you adopt a sense of caring for others, that brings
+inner strength. Inner strength brings us inner tranquility, more self-
+confidence. Through these attitudes, even though your surroundings may not be
+friendly or may not be positive, still you can sustain peace of mind.
+ -- "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates Discuss Human Rights,
+ Conflict and Reconciliation", by the Dalai Lama and other Nobel
+ Laureates, edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
+~
+ If we do not uncover [our] problems--and I saw this in myself--we risk
+placing a veneer of spirituality over deeply buried emotional wounds from
+childhood that do not simply go away.
+ ...When this happens there is greater potential for our spirituality to
+become simply another expression of our personal pathology. We can falsify
+the qualities valued in the path without realizing it. Renunciation can
+become another level of denial and avoidance; compassion can become a sickly
+sentimentality that has no substance to it. Our desire to help others can
+come from "compulsive caring," or a compulsion to sacrifice ourselves because
+we feel worthless. The Buddhist idea of emptiness can likewise be falsified
+by the desire to disappear psychologically and merge or lose ego boundaries.
+Lack of identity, formless vagueness, and absence of boundaries do not
+exemplify the Buddhist idea of emptiness. My own version of this
+misconception was to try to live an ideal of the pure and pious only to find
+it was a form of repression I could not ultimately sustain.
+ At the heart of Buddhist practice is the search for a solution to our
+fundamental wounds. Healing the emotional damage we often carry within is
+truly the object of this practice. If we wish to resolve these problems, we
+need to be open and honest about their reality within us. Only when we do
+will any spiritual practice address what we need. The aim of Buddhist
+practice is not a spiritual transcendence that dissociates from our suffering.
+Nor is it the search for salvation in some form of external divine being that
+we hope will save us in our distress. As one of my teachers, Lama Thubten
+Yeshe, once said, "Buddhism is very practical; you just have to recognize that
+your mind is the cause of suffering. If you change your mind, you can find
+liberation." This message is very simple but by no means easy to follow. In
+order to do so, however, we must begin to recognize where we are
+psychologically wounded.
+ -- Rob Preece, in "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of
+ Individuation in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Direct Experience
+ In the Dzogchen teachings, a teacher explains methods that you can apply
+for discovering that state. When you say that you are practicing or following
+Dzogchen teachings, it doesn't mean that you are reciting some prayers or
+mantras, or doing some visualization. It means that, following a teacher and
+using methods, you discover that state. When you have discovered that state,
+then you still need many kinds of methods for realizing it. Discovering the
+state of your real nature and realizing it are completely different things.
+ Many people have the idea that when they have had some experience or
+discovery, they are enlightened; however, this discovery does not mean they
+are enlightened. The state of enlightenment means you have direct knowledge
+of what the state of rigpa is, and you are not just learning through
+intellectual study. When you follow a teaching in an intellectual way, you
+have many ideas at first--thinking, judging, and making analysis. You can
+follow or reject these ideas; but when you have many problems, you discover
+that perhaps this is not real knowledge. It is like following something
+blindly because you haven't had any direct experience. Direct introduction
+and discovering our real nature mean we have direct experience through our
+senses, and that through these experiences we discover our real nature.
+ For example, if I show you an object, you can look at it and know its form
+and color. Now if I ask you to forget about it, you can't. If I ask you to
+change your idea about that object, you can't. Why? Because seeing that
+object is your direct experience. Discovering your real nature is similar to
+that.
+ When you are studying in an intellectual way, you are following another
+person's idea. For example, you can believe your teacher today, but maybe
+what your teacher says will not be true for you tomorrow. You can always
+change your ideas. You have this problem because you have not discovered your
+state. This is the weak point of intellectual study.
+ -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Dzogchen Teachings", edited by Jim Valby and
+ Adriano Clemente, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Howard Cutler: "Have there been situations in your life that you've
+regretted?"
+ Dalai Lama: "Oh, yes. Now for instance there was one older monk who lived
+as a hermit. He used to come to see me to receive teachings, although I think
+he was actually more accomplished than I and came to me as a sort of
+formality. Anyway, he came to me one day and asked me about doing a certain
+high-level esoteric practice. I remarked in a casual way that this would be a
+difficult practice and perhaps would be better undertaken by someone who was
+younger, that traditionally it was a practice that should be started in one's
+midteens. I later found out that the monk had killed himself in order to be
+reborn in a younger body to more effectively undertake the practice..."
+ Surprised by this story, I remarked, "Oh, that's terrible! That must have
+been hard on you when you heard..." The Dalai Lama nodded sadly. "How did
+you deal with that feeling of regret? How did you eventually get rid of it?"
+ The Dalai Lama silently considered for quite a while before replying, "I
+didn't get rid of it. It's still there. But even though that feeling of
+regret is still there, it isn't associated with a feeling of heaviness or a
+quality of pulling me back. It would not be helpful to anyone if I let that
+feeling of regret weigh me down, be simply a source of discouragement and
+depression with no purpose, or interfere with going on with my life to the
+best of my ability."
+ At that moment, in a very visceral way, I was struck once again by the
+very real possibility of a human being's fully facing life's tragedies and
+responding emotionally, even with deep regret, but without indulging in
+excessive guilt or self-contempt. The possibility of a human being's wholly
+accepting herself or himself, complete with limitations, foibles, and lapses
+of judgment. The possibility of recognizing a bad situation for what it is
+and responding emotionally, but without overresponding. The Dalai Lama
+sincerely felt regret over the incident he described but carried his regret
+with dignity and grace. And while carrying this regret, he has not allowed it
+to weigh him down, choosing instead to move ahead and focus on helping others
+to the best of his ability.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., in "The Art of
+ Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
+~
+Train yourself in three hard disciplines.
+ These are the difficult practices of mindfulness, of expulsion and of
+'interrupting the flow.'
+ As for the first of these, the difficult practice of mindfulness, it is
+necessary to recognize afflictive emotions as soon as they arise and it is
+hard, at first, to remain sufficiently aware to be able to do this. However,
+when negative emotions arise, we should identify them as anger, desire or
+stupidity. Even when emotions have been recognized, it is not easy to drive
+them out with the antidote. If, for instance, an uncontrollably strong
+emotion comes over us, so that we feel helplessly in its power, we should
+nevertheless confront it and question it. Where are its weapons? Where are
+its muscles? Where is its great army and its political strength? We will see
+that emotions are just insubstantial thoughts, by nature empty: they come from
+nowhere, they go nowhere, they remain nowhere. When we are able to repel our
+defiled emotions, there comes the difficult practice of 'interrupting the
+flow.' This means that, on the basis of the antidote described, defiled
+emotions are eliminated just like a bird flying through the air: no trace is
+left behind. These are practices in which we should really strive.
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, in "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the
+ Seven-Point Mind Training", translated by The Padmakara Translation
+ Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Howard Cutler: "...am I right in assuming that you would consider solitary
+meditation to be a productive activity? Would you consider to be productive
+our example of a monk who is a hermit, who has little contact with anybody
+else and spends his or her life just in meditation, trying to achieve
+liberation?"
+ Dalai Lama: "Not necessarily. From my viewpoint, there can be both
+productive meditation and unproductive meditation."
+ HC: "What's the difference?"
+ DL: "[Some] practitioners and other kinds of meditators practice different
+techniques, some with closed eyes, sometimes open eyes, but the very nature of
+that meditation is to become thoughtless, in a state free of thoughts. But in
+a way, this is a kind of retreat, like they are running away from trouble.
+When they actually face trouble, carry on their daily life and face some real
+life problems, nothing has changed. Their attitudes and reactions remain the
+same. So that kind of meditation is just avoiding the problem, like going on
+a picnic, or taking a painkiller. It's not actually solving the problem.
+Some people may spend many years doing these practices, but their actual
+progress is zero. That's not productive meditation. Genuine progress occurs
+when the individual not only sees some results in achieving higher levels of
+meditative states but also when their meditation has at least some influence
+on how they interact with others, some impact from that meditation in their
+daily life--more patience, less irritation, more compassion. That's
+productive meditation. Something that can bring benefit to others in some
+way."
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
+ Happiness at Work
+~
+ As human beings, we are all the same. So there is no need to build some
+kind of artificial barrier between us. At least my own experience is that if
+you have this kind of attitude, there is no barrier. Whatever I feel, I can
+express; I can call you "my old friend". There is nothing to hide, and no
+need to say things in a way that is not straightforward. So this gives me a
+kind of space in my mind, with the result that I do not have to be suspicious
+of others all the time. And this really gives me inner satisfaction, and
+inner peace.
+ So I call this feeling a "genuine realization of the oneness of the whole
+of humanity". We are all members of one human family. I think that this
+understanding is very important, especially now that the world is becoming
+smaller and smaller. In ancient times, even in a small village, people were
+able to exist more or less independently. There was not so much need for
+others' co-operation. These days, the economic structure has completely
+changed.... We are heavily dependent on one another, and also as a result of
+mass communication, the barriers of the past are greatly reduced. Today,
+because of the complexity of interdependence, every crisis on this planet is
+essentially related with every other, like a chain reaction. Consequently it
+is worthwhile taking every crisis as a global one. Here barriers such as
+"this nation" or "that nation", "this continent", or "that continent" are
+simply obstacles. Therefore today, for the future of the human race, it is
+more important than ever before that we develop a genuine sense of brotherhood
+and sisterhood. I usually call this a sense of "universal responsibility".
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the
+ Great Perfection", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron
+ (Chokyi Nyima), edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ ...several great Kagyu and Sakya masters... have expressed the stages [of
+sutra and tantra paths] in terms of the tradition known as "parting ourselves
+from the four forms of clinging."
+ First we part from clinging to this life. Instead of total involvement
+with affairs of this life, we involve ourselves with future lives. We
+accomplish this by thinking about our precious human life with all its
+freedoms and endowments for spiritual growth, how we lose it because of death
+and impermanence, and then the karmic laws of behavioral cause and effect that
+shape our future lives. Next we part from clinging to future lives and
+involve ourselves, instead, in the quest for liberation. By thinking about
+all the suffering of uncontrollably recurring rebirth, or samsara, we generate
+sincere renunciation of it--the strong determination to be free and attain the
+total liberation that is nirvana.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, in "The Gelug/Kagyu
+ Tradition of Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Being the Mirror
+ When we say that we have knowledge, or that we have discovered our real
+nature and we are in this nature, that means that we are "being the mirror."
+You see, "being the mirror" or "looking in the mirror" are two completely
+different things. If we "are the mirror," then we have no concept of
+dualistic vision.
+ If a reflection manifests in the mirror, why is it manifesting? There are
+two reasons. One is because the mirror has the capacity to manifest infinite
+reflections. This is the mirror's quality. If there is an object in front of
+the mirror, whose capacity it is to reflect, naturally a reflection will
+appear in the mirror. Furthermore, the mirror has no idea of checking or
+accepting the object it is reflecting. The mirror doesn't need any program
+for that. This is what is called its qualification, or infinite potentiality.
+ In the same way, when we have infinite potentiality, but we are ignorant
+of our real nature, then we always conceive that "I am here" and "the object
+is there," "I am looking and seeing an object," and so on. We do not discover
+that we are like a mirror, and if we never discover this, then of course there
+is no way that we can function like the mirror. When you discover that you
+are like the mirror, then there is a possibility that you will be the mirror.
+ When you are the mirror, then you have no problems with reflections--they
+can be big, small, nice, ugly, any kind. For you, the reflections are only a
+manifestation of your quality, which is like that of a mirror. When you have
+no problems with reflections, then you understand self-liberation. You are
+not changing or transforming something. You are only being in your real
+nature.
+ -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, from "Dzogchen Teachings", edited by Jim Valby
+ and Adriano Clemente, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ It is important to recognize the difference between an enlightened
+experience and the state of enlightenment. To penetrate the veil is to see
+the nature of reality for the first time. This enlightened experience in the
+Zen tradition might be called a satori. This is a powerful shift of insight
+that shakes our reality. No longer can we live with the delusion we may have
+once held. Our solidly held concepts about reality begin to crumble. Samsara
+shakes, as Lama Yeshe once put it. This experience may not be comfortable.
+To come so close to this existential threshold challenges our secure sense of
+identity and can be frightening. Indeed, as a Tibetan lama once said, this
+fear is a sign that we are close to the edge. We are beginning to recognize
+the lack of substance of our ego-identity. Our "wisdom eye" has opened to a
+new truth--an ultimate truth, as opposed to relative truth.
+ When we penetrate the veil, however, the work is not yet done. We may
+have had an enlightened experience, but there is further to travel. As Gen
+Jhampa Wangdu once said while I was in retreat, it is not difficult to
+experience emptiness; the problem is holding it. For this insight to have its
+full effect, the mind needs to be able to sustain awareness for prolonged
+periods of time. Tibetan teachers will sometimes say we may hit the nail, but
+only with a quality of focused attention can we repeatedly do so. With the
+development of tranquil abiding, the veil can be cleared completely in the way
+the red ring of fire created by the incense burn[ing] slowly expands and
+consumes the entire film of tissue paper. The mind is gradually cleansed of
+the emotional turmoil and confusion that is generated by the misconceptions we
+have about reality.
+ -- Rob Preece, in "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of
+ Individuation in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...if we see others in trouble, although we cannot immediately take their
+suffering upon ourselves, we should make the wish to be able to relieve them
+from their misfortunes. Prayers like this will bear fruit eventually. Again,
+if others have very strong afflictive emotions, we should think, "May all
+their emotions be concentrated in me." With fervent conviction, we should
+persist in thinking like this until we have some sign or feeling that we have
+been able to take upon ourselves the suffering and emotions of others. This
+might take the form of an increase in our own emotions or of the actual
+experience of the suffering and pain of others.
+ This is how to bring hardships onto the path in order to free ourselves
+from hopes and fears--hopes, for instance, that we will not get ill, or fears
+that we might do so. They will thus be pacified in the equal taste of
+happiness and suffering. Eventually, through the power of Bodhichitta, we
+will reach the point where we are free even from the hope of accomplishing
+Bodhichitta and the fear of not doing so. Therefore we should have love for
+our enemies and try as much as possible to avoid getting angry with them, or
+harbouring any negative thoughts towards them. We should also try as much as
+possible to overcome our biased attachment to family and relatives. If you
+bind a crooked tree to a large wooden stake, it will eventually grow straight.
+Up to now, our minds have always been crooked, thinking how we might trick and
+mislead people, but this [Bodhichitta] practice, as Geshe Langri Tangpa said,
+will make our minds straight and true.
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the
+ Seven Point Mind Training", translated by the Padmakara Translation
+ Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Q: ...what is the nature of the mindstream that reincarnates from lifetime to
+lifetime?
+
+A: ...If one understands the term "soul" as a continuum of individuality from
+moment to moment, from lifetime to lifetime, then one can say that Buddhism
+also accepts a concept of soul; there is a kind of continuum of consciousness.
+From that point of view, the debate on whether or not there is a soul becomes
+strictly semantic. However, in the Buddhist doctrine of selflessness, or "no
+soul" theory, the understanding is that there is no eternal, unchanging,
+abiding, permanent self called "soul." That is what is being denied in
+Buddhism.
+
+Buddhism does not deny the continuum of consciousness. Because of this, we
+find some Tibetan scholars, such as the Sakya master Rendawa, who accept that
+there is such a thing as self or soul, the "kangsak ki dak" (Tib. gang zag gi
+bdag). However, the same word, the "kangsak ki dak," the self, or person, or
+personal self, or identity, is at the same time denied by many other scholars.
+
+We find diverse opinions, even among Buddhist scholars, as to what exactly the
+nature of self is, what exactly that thing or entity is that continues from
+one moment to the next moment, from one lifetime to the next lifetime. Some
+try to locate it within the aggregates, the composite of body and mind. Some
+explain it in terms of a designation based on the body and mind composite, and
+so on.... One of the divisions of [the "Mind-Only"] school maintains there is
+a special continuum of consciousness called alayavijnana which is the
+fundamental consciousness.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist
+ Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ In the Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path Je Tsongkhapa says that
+when we are training ourselves in any of the perfections, for instance in
+generosity, we should make sure that we practice all the other five
+perfections--in this case ethical discipline, patience, enthusiastic effort,
+concentration, and wisdom--and the six excellent factors. When we perform a
+generous action, ethical discipline will be included if we take care to
+refrain from doing anything unethical at the same time. In certain
+situations, for instance, we may be tempted to speak harshly or
+condescendingly as we give.
+ Generosity gives rise to abundance, and by insuring that our practice is
+complete, we create the right environment to use these resources
+constructively. Sometimes when we give, people respond ungratefully. If we
+can resist getting upset, we are practicing patience. Giving not out of a
+sense of obligation or reluctantly nor with a wish to outdo others but with
+joy is the practice of enthusiastic effort. Directing our full attention to
+an act of generosity is concentration. Discerning and understanding what is
+appropriate to give and what is not, and remembering that the giver, the act
+of generosity, and the recipient are all interdependent and empty of inherent
+existence are the practice of wisdom. Including these different factors in
+our actions will bring many excellent results such as a good body and mind,
+the resources we need, a pleasant appearance, supportive companions, the
+ability to complete what we undertake, and the focus not to be distracted by
+the disturbing emotions and so forth. This is how to insure that we will
+enjoy many conducive conditions in a future human life. On the other hand,
+our miserliness or impatience now could make us face many difficult
+circumstances in the future.
+ -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "How Karma Works: The Twelve Links of Dependent
+ Arising", translated by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Shakyamuni Buddha, even when he was a trainee on the path, was solely
+concerned in both thought and action with others' welfare. Whenever he found
+an opportunity to work for others, no matter what difficulties he faced, he
+was never discouraged. He never hated obstacles and hardships encountered on
+the way. Instead, the difficult situations facilitated his being more
+courageous and determined to accomplish others' welfare. Just because he was
+so determined to work for others in the past, even as a trainee on the path,
+it is needless to say how much more it is so with him now as a completely
+enlightened person.
+ As the saying goes, "A past life story of a teacher is an enlightening
+practice for posterity."
+ -- "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries of His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV on
+ the Jatakamala Garland of Birth Stories," translated by Tenzin Dorjee,
+ edited by Dexter Roberts
+~
+When you get tired, it is appropriate to repeat mantra. However, for a
+beginner the main part of the meditation revolves around the six deities*,
+which should be cultivated carefully and leisurely. This is because clear
+appearance of oneself as a deity must be achieved for the sake of amassing the
+two collections of merit and wisdom, achieving firm meditative stabilisation,
+and transforming all physical and verbal actions into powerful aids for
+others' welfare. Hence, before repeating mantra, the yoga of non-dual
+profundity (realisation of emptiness) and manifestation (appearance as a
+deity) should be sustained, developing clarity in observing the divine form
+and in ascertaining its lack of inherent existence. When, having done this
+one-pointedly, you become tired, then for the sake of resting begin repeating
+mantra. ...Tsong-ka-pa also says that in the approximation phase meditation
+is chief, mantra repetition is secondary.
+ * ultimate, sound, letter, form, seal, and sign
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity Yoga In
+ Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+There isn't a single one of us who has never felt hostile and angry, so we
+know about the effects of anger. Does it make us feel better or worse? It
+stirs us up, makes us miserable and destroys our tranquillity. It is quite
+easy to recognize anger as a foe and to see how it harms us because its
+destructiveness is apparent. But we find it much harder and are also
+reluctant to acknowledge the harm done by attachment because it is a foe
+masquerading as a friend. When desire or attachment first arises, it feels
+quite pleasurable but eventually it lands us in trouble. It wants to possess
+what it has fabricated and we reach out for something which, in fact, does not
+exist. Failure to get what we want frustrates us and anger quickly follows.
+The third of the poisons, confusion or ignorance, simply stimulates desire and
+anger and lies at the root of all the disturbing emotions.
+ -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "Eight Verses for Training the Mind", translated
+ and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The Sevenfold Cause-and-Effect Method
+ If we have been reborn time after time, it is evident that we have needed
+many mothers to give birth to us. ...the first cause bringing about
+bodhicitta is the recognition that all beings have been our mother.
+ The love and kindness shown us by our mother in this life would be
+difficult to repay. She endured many sleepless nights to care for us when we
+were helpless infants. She fed us and would have willingly sacrificed
+everything, including her own life, to spare ours. As we contemplate her
+example of devoted love, we should consider that each and every being
+throughout existence has treated us this way. Each dog, cat, fish, fly, and
+human being has at some point in the beginningless past been our mother and
+shown us overwhelming love and kindness. Such a thought should bring about
+our appreciation. This is the second cause of bodhicitta.
+ As we envision the present condition of all these beings, we begin to
+develop the desire to help them change their lot. This is the third cause,
+and out of it comes the fourth, a feeling of love cherishing all beings. This
+is an attraction toward all beings, similar to what a child feels upon seeing
+his or her mother. This leads us to compassion, which is the fifth cause of
+bodhicitta. Compassion is a wish to separate these suffering beings, our
+mothers of the past, from their miserable situation. At this point we also
+experience loving-kindness, a wish that all beings find happiness. As we
+progress through these stages of responsibility, we go from wishing that all
+sentient beings find happiness and freedom from suffering to personally
+assuming responsibility for helping them enter this state beyond misery. This
+is the final cause. As we scrutinize how best to help others, we are drawn to
+achieving the fully enlightened and omniscient state of Buddhahood.
+ -- The Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life",
+ edited by Nicholas Vreeland
+~
+Among the seven branches [qualities of Buddhahood]--complete enjoyment,
+union, great bliss, non-inherent existence, compassion, uninterrupted
+continuity, and non-cessation--three are found only in tantra--complete
+enjoyment, union, and great bliss--and the other four are common to both
+sutra and tantra, although non-inherent existence can also be put in the group
+specific to tantra when it is considered as the object ascertained by a bliss
+consciousness.... In Yoga Tantras the bliss arising from holding hands or
+embracing is used in the path; in Performance Tantras, from laughing; and in
+Action Tantras, from looking. The four tantras are similar in that they all
+use desire for the attributes of the desire realm on the path.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ How then does the mistaken idea, that things exist from their own side,
+operate? Whatever appears to the mind appears as if it existed truly from its
+own side. ...Now if the object existed as it appears to you, then, when you
+searched for it, you could actually find a real [object]. So, we must ask
+ourselves whether or not this object, when searched for, is to be found or
+not. If the object is not found when it is searched for, we must conclude
+that it does not exist from its own side, that when the label is applied to
+its basis, it is not so labeled because the basis somehow bears within it
+something which is the object. At this point, one must conclude that the
+object does not exist as it appears to, but then, one may wonder whether it
+exists at all.
+ Things, however, are not utterly non-existent. They do exist nominally.
+So things do exist, but they do not exist from the side of the basis of the
+label. And hence, though they do exist, because they do not exist within the
+object itself, they must exist only as they are labeled by the subject (the
+conceptual mind, for example). There is no other way for the object to exist
+apart from the way it is posited by conceptual thought. This is then what we
+mean when we say that all phenomena are merely labeled by conceptual thought.
+However, things do not appear to us as if they were mere conceptually labeled
+entities. Instead, they appear as if they existed from their own side.
+Therefore, it is a mistake to think that things exist as they appear.
+ -- The Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists", edited
+ by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Meditation is hard work, but it is also the most rewarding thing we can do
+with our time. As we begin to see the mechanisms we previously took for
+granted and start to understand them, the knots inside our minds begin to
+loosen. We feel a tremendous sense of freedom, space and release inside us.
+As we begin to understand our warped thinking patterns and our neuroses, we
+see them directly. We begin to develop compassion for ourselves, for our pain
+and confusion. Now that we start to look with clarity, we can see the pain
+and confusion in the eyes of other people, and we naturally develop compassion
+for them. It doesn't matter how outwardly successful people may appear, we
+can see their pain when we look into their eyes. It is very rare to come
+across people whose eyes are truly sparkling with joy.
+ -- Tenzin Palmo, "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical
+ Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...recognizing that we have certain obligations, and recognizing at the
+same time that spiritual practice is the core of a meaningful life, what do we
+do? There really is an answer. It is not easy, but it is tremendously
+fruitful, and it keeps on opening and opening further: transform those actions
+that are already obligations by applying Dharma to them.
+ Take eating, for instance. We have to do it two or three times a day, but
+we don't have to wolf down the food. There is no one who cannot sit and pause
+first for thirty seconds. Even fast-food is worth the thirty seconds it takes
+to recognize the immense number of beings who have provided us with this food.
+Pausing like this ties us into the community of life, at least on planet
+earth, as we recognize that we are indebted to others. We have received, and
+as we take the food, let us do it with the aspiration, "May this be returned.
+May I use my abilities to the fullest to serve those who have served me." And
+that includes everyone, directly or indirectly. The service may occur on a
+very mundane level, but insofar as we mature spiritually, our responsibility
+increases according to our abilities. Not because someone tells us, "Now you
+have to do this," but simply as we gain insight into the nature and sources of
+suffering and of contentment, then we have something all the more valuable to
+offer others.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
+ Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The Paramita of Meditative Concentration
+ It is said in the Teachings that without taking up the Paramita of
+Meditative Concentration, it would be impossible to realize the nature of
+mind. We should think of meditative concentration as the practice that brings
+stability to our minds, and creates the good conditions to practice unfocused
+meditation--in other words, resting in the uncontrived natural state.
+ If we make a quick examination of our own mind, we can see the reason this
+kind of stability is so crucial. Although physics has observed light to be
+the fastest traveling phenomenon known to man, actually the speed at which our
+minds travel is even faster. We can circle the globe in a matter of seconds,
+and our minds generate doubts, emotions, and conceptual thoughts at a speed
+that defies that of all other phenomena. Because we lack basic mental
+stability, conceptual thoughts arise endlessly. So, if our goal is to realize
+the nature of mind, we first have to learn to still our minds, and free
+ourselves from distraction. The method for quieting the mind is called
+"meditative concentration." Once we have gained some initial mind stability,
+it is even more important that we continue our training so that this stability
+will increase. Without such stability, it is impossible for us to
+successfully learn to abide in the uncontrived view.
+ -- Anyen Rinpoche, "The Union of Dzogchen and Bodhichitta", translated
+ by Allison Graboski, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+5. Your present naked awareness
+
+How amazing!
+
+Your present, naked awareness--
+Unspoiled by thoughts of past, present, or future,
+Not fettered by mind grasping to so-called "meditation"
+Nor falling into a pervasive blankness of so-called "non-meditation"--
+The natural state nakedly sustained,
+Is the practice of Great Perfection.
+
+Regardless of what thoughts arise during that practice,
+To reject negative ones or foster positive ones is unnecessary.
+Mere recognition liberates them in their own ground.
+Take this liberation upon arising as the path's key point.
+
+Destroy whatever meditative experiences arise, and relax.
+A tantric practitioner without fixation is deeply content.
+You've reached your goal of contentment right now.
+What is the use of numerous enumerations of Buddha's teachings
+When you discover Buddha Kuntu Zangpo within yourself?
+Keep the meaning of these words close to your heart.
+ -- Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart
+ Advice", translated by Ron Garry, a Tsadra Foundation Series book
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The Buddhist view is that in the external world there are some elements
+that are material, and some that are nonmaterial. And the fundamental
+substance, the stuff from which the material universe arises, is known as
+space particles. A portion of space is quantized, to use a modern term; it is
+particulate, not continuous. Before the formation of the physical universe as
+we know it, there was only space, but it was quantized. And it was from the
+quanta, or particles, in space that the other elements arose. This accounts
+for the physical universe.
+ But what brought about that process? How did it happen? It is believed
+that there existed other conditions, or other influences, which were
+nonmaterial, and these were of the nature of awareness. The actions of
+sentient beings in the preceding universe somehow modify, or influence, the
+formation of the natural universe.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
+ with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
+ Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...meditation on emptiness begins with gaining a sense of the inherent
+existence of which phenomena are empty, for without understanding what is
+negated, you cannot understand its absence, emptiness.
+ ...Through carefully watching how you conceive your self, or "I," to be
+inherently established, you will determine that the "I" appears to be self-
+instituting without depending on the collection of the mental and physical
+aggregates, which are its basis of designation, or without depending on any of
+them individually, even though the "I" appears with those aggregates. Proper
+identification of this appearance is the first essential toward realizing
+selflessness--ascertaining the object of negation.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra:
+ Paths to Magical Feats", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ At the moment the world's spiritual traditions have greatly degenerated.
+It is very important in such times that the practitioners themselves make
+especially strong efforts to gain realization. To permit the lineages of
+transmission to disappear is to allow the world to plunge into darkness. The
+great Vasubandhu wrote, "Buddha, who is like the eye of the world, is no
+longer to be seen. His great successors, who realized the most profound
+teachings, also have passed away. Who equals them?" It might be asked, who
+is there today to equal the master Vasubandhu? Who practices as well as did
+Milarepa? Such people are rare. We should remember that everything but
+Dharma is useless at death, and instead of wasting our lives on meaningless
+activities, we should blend our mindstreams with the teachings and with
+practice. Doing so benefits us as individuals and benefits the world by
+strengthening its spiritual basis.
+ Each of us has to be able to feel the pride that we ourselves can reach
+perfection, we ourselves can attain enlightenment. When even one person
+indulges in spiritual practice, it gives encouragement to the guardian spirits
+of the land, and to the celestial deities who have sworn to uphold goodness.
+These forces then have the ability to release waves of beneficial effects upon
+humanity. Thus our practice has many direct and indirect benefits. ...If we
+practice the teachings and live the ways of Dharma, all the natural forces of
+goodness will be behind us.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
+ by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Karmic potentials give rise to a broad array of impulses that affect our
+lives. Collective karmic potentials from previous actions of a huge number of
+beings--including ourselves--give rise, for example, to the impulse for a
+universe to evolve with specific environments and life forms into which we and
+these beings subsequently take rebirth. These collective potentials also give
+rise to the impulses that drive the physical and biological laws that govern
+that universe--ranging from the weather patterns of its planets to the life-
+cycle habits of each species on them. They also account for the impulses
+behind the instinctive daily behavior characteristic of each life form.
+ -- Alexander Berzin, "Taking the Kalachakra Initiation", published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ Once the body, channels, and wind are balanced, the next step is to keep
+your mind in the natural state through meditation. By simply maintaining the
+mind as it is, without adding or subtracting anything, one will reach the
+inner nature, which is unchanging and indestructible.
+ The instructions for this type of meditation are very simple. One begins
+by sitting with good posture on a cushion, because it is important to stay
+straight. Then, one simply maintains the natural clarity of the mind, without
+analyzing one's experiences or being disturbed by thoughts. In the dzogchen
+style of meditation, there is actually nothing to do except relax in the
+mind's nature of clarity and emptiness. Inner awareness is different than
+external awareness; it is called clear-light emptiness. It is helpful to use
+the sky as an analogy for the true nature of the mind--when you let your mind
+mingle with the open space of the sky, you do not need any particular focus.
+Simply maintain the mind naturally, without discrimination or judgments, and
+experience its nature as being spacious as the sky.
+ -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
+ "Opening the Door to Our Primordial Nature", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Three things in human life are important.
+The first is to be kind.
+The second is to be kind.
+And the third is to be kind.
+ -- Henry James
+~
+ Question: A person, particularly in the West, must have the foundation of
+humility, honesty and an ethical way of life. Once one has this foundation,
+what else does Your Holiness suggest that one cultivate in one's life, if
+there is the foundation of virtue, ethics and humility?
+ DL: The next thing to be cultivated is mental stabilization. Ethics is a
+method to control oneself--it is a defensive action. Our actual enemy, you
+see, is within ourselves. The afflicted emotions (pride, anger, jealousy) are
+our real enemies. These are the real trouble makers, and they are to be found
+within ourselves. The actual practice of religion consists of fighting
+against these inner enemies.
+ As in any war, first we must have a defensive action, and in our spiritual
+fight against the negative emotions, ethics is our defense. Knowing that at
+first one is not fully prepared for offensive action, we first resort to
+defensive action and that means ethics. But once one has prepared one's
+defenses, and has become somewhat accustomed to ethics, then one must launch
+one's offensive. Here our main weapon is wisdom. This weapon of wisdom is
+like a bullet, or maybe even a rocket, and the rocket launcher is mental
+stabilization or calm abiding. In brief, once you have a basis in morality or
+ethics, the next step is to train in mental stabilization and eventually in
+wisdom.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology
+ of Writings", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Forword by Sen.
+ Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ 4. The power of abandonment. In this practice what is being abandoned is
+self-grasping. We are reminded again that since beginningless time beyond all
+imagination, self-grasping has lain at the very core of all mental distortions
+and afflictions. It has brought us to unfavorable rebirths and is responsible
+for all the undesirable circumstances that we encounter. It is self-
+centeredness that obstructs realization and prevents us from deriving the full
+benefit from our spiritual practice. Recognize when self-grasping manifests
+in daily life. It is important to notice it especially at times of passion,
+when we are aroused or irritated, and try not to succumb to it for even a
+moment.
+ To be free of self-centeredness continuously for a whole year may be
+difficult, but [rejecting it for] a moment is easy. ...the more of these
+moments we can saturate with the cherishing of others, the more we are molding
+ourselves into the bodhisattvas that we will become.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
+ Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ As a friend, my request and wish is that... you try to promote a sense of
+brotherhood and sisterhood. We must promote compassion and love; this is our
+real duty. Government has too much business to have time for these things.
+As private persons we have more time to think along these lines--how to make a
+contribution to human society by promoting the development of compassion and a
+real sense of community.
+ ...If someone who easily gets angry tries to control his or her anger, in
+time it can be controlled. The same is true for a selfish person; first that
+person must realize the faults of a selfish motivation and the benefit in
+being less selfish. Having realized this, one trains in it, trying to control
+the bad side and develop the good. As time goes by, such practice can be
+effective. This is the only alternative.
+ Without love, human society is in a very difficult state; without love,
+in the future we will face tremendous problems. Love is the center of human
+life.
+ -- His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness, Clarity & Insight", published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Love and Attachment
+
+People often wonder how to reconcile the Buddha's teachings on non-attachment
+with those on love. How can we love others without being attached to them?
+Non-attachment is a balanced state of mind in which we cease overestimating
+others' qualities. By having a more accurate view of others, our unrealistic
+expectations fall away, as does our clinging. This leaves us open to loving
+others for who they are, instead of for what they do for us. Our hearts can
+open to care for everyone impartially, wishing everyone to be happy simply
+because he or she is a living being. The feeling of warmth that was
+previously reserved for a select few can now be expanded to a great number
+of people.
+ -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+According to some scientists, emotion is not necessarily negative. Emotion
+is a very strong feeling. While some emotions are destructive, others are
+constructive. In a meeting with scientists, we concluded that there are
+emotions even in the Buddha's mind. There is a strong sense of caring and
+compassion and also the realization of emptiness. In the beginning, there is
+just a vague feeling of emptiness. At that level, there is no emotion, but
+once you become more familiar with it, then that feeling increases. At a
+certain level, the realization of emptiness also becomes a kind of emotion.
+Therefore, in the practice of developing wisdom and loving-kindness
+/ compassion, you strengthen these inner qualities and then reach a state
+where you have an upsurge of feeling called emotion. We can clearly see
+this link between intellect and emotions. Thus, the brain and heart can go
+side by side. I think this is the Buddhist approach.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections and
+ Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh
+~
+Both mindfulness and discriminative alertness are needed in responding to
+sensory input of the three types--attractive, unattractive and neutral.
+Once again, in this tradition mindfulness does not mean simply to witness.
+It is a more discriminative kind of thing. You are asking yourself, "What
+is my response?" and then actively responding by applying the antidotes to
+attachment and hostility. The word mindfulness is a little bit different in
+different contexts. Here, Mindfulness refers to the mental faculty of being
+able to maintain continuity of awareness of an object. Vigilance is concerned
+with the quality of mind, watching to see, for example, if the mind is veering
+off to other objects.
+ -- Gen Lamrimpa (Ven. Jampal Tenzin, "Calming the Mind: Tibetan Buddhist
+ Teachings on Cultivating Meditative Quiescence", translated by B. Alan
+ Wallace, edited by Hart Sprager, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ When we say that the ignorant mind is perverse or wrong, we are talking
+about the way it misconceives reality. Now the pertinent questions are: What
+is reality? How is this mind mistaken about reality? And in what way does
+the mind wrongly apprehend reality? Reality or emptiness of true existence is
+something that can be established logically. There are sound, or perfect,
+reasons to prove the emptiness of inherent existence, and we can gain
+conviction in these reasons. On the other hand, there is no logical way to
+prove true existence. True existence is what appears to an ordinary,
+untrained consciousness. But when it comes under logical scrutiny, true
+existence cannot be found. Even in our everyday life we often find
+contradictions between the way certain things appear and their actual mode of
+existence; that is, the way things actually exist is different from the way
+they appear to exist.
+ ...Our perception of impermanent things like mountain ranges and houses
+does not conform to their actual mode of existence. Some of these things have
+existed for many centuries, even thousands of years. And our minds perceive
+them in just that way--as lasting and permanent, impervious to momentary
+change. Yet when we examine these objects on an atomic level, they
+disintegrate every moment; they undergo momentary change. Science also
+describes a similar pattern of change. These objects appear solid, stable,
+and lasting, but in their true nature, they constantly change, not keeping
+still even for a moment.
+ -- The Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Lobsang
+ Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+If there is someone who always harms us, and we discover that this person
+lives in our own house, we think, "This is too much!" Once we figure out
+that he is causing all our hardships, we kick him out; we do not see it as a
+laughing matter at all. Here, it is worse: we have been wandering in the six
+realms of cyclic existence since beginningless time, undergoing great pain and
+confusion. What is the main cause of all this? Self-centeredness and its
+basis, self-grasping ignorance. These two are right inside us, in our own
+mindstream. How can we continue to tolerate that? It is just too much! We
+definitely must evict these sources of harm. When we know the antidotes to
+them, we will use them, just as we would go to any length to evict a
+troublemaker from our home. With strong determination, we will find out what
+harms self-centeredness and self-grasping and then go ahead and destroy them.
+ -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
+ Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
+ Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of
+policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.
+ -- Edward Abbey
+~
+There are many types of meditative stabilisation, but let us explain calm
+abiding (samatha) here. The nature of calm abiding is the one-pointed abiding
+on any object without distraction of a mind conjoined with a bliss of physical
+and mental pliancy. If it is supplemented with taking refuge, it is a
+Buddhist practice; and if it is supplemented with an aspiration to highest
+enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, it is a Mahayana practice.
+Its merits are that, if one has achieved calm abiding, one's mind and body are
+pervaded by joy and bliss; one can--through the power of its mental and
+physical pliancy--set the mind on any virtuous object one chooses; and many
+special qualities such as clairvoyance and emanations are attained.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
+ Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+45
+ Apart from the perfection of wisdom,
+ All virtuous practices such as
+ The perfection of giving are described
+ As skillful means by the Victorious Ones.
+
+The first five perfections--giving, ethical discipline, patience, enthusiastic
+effort and concentration--as well as meditation on impermanence, on the
+connection between actions and their effects and the cultivation of
+compassion, love and the altruistic intention are all skillful means. In fact
+all positive practices which do not constitute the cultivation of wisdom fall
+into the category of skillful means.
+
+46
+ Whoever, under the influence of familiarity
+ With skillful means, cultivates wisdom
+ Will quickly attain enlightenment--
+ Not just by meditating on selflessness.
+
+When stability in practices which develop skillful means has been gained, the
+Bodhisattva meditates on the selflessness of persons and other phenomena and
+thereby overcomes clinging to their true existence. This leads swiftly to
+enlightenment. If we confine our efforts only to understanding reality, our
+understanding lacks the power to destroy all the obstructions that prevent
+omniscience and we may remain locked in a state of solitary peace.
+Cultivation of skillful means prevents this and adds such power to our
+understanding of reality that, like a blazing fire, it consumes all
+obstructions.
+
+ -- "Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment", commentary by Geshe Sonam
+ Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+As I grow to understand life less and less,
+I learn to love it more and more.
+ -- Jules Renard
+~
+The environment where you are doing the meditation should be properly cleaned.
+While cleaning, you should cultivate the motivation that since you are engaged
+in the task of accumulating great stores of merit by inviting the hosts of
+buddhas and bodhisattvas to this environment, it is important to have a clean
+place. You should see that all the external dirt and dust around you is
+basically a manifestation of the faults and stains within your own mind. You
+should see that the most important aim is to purge these stains and faults
+from within your mind. Therefore, as you cleanse the environment, think that
+you are also purifying your mind. Develop the very strong thought that by
+cleaning this place you are inviting the host of buddhas and bodhisattvas who
+are the most supreme merit field, and that you will subsequently engage in a
+path that will enable you to purge your mind of the stains of delusions.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, "Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide to
+ Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, edited by
+ Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The entire environment we perceive around us arises, in part, in
+dependence upon our sense faculties. The environment we experience does not
+truly exist "out there." Sight is dependent upon visual faculties, hearing
+is dependent upon auditory faculties, and tactile sensations depend on nerve
+endings. Psychologically, all that we experience is dependent upon ourselves.
+We do not experience anything purely objectively. The arising and perceiving
+of experience is co-emergent between ourselves and the world around us. Yet,
+the deep belief persists that the world really exists "out there" now and eons
+before we were born.
+ The Buddhist hypothesis extends beyond the psychological. The Buddhist
+hypothesis is this: that which is perceived arises in dependence upon the
+perception of it. Things are empty of independent, inherent existence. What
+appears to exist "out there" is empty of objective existence from its own
+side. This does not mean that nothing exists apart from our perceptions.
+Rather, it means that by probing the nature of existence of anything we
+experience perceptually or conceptually, we find that nothing exists by its
+own independent nature. Another way of phrasing this is that appearance
+extends all the way down to the root and there is nothing beyond the
+appearances. Appearances extend down to quarks; nothing is there purely
+objectively and nothing is there purely subjectively. This is the Buddhist
+hypothesis.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Seven-Point Mind-
+ Training" , edited by Lynn Quirolo, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ I consider it very important for religion to have an influence on
+politicians. Politicians need religion much more than pious people who have
+withdrawn from the world need it. There is a constant increase in the
+scandals in politics and business that can be traced back to the lack of self-
+discipline on the part of the responsible parties. In India, the minister-
+president of West Bengal once said to me with what he considered a humble
+attitude that he was a politician and not a religious person. I responded to
+him: politicians need religion more than anyone else.
+ When hermits in solitude are bad persons, the result is that they harm
+themselves alone and no one else. But when such influential people as
+politicians are full of bad intentions, they can bring misfortune to many.
+This is why religion, as continuous work on our inner maturity, is important
+for political rulers.
+ A politician must have moral principles. I am convinced of this. Seen in
+this light, politics and religion belong together. In the United States,
+church and state may be separate, but when the president takes office, he
+makes a vow in the name of God with his hand on the Bible. This means that
+God should be the witness that the president will conscientiously fulfill his
+official duties.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Felizitas Von Schonborn, "Path of Wisdom,
+ Path of Peace: A Personal Conversation", Foreword by Wei Jingsheng
+~
+...many people, critical of Dzogchen, question why we need to practice at all
+if, as according to Dzogchen, the primordial state is already the enlightened
+state. If our true nature is already Buddhahood, what is the need to
+cultivate enlightenment? We cannot side-step these criticisms since,
+according to Dzogchen, Buddhahood is indeed our natural state; we do not
+create it, but simply discover it through our meditation. But if we simply
+agree with our critics, this would mean there is no need to practice. These
+are important things to think about. We must answer that although the natural
+state of the mind is primordially pure, there are two ways of being pure.
+Defilements, or obscurations, are not in the nature of the mind (sems nyid)
+but in the moving mind (sems), so they can be purified. It is as in the
+Tibetan story of the old beggar woman who slept on a pillow of gold every
+night: she was rich, but since she did not appreciate the value of gold, she
+thought she was poor. In the same way, the primordial purity of our mind is
+of no use to us if we are not aware of it and do not integrate it with our
+moving mind. If we realize our innate purity but only integrate with it from
+time to time, we are not totally realized. Being in total integration all the
+time is final realization. But many people prefer thinking and speaking about
+integration to actualizing it.
+ -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of
+ Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet", Foreword by H.H. the
+ Dalai Lama, edited by Andrew Lukianowicz, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+External disarmament is very, very important. Already, there is some
+movement. My dream is that one day the whole world will be demilitarized, but
+we cannot achieve this overnight. Also, we cannot achieve it without a
+proper, systematic plan; however, it is important to make the target clear.
+Even though it may take one hundred years, or fifty years, that doesn't
+matter. Establish a clear idea or clear target; then try to achieve it step
+by step. As a first step, we have already started with the elimination of
+antipersonnel mines and biological weapons. Also, we are already reducing
+nuclear weapons; eventually, there should be a total ban on nuclear weapons.
+This is now foreseeable; the idea of its possibility is approaching. These
+are great, hopeful signs.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates
+ Discuss Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", edited by Jeffrey
+ Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Bare awareness is not easy to develop and maintain because of the mind's
+disposition to be constantly preoccupied by thoughts. We easily lose
+attention because our mind is so busy. When we do, our emotional life can
+creep up on us and take us over. Without mindfulness, the capacity to
+maintain attention, disidentification is very difficult, and bare awareness
+even more so. Through meditation it is possible to cultivate a quiet,
+unintrusive awareness that greatly strengthens our capacity to remain with our
+feelings. We simply allow their presence without judging them, or needing to
+make them different.
+ The early stage of meditation focuses attention and cultivates
+mindfulness. Mindfulness is our capacity to watch and remain conscious as
+emotions, feelings, and thoughts arise. We may begin in meditation by
+observing the breath and gradually quietening the mind from the constant
+discursive chatter that interrupts our attention. In time a quality of bare
+awareness is established free from the conceptual confusion that discriminates
+and evaluates what arises and parcels it up in conceptual boxes of good or
+bad. Furthermore, this quiet awareness does not become pulled into the
+contents of mental activity and drown in their confusion.
+ -- Rob Preece, "The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra", Foreword by Stephen
+ Batchelor, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ In the realm of matter, one and the same object can serve as a cause of
+happiness for some living beings, and a cause of suffering for others.
+Certain plants, for example, function as medicine for some creatures, but for
+other species they can be poisonous. From the point of view of the object
+itself there is no difference, but because of the physical constitution and
+the material state of the particular living being, that single self-same
+object can affect them in different ways. Then, in the sphere of our own
+experiences, the same holds true. A certain individual may appear to some as
+very friendly, kind and gentle, and so gives them feelings of happiness and
+pleasure. Yet to others that same person can appear harmful and wicked, and
+so cause them discomfort and unhappiness.
+ What this kind of example points to is that, although external matter
+may act as a cause for our experience of pain and pleasure, the principal
+cause that determines whether we experience happiness or suffering lies
+within. This is the reason why, when Buddha identified the origin of
+suffering, he pointed within and not outside, because he knew that the
+principal causes of our suffering are our own negative emotions and the
+actions they drive us to do.
+ -- H.H. The Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
+ Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron,
+ Foreword by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+When you have many excuses not to do your work, ask yourself what guarantee
+you have of another chance to do what needs to be done. Time lost is lost for
+good. No matter how much you promise to improve, no matter what good
+intentions you have for making it up, the time is gone for good. Feeling
+sorry about the situation will not bring it back. You can never buy back that
+precious piece of time. You may think, "Well, that piece of time has passed,
+but I still have a long stretch of time left." No, you do not! What guarantee
+is there that you will have another piece of time like this one? Wake up and
+stop the excuses; they never made sense before and do not make sense now.
+Laziness and procrastination have never worked in a sound and helpful way. It
+is only sound and helpful to get things moving.
+ -- Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, "Dharma Paths", translated by Ngodup Burkhar
+ and Chojor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ Any sense of conceit or self-importance gets in the way of cultivating the
+genuine altruistic intention, and the most effective remedy against this is
+the cultivation of humility.
+ I can tell you a more recent story to illustrate this point. The great
+nineteenth-century Tibetan Dzokchen meditator Dza Patrul Rinpoche always
+maintained a demeanour of true humility. At one time, when he was giving a
+series of teachings to a large crowd of students, he experienced a forceful
+yearning for solitude. So one day he quietly left his residence and
+disappeared, dressed like an ordinary pilgrim and carrying a walking staff and
+very little else. When he reached a nomadic camp he sought shelter for a few
+days with one of the families. While he was staying with them, his hostess
+asked him to read some texts and, since he looked just like an ordinary
+pilgrim, in return for his food and lodging she asked him to help with the
+household chores, which included the disposal of the contents of her chamber
+pot.
+ One day, while he was away from the camp attending to this task, some of
+his well-dressed monk students came looking for him. When his hostess heard
+their description of him, she suddenly realised this was the same person she
+had asked to throw away the contents of her chamber pot. (It is said she was
+so embarrassed that she just ran away!) Such was the humility of this great
+teacher, who had many thousands of students.
+ ...great practitioners of the altruistic intention also possess a
+tremendous courage grounded in real inner strength.... This combination of a
+total lack of conceit yet possessing great depth of courage is what is
+required in a true practitioner of bodhicitta, the altruistic mind of
+awakening.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Rejoicing in the actions of others is the major antidote to jealousy. When
+we admire the virtuous deeds of ourselves and of others, a great increase of
+merit is created. Jealousy is very harmful, and must be destroyed by
+rejoicing. If we rejoice in the virtue of someone whose understanding is less
+than our own, we gain greater merit than that person. If we rejoice in the
+merit of someone with understanding equal to ours, we gain equal merit. If we
+rejoice in the realization or virtue of someone more highly realized than we
+are, we accumulate some fraction of the merit that they do. We must rejoice
+in virtue because we have taken bodhisattva vows. If other beings practice
+well it helps us; therefore we should rejoice in their positive actions. This
+is the easiest way to accumulate merit with little hardship. With consistent
+effort the practice of rejoicing becomes very powerful and is greatly praised
+by many masters.
+ -- Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, "Chod on the Ganden Tradition: the Oral
+ Instructions of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche", edited by David Molk, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint,"
+then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
+ -- Vincent Van Gogh
+~
+ ...there are various factors that contribute to attaining that level of
+joy and happiness which we conventionally also recognize as sources of
+happiness, such as good physical health, ...the wealth that we accumulate,
+...and a circle of friends we trust and with whom we can relate emotionally.
+ Now all of these are, in reality, sources of happiness, but in order for
+one to be able to fully utilize them with the goal of enjoying a happy and
+fulfilled life, one's state of mind is crucial. If one harbors hateful
+thoughts within, or strong or intense anger somewhere deep down, then it ruins
+one's health, so it destroys one of the factors. Even if one has wonderful
+possessions, when one is in an intense moment of anger or hatred, one feels
+like throwing them--breaking them or throwing them away. So there is no
+guarantee that wealth alone can give one the joy or fulfillment that one
+seeks. Similarly, when one is in an intense state of anger or hatred, even
+a very close friend appears somehow "frosty," cold and distant, or quite
+annoying.
+ What this indicates is that our state of mind is crucial in determining
+whether or not we gain joy and happiness. So leaving aside the perspective of
+Dharma practice, even in worldly terms, in terms of our enjoying a happy day-
+to-day existence, the greater the level of calmness of our mind, the greater
+our peace of mind, and the greater our ability to enjoy a happy and joyful
+life.
+ -- The Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist
+ Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+Question: Is there a buildup of awareness that happens by the practice of
+ recognizing or looking for your own basic nature so that, over time, it
+ dispels the fear of these emotions?
+
+Rinpoche: Yes, awareness is developed through the discipline of meditation.
+ Beginning with shamatha meditation, we develop lots of awareness and
+ mindfulness on the path. Then, in Mahamudra and Dzogchen, we emphasize a
+ different aspect of mindfulness and awareness. Mindfulness and awareness
+ come from the discipline of meditation, which continues in our everyday
+ life. Therefore, formal sitting practice is very important for us. For
+ that reason, many teachers tell us to sit at least 10-15 minutes every day.
+ That helps us to generate this continuity of awareness in our everyday life.
+ There is no easy solution for manifesting awareness or mindfulness in our
+ everyday life without some discipline in practice. The only problem is
+ that when a student hears a teacher say that they must sit every day,
+ that's the time students usually begin to change their guru!
+
+ -- Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of
+ Samantabhadra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+We ordinary individuals share the characteristic of having our attempts to
+gain happiness thwarted by our own destructive self-centeredness. It is
+unsuitable to keep holding onto the self-centered attitude while ignoring
+others. If two friends find themselves floundering in a muddy swamp they
+should not ridicule each other, but combine their energies to get out. Both
+ourselves and others are in the same position of wanting happiness and not
+wanting suffering, but we are entangled in a web of ignorance that prevents us
+from achieving those goals. Far from regarding it as an "every man for
+himself" situation, we should meditate upon the equality of self and others
+and the need to be helpful to other beings.
+ -- Ven. Lobsang Gyatso, "Bodhicitta: Cultivating the Compassionate Mind of
+ Enlightenment", translated by Ven. Sherab Gyatso, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+Dalai Lama: "In the traditional [Tibetan] society, most people automatically
+did the types of work their families did--nomads, farmers, merchants, and so
+on. But some people still engaged in work that was not in keeping with the
+principle of nonharm, because there are butchers, metal smiths who make
+swords, and so on. But these kinds of work were also generally hereditary."
+
+Howard Cutler: "Speaking of work and the implementation of the concept of
+nonharm, ...you mentioned that there was a rule in Tibet that any new
+invention had to guarantee that it was beneficial or at least not harmful for
+at least seven generations."
+
+DL: "...there do seem to be certain practices and policies that successive
+Tibetan governments adopted in Tibet that reflect putting into practice
+certain Buddhist ideals, such as the Buddhist principle of respecting the
+natural world, particularly the animal world. For example, all the
+communities living near the Yamdrok Lake used to rely heavily on fishing in
+the past. Recently I heard about a policy that was adopted during the Fifth
+Dalai Lama's time where they were discouraged from fishing, and in order to
+compensate them, some other communities would band together and provide them
+an equivalent value in grain, so that they would be compensated against their
+loss. Similarly, in the area near Mount Kailash, around Lake Manasarovar
+during a particular season, a lot of waterfowl migrate there. They lay their
+eggs on the shores and apparently there was a government policy that during
+the egg-laying season, they would appoint people to watch over the eggs to
+make sure they were safe. Of course, there might be individuals who in
+addition to taking the salary probably ate some of the eggs as well. These
+things happen. But overall there is this kind of attitude of nonharm. "So,
+even though in Tibet, people didn't always follow the principle of nonharm in
+their work ...this principle was still deeply ingrained in the people. "In
+general, I think this could be applied in the West. Although not everybody
+has options about the work that they do, at least I think it is good to give
+serious thought to the kind of work one does, and the impact it has on others.
+I think it is best to choose work that does not cause harm to others, that
+does not exploit or deceive others, either directly or indirectly. I think
+that's the best way."
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art
+ of Happiness at Work"
+~
+ If we are feeling very nervous all the time, the first step toward doing
+something to remedy the situation is to take ourselves and the quality of our
+life seriously. Suppose we are walking down the street and we step on a bug
+and partially crush but have not actually killed it. If we continue walking
+and ignore the bug's experience of its leg being crushed or severed, we do so
+because we do not take the insect and its life seriously. We have no respect
+for it. If we treat ourselves no better than we do a bug and ignore our
+innermost pains and anguish, that is most unfortunate.
+ Taking ourselves seriously means actually looking at how we are
+experiencing our life and, if there is something unsatisfactory about it,
+admitting it to ourselves. Our tension and stress do not go away by denying
+them or avoiding taking an honest look. And admitting that something is amiss
+is not the same as complaining about it and feeling sorry for ourselves. Nor
+does it imply that something is fundamentally wrong with us and we are guilty
+of being a bad person because we are nervous. Being objective, not
+melodramatic, and remaining non-judgmental are essential for any healing,
+spiritual process.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu
+ Tradition of Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Wouldn't life be boring without attachment?
+
+ No. In fact it's attachment that makes us restless and prevents us from
+enjoying things. For example, suppose we're attached to chocolate cake. Even
+while we're eating it, we're not tasting it and enjoying it completely. We're
+usually either criticizing ourselves for eating something fattening, comparing
+the taste of this chocolate cake to other cakes we've eaten in the past, or
+planning how to get another piece. In any case, we're not really experiencing
+the chocolate cake in the present.
+ On the other hand, without attachment, we can think clearly about whether
+we want to eat the cake, and if we decide to, we can eat it peacefully,
+tasting and enjoying every bite without craving for more or being dissatisfied
+because it isn't as good as we expected. As we diminish our attachment, life
+becomes more interesting because we're able to open up to what's happening in
+each moment.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "Buddhism for Beginners", published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+My Grandmother is over eighty and still doesn't need glasses.
+Drinks right out of the bottle.
+ -- Henny Youngman
+~
+We are bits of stellar matter that got cold by accident,
+bits of a star gone wrong.
+ -- Sir Arthur Eddington
+~
+Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned. -- Milton Friedman
+~
+I have the worst memory ever so no matter who comes up to me--
+they're just, like, "I can't believe you don't remember me!"
+I'm like, "Oh Dad I'm sorry!"
+ -- Ellen DeGeneres
+~
+Question: When a practitioner of the Great Vehicle vows not to enter into
+nirvana until all beings are liberated, how is it possible to fulfill this
+vow?
+
+Answer: Three modes of generating an altruistic intention to become
+enlightened are described--like a king, like a boatman, and like a shepherd.
+In the first, that like a king, one first seeks to attain a high state after
+which help can be given to others. In the second, like a boatman, one seeks
+to cross the river of suffering together with others. In the third, like a
+shepherd, one seeks to relieve the flock of suffering beings from pain first,
+oneself following afterward. These are indications of the style of the
+altruistic motivation for becoming enlightened; in actual fact, there is no
+way that a Bodhisattva either would want to or could delay achieving full
+enlightenment. As much as the motivation to help others increases, so much
+closer does one approach Buddhahood.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard",
+ translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ A bodhisattva is someone who says from the depth of his or her heart, "I
+want to be liberated and find ways to overcome all the problems of the world.
+I want to help all my fellow beings to do likewise. I long to attain the
+highest state of everlasting peace and happiness, in which all suffering has
+ceased, and I want to do so for myself and for all sentient beings."
+According to the Buddha's teaching, anyone who makes this firm and heartfelt
+commitment is a bodhisattva. We become bodhisattvas from the moment we have
+this vast and open heart, called bodhichitta, the mind bent on bringing
+lasting happiness to all sentient beings.
+ Buddhist literature defines three types of bodhisattvas: the kinglike
+bodhisattva, the captainlike bodhisattva, and the shepherdlike bodhisattva. A
+kinglike bodhisattva is like a good king who first wants everything luxurious
+for himself, like a big palace, a large entourage, a beautiful queen, and so
+on. But once his happiness has been achieved, he also wants to help and
+support his subjects as much as possible. Accordingly, a kinglike bodhisattva
+has the motivation, "First, I want to free myself from samsara and attain
+perfect enlightenment. As soon as I have reached buddhahood, I will help all
+other sentient beings to become buddhas as well."
+ A captainlike bodhisattva would say, "I would like to become a buddha, and
+I will take all other sentient beings along with me so that we reach
+enlightenment together." This is just as the captain of a ship crosses the
+sea, he takes his passengers with him, and they reach the far shore
+simultaneously.
+ A shepherdlike bodhisattva is inspired by thinking, "I want to help all
+sentient beings to reach enlightenment and see the truth. Only when this is
+achieved and samsara is emptied will I become a buddha myself." In actual
+fact it may not happen this way, but anyone who has this motivation is called
+a "shepherdlike bodhisattva." In the old days, sheep were not kept in fenced
+pastures, and the shepherds had to bring them down from the mountains to
+protect them from wolves. They would follow behind the sheep, guiding them
+into their pen and lock them in. A shepherd would take care of his sheep
+first, and only then would he go home and eat.
+ The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara developed this shepherdlike motivation and
+is therefore considered to be the most courageous and compassionate of beings.
+He vowed, "I will not attain complete enlightenment until I have led all
+sentient beings to liberation without leaving a single one behind."
+ -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three
+ Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The practice of compassion begins at home. We have our parents, our
+children, and our brothers and sisters, who perhaps irritate us the most, and
+we begin our practice of loving-kindness and compassion with them. Then
+gradually we extend our compassion out into our greater community, our
+country, neighbouring countries, the world, and finally to all sentient beings
+equally without exception.
+ Extending compassion in this way makes it evident that it is not very easy
+to instantly have compassion for "all sentient beings." Theoretically it may
+be comfortable to have compassion for "all sentient beings," but through our
+practice we realize that "all sentient beings" is a collection of individuals.
+When we actually try to generate compassion for each and every individual, it
+becomes much more challenging. But if we cannot work with one individual,
+then how can we work with all sentient beings? Therefore it is important for
+us to reflect more practically, to work with compassion for individuals and
+then extend that compassion further.
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Trainings in Compassion", translated by the
+ Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+It wouldn't be bad if you didn't have statues, but it has become indispensable
+to have Buddhist texts which deal with the structured path to train our mind.
+If you have Buddhist texts, read them for yourselves and to friends who visit.
+That way you can help others to understand Buddhist ideas. For instance, it
+is interesting to read Milarepa's life story and songs. We find in them many
+enlightening lessons. Buddha's image alone will not purify us of karmic
+obscuration.... It is very important to study the scriptures. They are not
+to be just stacked up on the altar. They must be cultivated in our mind.
+...[we] take great interest in having the symbolic representations of Buddha's
+body, speech and mind. I feel it is more important to acquire and read
+scriptures, the symbolic representations of his speech. You can pay homage to
+them, you can make offerings to them; above all, you should study them.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the Dalai
+ Lama XIV on the Jatakamala", translated by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by
+ Dexter Roberts, Snow Lion Publications
+~
+From the Buddhist point of view, being in a depressed state, in a state of
+discouragement, is seen as a kind of extreme that can clearly be an obstacle
+to taking the steps necessary to accomplish one's goals. A state of self-
+hatred is even far more extreme than simply being discouraged, and this can be
+very, very dangerous. For those engaged in Buddhist practice, the antidote to
+self-hatred would be to reflect upon the fact that all beings, including
+oneself, have Buddha Nature--the seed or potential for perfection, full
+Enlightenment--no matter how weak or poor or deprived one's present situation
+may be. So those people involved in Buddhist practice who suffer from self-
+hatred or self-loathing should avoid contemplating the suffering nature of
+existence or the underlying unsatisfactory nature of existence, and instead
+they should concentrate more on the positive aspects of one's existence, such
+as appreciating the tremendous potential that lies within oneself as a human
+being. And by reflecting upon these opportunities and potentials, they will
+be able to increase their sense of worth and confidence in themselves.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
+ Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
+~
+An instruction that matches examples and their meanings to show how the
+absolute nature permeates everything. (*SG)
+
+These various examples give a general idea of the absolute nature. (*DK)
+
+...there are four examples and their meanings. Take the example of a
+Sugata's body: whichever way one looks at it, it is beautiful. (*Z)
+
+Similarly, everything a realized being does, since it is permeated with the
+realization of the unborn nature, is bliss, for he does not have ordinary
+attachment and aversion. (*Z & SG)
+
+Whether one looks at a Sugata's face or any other part of his body, one never
+feels one has looked enough. It is an example of ultimate beauty. Similarly,
+those for whom everything is backed by the realization of the unborn nature no
+longer have ordinary attachment and aversion, and such persons can therefore
+act like enlightened beings: whatever they do is bliss. Since they have fully
+realized the absolute nature, there is no question of telling them, "This is
+the right thing to do; that is something you should not do." They have no
+concepts or limits, so they can act as they wish. Everything they do will be
+nothing but bliss. (DK)
+
+* Note:
+ Z: Zurchungpa's root text
+ DK: Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche's commentary
+ SG: Shechen Gyaltsap's notes
+
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Zurchungpa's Testament: A Commentary on
+ Zurchung Sherab Trakpa's Eighty Chapters of Personal Advice", translated
+ by the Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
+nothing is going to get better. It's not.
+ -- The Lorax, Doctor Seuss
+~
+We do what we must, and call it by the best names. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+These days an income is something you can't live without--or within.
+ -- Tom Wilson
+~
+Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize
+until you have tried to make it precise.
+ -- Bertrand Russell
+~
+The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.
+ -- Flannery O'Connor
+~
+The initial period of deity yoga is called prior approximation because one is
+accustoming to a deity through becoming closer and closer to its state,
+whereupon the deity grants the feat, either directly or in the sense of
+bestowing a capacity to the mind. Actually effecting the achievement of feats
+is done by way of carrying out prescribed burnt offerings or repetition of
+mantra, etc., after the approximation has been completed. These feats are
+then used for the welfare of others in the third stage, which involves
+activities of (1) pacification such as overcoming plague or relieving others
+of demons, (2) increase of lifespan, intelligence, wealth, and so forth, (3)
+control of resources, persons harmful to others' welfare, etc., and (4)
+ferocity, such as expelling or confusing harmful beings.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity Yoga
+ in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The bodhisattva, as the personification of individuation, discovers a unique
+capacity to awaken his or her potential to work for the welfare of others in
+whichever way most suits his or her individual disposition. When I consider
+my own teachers, one thing I particularly value is their capacity to be
+authentically themselves. They each have their unique personality and quality
+that is a genuine expression of their individuality. There is no
+contradiction between our Western need to be individuals and the Buddhist
+path. Buddhism does not demand that we become clones of some ideal. Rather,
+it asks us to respond to who we are and awaken our full potential, expressing
+it within our particular individual capacity. My Tibetan teachers have
+supremely individualistic personalities, something I love and value deeply.
+They respond to me as an individual with my own personality, which they would
+never ask me to relinquish. The fact that they were each on their own unique
+journey within the Buddhist path was, for me, a sublime example of the
+bodhisattva as an individuated person who has truly responded to the inner
+call to awaken.
+ -- Rob Preece, "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of Individuation
+ in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The view is to believe in and understand the buddha nature, the essence of all
+the buddhas. If one knows the buddha nature, then that is to know the
+unchanging essence which is free from any limitation, the original primordial
+nature of the mind as it is. This is not like a light bulb that suddenly
+comes on or something that is newly acquired. It is the nature as it has
+always been and always will be: primordially perfect. To recognize the buddha
+nature is the view. To fail to recognize the buddha nature is to deviate into
+confusion. If you recognize your buddha nature, this is the same as having an
+audience with all the buddhas. You will meet face to face with all your root
+teachers.
+ -- Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
+ translated by B. Alan Wallace and Sangye Khandro, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ ...when we ask, what is the substantial cause of the material universe way
+back in the early history of the universe, we trace it back to the space
+particles which transform into the elements of this manifest universe. And
+then we can ask whether those space particles have an ultimate beginning. The
+answer is no. They are beginningless. Where other philosophical systems
+maintain that the original cause was God, Buddha suggested the alternative
+that there aren't any ultimate causes. The world is beginningless. Then the
+question would be: Why is it beginningless? And the answer is, it is just
+nature. There is no reason. Matter is just matter.
+ Now we have a problem: What accounts for the evolution of the universe as
+we know it? What accounts for the loose particles in space forming into the
+universe that is apparent to us? Why did it go through orderly processes of
+change? Buddhists would say there is a condition which makes it possible, and
+we speak of that condition as the awareness of sentient beings.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
+ the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand,
+ Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+Q: Certain associates can say things to me that spark an aggressive reaction.
+Why is it so easy to spark this feeling of negativity if there is not an
+accumulation of energy behind it?
+
+A: This is because of your pattern of clinging to the idea that you should
+have all the good things, and nothing that bothers you should ever happen, as
+I explained earlier. This is wishful thinking, because the nature of the
+world is not like that at all. The ego game you have planned is itself the
+explanation for how easily your anger is sparked. Because you have planned
+such a delicate, impossible game, and there are many things that can happen,
+anything that jeopardizes the plan of your ego upsets you. It is not an
+accumulation of energy but the pattern of clinging that is at fault.
+
+ -- Venerable Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, "Dharma Paths", translated by Ngodup
+ Burkhar and Chojor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ Suppose... you try to convert someone from another religion to the
+Buddhist religion, and you argue with them trying to convince them of the
+inferiority of their position. And suppose you do not succeed, suppose they
+do not become Buddhist. On the one hand, you have failed in your task, and on
+the other hand, you may have weakened the trust they have in their own
+religion, so that they may come to doubt their own faith. What have you
+accomplished by all this? It is of no use. When we come into contact with
+the followers of different religions, we should not argue. Instead, we should
+advise them to follow their own beliefs as sincerely and as truthfully as
+possible. For if they do so, they will no doubt reap certain benefits. Of
+this there is no doubt. Even in the immediate future, they will be able to
+achieve more happiness and more satisfaction.
+ ...When I meet the followers of different religions, I always praise them,
+for it is enough, it is sufficient, that they are following the moral
+teachings that are emphasized in every religion. It is enough, as I mentioned
+earlier, that they are trying to become better human beings. This in itself
+is very good and worthy of praise.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
+ edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Only a Buddha has extinguished all faults and gained all attainments.
+Therefore, one should mentally go for refuge to a Buddha, praise him with
+speech, and respect him physically. One should enter the teaching of such a
+being.
+ A Buddha's abandonment of defects is of three types: good, complete, and
+irreversible. Good abandonment involves overcoming obstructions through their
+antidotes, not just through withdrawing from those activities. Complete
+abandonment is not trifling, forsaking only some afflictions or just the
+manifest afflictions, but forsaking all obstructions. Irreversible
+abandonment overcomes the seeds of afflictions and other obstructions in such
+a way that defects will never arise again, even when conditions favourable to
+them are present.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+In commenting on the first instruction spoken by Manjushri, we considered the
+question of attachment to this lifetime and the faults that come from this
+attachment. However, the question of attachment goes deeper. It is not just
+a matter of giving up attachment to this life's rewards but of losing our
+taste and affinity for the whole of worldly existence. This is why it is
+necessary to contemplate and meditate upon the faults of conditioned
+existence. Otherwise, we may imagine that samsara possesses any manner of
+attractive qualities. Pondering the shortcomings of samsara should bring
+forth in us a tangible sense of disgust, as we are confronted with our own
+misguided pursuit of worldly ends.
+ -- Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, "Parting from the Four Attachments: Jetsun
+ Drakpa Gyaltsen's Song of Experience on Mind Training and the View",
+ commentary translated by Thubten Choedak, Root Text and Lineage Prayer
+ translated by H.H. Sakya Trizin and Jay Goldberg, compiled and edited
+ by John Deweese, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Another problem we face today is the gap between rich and poor. In this
+great country of America, your forefathers established the concepts of
+democracy, freedom, liberty, equality, and equal opportunity for every
+citizen. These are provided for by your wonderful Constitution. However, the
+number of billionaires in this country is increasing while the poor remain
+poor, in some cases getting even poorer. This is very unfortunate. On the
+global level as well, we see rich nations and poor ones. This is also very
+unfortunate. It is not just morally wrong, but practically it is a source of
+unrest and trouble that will eventually find its way to our door.
+ ...one of my elder brothers, who is no longer alive, would tell me of his
+experiences living in America. He lived a humble life and told me of the
+troubles, the fears, the killings, theft, and rape that people endured. These
+are, I think, the result of economic inequality in society. It is only
+natural that difficulties arise if we must fight day by day in order to
+survive while another human being, equal to us, is effortlessly living a
+luxurious life. This is an unhealthy situation; as a result, even the
+wealthy--the billionaires and millionaires--remain in constant anxiety. I
+therefore think that this huge gap between rich and poor is very unfortunate.
+ ...So, for those of you who are poor, those who come from difficult
+situations, I strongly urge you to work hard, with self-confidence, to make
+use of your opportunities. The richer people should be more caring toward the
+poorer ones, and the poor should make every effort, with self-confidence.
+ -- The Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life",
+ edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato and Richard Gere
+~
+Not to be busy
+ Tibetans say that once upon a time all the yaks that live in Tibet were
+living in India as water buffalo. It was very, very hot in India so some of
+them decided if they were to keep walking to the north they would get to a
+place that would be nice and cool. So they climbed up in the mountains, and
+as they were climbing their hair started to grow. Because of this the water
+buffalo in India often turn their head and look out expectantly and they are
+waiting for their brothers who have wandered off. In a similar way at one
+time all the buffalo of samsara and nirvana were living together and one day
+some of them wandered off and came into samsara. They keep looking around to
+see who else is there and where the other half is, because the basic quality
+of our ordinary sense of self is that it is very lonely. Something is missing
+in our lives and we don't quite know what it is, but we keep looking and
+looking to find this missing part. We can look for it in terms of
+possessions, we can look for it in terms of the form of our body, trying to
+change it through dieting or hair style or whatever. You can look in terms of
+friends. Anything. And this keeps us very, very busy. Sometimes the
+busyness can be very exhausting, but when we stop then we feel lonely. So we
+get busy again. Dharma is very helpful here if you want distraction because
+there are many kinds of ways to be busy in the dharma. You can focus on
+having lots of dharma possessions. You can focus on learning the text by
+heart, on the mantras and mudras, on serving the tsog, on doing meditations.
+There is always something to be busy with.
+ In Tibet many, many people practiced dharma but not so many seem to get
+enlightened. There are many kinds of dharma and if we practice in a way that
+doesn't focus on the essential point but on secondary and tertiary levels it
+is easy to get lost. It is really important, given that we have limited time,
+to focus on what is essential. Many people when they get a plate of food will
+eat the things they don't like so much first and leave the special thing to
+the end. But when when we apply this to life we can make a big mistake. The
+time for deep practice is now. You can learn all about Padmasambhava and what
+his clothes mean and what his hair style means but if you don't know the
+nature of your own mind then knowledge about Padmasambhava is just some more
+concepts.
+ -- "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje entitled
+ 'The Mirror of Clear Meaning' ", with commentary by James Low, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Linguistics is arguably the most hotly contested property in the academic
+realm. It is soaked with the blood of poets, theologians, philosophers,
+philologists, psychologists, biologists, anthropologists, and neurologists,
+along with whatever blood can be got out of grammarians.
+ -- Russ Rymer
+~
+What is undistracted calm abiding? It is meditative absorption free of the
+six types of distraction. What are these six?
+
+ (1) Inherent distraction refers to the eye consciousness and the other
+four collections of consciousness. Because they are naturally directed
+outward, they [cause one to] emerge from meditative absorption.
+ (2) External distraction refers to a mental consciousness that reaches out
+towards or engages objects.
+ (3) Internal distraction concerns dullness and agitation, as well as
+savoring one's meditative absorption.
+ (4) The distraction of marks occurs when, trusting in meditative
+absorption, one apprehends marks of it and becomes attached.
+ (5) Distraction brought about by negative tendencies is when directing the
+mind involves the apprehending of an ego. This is said to refer to the mental
+act of pridefully believing oneself to be superior to others, or [simply any
+mental act] that involves apprehending an "I".
+ (6) The distraction of directing the mind occurs when one is caught up in
+the mindset of, and directs the mind in the style of, the Lesser Vehicle.
+
+The undistracted calm abiding that is determined by the elimination of
+those six is the unique calm abiding of the Great Vehicle. This is a state of
+one-pointed inner rest, a flawless calm abiding. In it, there is no
+apprehension of marks, as is the case when inner absorption alone is believed
+to bring liberation. Neither does it involve the ego apprehension that occurs
+in the concentrations of non-Buddhists. Further, one does not direct the mind
+as one would when cultivating the supports for the inferior paths [to
+liberation]. This is how the wise should understand the calm abiding of the
+Great Vehicle.
+ -- "Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's 'Madhyantavibhaga' with commentaries
+ by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham", translated by the Dharmachakra
+ Translation Committee, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Calm abiding is predominantly stabilizing meditation, in which the mind is
+kept on a single object, rather than analytical meditation, in which a topic
+such as impermanence or emptiness is analyzed with reasoning. The purpose of
+developing calm abiding is that, since a mind that is scattered to external
+objects is relatively powerless, the mind needs to be concentrated in order to
+become powerful. If you do not have concentration in which the mind is
+unfluctuatingly stable and clear, the faculty of wisdom cannot know its
+object, just as it is, in all its subtleties. Therefore, it is necessary to
+have a highly focused mind.
+ ...In order to set the mind steadily on an object of observation, it is
+necessary initially to use an object of observation suited to counteracting
+your own predominant afflictive emotion, since its force remains with your
+mind now and can easily interrupt any attempt to concentrate the mind.
+Therefore, Buddha described many types of objects for purifying behavior:
+ + For someone whose predominant afflictive emotion is desire, ugliness is
+a helpful object of meditation. Here, "ugliness" does not necessarily refer
+to distorted forms; the very nature of our body--composed of blood, flesh,
+bone, and so forth--might seem superficially to be very beautiful with a good
+color, solid and yet soft to touch, but when it is investigated, you see that
+its essence is quite different--substances like bone, blood, urine, feces,
+and so forth.
+ + For someone who has predominantly engaged in hatred, the object of
+meditation is love.
+ + For someone who was predominantly sunk in obscuration, the meditation is
+on the twelve links of the dependent-arising of cyclic existence because
+contemplating its complexity promotes intelligence.
+ + For someone whose predominant afflictive emotion is pride, the
+meditation could be on the divisions of the constituents because, when
+meditating on the many divisions, you get to the point where you realize that
+there are many things you do not know, thereby lessening an inflated sense of
+yourself.
+ + Those dominated by conceptuality can observe the exhalation and
+inhalation of the breath because, by tying the mind to the breath,
+discursiveness diminishes.
+ A particularly helpful object for all personality types is a Buddha body,
+since concentration on a Buddha's body causes your mind to mix with virtuous
+qualities. No matter what the object is, this is not a case of meditating
+within, looking at an external object with your eyes, but of causing an image
+of it to appear to the mental consciousness.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
+ to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+...an understanding of the doctrine of emptiness is fundamental to tantric
+practice. Every sadhana begins with, is structured around, and ends with
+meditation upon emptiness. To practice Vajrayana without the wisdom of
+emptiness can be very dangerous. For example, a main tantric technique is the
+cultivation of a subtle divine pride, a confidence that one is an enlightened
+tantric deity, the Lord of the Mandala. One's mind is the Wisdom Body of a
+Buddha, one's speech is the Beatific Body, one's form is the Perfect Emanation
+Body, and the world and its inhabitants are seen as a mandala inhabited by the
+various forms of tantric deities. Thus we have to utterly change our sense of
+"I." To do so involves the subject of emptiness. To practice the yoga of
+divine pride without an understanding of emptiness will not only be useless,
+but could lead to identity problems and other undesirable psychological
+effects. Therefore it is said that although the Vajrayana is a quick path
+when correctly practiced on the proper spiritual basis, it is dangerous for
+the spiritually immature. This type of danger area is one of the reasons why
+the Vajrayana must be practiced under the supervision of a qualified vajra
+acharya.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
+ by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Self-discipline brings us into relationship with one of the six
+perfections of the bodhisattva, that of enthusiastic perseverance, which
+implies the willingness to engage in a process with effort and enthusiasm over
+a prolonged period. No material or spiritual qualities are gained without
+some degree of effort. Perseverance enables the practitioner to carry on and
+trust in the process, even when it feels hopeless. It makes it possible to
+face difficulties and obstacles in the path with confidence and courage,
+rather than giving up because it feels too hard. Self-discipline helps us
+remain in the vessel and not run away.
+ My Tibetan retreat guide described the maintenance of self-discipline over
+time like keeping a pot heating on a stove. If we continually remove it from
+the heat the pot never boils. Similarly he felt that when someone enters into
+the discipline of retreat, it should be maintained as rigorously as possible.
+In doing so the alchemical vessel will be maintained, and the "cooking" can
+take place. Transformation only occurs when the vessel is maintained in this
+way.
+ -- Rob Preece, "The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra", foreword by Stephen
+ Batchelor, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Installation programs are where programming
+and the IT department meet... and fight.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Compassion without attachment is possible. Therefore, we need to clarify the
+distinctions between compassion and attachment. True compassion is not just
+an emotional response but a firm commitment founded on reason. Because of
+this firm foundation, a truly compassionate attitude toward others does not
+change even if they behave negatively. Genuine compassion is based not on our
+own projections and expectations, but rather on the needs of the other:
+irrespective of whether another person is a close friend or an enemy, as long
+as that person wishes for peace and happiness and wishes to overcome
+suffering, then on that basis we develop genuine concern for their problem.
+This is genuine compassion. For a Buddhist practitioner, the goal is to
+develop this genuine compassion, this genuine wish for the well-being of
+another, in fact for every living being throughout the universe.
+ -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
+~
+ Buddha traveled and taught widely for some forty-five years after his
+enlightenment, and his audiences were diverse. Even though India at the time
+was a highly literate society, nothing of what he said was written down during
+his lifetime. Instead, various individuals were entrusted with memorizing the
+gist of each discourse. The work of transcribing his words took place only
+with the passage of generations.
+ Tibetans believe that this reluctance on the part of the Buddha and his
+immediate followers to commit the enlightenment teachings to paper, and
+instead to preserve them as oral traditions, was a purposeful strategy gauged
+to maintain the maximum fluidity and living power of the enlightenment
+experience. It only became necessary to write things down when the darkness
+of the changing times threatened the very survival of the legacy. An oral
+tradition becomes lost to history should its holders pass away without first
+passing on their lineages.
+ This intended fluidity, and the according safeguard against the
+establishment of an "enlightenment dogma" is perhaps best demonstrated by a
+verse that the Buddha himself said shortly before his death:
+ Do not accept any of my words on faith,
+ Believing them just because I said them.
+ Be like an analyst buying gold, who cuts, burns,
+ And critically examines his product for authenticity.
+ Only accept what passes the test
+ By proving useful and beneficial in your life.
+ This simple statement empowered future generations of Buddhist teachers to
+accept and reject at will anything said by Buddha himself as well by his early
+disciples. If something that was said by them did not pass the test of
+personal analysis, one could simply discard it as being limited in application
+to particular times, people, or situations, and therefore as only contextually
+valid.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lamas on Tantra", translated, edited and
+ introduced by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Many places have been totally changed through the use of police force and
+the power of guns--the Soviet Union, China, Burma, the Philippines, many
+communist countries, countries in Africa and South America. But eventually,
+you see, the power of guns and the power of the will of ordinary human beings
+will change places. I am always telling people that our century is very
+important historically for the planet. There is a big competition between
+world peace and world war, between the force of mind and the force of
+materialism, between democracy and totalitarianism. And now within this
+century, the force of peace is gaining the upper hand. Still, of course, the
+material force is very strong, but there is a kind of dissatisfaction about
+materialism and a realization or feeling that something is missing.
+ ...entering the twenty-first century, I think the basic concerns are human
+values and the value of truth. These things have more value, more weight now.
+ -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
+ About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword by
+ Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+An inexpressible, self-arisen expanse
+Without the names "samsara" and "nirvana."
+
+ Here, "self-arisen" means the primordial state. It is not something we
+can fully express with words or concepts. It's beyond words or concepts. The
+nature of all is not biased; it is not restricted to one or another. The
+nature of all exists in one identical state. That ground, that nature, does
+not have any name such as samsara or nirvana. That is the foundation, that is
+the ground. It is beyond samsara and nirvana. Not knowing the ground means
+wandering in samsara. If you recognize this ground, if you truly experience
+this ground, buddhahood is attained. That is the fruition. That is the
+result of our practice and our path.
+ ...The ground, that fundamental state of simplicity, is the origin of all
+elaborations. This pure basic state is like a simple artist's canvas. We
+paint different images on this canvas. We can paint the image of a buddha,
+and it becomes very pure, beautiful, and inspiring to look at. We can also
+paint a devil on the same canvas, which can create our fundamental suffering,
+our basic pain. However, the basis of both is the same simple state of canvas
+that is completely pure and totally free from the images we project on it. It
+is totally free, whether that image is a buddha or a devil. That is the
+origin.
+ -- The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of
+ Samantabhadra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.
+ -- Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh
+~
+Setting a Specific Intention for Our Practice
+ We should think about how we can make the best use of our practice so that
+we get the most out of it in the short time we have in this life. We do not
+have the leisure of wasting our time here by delaying the benefits of our
+practice. We have to use these situations as effectively as we can.
+ Before you begin any practice, first think very carefully about your
+motivation. When we are engaged in the threefold process of study,
+contemplation and meditation, we should be very specific, very clear about why
+we are doing it. We should remind ourselves, "I am doing this to transcend my
+negative emotions and my ego-clinging." This is a general example of a
+specific intention. However, to be more precise, we need to consider the
+unique make-up of our own individual kleshas [intense states of suffering, and
+ignorance]. Once we have identified our strongest emotion, then we can focus
+on the practices that will alleviate it. We begin with whichever emotion is
+strongest for us and then we move on to the next strongest, followed by the
+next, and so on.
+ It is important for us to prioritize our practice in this way. We have
+to keep our intention very clear in all three phases--in our study, in our
+contemplation and in our meditation. During shamatha or other practices, when
+thoughts come up, we recall that our purpose is to overcome our disturbing
+emotions and kleshas. We have to have a sense of willpower or determination
+in our minds. In order for the remedy to work, we must tell ourselves, "Yes,
+I am going to transcend this anger. I am going to work with it." Otherwise,
+if we do not have a clear idea, if we simply sit there with an indefinite or
+vague intention, then the effect also will be vague. We may have sat for one
+hour and although that time will not have been wasted, because it was not
+directed in an intentional way, the experience will not be so sharp, to the
+point or effective.
+ -- Dzogchen Ponlop, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ ...particularly in Buddhism while we practice we must use the brain as
+well as the heart. On the ethical side, we must practice the quality of a
+good and warm heart; also, since Buddhism is very much involved in reasoning
+and logic--the wisdom side--intelligence is important. Thus, a combination of
+mind and heart is needed. Without knowledge, without fully utilized
+intelligence, you cannot reach the depths of the Buddhist doctrine; it is
+difficult to achieve concrete or fully qualified wisdom. There may be
+exceptions, but this is the general rule.
+ It is necessary to have a combination of hearing, thinking, and
+meditating. The Kadampa teacher Dromton ('brom ston pa, 1004-1064) said,
+"When I engage in hearing, I also make effort at thinking and meditating.
+When I engage in thinking, I also search out more hearing and engage in
+meditation. And when I meditate, I don't give up hearing and don't give up
+thinking." He said, "I am a balanced Kadampa," meaning that he maintained a
+balance of hearing, thinking, and meditating.
+ -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness, Clarity,
+ and Insight", edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by
+ Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+If through listening to this explanation of the Seven Point Mind Training we
+come to recognise how important Bodhichitta is, this will be an infallible
+cause of our enlightenment. Of all the eighty four thousand different
+sections of the doctrine, the precious Bodhichitta is the very essence. By
+hearing the words of such a teaching, it is impossible even for demons, whose
+nature it is to kill and to do harm, not to have positive thoughts! Kham, a
+region in East Tibet, was haunted in the past by many ghosts and evil spirits,
+and this was one of the reasons why Patrul Rinpoche used to explain the
+Bodhicharyavatara continually to his disciples. Before long, there were no
+more ghosts--or at least, no one came to any more harm. Such is the hidden
+power of Bodhichitta!
+ --Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the Seven
+ Point Mind Training", translated by the Padmakara Translation Group,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Sometimes we face certain situations where, although we have done
+something good for others, we may not be able to reap the consequences within
+this lifetime. When we are talking about the law of causality, we are not
+limiting its operation to the confines of this life alone, but rather are
+taking into account both this lifetime and the future. Occasionally people
+who do not have a proper knowledge of karmic law say that such and such a
+person is very kind and religious and so forth, but he always has problems,
+whereas so and so is very deceptive and negative, frequently indulging in
+negative actions, but always seems very successful. Such people may think
+that there is no karmic law at all. There are others who go to the other
+extreme and become superstitious, thinking that when someone experiences
+illness, it is all due to harmful spirits.... It is also possible for very
+negative people to experience their positive karma ripening immaturely due to
+the very strong force of negative actions, and thus to exhaust the potentials
+of their virtuous actions. They experience a relative success in this life,
+while others who are very serious practitioners, as a result of the force of
+their practices, bring upon this lifetime the consequences of karmic actions
+which might have otherwise thrown them into rebirth in lower realms of
+existence in the future. As a result, they experience more problems and
+illnesses in this life.
+ Just resolving not to indulge in a negative action is not enough. It
+should be accompanied by the understanding that it is for your own benefit and
+sake that you must live with awareness of the law of karma: if you have
+accumulated the causes, you will have to face the consequences; if you desire
+a particular effect, you can work to produce its causes; and if you do not
+desire a certain consequence, you can avoid engaging in actions that will
+bring it about. You should reflect upon the law of causality as follows: that
+there is a definite relation between causes and effects; that actions not
+committed will never produce an effect; and that once committed, actions will
+never lose their potentiality simply through the passage of time. So, if you
+wish to enjoy desirable fruits, you should work for the accumulation of the
+appropriate causes, and if you want to avoid undesirable consequences, you
+should not accumulate their causes.... [Karma] is a natural law like any
+other natural law.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, "Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide to
+ Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, edited by
+ Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Generally speaking, there are two forms of meditation on emptiness. One
+is the space-like meditation on emptiness, which is characterised by the total
+absence or negation of inherent existence. The other is called the illusion-
+like meditation on emptiness. The space-like meditation must come first,
+because without the realisation of the total absence of inherent existence,
+the illusion-like perception or understanding will not occur.
+ For the illusion-like understanding of all phenomena to occur, there needs
+to be a composite of both the perception or appearance and the negation, so
+that when we perceive the world and engage with it we can view all things and
+events as resembling illusions. We will recognise that although things appear
+to us, they are devoid of objective, independent, intrinsic existence. This
+is how the illusion-like understanding arises. The author of the "Eight
+Verses for Training the Mind" indicates the experiential result when he
+writes: "May I, recognising all things as illusion, devoid of clinging, be
+released from bondage."
+ When we speak of cultivating the illusion-like understanding of the nature
+of reality, we need to bear in mind the different interpretations of the term
+'illusion-like'.... For example, the Buddhist realist schools explain the
+nature of reality to be illusion-like in the sense that, although we tend to
+perceive things as having permanence, in reality they are changing moment by
+moment and it is this that gives them an illusion-like character.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Actually, we are all part of the community of humanity. If humanity is
+happy, has a successful life, a happy future, automatically, I will benefit.
+If humanity suffers, I too will suffer. Humanity is like one body, and we are
+part of that body. Once you realize this, once you cultivate this kind of
+attitude, you can bring about a change in your way of thinking. A sense of
+caring, commitment, discipline, oneness with humanity--these are very relevant
+in today's world. I call this secular ethics, and this is the first level to
+counter negative emotions.
+ The second level in this connection is taught by all major religious
+traditions, whether Christian or Muslim or Jewish or Hindu. They all carry
+the message of love, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment, and
+discipline. These are countermeasures for negative emotions. When anger is
+about to surface, when hatred is about to flare up, think of tolerance. It is
+important to stop any mental dissatisfaction when we feel it because it leads
+to anger and hatred.
+ Patience is the countermeasure for mental dissatisfaction. Greed and its
+self-centeredness bring unhappiness, and also destruction of the environment,
+exploitation of others, and increases the gap between the rich and the poor.
+The countermeasure is contentment. So practicing contentment is useful in our
+daily lives.
+ ...All religious traditions talk about methods of compassion and
+forgiveness. If we accept religion, we should take the religious methods
+seriously and sincerely and use them in our daily lives. Then, a meaningful
+life can develop.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections and
+ Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh
+~
+ Actually, if we look around, people whom we don't like and people who harm
+us are in the minority. Let's say we're at work, at a social gathering, or at
+a Dharma center with thirty people. How many of them do we really dislike?
+We may have problems with a few people here and there, but we manage to stay
+in a room together, don't we? It's not like we despise them and they hate us.
+The number of people we can't stand in this world is actually very small.
+These people are rare. To practice patience we need the people that we don't
+like. We can't practice patience with our friends or with people who are kind
+to us. Finding people that we don't like or who threaten us is not so easy.
+So, when we finally find them, they are a precious treasure! They are rare to
+find. When we meet them, we can think, "Fantastic, I get to practice patience
+now."
+ They say that high-level bodhisattvas pray to meet disgusting,
+uncooperative people because they want to practice patience. Of course, when
+you really want to meet obnoxious people, they don't show up! Why don't they
+turn up for high-level bodhisattvas? Because high-level bodhisattvas don't
+have any anger. We could be sitting in a room with many people whom we
+consider unbearable, but high-level bodhisattvas don't see them that way at
+all. To them, these people appear lovable. Bodhisattvas have such a hard
+time finding detestable people, whereas we come across them so easily! So,
+when we find people whom we don't like, feel threatened by, or find
+despicable, we should recognize that there aren't so many of them around.
+Therefore, we should cherish them and take the opportunity to practice
+patience with them.
+ -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga
+ Method of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right.
+ -- Henry Ford
+~
+...to have greater self-awareness or understanding means to have a better
+grasp of reality. Now, the opposite of reality is to project onto yourself
+qualities that are not there, ascribe to yourself characteristics in contrast
+to what is actually the case. For example, when you have a distorted view of
+yourself, such as through excessive pride or arrogance, because of these
+states of mind, you have an exaggerated sense of your qualities and personal
+abilities. Your view of your own abilities goes far beyond your actual
+abilities. On the other hand, when you have low self-esteem, then you
+underestimate your actual qualities and abilities. You belittle yourself, you
+put yourself down. This leads to a complete loss of faith in yourself. So
+excess--both in terms of exaggeration and devaluation--are equally
+destructive. lt is by addressing these obstacles and by constantly examining
+your personal character, qualities, and abilities, that you can learn to have
+greater self-understanding. This is the way to become more self-aware.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
+ Happiness at Work"
+~
+Phowa is a practice which should be done repeatedly, all through our lives so
+that we can do it naturally and purposefully at the time of death. I have
+heard a story about a Tibetan who was dying and his family called the lama to
+be with him. The lama sat beside him and told him to think only of his root
+guru and forget everything else. He said, "I can't recall my guru, I can only
+think of a sizzling sausage being warmed in the ashes of a fire." The lama was
+very skillful: "That is excellent!" he said. "Dewachen, the paradise of the
+Amitaba Buddha, is full of sausages; they grow on every tree. You only have
+to open your mouth and you will have all the sausages you want. The color of
+Amitaba is like the embers of a fire, so think of him and you will go to his
+realm." It is said that the man went straight to the pure land of Dewachen.
+ -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", edited by B.M. Shaughnessy, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+"Yogis should at all times avoid fish, meat, and so forth,
+should eat with moderation, and avoid foods that are not
+conducive to health." --Kamalashila
+
+ Meditators need to be physically healthy. Therefore, proper diet is
+essential. On the other hand, their minds should be clear and strong and this
+will also contribute to physical health. For these reasons, it is recommended
+that they give up eating fish, meat, garlic, onions, etc. Appropriate food
+should be eaten in moderation, for indigestion can cause havoc with
+meditation. What's more, those who overeat can hardly stay awake.
+ ...If a vegetarian diet does not result in protein deficiency, it is a
+wholesome way of living. Even if you cannot be a strict vegetarian, at least
+moderating the amount of meat you eat is beneficial. Within the southern
+schools of Buddhism eating meat is not strictly prohibited, but the meat of
+certain animals, such as those that are not cloven-hoofed or those that have
+been slaughtered specifically for your consumption, is forbidden. This means
+that meat bought casually in the market is acceptable.... However, certain
+scriptures... strictly prohibit eating meat at all times, whereas other
+scriptures... seem to permit it.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
+ translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
+ Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+It would be wrong to say, as some do, that if we don't recite prayers while
+being aware of their meaning and merely repeat the words mindlessly, it has no
+benefit whatsoever--like prayer flags flapping in the wind. However, there
+are indeed differences in the level of benefits and blessings derived from
+prayers according to the way we recite them. Therefore, keeping this in mind,
+at the beginning of the practice, generate bodhicitta. During the main
+practice, some will use an object of concentration and some will practice
+without an object of concentration; each person should do what is best
+according to their level. At the end, one should dedicate the merit in a way
+that is pure from the three conceptual spheres to the best of one's ability.
+The most important and essential thing in making [prayer] meaningful is to
+depend on those three stages of practice--generation of bodhicitta, the main
+practice and dedication of merit. All must do the complete three stages of
+practice.
+ -- Chatral Rinpoche, "Compassionate Action", edited, introduced, and
+ annotated by Zach Larson, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ "When the thought of the internal
+ And the external as 'I' and 'mine'
+ Has perished, grasping ceases
+ And through that cessation birth ceases.
+
+ When actions and afflictions cease, there is liberation;
+ They arise from false conceptions, these arise
+ From the elaborations [of false views on inherent
+ Existence]; elaborations cease in emptiness."
+ -- Nagarjuna
+
+Inherent existence has never been validly known to exist; therefore, it is
+impossible for there to be any phenomenon that exists through its own power.
+Since it is experienced that mere dependent-arisings, which are in fact empty
+of inherent existence, do cause all forms of help and harm, these are
+established as existent. Thus, mere dependent-arisings do exist. Therefore,
+all phenomena exist in the manner of appearing as varieties of dependent-
+arisings. They appear this way without passing beyond the sphere or condition
+of having just this nature of being utterly non-inherently existent.
+Therefore, all phenomena have two entities: one entity that is its superficial
+mode of appearance and one entity that is its deep mode of being. These two
+are called respectively conventional truths and ultimate truths.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
+ Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The cloistered environment stands in stark contrast to the uncontrolled
+environment of everyday active life in the modern world. When I was a
+graduate student living in a family housing unit at Stanford University, I
+meditated early in the morning. At about 7:00 outside our window, a group of
+little girls would begin shrieking and driving their plastic tractors and
+tricycles across the bricks. I was meditating and these girls were disturbing
+my peace. I got to feeling pretty sorry for myself so I phoned my lama,
+Gyatrul Rinpoche, and asked for advice. He gave me a one-liner, "Just view
+it." This was not just Rinpoche's way of telling me to quit whining, but a
+reminder of the more encompassing teaching to embrace obstacles in practice.
+And carry on. We can't always control our environment, but we can embrace it,
+the good, the bad, and the loud, and integrate it into Dharma practice.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
+ Mind-Training", edited by Lynn Quirolo, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+He who throws mud only loses ground. -- Fat Albert (Bill Cosby)
+~
+Grow old along with me!
+The best is yet to be.
+ -- Robert Browning
+~
+It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out;
+it's the grain of sand in your shoe.
+ -- Anonymous
+~
+If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic,
+we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world. One
+might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the
+mathematics of probability.
+ -- Vannevar Bush
+~
+I have a rock garden. Last week three of them died. --Richard Diran
+~
+Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history
+that man can never learn anything from history.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+America believes in education: the average professor earns more
+money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
+ -- Evan Esar
+~
+We are more ready to try the untried
+when what we do is inconsequential.
+Hence the fact that many inventions
+had their birth as toys.
+ -- Eric Hoffer
+~
+Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion,
+for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
+ -- Bertrand Russell
+~
+Man is most nearly himself when he achieves
+the seriousness of a child at play.
+ -- Heraclitus
+~
+ If we have been reborn time after time, it is evident that we have needed
+many mothers to give birth to us.... the first cause bringing about
+bodhicitta is the recognition that all beings have been our mother.
+ The love and kindness shown us by our mother in this life would be
+difficult to repay. She endured many sleepless nights to care for us when we
+were helpless infants. She fed us and would have willingly sacrificed
+everything, including her own life, to spare ours. As we contemplate her
+example of devoted love, we should consider that each and every being
+throughout existence has treated us this way. Each dog, cat, fish, fly, and
+human being has at some point in the beginningless past been our mother and
+shown us overwhelming love and kindness. Such a thought should bring about
+our appreciation.
+ ...if all other sentient beings who have been kind to us since
+beginningless time are suffering, how can we devote ourselves to pursuing
+merely our own happiness? To seek our own happiness in spite of the suffering
+others are experiencing is tragically unfortunate. Therefore, it is clear
+that we must try to free all sentient beings from suffering.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
+ Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato and
+ Richard Gere
+~
+3.2.4 The way in which experiences dawn through practicing [Mahamudra]
+
+In beginners, this is similar to water [gushing down] a gorge.
+In between, it is the gentle flow of the river Ganga.
+Finally, all waters meet like a mother and her child. -- Tilopa
+
+ The meditative equipoise of beginners entails intense movement of
+thoughts, similar to water gushing down a narrow gorge. The reason for this
+is as follows. Though there is some slight resting in equipoise, thoughts
+proliferate. Right at that point, through the remedy of alertness and by
+considering that you like resting in meditative concentration and dislike not
+resting in it, you rest in meditative equipoise again. Through such an
+approach, your mind becomes somewhat uplifted.
+ The meditative equipoise of those who have attained a little bit more
+stability than that and are of middling faculties is similar to the gentle
+flow of the river Ganga. The reason is as follows. Even if some thoughts
+come up, a little here and there, their own face is immediately recognized, so
+that the movement of thoughts does not run wild. Without various notions that
+chase after these [subtle thoughts] or any physical and mental effort, all
+thoughts that come up will dawn slowly. There is also no need to make great
+effort in [applying] their remedies. Rather, these happen naturally or of
+their own accord.
+ Finally, in the meditative equipoise of those with highest faculties,
+neither thoughts to be relinquished arise nor is there any need to newly
+create some remedial wisdom, because there is nothing to be relinquished.
+Since existence and peace have become one taste, mother and child luminosity
+blend, or, expanse and wisdom have become indifferentiable. Once the
+tributary waters and the ocean have become one taste, like a mother and her
+child meeting, they cannot be disturbed.
+ -- The Fifth Shamarpa Goncho Yenla, "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith
+ Instructions", translated and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The theory of interdependence allows us to develop a wider perspective.
+With wider mind, there is less attachment to destructive emotions like anger,
+therefore more forgiveness. In today's world, every nation is heavily
+interdependent, interconnected. Under these circumstances, destroying your
+enemy--your neighbor--means destroying yourself in the long run. You need
+your neighbor. More prosperity in your neighbor, you'll get the benefit.
+ Now, we're not talking about the complete removal of feelings like anger,
+attachment, or pride. Just reduction. Interdependence is important because
+it is not a mere concept; it can actually help reduce the suffering caused by
+these destructive emotions.
+ We can say the theory of interdependence is an understanding of reality.
+We understand that our future depends on global well-being. Having this
+viewpoint reduces narrow-mindedness. With narrow mind, one is more likely to
+develop attachment, hatred. I think this is the best thing about the theory
+of interdependence--it is an explanation of the law of nature. It affects
+profoundly, for example, the environment.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, "The Wisdom of Forgiveness:
+ Intimate Conversations and Journeys"
+~
+The Suffering of Change
+ Feelings of suffering change into those of happiness. Feelings of
+happiness change into suffering. Both arise in dependence upon internal and
+external causes which change. For example, we see food as pleasurable, but if
+we eat too much, then it causes suffering. When we are young, we see our
+bodies as a source of pleasure. As we become older, the same body becomes a
+source of suffering.
+ Just as a wave is always changing, so the nature of suffering is always to
+change. It may be experienced as pleasure or as suffering, but it arises from
+the same source. Pleasure arises from suffering. Seeing pleasure as
+happiness constitutes suffering.
+ ...Pain and pleasure are of the same nature. Although they look different
+at different times, they both arise from the same sea of delusion and karmic
+action. Pleasure or pain, one or the other, arises and then falls back into
+the ocean. Thus we can conclude that pleasure and pain within the ocean of
+samsara are basically suffering, and dissolve into suffering.
+ This becomes evident in the wide variety of sudden changes of experience
+depicted in films. Love and hatred, happiness and family strife, peace and
+war, follow each other in rapid succession. The continuous change, although
+exaggerated in films, is characteristic of life in general.
+ -- Ven. Gen Lobsang Gyatso, "The Four Noble Truths", translated by Ven.
+ Sherab Gyatso, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ We feel money and power can bring happiness and solve problems, but they
+are not definite causes of those desired states. If that were so, it would
+follow that those who have wealth would necessarily have happiness, and those
+who do not have wealth would always experience suffering. Money and power
+facilitate, but it is clear that they are not the primary causes of, happiness
+and solving our problems. It is justified for us to make material and
+financial development for building our nation and providing shelter, etc. for
+ourselves; we need to do that. But we also need to seek inner development.
+As we can see, there are many people who have wealth and power who remain
+unhappy, due to which their health declines, and they are always taking
+medicines. On the other hand, we find people who live like beggars but who
+always remain peaceful and happy.
+ Therefore, in our daily life a certain way of thinking makes us happy, and
+a certain way of thinking makes us unhappy. In other words, there are certain
+states of mind which bring us problems, and they can be removed; we need to
+make an effort in that direction. Likewise, there are certain states of mind
+that bring us peace and happiness, and we need to cultivate and enhance them.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama XIV, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries", the
+ Jatakamala translated by Tenzin Dorjee edited by Dexter Roberts
+~
+Focusing the Mind on the Deity
+
+ Those with superior mental capacity should refine their ability by
+practicing the development stage without any sense of clinging or fixation.
+In this approach, the appearance of the deity and its ornaments are visualized
+in such a way that they are totally complete, vivid, and distinct from the
+very beginning. This is the form of great wisdom, the union of development
+and completion. Beyond being an identifiable entity with a precise nature, it
+appears clearly yet is devoid of any essence. In other words, clarity and
+emptiness are indivisible. Like the reflection of the moon in a lake, its
+very nature is to appear in a distinct manner, down to the pupils of the eyes,
+while in reality it is empty.
+ Those with moderate mental capacity should begin their meditation with a
+sudden recollection of the deity's complete appearance. The next step is to
+meditate on the clear appearance of the head, and, once this is stable, to
+then meditate progressively on the right arm, left arm, torso, right and left
+legs, and finally on the complete form of the deity and its seat. Training in
+the development stage of illusory clear appearance keeps one from straying
+into the view of nihilism. When one grows weary of this, the practitioner
+should recollect purity and refine his or her ability in the essence of this
+process, the vajra-like absorption. This key point keeps one from straying
+into the belief in permanence.
+ For beginners with less mental capacity, it may be difficult to visualize
+in either of these ways. When not yet familiar with this process, one's
+ability should be refined using a permanent form. Take a consecrated and
+well-formed representation of the yidam deity, such as a painting or clay
+statue made by a skilled artisan, and place it before you. Without
+intentionally meditating, look directly at it from top to bottom without
+blinking. This is referred to as the auxiliary practice of setting
+mindfulness into motion. At first, the agitated movement of conditioned
+thought patterns will be experienced. This is the experience of movement,
+which is said to be "like water cascading off a cliff."
+ -- Jigme Lingpa, Patrul Rinpoche, and Getse Mahapandita, "Deity, Mantra,
+ and Wisdom: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra",
+ translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, fore. by Trulshik
+ Rinpoche, fore. by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ The reason why we find so much discussion of epistemology, or how to
+define something as a valid cognition, in Buddhist writings is because all our
+problems, suffering and confusion derive from a misconceived way of perceiving
+things. This explains why it is so important for a practitioner to determine
+whether a cognitive event is a misconception or true knowledge. For it is
+only by generating insight which sees through delusion that we can become
+liberated.
+ Even in our own experience we can see how our state of mind passes through
+different stages, eventually leading to a state of true knowledge. For
+instance, our initial attitude or standpoint on any given topic might be a
+very hardened misconception, thinking and grasping at a totally mistaken
+notion. But when that strong grasping at the wrong notion is countered with
+reasoning, it can then turn into a kind of lingering doubt, an uncertainty
+where we wonder: "Maybe it is the case, but then again maybe it is not". That
+would represent a second stage. When further exposed to reason or evidence,
+this doubt of ours can turn into an assumption, tending towards the right
+decision. However, it is still just a presumption, just a belief. When that
+belief is yet further exposed to reason and reflection, eventually we could
+arrive at what is called 'inference generated through a reasoning process'.
+Yet that inference remains conceptual, and it is not a direct knowledge of the
+object. Finally, when we have developed this inference and constantly
+familiarized ourselves with it, it could turn into an intuitive and direct
+realization--a direct experience of the event. So we can see through our own
+experience how our mind, as a result of being exposed to reason and
+reflection, goes through different stages, eventually leading to a direct
+experience of a phenomenon or event.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
+ Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, foreword by
+ Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+Not recognizing their own face, but letting them run wild, one thought leads
+to many kinds of [other] thoughts. If you fall into letting this continue,
+you wander around in confusion. Through directly looking at the face of
+whatever thought that comes up at the very start [of a potential train of
+thought], without being able to stand its own ground, just like a rainbow
+fading away in space, this thought vanishes into emptiness. Since you arrive
+at such within the previous experience of stillness, if you become familiar
+with it, the stream of confusion is severed through thoughts coming to rest on
+their own and vanishing on their own. Hence, if you know how to sustain this,
+even if you regard movement as a flaw and [try to] stop it, you need neither
+stop it nor [apply] any other remedy for the movement of thoughts. Rather, by
+sustaining the state of realizing their own essence, you realize the essential
+point that all the various appearances of happiness and suffering emerge from
+the mind and dissolve back into the mind. Through this, you realize the
+essential point that all of cyclic existence and nirvana is produced by the
+mind, the mind resting naturally settled without being affected by thoughts
+about the three times.
+ -- "Straight From the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions", translated and
+ introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+It's a dangerous business going out your front door. -- JRR Tolkien
+~
+The only way to entertain some folks is to listen to them. -- Kin Hubbard
+~
+Never face facts; if you do,
+you'll never get up in the morning.
+ -- Marlo Thomas
+~
+I hate television.
+I hate it as much as I hate peanuts.
+But I can't stop eating peanuts.
+ -- Orson Welles
+~
+One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a human. -- Goethe
+~
+The opposite of talking isn't listening.
+The opposite of talking is waiting.
+ -- Fran Lebowitz
+~
+Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal
+with the intent of throwing it at someone else;
+you are the one who gets burned.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Question: Western religions use the term "God", and Buddhism does not. Could
+emptiness or nirvana be considered God? If the afflictive obstruction that is
+the conception of inherent existence is eliminated, does one realize that
+everything is God?
+
+Dalai Lama: If God is interpreted as an ultimate reality or truth, then
+selflessness may be considered as God and even as a creator in the sense that
+within the nature of emptiness things appear and disappear. In this sense,
+emptiness is the basis of everything; because of emptiness, things can change,
+and things can appear and disappear. Thus, voidness--emptiness,
+selflessness--is this kind of basis.
+
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
+ Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Immeasurable Joy
+
+ Because such love and compassion have not arisen in their mindstreams,
+people don't understand that all sentient beings are their kind mothers. They
+hold on to them as friends or foes, and the power of bad karmic action causes
+them to experience the immeasurable suffering of cyclic existence. "Wouldn't
+it be a joy if I could carry the suffering of those mothers, and if all beings
+could have all of my happiness and virtue? In order to establish these
+mothers in happiness, what a joy it would be if, until cyclic existence is
+empty, their suffering and the cause and effect of suffering, their sins and
+the cause and effect of sins, would all ripen in me and these mothers would
+become abundantly happy. I give my body, enjoyments, power, prestige, and
+roots of virtue in all times for the sake of these mothers. I won't pursue my
+own peace and happiness for even a moment. I will work for the welfare of
+beings without regard for life or limb. These mothers must have the entire
+range of happiness and the causes of happiness." With that thought, meditate
+on joy.
+ "Furthermore, I will not shrink away from the specific harm done to
+sentient beings, or any kind of sickness, suffering, misfortune, enemies, and
+obstructions that happen to me for their sakes. What a joy if all the
+suffering of beings ripened in me, so that I would have that kind of
+suffering. And even a greater joy when those suffering beings are free of
+suffering and dwell in exceptional happiness."
+ Generate an extraordinary attitude with that thinking. It is important
+that such joy does not stray into any kind of bias. And if you know it all to
+be like a dream or an illusion, free of fixation to true existence, it is
+called immeasurable joy.
+ -- "Machik's Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chod (Dharma)",
+ translated and edited by Sarah Harding, a Tsadra Foundation Series
+ book published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Curiosity is the very basis of education
+and if you tell me curiosity killed the cat
+I say only that the cat died nobly.
+ -- Arnold Edinborough
+~
+Knowledge will forever govern ignorance
+and a people who mean to be their own governors
+must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives...
+ -- James Madison
+~
+Question: What should you say to a loved one who is talking about a third
+person with hatred or anger? On the one hand, you want to show compassion for
+the feelings being experienced by the loved one. On the other hand, you don't
+want to reinforce or lend approval to that hatred. What might one say?
+
+Dalai Lama: Here I would like to tell a story. Once there was a Kadampa
+master called Gampowa who had many responsibilities. One day he complained to
+the Kadampa master Dromtonpa that he had hardly any time for his meditation or
+for his Dharma practice. So Dromtonpa responded by agreeing with him, "Yes,
+that's right. I don't have any time either." Then once an immediate affinity
+was established, Dromtonpa skillfully said, "But, you know what I am doing is
+for the service of the Dharma. Therefore, I feel satisfied." Similarly, if
+you find one of your beloved ones speaking against someone out of anger or
+hatred, maybe your initial reaction should be one of agreement and sympathy.
+Then once you have gained the person's confidence, you can say, "But...."
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...if you have not purified ordinary appearances into emptiness, how could
+you possibly meditate on the mandala circle? The fact that all phenomena are
+emptiness, that samsara and nirvana are inseparable, is the very reason we are
+able to actualize this by meditating on the mandala circle. In other words,
+emptiness is the basis for the development stage. As it is said, "For the one
+to whom emptiness is possible, anything is possible." If all phenomena were
+not empty and ordinary appearances were truly present, development stage
+meditation would be impossible, as the following quotation points out: "Even
+though one might empower wheat to be rice, rice won't actually appear."
+However, even if all phenomena are realized to be empty in this way, without
+the momentum of great compassion you will not be able to manifest the
+rupakayas to benefit others. This is similar to the listeners and solitary
+buddhas, who enter into a state of cessation and do not benefit others with
+rupakaya emanations.
+ Once one understands this point, it will be like the following saying:
+"All these phenomena are like an illusion and birth is like taking a stroll
+in a park...." Said differently, one will no longer dwell in existence, while
+through compassion, one will not get caught up in a state of peace either.
+This is the great, universal path of the offspring of the victorious ones.
+For all these reasons, making sure the three absorptions are not isolated from
+one another is a vitally important point.
+ -- Jigme Lingpa, Patrul Rinpoche, and Getse Mahapandita, "Deity, Mantra,
+ and Wisdom: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra",
+ translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, fore. by Trulshik
+ Rinpoche, fore. by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ We can experience things without confusion and without being tense. Even
+the most disturbed, nervous person has moments of clarity and calmness--even
+if only when he or she is peacefully asleep and dreaming pleasant or innocuous
+dreams. This demonstrates that confusion and tension are not integral parts
+of the nature of mind. Thus confusion can be removed. Not only can it be
+removed, but since confusion cannot be validated and can be totally replaced
+by understanding, which can be verified, confusion can be eliminated forever.
+Thus it is possible for a total absence of confusion to exist. Furthermore,
+since confusion limits mind from using its full potentials, once confusion is
+gone, a utilization of all potentials can also exist. Therefore, since we all
+have a mind, and all minds have the same nature of being able to experience
+whatever exists, we can all realize and experience the definitive Three
+Precious Gems.
+ Thus, if we aim to remove our confusion and realize our potentials as
+indicated by the Buddhas, their achievement, their teachings, what they have
+built up along the path and those who are progressing along it, we are
+traveling through life with a safe, reliable and positive direction. Taking
+refuge, then, means to put this realistic, safe direction in our life.
+Without it, our practice of mahamudra either has no direction and leads
+nowhere, or an unsound direction leading to more confusion and trouble. In
+addition, the further we travel in this safe direction through the mahamudra
+techniques--in other words, the more we realize the nature of mind and its
+relation to reality--the more confident we become in the soundness of this
+direction and our ability to reach its goal. The stronger our confidence, the
+further we progress along the path.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
+ Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The Rolling Stones have a song that goes,
+ "Wild horses couldn't drag me away.
+ Wild, wild horses, we'll ride them some day."
+That is the level that we have to reach, where wild horses cannot drag us
+away from the present moment of awareness. Once we have reached that level of
+training, then even in the bardos of death we will be able to guide our mind
+steadily past all difficulties toward awakening, toward freedom from samsara.
+ There is another well-known image; it compares our wild minds to a mad
+elephant in a china shop. When untamed, this elephant can very easily destroy
+many things in the shop, and even the shop itself. With one move, the
+elephant can destroy a wall; and with another move, another wall. In only
+four moves, this elephant can destroy the whole structure. In the same way,
+if our minds are not tamed, they can easily destroy our whole collection of
+virtue--all the merit and wisdom we have accumulated through the
+accomplishment of countless positive deeds.
+ Vipashyana meditation is the process of taming and training our minds.
+How do we do it? We catch our minds with shamatha and we train them with
+vipashyana. Then we ride our minds with mindfulness while remaining aware of
+the greater environment. Following these methods, we will reach our goal
+quite quickly--especially when we remember the thought of impermanence, which
+works like a whip.
+ -- Dzogchen Ponlop, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+With or without religion, you would have good people doing
+good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good
+people to do evil things, that takes religion.
+ -- Steven Weinberg
+~
+Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.
+ -- Mahatma Gandhi
+~
+I was born not knowing and have had only a little
+time to change that here and there.
+ -- Richard Feynman
+~
+As for me, except for an occasional heart attack,
+I feel as young as I ever did.
+ -- Robert Benchley
+~
+ It is possible to understand the Buddhist teachings as a method of
+psychological healing, comparable to psychotherapy, that teaches us how we can
+master destructive forces like anger, envy, and greed. Human beings seem to
+be a bundle of different qualities and psychological processes. We should
+attentively examine our qualities and be alertly aware of our experiences in
+order to recognize what we truly feel and think. At the same time, the
+personality of human beings is not seen as a unified whole. According to
+these teachings, the heart of consciousness is composed of various elements,
+the five types of attachment, or skandhas: body, sensations, perceptions,
+instinctual forces, and consciousness.
+ These inner forces impart the false concept of an ego-consciousness. The
+basic problem of emotional disorders therefore lies in a false concept of
+identity. This I-blindness should therefore be abolished through self-
+study.... The goal is not self-realization but selflessness.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Felizitas Von Schonborn, "Path of
+ Wisdom, Path of Peace", foreword by Wei Jingsheng
+~
+Life would be unbearable if everything stayed the same because human beings
+find situations that are fixed and predictable very hard to tolerate. Even in
+small matters, we become uneasy if we feel there is no end in sight. I know
+of couples who live harmoniously together for ten years then marry and are
+divorced within a year. As soon as they feel bound to each other for the rest
+of their lives, they begin to fight. Impermanence removes our reasons for
+quarrelling with each other. Arguments only break out if we imagine that our
+relationships are endless. When we appreciate that our time with our
+families, partners, and friends may be shorter than we think, we get on better
+with each other. Awareness of impermanence gives us extraordinary inner
+strength and resilience.
+ -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", edited by B.M. Shaughnessy, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there.
+ -- Josh Billings
+~
+ The ability to look at events from different perspectives can be very
+helpful. Then, practicing this, one can use certain experiences, certain
+tragedies, to develop a calmness of mind. One must realize that every
+phenomenon, every event, has different aspects. Everything is of a relative
+nature. For example, in my own case, I lost my country. From that viewpoint,
+it is very tragic--and there are even worse things. There's a lot of
+destruction happening in our country. That's a very negative thing. But if I
+look at the same event from another angle, I realize that as a refugee, I have
+another perspective. As a refugee there is no need for formalities, ceremony,
+protocol. If everything were status quo, if things were okay, then on a lot
+of occasions you merely go through the motions; you pretend. But when you are
+passing through desperate situations, there's no time to pretend. So from
+that angle, this tragic experience has been very useful to me. Also, being a
+refugee creates a lot of new opportunities for meeting with many people.
+People from different religious traditions, from different walks of life,
+those whom I may not have met had I remained in my country. So in that sense
+it's been very, very useful.
+ It seems that often when problems arise, our outlook becomes narrow. All
+of our attention may be focused on worrying about the problem, and we may have
+a sense that we're the only one that is going through such difficulties. This
+can lead to a kind of self-absorption that can make the problem seem very
+intense. When this happens, I think that seeing things from a wider
+perspective can definitely help--realizing, for instance, that there are many
+other people who have gone through similar experiences, and even worse
+experiences. This practice of shifting perspective can even be helpful in
+certain illnesses or when in pain. At the time the pain arises it is of
+course often very difficult, at that moment, to do formal meditation practices
+to calm the mind. But if you can make comparisons, view your situation from a
+different perspective, somehow something happens. If you only look at that
+one event, then it appears bigger and bigger. If you focus too closely, too
+intensely, on a problem when it occurs, it appears uncontrollable. But if you
+compare that event with some other greater event, look at the same problem
+from a distance, then it appears smaller and less overwhelming.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
+ Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
+~
+Three Forms of Compassion
+
+ Chandrakirti explained three types of compassion: compassion aimed at
+suffering, aimed at phenomena, and unaimed. With the first, we look at
+animate beings in light of their suffering and develop the wish for them to be
+free from both that suffering and its causes. One source of their suffering
+is their unawareness that they even have any problems, let alone their not
+knowing the causes of their problems. For example, our friend becomes upset
+at the slightest thing that goes wrong and sees this as normal. He or she
+does not understand that hypersensitivity is to blame and that something can
+be done to remedy this. When we see this sad situation, our compassion for
+our friend becomes even stronger.
+ Compassion aimed at phenomena looks at beings in light of their moment-to-
+moment changes. With it, we wish others to be free of suffering and its
+causes based on the understanding that these both are impermanent. We also
+see that others are unaware of this fact and so, when depressed, for example,
+they make their sufferings worse by imagining that they will last forever.
+Realizing this further enhances compassion for them.
+ Unaimed compassion looks at beings in terms of their voidness. It has the
+same wish as the other two forms, but is based on not identifying others
+concretely with their suffering. Seeing that others do not have this insight
+and that consequently they identify themselves with their problems intensifies
+our compassion for them even more.
+ -- Alexander Berzin, "Developing Balanced Sensitivity: Practical Buddhist
+ Exercises for Daily Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Don't be confused; the point of Scrum and XP and other agile methodologies is
+the same point behind any management technique of the past 100 years--squeeze
+every drop of work out of your workers until they are empty husks and can be
+thrown away. If you're a programmer and you think Scrum is going to "empower"
+you, you could not be more mistaken. Management will hide behind the
+principles of Scrum when it suits them and then still do whatever they want
+otherwise. When it's pointed out to them that they're violating the agile
+principles, they will simply claim that this is how the system is tailored
+for our company's "needs" and that we shouldn't blindly follow it. But if you
+need to break with an agile practice, oh no, the process is *God* and we must
+follow it to the exact letter.
+ -- John Nesmith
+~
+ I always believe that each individual human being has some kind of
+responsibility for humanity as a whole....
+ Through my own profession, I try my best to contribute as much as I can.
+This proceeds without my being concerned whether another person agrees with
+my philosophy or not. Some people may be very much against my belief, my
+philosophy, but I feel all right. So long as I see that a human being suffers
+or has needs, I shall contribute as much as I can to contribute to their
+benefit.
+ -- Dalai Lama XIV, "Consciousness at the Crossroads", edited by Zara
+ Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+A Song on Impermanence
+
+With this spouse and these near and dear ones you desire to live together,
+Inseparable for all times, but there is no doubt that you will be separated.
+
+From this excellent home you would like to be inseparable forever
+And take root in it, but you will surely depart.
+
+From this happiness, well-being, and wealth you want to be inseparable forever
+So you can relish them, but it is certain you will lose them.
+
+From this supreme human body with its freedoms and riches you wish to be
+ inseparable
+And own it until the end of times, but there is no way that you won't die.
+
+From this really great teacher you yearn to be inseparable
+And listen to the dharma for all eternity, but there is no question that you
+ will be separated.
+
+From these good friends you wish to be inseparable forever
+So you can hang out together, but it's a sure thing that you will be parted.
+
+Therefore, from today on, don your armor of vigor--
+The time has come to travel to the land of inseparable great bliss.
+You friends who have developed weariness from the depths of your hearts,
+I, a dharma-beggar, request you to do so.
+
+ -- The Omniscient Longchen Rabjam, "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith
+ Instructions", translated and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The wisdom that realizes emptiness, that has gained insight into the
+nature of reality, is of varying kinds, depending upon the level of subtlety
+of the consciousness perceiving the emptiness. In general, there are rough
+levels of consciousness, more subtle levels, and then the innermost subtle
+level of consciousness. It is the uncommon characteristic of Tantric practice
+that through it one can evoke this most subtle consciousness at will and put
+it to use in a most effective way. For example, when emptiness is realized by
+this subtlest level of mind, it is more powerful, having a much greater effect
+on the personality.
+ In order to activate or make use of the more subtle levels of
+consciousness, it is necessary to block the rougher levels--the rougher or
+grosser levels must cease. It is through specifically Tantric practices, such
+as the meditations on the chakras and the channels, that one can control and
+temporarily abandon the rougher levels of consciousness. When these become
+suppressed, the subtler levels of consciousness become active. And it is
+through the use of the subtlest level of consciousness that the most powerful
+spiritual realizations can come about. Hence, it is through the Tantric
+practice involving the most subtle consciousness that the goal of
+enlightenment can most quickly be realized.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
+ edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+By building up good habits of the mind in meditation, our behavior in daily
+life gradually changes. Our anger decreases, we are better able to make
+decisions, and we become less dissatisfied and restless. These results of
+meditation can be experienced now. But we should always try to have a broader
+and more encompassing motivation to meditate than just our own present
+happiness. If we generate the motivation to meditate in order to make
+preparation for future lives, to attain liberation from the cycle of
+constantly recurring problems, or to reach the state of full enlightenment for
+the benefit of all beings, then naturally our minds will also be peaceful now.
+In addition, we'll be able to attain those high and noble goals.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "Buddhism for Beginners", published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ ...all four tantra sets make use of deity yoga, the special tantric means
+for amassing the collections of merit and wisdom quickly. Highest Yoga Tantra
+has, in addition, techniques for generating subtler minds that realise
+emptiness and for using the winds or currents of energy that are the mounts of
+these subtler minds as the substantial cause of an actual divine body.
+Through this enhancement of the wisdom consciousness the obstructions to
+omniscience are quickly removed and Buddhahood is attained.
+ In the three lower tantras--Action, Performance, and Yoga--deity yoga is
+used to bring about the speedy achievement of many common feats and to come
+directly under the care of Buddhas and high Bodhisattvas, receiving their
+blessings, and so forth. This is done through a threefold process known as
+prior approximation, effecting the achievement of feats, and using the feats
+in the performance of activities for the welfare of others.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity Yoga in
+ Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+If you are able to think about the meaning of cyclic existence in general and
+human life in particular, then it is possible to discipline the mind through
+religious practice which is the process of becoming peaceful and anxiety-free.
+Otherwise, if too much emphasis is put on the sufferings of the hells and the
+imminence of death, there is a chance of falling into paralysing fear. There
+is a story in Tibet about an abbot of a monastery who went to give a
+discourse. A fellow asked the abbot's servant where the abbot had gone, and
+the servant said, "He has gone to frighten old men and women." If you fulfil
+the value of a human lifetime through engaging in religious practice, then
+there is no point in worrying about death.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+...if a fire which consumes
+One house moves to another,
+It is right to throw out anything
+Like straw which could ignite.
+
+Likewise anything to which the mind
+Is attached ignites the fire of anger.
+Fearing our merit will be consumed,
+It should be discarded at once.
+
+ If a house is on fire and the fire is spreading, we need to clear away straw,
+wood or anything else which is highly flammable and could cause a conflagration
+that would consume our entire home and property. Similarly, one way to prevent
+desire and attachment is to avoid contact with the objects that stimulate it.
+If anything comes between us and what we desire or if the thing to which we're
+attached is harmed or threatened, we instantly feel angry. This destroys the
+positive energy we've created.
+ Another way is not to avoid the objects but to contemplate their unappealing
+aspects, because desire results from focusing only on their attractive side.
+The third way is to contemplate their lack of true existence, since desire and
+clinging are based on seeing them as very real and objectively existent.
+Whichever technique we employ, the aim is to prevent desire and attachment,
+since they bring many other problems.
+ -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas",
+ translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Usually when we breathe, we breathe in and, as soon as we have finished
+breathing in, we immediately start breathing out. And as soon as we have
+finished breathing out, we start breathing in again. There is never any space
+or gap in between the in-breath and the out-breath. Now, many different ways
+of focusing the mind on the breathing have been taught.... There are
+basically six methods taught in the abhidharma. But here we have something
+different from any of those. This is called gentle threefold breathing. It
+is called gentle because there is no particular attempt to manipulate the
+breathing, except that instead of breathing in and then immediately breathing
+out, after breathing in, you wait before you breathe out...here the duration
+of the inhalation, of the retention, and of the exhalation should all be
+equal, three equal periods within each complete breath.
+ In doing this, some people combine the phases of the breath with the
+mental repetition of the three mantra syllables: OM AH HUM (HUNG)--OM
+coordinated with the in-breath, AH with the retention of the breath, and HUM
+(HUNG) with the out-breath. But what is most important here is simply to
+recollect, as they occur, the inhalation, retention, and exhalation, so that,
+while you are inhaling, you are aware that you are doing so; while you are
+retaining the breath, you are aware that you are doing so; and while you are
+exhaling, you are aware that you are doing so. In the beginning, it is
+recommended that beginners start with doing, for example, twenty-one of these
+breaths as a series, and it is important to practice with enough mindfulness
+so that, while you breathe in, and so forth, you maintain an awareness of what
+part of the breathing process you are in.
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "The Ninth Karmapa's Ocean of Definitive
+ Meaning", edited, introduced and annotated by Lama Tashi Namgyal,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Life is fragile, like the dew hanging delicately on the grass, crystal
+drops that will be carried away on the first morning breeze.
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
+~
+ ...though the emptiness of an impure phenomenon and the emptiness of a
+pure phenomenon are the same, there is a difference. What is the difference?
+The continuum of an impure substratum will later cease, not existing in
+Buddhahood, whereas a pure substratum's continuum of similar type will exist
+right through Buddhahood. Since the deity as whom you are imaginatively
+meditating yourself is a divine figure that exists in the state of Buddhahood
+when all defilements have been abandoned, this substratum is, for your
+imagination, pure.
+ Hence, it is important when doing deity yoga to put great effort into:
+ * working at realizing emptiness as much as you can,
+ * then imagining that the wisdom realizing emptiness appears itself
+ as a compassionately directed divine body with a face, arms, and
+ so forth,
+ * and then taking this divine figure as the substratum and
+ continuously meditating on its emptiness.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
+ to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+...when you explain or hear the teachings, if your mind and the teachings
+remain separate, then whatever is explained will be inconsequential. Hence,
+listen in such a way that you determine how these teachings apply to your
+mind. For example, when you want to find out whether or not there is some
+smudge, dirt, or whatever, on your face, you look in a mirror and then remove
+whatever is there. Similarly, when you listen to the teachings, your faults
+such as misconduct and attachment appear in the mirror of the teachings. At
+that time, you regret that your mind has become like this, and you then work
+to clear away those faults and establish good qualities. Hence, you must
+train in the teachings.
+ --Tsong-kha-pa, "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to
+ Enlightenment: The Lamrim Chenmo", translated by the Lamrim Chenmo
+ Translation Committee, Joshua Cutler, Editor in Chief, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ if god exists, then god doesn't need me to believe in god. it will not
+harm god if i do not believe, because god's existence is not dependent on
+my belief. god could contact me directly if god existed and actually cared
+what i believed, thus i see no reason to believe in god until then. since
+i don't need to believe in god, this frees me from wasting any mental
+effort *believing* when that belief will not create god if god doesn't
+exist, and when my disbelief will not destroy god if god does exist.
+i can't change the state of god's existence one way or the other--i have
+realized this limitation in my capabilities.
+ instead, god needs to believe in me. it's my existence that presumably
+requires god's participation in some way, if god does exist. but regardless
+of any effort to placate a deity, i feel that i need to be the kind of person
+who is worth believing in, by god or by anyone else. my seeking perfection
+should not come from fear of an ignored and needy deity. i must build the
+best moral and ethical system that i can come up with for myself in this life.
+it is my own self-control and my behavior towards others that is the final
+word on whether i am worth believing in.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Sometimes doing nothing is doing something.
+ -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
+~
+Enjoy now, another now is coming.
+ -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
+~
+Less pain, more gain.
+ -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
+~
+The pause is a part of the walk.
+ -- Sir Thomas Dewar
+~
+Go ahead, look around.
+ -- Sir Thomas Dewar
+~
+You better wait for the unexpected.
+ -- Sir Thomas Dewar
+~
+Making a mistake is also an achievement.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+Leave for tomorrow what you can't do today.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+The further you are from a problem, the smaller it gets.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+If you think you know it all, you are missing something.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+Proper rules are not written.
+ -- Sir Thomas Dewar
+~
+Sometimes a step forward needs a step back.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+If you get to the top on your own, who'll take the picture?
+ -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar, aka Lord Dewar
+~
+When a man says his word is as his bond--get his bond.
+ -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar, aka Lord Dewar
+~
+Never invest in a going concern until you know which way it is going.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+The quality of the article should be its greatest achievement.
+ -- Sir Thomas Dewar
+~
+If you do not advertise, you fossilize.
+ -- Sir Thomas Dewar
+~
+Yesterday's success belongs to yesterday.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+In charity there is no excess.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+The greatest mistake you can make is to be
+continually fearing you will make one.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+Life is a one-way street and you're not coming back.
+ -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
+~
+Fish stimulates the brain, but fishing stimulates the imagination.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+Respectability is the state of never being caught
+doing anything which gives you pleasure.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+Of two evils, choose the more interesting.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+There is no traffic congestion on the straight and narrow path.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+We have a great regard for old age when it is bottled.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+A philosopher is a man who can look at an empty glass with a smile.
+ -- Sir Thomas Dewar
+~
+A teetotaller is one who suffers from thirst instead of enjoying it.
+ -- Sir Thomas Dewar
+~
+Experience is what you get when you're looking for something else.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+Ability without enthusiasm is like a rifle without a bullet.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+You can send a boy to college but you can't make him think.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+If we are here to help others, I often wonder what the others are here for.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+Don't question your wife's judgment; look who she married.
+ -- Lord Dewar
+~
+I pray for all of us, oppressor and friend, that together we may succeed in
+building a better world through human understanding and love, and that in
+doing so we may reduce the pain and suffering of all sentient beings.
+ -- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech,
+ Oslo, December 1989, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
+ Mary Craig
+~
+Benefiting living beings is my main practice, and I would like to give a brief
+introduction to the three qualities that are its basis: pure love, compassion,
+and bodhichitta, the awakened mind. Pure love is the desire that all living
+beings have happiness and its causes. Compassion is the desire that living
+beings be free of suffering and its causes, such as unwholesome actions.
+Bodhichitta is the desire that all living beings be free of suffering and that
+we will be able to place them on the unsurpassed level of awakening, or
+buddhahood.
+ -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art, and Teachings of the 17th Gyalwa
+ Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+How can we eliminate the deepest source of all unsatisfactory experience?
+Only by cultivating certain qualities within our mindstream. Unless we
+possess high spiritual qualifications, there is no doubt that the events life
+throws upon us will give rise to frustration, emotional turmoil, and other
+distorted states of consciousness. These imperfect states of mind in turn
+give rise to imperfect activities, and the seeds of suffering are ever planted
+in a steady flow. On the other hand, when the mind can dwell in the wisdom
+that knows the ultimate mode of being, one is able to destroy the deepest root
+of distortion, negative karma and sorrow.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", translated and
+ edited by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+It is important to realize that there is nobody else who can wake us up and
+save us from samsara. There is no such thing in Buddhism. That may be
+Buddhism's biggest drawback, and at the same time its greatest advantage.
+This view shows us that there is nobody else in control of our lives, our
+experiences, our freedom or our bondage. Who is responsible? Who is in
+control? It is us. We are in control. We can bind ourselves further in
+samsara or we can free ourselves from it right now. It is all up to us. We
+are the ones who have to keep looking at our thoughts, looking for the nature
+of our mind. There is no guru, deity, buddha or bodhisattva out there to look
+for it for us. Although they would happily do this, it would not help us; it
+would only help them. We have to do it for ourselves. That is the key point.
+ -- Dzogchen Ponlop, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+...mistakenly apprehending inherent existence in all phenomena
+serves as the root of all other delusions...
+
+ The opponent force powerful enough to eliminate the delusions should be a
+wisdom which combines calm abiding and special insight. In order to cultivate
+an advanced meditative stabilization that is free of both subtle mental
+sinking and mental excitement, first of all there should be a basis: the
+practice of morality, an abstaining from negative actions. Therefore, the
+path leading to liberation is comprised of the three higher trainings: the
+training of morality as the foundation, the training of meditative
+stabilization as the complementing factor, and the actual path which is the
+training of wisdom. By enhancing the practice of wisdom and by developing it
+to its fullest extent, you will be able to eliminate totally the delusions,
+particularly ignorance which misapprehends the mode of being of phenomena.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ There is considerable ongoing debate regarding the traditional view of the
+guru-disciple relationship, which asserts that seeing the guru as Buddha,
+impeccable and without failings, is vital to ripen the disciple's potential to
+attain the fruits of the path. This is reinforced by the admonition that to
+see faults in one's own guru will result in karmic downfalls and future
+suffering for the disciple. Any faults in the teacher should be seen as the
+disciple's aberrations projected outside. The tantric teachings insist this
+pure view should be held at all times to protect the disciple from accruing
+negative karma.
+ However, underlying this is also the need to preserve the integrity,
+authority, and status of the teacher. This leads to a great deal of confusion
+when students begin to see evident flaws in teachers, and it would be folly to
+explain them away as the students' impure perception. Consequently it has
+become necessary to cultivate a less dogmatic, more pragmatic view. A teacher
+may not be a perfect carrier of the projection, but this does not contradict
+the tantric view that essentially the guru, an inner phenomenon projected
+outside, is Buddha.
+ If we literalize this principle of the teacher as the embodiment of
+perfection, we are in danger of blinding ourselves to the reality that most
+teachers are human, and therefore not perfect. An individual can have deep
+insights into the nature of reality and still have human failings, a shadow
+that has not been fully eradicated. According to the teachings on the Ten
+Grounds or Stages of the Bodhisattva, until the final ground is reached, there
+are still subtle obscurations to full enlightenment that can manifest in
+flawed behavior. Believing without question that the outer guru is Buddha
+also traps the teacher in an unrealistic, unconscious position. The Dalai
+Lama has commented that too much deference harms the teacher, because we never
+challenge him or her.
+ When disciples become devoted to teachers, considerable power and
+authority is entrusted to them. While a teacher's role is to support and
+empower disciples to discover their own potential, sometimes this does not
+happen. Some teachers become caught in the powerful position they have been
+endowed with and are unaware of their own desire for power and authority.
+They may begin to enjoy their power too much and take advantage of it for
+their own needs. This keeps their disciples disempowered, and ultimately does
+not allow growth and individual responsibility to emerge. Teachers may be
+unconsciously afraid to empower their disciples and allow them to gain a sense
+of their own authority and autonomy. They may try to hold on to their
+disciples, when to genuinely empower them could lead to their leaving to
+engage in their own journey.
+ --Rob Preece, "The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra", foreword by Stephen
+ Batchelor, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Attachment increases desire, without producing any satisfaction. There
+are two types of desire, unreasonable and reasonable. The first is an
+affliction founded on ignorance, but the second is not. To live, you need
+resources; therefore, desire for sufficient material things is appropriate.
+Such feelings as, "This is good; I want this. This is useful," are not
+afflictions. It is also desirable to achieve altruism, wisdom, and
+liberation. This kind of desire is suitable; indeed, all human development
+comes out of desire, and these aspirations do not have to be an affliction.
+ ...when you have attachment to material things, it is best to desist from
+those very activities that promote more attachment. Satisfaction is helpful
+when it comes to material things, but not with respect to spiritual practice.
+Objects to which we become attached are something to be discarded, whereas
+spiritual progress is something to be adopted--it can be developed
+limitlessly, even in old age.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love", translated and edited by
+ Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ Some people find it helpful to set a determination of a reasonable period
+of time during which they will sit in meditation without moving. If you do
+this, do not make it into a contest in which you grit your teeth in pain just
+to say that you sat without moving for a certain length of time. That isn't
+conducive for focusing with wisdom on the object of meditation. On the other
+hand, avoid moving whenever you feel the slightest bit of restlessness or
+discomfort. Doing that isn't conducive for developing concentration either.
+Rather, note when there is the urge to move but don't move. Observe the
+sensation: Is it really pain or is it simply restless energy in the body?
+Learn to differentiate between these two. Learn, also, to differentiate
+between pain and discomfort. Watch and study both of those when they arise in
+your field of experience.
+ In general, when attachment, anger, jealousy, or other distracting
+emotions arise, observe them without getting involved in their stories.
+Experience the feeling, rather than repeat the story to yourself again and
+again. Be aware of what it feels like in your body when you are angry,
+jealous, arrogant, or clingy. Be aware of the feeling tone in your mind when
+one of these emotions is present. Observe how the feeling changes, never
+remaining the same.
+ ...It is important to avoid criticizing yourself when your mind is
+distracted or dull. Do not fall into discouraging thoughts or self-hatred
+because these are unproductive and are to be abandoned on the path. Remember
+that internal transformation takes time and rejoice in your opportunity to
+learn and practice the Dharma. "Slowly, slowly," as Lama Thubten Yeshe used
+to say. Learn to be satisfied with what you are able to do now while you
+aspire to improve in the future.
+ -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path",
+ foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these
+minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden.
+But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm
+that plays havoc with the garden.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by it.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Buddhists take a vow of morality in the context of first taking refuge--in
+Buddha, in the states of realization, and in the spiritual community. Refuge
+is the foundation for the practice of morality. Buddha teaches us how to find
+refuge from suffering and limitation, but the chief refuge, or source of
+protection, is found in the states of realization achieved through practicing
+morality, concentrated meditation, and wisdom. ...A lama from the Drukpa
+Kagyu tradition and I were very close. We met frequently and always used to
+joke, teasing each other back and forth. On one occasion I asked him about
+his spiritual experience. He told me that when he was young, he was staying
+with his lama who had him perform the preliminary practice of making a hundred
+thousand prostrations to the Buddha, the doctrine, and the spiritual
+community. Early in the morning and late in the evening he had to make
+prostrations on a low platform the length of his body. His lama was
+meditating in the dark in the next room; so to trick him into thinking he was
+making prostrations he would tap with his knuckles on the prostration
+platform. Years later, after his lama passed away, he was taking a meditation
+retreat in a cave, during which he recalled his lama's great kindness over
+years of training him, and he wept and wept. He almost fainted, but then
+experienced the clear light, which he continuously practiced. Subsequently,
+after successful meditations he occasionally would remember past lives in
+vivid reflections before him.
+ --His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
+ Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ http://www.snowlionpub.com/search.php?isbn=HOPRPA
+~
+ A practitioner needs faith, or trust.... Guru Rinpoche said that we
+should meditate in the same way that a sparrow enters a nest. A sparrow
+spends some time investigating whether or not it is safe to enter. Once his
+examination is over, he then enters unhesitatingly. That's a wonderful
+metaphor for practice. First clear up all your doubts about your technique,
+then throw yourself into the technique with no separation or self-
+consciousness. Of course, it's easy to say, but that is the direction toward
+which we should be moving.
+ Another necessary quality is determination. It's easy to gear oneself up
+for counting mantras or prostrations. For some, physical discipline is also
+easy. But the determination of the meditator is different. We must be
+determined to strive to purify our obscurations until they're completely
+gone--in other words, until our buddha-nature unobstructedly shines through.
+When we sit, we decide to do our best not to be swayed by our negativity. We
+should cultivate this attitude at the beginning of our session. Otherwise, no
+matter how much we practice, we will daydream a lot and our meditation will
+always be wishy-washy. I know this from experience--I may do my session of
+meditation, but it is tepid. Why? I don't have that inner strength to remain
+unmoved by the arising of the various mental contents.
+ -- Bruce Newman, "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism", published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+This is the way of peace:
+ "Overcome evil with good,
+ falsehood with truth, and
+ hatred with love."
+ -- Peace Pilgrim
+~
+The seeing of Truth cannot be dualistic (a "thing" seen). It cannot be seen
+by a see-er, or via a see-er. There can only be a seeing which itself is
+Truth. "All Else is Bondage; Non-Volitional Living"
+ -- Wei Wu Wei
+~
+An economist is a surgeon with an excellent scalpel and a rough-edged lancet,
+who operates beautifully on the dead and tortures the living.
+ -- Nicholas Chamfort
+~
+A joke's a very serious thing.
+ -- Charles Churchill
+~
+You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.
+ -- Ray Bradbury
+~
+ The five subtler aggregates* will eventually be transformed into the
+Buddhas of the five lineages. They are now as if accompanied by mental
+defilements. When the defilements are removed, these factors do not become
+any coarser or subtler; their nature remains, but [when they] become separated
+from the faults of mental pollution, they become the Buddhas of the five
+lineages. So if you ask whether the Buddhas of the five lineages are present
+now in our continuums, these factors are currently bound by faults, and since
+there cannot be a Buddha who has a fault, they are not Buddhas. One is not
+yet fully enlightened, but that which is going to become a Buddha is present;
+therefore, these factors presently existent in our continuums are Buddha seeds
+and are called the Buddha nature, or the essence of the One Gone Thus
+(Tathagatagarbha).
+ * The five consituents that are included within a person's continuum--earth,
+ water, fire, wind, and space--that will be purified into the five Buddha
+ lineages [the exalted manifestations of these constituents].
+ -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
+ Clarity, and Insight", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...an inherently existent "I" appears to us, but instead of assenting to
+that appearance and holding it to be true, we analyze how the "I" actually
+exists.
+ At those times in our life when there's a very solid feeling of "I," it's
+helpful to examine how that "I" appears. I remember the first time I stayed
+out all night in college and my mother didn't know. I came home the next day
+with this feeling that "I" really existed: "I did this and my mother doesn't
+know!" The feeling of "I" was just enormous, incredibly solid, because I did
+something I wasn't supposed to do.
+ Examine how that "I" appears, that big "I," especially when you have a
+strong emotion. Get familiar with that sense of "I." When somebody criticizes
+us or accuses us of doing something that we didn't do, this feeling comes up
+very quickly. Usually, we're focused not on the feeling of "I," but on
+attacking the other person or escaping from him. But if we can step back,
+it's an incredible opportunity to study the feeling of "I." The person who
+irritates us the most can be our best Dharma asset, because he gives us an
+opportunity to look at this sense of "I."
+ -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga
+ Method of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+One time when I was giving an exposition on Nagarjuna's "Fundamentals of the
+Middle Way," which deals explicitly with the topic of emptiness, one student
+who did not have a prior background of learning in great treatises made a
+comment to another colleague. He said: 'Today's teaching was a little
+strange. His Holiness began with the presentation of the Buddha's path and
+built up the edifice one layer at a time. Then, all of a sudden, he started
+talking about emptiness and the absence of inherent existence, so that this
+whole edifice he had spent much time building was completely dismantled.'
+He couldn't really see the point. There is that danger. However, if we
+understand the importance of the need to generate wisdom into emptiness as a
+means of bringing about the cessation of the afflictions, particularly
+fundamental ignorance, then we recognise the value of deepening our
+realisation of emptiness. Also, as Dharmakirti points out, emotions such as
+loving kindness and compassion cannot directly challenge fundamental
+ignorance. It is only by cultivating insight into no-self that we can
+directly overcome our fundamental ignorance.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Having committed yourself to certain practices, be steadfast and never
+transgress the promises you have made. Let go of everything that could tempt
+you to do so and devote yourself entirely and single-mindedly to the
+accomplishment of your aims. For six years the Buddha did not waver from his
+practice of the meditative stabilization known as "Pervading Space." This
+meditation focuses on the fundamental nature of phenomena, which is present
+wherever there is space. Everywhere throughout space there are suffering
+living beings on whom this meditation also focuses with the compassionate wish
+to relieve their suffering and the loving wish to give them happiness. Thus
+it combines essential wisdom and skillful means.
+ -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path: An Oral
+ Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+If you're not scared or angry at the thought of a human brain being controlled
+remotely, then it could be this prototype of mine is finally starting to work.
+ -- John Alejandro King
+~
+Only fools are positive. -- Moe Howard
+~
+Just once, I wish we would encounter an alien menace
+that wasn't immune to bullets.
+ -- Unknown
+~
+We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by
+selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a
+shadow that never leaves them.
+ -- Buddha
+~
+If you find a good companion, who is following the same spiritual
+path, travel together, overcoming obstacles as they arise.
+ -- Buddha
+~
+Man is harder than rock and more fragile than an egg.
+ -- Yugoslav Proverb
+~
+That in man which cannot be domesticated is not his evil but his goodness.
+ -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
+~
+Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is.
+ -- Albert Camus
+~
+A human being: an ingenious assembly of portable plumbing.
+ -- Christopher Morley, Human Being
+~
+The universe may have a purpose, but nothing we know suggests that, if so,
+this purpose has any similarity to ours.
+ -- Bertrand Russell
+~
+Ocean: A body of water occupying two-thirds of a
+world made for man--who has no gills.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce
+~
+Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone and more fragile than a rose.
+ -- Turkish Proverb
+~
+Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it.
+ -- John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday
+~
+In nature a repulsive caterpillar turns into a lovely butterfly. But with
+humans it is the other way around: a lovely butterfly turns into a repulsive
+caterpillar.
+ -- Anton Chekhov
+~
+Man is an intelligence in servitude to his organs.
+ -- Aldous Huxley
+~
+We are perverse creatures and never satisfied.
+ -- Nan Fairbrother
+~
+Modern man is the missing link between apes and human beings.
+ -- Author Unknown
+~
+Human consciousness arose but a minute before midnight on the geological
+clock. Yet we mayflies try to bend an ancient world to our purposes, ignorant
+perhaps of the messages buried in its long history. Let us hope that we are
+still in the early morning of our April day.
+ -- Stephen Jay Gould, "Our Allotted Lifetimes," The Panda's Thumb, 1980
+~
+Such is the human race, often it seems a pity
+that Noah... didn't miss the boat.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+There are too many people, and too few human beings.
+ -- Robert Zend
+~
+It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human race proved to be
+nothing more than the story of an ape playing with a box of matches on a
+petrol dump.
+ -- David Ormsby Gore
+~
+Only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge,
+virtue, and abiding love.
+ -- George Bernard Shaw
+~
+The disastrous history of our species indicates the futility of all attempts
+at a diagnosis which do not take into account the possibility that homo
+sapiens is a victim of one of evolution's countless mistakes.
+ -- Arthur Koestler, Janus: A Summing Up
+~
+Men! The only animal in the world to fear.
+ -- D.H. Lawrence
+~
+The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race.
+ -- Don Marquis
+~
+Man embraces in his makeup all the natural orders;
+he's a squid, a mollusk, a sucker and a buzzard;
+sometimes he's a cerebrate.
+ -- Martin H. Fischer
+~
+Men are cruel, but Man is kind.
+ -- Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, 1916
+~
+Humanity is on the march, earth itself is left behind.
+ -- David Ehrenfeld, The Arrogance of Humanism, 1978
+~
+Human nature, if healthy, demands excitement; and if it does not obtain its
+thrilling excitement in the right way, it will seek it in the wrong. God
+never makes bloodless stoics; He makes no passionless saints.
+ -- Oswald Chambers
+~
+Cabbage: a familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as
+large and wise as a man's head.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
+~
+Monkeys are superior to men in this:
+When a monkey looks into a mirror, he sees a monkey.
+ -- Malcolm de Chazal
+~
+It is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing.
+ -- Mariane Moore, "A Grave," Collected Poems, 1951
+~
+The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that
+procession but carrying a banner.
+ -- Mark Twain, "Reflections on Being the Delight of God."
+~
+Adam ate the apple, and our teeth still ache.
+ -- Hungarian Proverb
+~
+Why was man created on the last day? So that he can be told, when pride
+possesses him: God created the gnat before thee.
+ -- The Talmud
+~
+Man--a creature made at the end of the week's work when God was tired.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated His ability.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+O poor mortals, how ye make this earth bitter for each other.
+ -- Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution, vol. I, book II, chapter 1
+~
+God pulled an all-nighter on the sixth day.
+ -- Author Unknown
+~
+Zoo: An excellent place to study the habits of human beings.
+ -- Evan Esar
+~
+The progress of evolution from President Washington to
+President Grant [is] alone enough to upset Darwin.
+ -- Henry Adams, Education, 1907
+~
+Man--a being in search of meaning. -- Plato
+~
+Ultimately, aren't we all just talking monkeys with an attitude problem?
+ -- "Uncle" Ben, as seen on quotes-r-us.org
+~
+The more humanity advances, the more it is degraded.
+ -- Gustave Flaubert
+~
+Nothing feebler does earth nurture than man,
+Of all things breathing and moving.
+ -- Homer, Odyssey
+~
+Everyone is as God made him, and often a good deal worse.
+ -- Miguel de Cervantes
+~
+Man is a strange animal, he doesn't like to read the handwriting
+on the wall until his back is up against it.
+ -- Adlai Stevenson
+~
+It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+God doesn't measure His bounty, but oh how we do!
+ -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
+~
+The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary;
+men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.
+ -- Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, 1911
+~
+The human race is governed by its imagination.
+ -- Napoleon
+~
+Man uses his intelligence less in the care of his own species than he does in
+his care of anything else he owns or governs.
+ -- Abraham Meyerson
+~
+Human beings cling to their delicious tyrannies and to their exquisite
+nonsense, till death stares them in the face.
+ -- Sydney Smith
+~
+Why should man expect his prayer for mercy to be heard by What is above him
+when he shows no mercy to what is under him?
+ -- Pierre Troubetzkoy
+~
+The small percentage of dogs that bite people is monumental proof that the dog
+is the most benign, forgiving creature on earth.
+ -- W.R. Koehler, The Koehler Method of Dog Training
+~
+Man was created a little lower than the angels,
+and has been getting lower ever since.
+ -- Josh Billings
+~
+We have no choice but to be guilty.
+God is unthinkable if we are innocent.
+ -- Archibald MacLeish, JB, 1958
+~
+Human beings invent just as many ways to sabotage their lives
+as to improve them.
+ -- Mark Goulston, Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating
+ Behavior, 1996
+~
+As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a
+man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.
+ -- Samuel Johnson
+~
+What is man's greatest bane? His brother man alone.
+ -- Bias of Priene, Maxims
+~
+Acedia is not in every dictionary; just in every heart.
+ -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
+~
+The study of crime begins with the knowledge of oneself.
+ -- Henry Miller, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, 1945
+~
+Is man a savage at heart, skinned o'er with fragile Manners? Or is savagery
+but a faint taint in the natural man's gentility, which erupts now and again
+like pimples on an angel's arse?
+ -- John Barth, The Sot-Weed Factor, 1960
+~
+God has given a great deal to man, but man would like something from man.
+ -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
+~
+I was surprised just now at seeing a cobweb around a knocker;
+for it was not on the door of heaven.
+ -- Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth,
+ by Two Brothers, 1827
+~
+I sometimes think of what future historians will say of us.
+A single sentence will suffice for modern man:
+He fornicated and read the papers.
+ -- Albert Camus
+~
+Man, when he is merely what he seems to be, is almost nothing.
+ -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
+~
+Give a man secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it
+into a garden; give him nine years' lease of a garden, and he will
+convert it into a desert.
+ -- Arthur Young, Travels in France, 1792
+~
+Our behavior is human with a sliver of animal,
+our souls animal with a sliver of human.
+ -- Carrie Latet
+~
+Occident: The part of the world lying west (or east) of the Orient.
+It is largely inhabited by Christians, a powerful subtribe of the
+Hypocrites, whose principal industries are murder and cheating, which
+they are pleased to call "war" and "commerce." These, also, are the
+principal industries of the Orient.
+ -- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
+~
+Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal
+that is struck with the difference between what things are and what
+they ought to be.
+ -- William Hazlitt, The English Comic Writers, 1819
+~
+Nature is neutral. Man has wrested from nature the power to make the world a
+desert or to make the deserts bloom. There is no evil in the atom; only in
+men's souls.
+ -- Adlai Stevenson
+~
+A simple and irrefutable argument to knock creationism on its ass: (1) Humans
+are a mistake--subproof: opposable thumbs and enlarged brain capacity are the
+combined number one factor in the increasingly speedy destruction of planet
+Earth. (2) God doesn't make mistakes. (3) Therefore, God couldn't have
+created people.
+ -- Cassus Garrulitas
+~
+Man talks about everything, and he talks about everything as though the
+understanding of everything were all inside him.
+ -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
+~
+My dog is usually pleased with what I do, because she is not infected
+with the concept of what I "should" be doing.
+ -- Lonzo Idolswine
+~
+Man will do many things to get himself loved;
+he will do all things to get himself envied.
+ -- Mark Twain, Following the Equator, 1897
+~
+We are all parasites; we humans, the greatest.
+ -- Martin H. Fischer
+~
+Suppose some mathematical creature from the moon were to reckon up the human
+body; he would at once see that the essential thing about it was that it was
+duplicate. A man is two men, he on the right exactly resembling him on the
+left. Having noted that there was an arm on the right and one on the left, a
+leg on the right and one on the left, he might go further and still find on
+each side the same number of fingers, the same number of toes, twin eyes, twin
+ears, twin nostrils, and even twin lobes of the brain. At last he would take
+it as a law; and then, where he found a heart on one side, would deduce that
+there was another heart on the other. And just then, where he most felt he
+was right, he would be wrong.
+ -- Gilbert Keith Chesterton, "The Paradoxes of Christianity," Orthodoxy
+~
+It is the nature of mortals to kick a fallen man.
+ -- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
+~
+God is less careful than General Motors, for He floods the world
+with factory rejects.
+ -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
+~
+Man's highest merit always is, as much as possible, to rule external
+circumstances and as little as possible to let himself be ruled by them.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+So there he is at last. Man on the moon. The poor magnificent bungler! He
+can't even get to the office without undergoing the agonies of the damned, but
+give him a little metal, a few chemicals, some wire and twenty or thirty
+billion dollars and vroom! there he is, up on a rock a quarter of a million
+miles up in the sky.
+ -- Russell Baker, New York Times, 21 July 1969
+~
+Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is
+a problem which he has to solve.
+ -- Erich Fromm, Man for Himself, 1947
+~
+When freedom from want and freedom from fear are achieved,
+man's remains will be in rigor mortis.
+ -- Martin H. Fischer
+~
+Man is nature's sole mistake.
+ -- W.S. Gilbert
+~
+The average man's judgment is so poor, he runs a risk every time he uses it.
+ -- E.W. Howe
+~
+Man--a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal.
+ -- Alexander Hamilton
+~
+We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all
+his noble qualities, still bears in his bodily frame the indelible
+stamp of his lowly origin.
+ -- Charles Darwin, Descent of Man, 1871
+~
+We're animals. We're born like every other mammal and we live our
+whole lives around disguised animal thoughts.
+ -- Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams
+~
+Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not
+depend on us. We are not the only experiment.
+ -- R. Buckminister Fuller
+~
+Be a good animal, true to your animal instincts.
+ -- David Herbert Lawrence, White Peacock, 1911
+~
+The question is this: Is man an ape or an angel?
+I am on the side of the angels.
+ -- Benjamin Disraeli
+~
+I viewed my fellow man not as a fallen angel, but as a risen ape.
+ -- Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape
+~
+Man desired concord; but nature knows better what is good for his species; she
+desires discord. Man wants to live easy and content; but nature compels him
+to leave ease... and throw himself into roils and labors.
+ -- Immanuel Kant, Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan
+ Purpose, 1787
+~
+The thief and the murderer follow nature just as much as the philanthropist.
+ -- T.H. Huxley, "Evolution and Ethics," 1893
+~
+Many people believe that they are attracted by God, or by Nature,
+when they are only repelled by man.
+ -- William Ralph Inge
+~
+People are like birds: on the wing, all beautiful;
+up close, all beady little eyes.
+ -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
+~
+Evolution is individual--devolution is collective.
+ -- Martin H. Fischer
+~
+I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-
+contain'd. I stand and look at them long and long. They do not sweat and
+whine about their condition.... Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented
+with the mania of owning things, not one kneels to another, nor to his kind
+that lived thousands of years ago, not one is respectable or unhappy over the
+whole earth.
+ -- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
+~
+As long as people believe in absurdities
+they will continue to commit atrocities.
+ -- Voltaire
+~
+I demand of you, and of the whole world, that you show me
+a generic character... by which to distinguish between Man and Ape.
+I myself most assuredly know of none.
+ -- Carl Linnaeus, 1788
+~
+In creating the human brain, evolution has wildly overshot the mark.
+ -- Arthur Koestler
+~
+Evolution: that last step was a doozy!
+ -- Astrid Alauda
+~
+We have a world for each one, but we do not have a world for all.
+ -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
+~
+Evolution: one small step for man, one giant leap backward for mankind.
+ -- The Quote Garden
+~
+I do not value any view of the universe into which man and the institutions of
+man enter very largely and absorb much of the attention. Man is but the place
+where I stand, and the prospect hence is infinite.
+ -- Henry David Thoreau, journal, 2 April 1852
+~
+Nature does not deceive us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
+ -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762
+~
+It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
+ -- Niccolo Machiavelli
+~
+Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees
+that it is old enough to know better.
+ -- Author Unknown
+~
+Question: How can one work with deep fears most effectively?
+
+DL: There are quite a number of methods. The first is to think about actions
+and their effects. Usually when something bad happens, we say, "Oh, very
+unlucky," and when something good happens, we say, "Oh, very lucky." Actually,
+these two words, lucky and unlucky, are insufficient. There must be some
+reason. Because of a reason, a certain time became lucky or unlucky, but
+usually we do not go beyond lucky or unlucky. The reason, according to the
+Buddhist explanation, is our past karma, our actions.
+
+One way to work with deep fears is to think that the fear comes as a result of
+your own actions in the past. Further, if you have fear of some pain or
+suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it.
+If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything,
+then there is also no need to worry.
+
+Another technique is to investigate who is becoming afraid. Examine the
+nature of your self. Where is this I? Who is I? What is the nature of I?
+Is there an I besides my physical body and my consciousness? This may help.
+
+Also, someone who is engaging in the Bodhisattva practices seeks to take
+others' suffering onto himself or herself. When you have fear, you can think,
+"Others have fear similar to this; may I take to myself all of their fears."
+Even though you are opening yourself to greater suffering, taking greater
+suffering to yourself, your fear lessens.
+ -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
+ About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword
+ by Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Object of Negation
+
+ When a subject is analyzed, the object to be negated is determined to be
+either an appearance or something imagined. It is not logical, [however,] to
+negate momentary appearances, because reasonings cannot negate them. To take
+an example: for people with eye diseases, the appearances of floaters [bits of
+optical debris], double moons, and the like do not stop as long as their
+eyesight is impaired. Similarly, as long as beings are not free from
+unafflicted ignorance, illusionlike appearances [manifesting] to the six modes
+of consciousness do not stop.
+ It is not necessary to negate [appearances], because our mistakes do not
+come from appearances: they arise from fixating on those [appearances]. This
+is the case because if we do not fixate on appearances, we are not bound--we
+are like a magician who, having conjured up a young woman, has no attachment
+towards her. [On the other hand, if,] like naive beings attached to an
+illusory young woman, we fixate intensely [on appearances], our karma and
+mental afflictions will increase.
+ To intentionally negate appearances would be wrong because, if they were
+negated, emptiness would come to mean the [absolute] nonexistence of things.
+Another reason this would be a mistake is that yogins and yoginis meditating
+on emptiness would fall into the extreme of nihilism since they would be
+applying their minds to a negation that [equals] the [absolute] nonexistence
+of everything.
+ Thus, [Madhyamikas] set out to negate only what is imagined, because that
+is what can be negated. Like a rope mistaken for a snake, what is imagined
+does not conform to facts: it is simply the mind's fixations.
+ -- Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six, Part Three:
+ Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy", translated by Elizabeth M. Callahan,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Even though Mac Users may be only 10% of the market,
+always remember that we are the top 10%.
+ -- Douglas Adams
+~
+While I don't claim to be a great programmer, I try to imitate one. An
+important trait of the great ones is constructive laziness. They know that
+you get an A not for effort but for results.
+ -- Eric S. Raymond
+~
+We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the
+complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is
+not true.
+ -- Robert Wilensky
+~
+C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when
+you do, it blows away your whole leg.
+ -- Bjarne Stroustrup
+~
+The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether
+submarines can swim.
+ -- Edsger Dijkstra
+~
+Consistently separating words by spaces became a general custom about the
+tenth century A.D., and lasted until about 1957, when FORTRAN abandoned the
+practice.
+ -- Sun FORTRAN Reference Manual
+~
+UNIX was never designed to keep people from doing stupid things, because that
+policy would also keep them from doing clever things.
+ -- Doug Gwyn
+~
+Anyone who slaps a "this page is best viewed with Browser X" label on a Web
+page appears to be yearning for the bad old days, before the Web, when you had
+very little chance of reading a document written on another computer, another
+word processor, or another network.
+ -- Tim Berners-Lee
+~
+If you were plowing a field, which would you rather use?
+Two strong oxen or 1024 chickens?
+ -- Seymour Cray
+~
+The competent programmer is fully aware of the strictly limited size of his
+own skull; therefore he approaches the programming task in full humility; and
+among other things he avoids clever tricks like the plague.
+ -- Edsger Dijkstra
+~
+A programming language is a tool that has profound influence
+on our thinking habits.
+ -- Edsger Dijkstra
+~
+The Answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything is
+forty-two.
+ -- Deep Thought, 2nd greatest Computer in the Universe of Time and Space
+~
+If Windows is the solution, can we please have the problem back?
+ -- unknown
+~
+This is a fascinating property: Writing texts in programming languages can not
+only be as creative as poetry, the creations more than in poetry, belong to
+the real world as soon as run through the machine.
+ -- Heinz Zemanek
+~
+Any problem in computer science can be solved with another layer of
+indirection. But that usually will create another problem.
+ -- Davin Wheeler
+~
+Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. -- Edsger Dijkstra
+~
+It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have
+had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally
+mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.
+ -- Edsger Dijkstra
+~
+Good artists copy. Great artists steal. -- Pablo Picasso
+~
+I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order I may learn how to do it.
+ -- Pablo Picasso
+~
+Serious people have few ideas. People with ideas are never serious.
+ -- Paul Valery
+~
+Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+The debt is like a crazy aunt we keep down in the basement. All the neighbors
+know she's down there, but nobody wants to talk about her.
+ -- Ross Perot
+~
+Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
+ -- Mark Twain
+~
+Where true religion has prevented one crime, false religions have afforded a
+pretext for a thousand.
+ -- Charles Caleb Colton
+~
+Whatever limits us, we call Fate. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher regard
+those who think alike than those who think differently.
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think
+laughable.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+It often takes more courage to change ones opinion than to keep it.
+ -- Willy Brandt
+~
+Let's be grateful for those who give us happiness; they are the charming
+gardeners who make our soul bloom.
+ -- Marcel Proust
+~
+It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+There are only two forces that unite men--fear and interest.
+ -- Napoleon Bonaparte
+~
+If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their
+own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have
+a paradise in a few years.
+ -- Bertrand Russel
+~
+The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense.
+ -- Tom Clancy
+~
+If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward,
+then we are a sorry lot indeed.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+Your character must be above suspicion and
+you must be truthful and self controlled.
+ -- Mahatma Gandhi
+~
+Either you live or you are consequential. -- Erich Kaestner
+~
+Pedaled curd gets wide--not strong. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+Do not follow where the path may lead.
+Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+She wore too much rouge last night and not quite enough clothes. Thats always
+a sign of despair in a woman.
+ -- Oscar Wilde
+~
+Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
+ -- Mahatma Gandhi
+~
+First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you
+win.
+ -- Mahatma Gandhi
+~
+Wherever it has been established that it is shameful to be involved with
+sexual relationships with men, that is due to evil on the part of the rulers,
+and to cowardice on the part of the governed.
+ -- Plato
+~
+We want to be poets of our life--first of all in the smallest
+most everyday matters.
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+Without music, life would be an error. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+Joseph LaGrange believed that a mathematician has not thoroughly understood
+his own work till he has made it so clear that he can go out and explain it
+effectively to the first man he meets on the street.
+ -- E. T. Bell
+~
+There is no such thing as an inevitable war. If war comes it will be from
+failure of human wisdom.
+ -- Andres Bonar Law
+~
+Perfect nonviolence is the highest bravery. -- Mahatma Gandhi
+~
+There never was a good war or a bad peace. -- Benjamin Franklin
+~
+There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing
+good in war. Except its ending.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only
+temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
+ -- Mahatma Gandhi
+~
+An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. -- Mahatma Gandhi
+~
+Trust no one in whom the desire to punish is strong. -- Fyodor Dostoevsky
+~
+If we steal thoughts from the moderns, it will be cried down as plagiarism; if
+from the ancients, it will be cried up as erudition.
+ -- Charles Caleb Colton
+~
+The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.
+ -- Emile Zola
+~
+Ability is nothing without opportunity. -- Napoleon Bonaparte
+~
+Never work just for money or for power.
+They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night.
+ -- Marian Wright Edelman
+~
+Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their
+pleasure takes joy, even as though it were his own.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power,
+and magic in it.
+ -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
+~
+Censorship cannot eliminate evil, it can only kill freedom. -- unknown
+~
+Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong.
+ -- John G. Riefenbaker
+~
+People demand freedom of speech to make up for
+the freedom of thought which they avoid.
+ -- Soren Aabye Kierkegaard
+~
+Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the
+fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
+ -- Jim Morrison
+~
+If you are a phenomenologist, you can talk about this cocktail and make
+philosophy out of it.
+ -- Raymond Aron
+~
+I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance.
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+I would not know what the spirit of a philosopher might wish more
+to be than a good dancer.
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+Faith means not wanting to know what is true. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen.
+ -- Francois, Duc de la Rochefoucauld
+~
+This war, like the next war, is a war to end war. -- David Lloyd George
+~
+How good bad music and bad reasons sound when one marches against an enemy!
+ -- Friedrich Nietzsche
+~
+When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them.
+ -- Rodney Dangerfield
+~
+ When your mind is trained in self-discipline, even if you are surrounded
+by hostile forces, your peace of mind will hardly be disturbed. On the other
+hand, if your mind is undisciplined, your mental peace and calm can easily be
+disrupted by your own negative thoughts and emotions. The real enemy is
+within, not outside. Usually we define our enemy as a person, an external
+agent, whom we believe is causing harm to us or to someone we hold dear. But
+such an enemy is dependent on many conditions and is impermanent. One moment,
+the person may act as an enemy; at yet another moment, he or she may become
+your best friend. This is a truth that we often experience in our own lives.
+But negative thoughts and emotions, the inner enemy, will always remain the
+enemy. They are your enemy today, they have been your enemy in the past, and
+they will remain your enemy in the future as long as they reside within your
+mind.
+ This inner enemy is extremely dangerous. The destructive potential of an
+external enemy is limited when compared to that of its inner counterpart....
+In a time when every country is a potential target for the nuclear weapons of
+others, human beings still continue to develop defense systems of greater and
+greater sophistication. I do not know if it will ever be possible to create a
+defense system capable of guaranteeing worldwide protection against all
+external forces of destruction. However, one thing is certain: as long as
+those destructive internal enemies of anger and hatred are left to themselves
+unchallenged, the threat of physical annihilation will always loom over us.
+In fact, the destructive power of an external enemy ultimately derives from
+the power of these internal forces. The inner enemy is the trigger that
+unleashes the destructive power of the external enemy.
+ Shantideva tells us that as long as these inner enemies remain secure
+within, there is great danger. Shantideva goes on to say that even if
+everyone in the world were to stand up against you as your enemies and harm
+you, as long as your own mind was disciplined and calm, they would not be able
+to disturb your peace. Yet a single instance of delusion arising in your mind
+has the power to disturb that peace and inner stability.
+ -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Compassionate Life"
+~
+(Each day before breakfast the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, Thubten
+Chodron, gives a morning motivation for residents and guests. We were moved
+by these inspiring words, and hope you will be, too.)
+
+Morning Motivation
+
+ Let's recall our motivation in the morning and think that today, the most
+important thing I have to do is to guard my body, speech and mind so that I
+don't harm anybody through what I do with my body, through what I say, or even
+through what I think. That's the most important thing, more important than
+anything else today.
+ The second most important thing is, as much as possible, to be of benefit
+to others. Thoroughly cultivate that as your motivation simply for being
+alive today. Our purpose for being alive isn't just to keep this body alive,
+to eat and sleep, and have pleasure. We have a higher purpose, a higher
+meaning: to really work for the benefit of living beings. If the purpose of
+our life is simply to keep the body alive and have pleasure, then at the end
+of life, we have nothing to show for it. The body dies and all the pleasures,
+like last night's dream, have gone. But if we work for a higher motivation, a
+higher purpose, to really do what's beneficial for all living beings, then
+there's happiness and benefit now.
+ At the end of the life, the benefit that we've given to others continues,
+as do all the imprints of the attitude of kindness, the attitude of care
+towards others. All the imprints of having generated that positive mind go on
+with us into the next life. So even at the time of death, that kind heart
+brings incredible benefit and carries through into the next life.
+ And then let's also generate a third motivation--a really long-term
+motivation--to become fully enlightened. In other words, to have the wisdom,
+compassion, and skill so that in the long term, we'll be able to be of the
+greatest benefit to all living beings, even being able to lead them on the
+path to enlightenment. That's our really long-term purpose.
+ As we change and develop a kind heart, that influences every single living
+being we encounter in a positive way. Then, through the influence on them, it
+spreads out to all the people they know. So, just spending one day with a
+positive, long-term motivation may seem like a small thing, but when we think
+of the ripple effect it has now, and the benefit it has in future lives and
+for progressing along the path to liberation and enlightenment, we see that
+even one day spent with this motivation of kindness, directly and indirectly
+benefiting sentient beings, has tremendous outcomes--many, many good results.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, who is the author of many books, including her latest
+ work, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path", published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...We can't blame one individual for what happens in our world. I think
+we should blame our entire society. Society produces our leaders and
+politicians, and if we try to develop a more compassionate and affectionate
+society, we will have human beings with a more peaceful nature. Leaders,
+politicians, and businesspeople coming from such a society would offer hope
+for a better world. Our long-term responsibility--everyone's responsibility,
+whether they are believers or nonbelievers--is to find ways to promote a
+peaceful and compassionate society.
+ I think one way is quite simple. Each individual must try to ensure peace
+and compassion in his [or her] family. Put together ten peaceful,
+compassionate homes, or one hundred, and that's a community. The children in
+such a society would receive affection in their family and in their schools
+from the educators concerned. We might have one or two setbacks, but
+generally I think we could develop a sensible society. Sensible here means a
+sense of community, a sense of responsibility, and a sense of commitment.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections
+ and Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ We can see that there are many ways in which we actively contribute to our
+own experience of mental unrest and suffering. Although, in general, mental
+and emotional afflictions themselves can come naturally, often it is our own
+reinforcement of those negative emotions that makes them so much worse. For
+instance when we have anger or hatred towards a person, there is less
+likelihood of its developing to a very intense degree if we leave it
+unattended. However, if we think about the projected injustices done to us,
+the ways in which we have been unfairly treated, and we keep on thinking about
+them over and over, then that feeds the hatred. It makes the hatred very
+powerful and intense. Of course, the same can apply to when we have an
+attachment towards a particular person; we can feed that by thinking about how
+beautiful he or she is, and as we keep thinking about the projected qualities
+that we see in the person, the attachment becomes more and more intense. But
+this shows how through constant familiarity and thinking, we ourselves can
+make our emotions more intense and powerful.
+ We also often add to our pain and suffering by being overly sensitive,
+overreacting to minor things, and sometimes taking things too personally. We
+tend to take small things too seriously and blow them up out of proportion,
+while at the same time we often remain indifferent to the really important
+things, those things which have profound effects on our lives and long-term
+consequences and implications.
+ So I think that to a large extent, whether you suffer depends on how you
+respond to a given situation.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
+ Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
+~
+ Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and
+courage. Realization doesn't grow within a timid or weak state of mind--it
+blossoms in the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless.
+When we see the true nature of reality, there's nothing hidden, nothing left
+to fear. At last we're seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.
+ Our habitual patterns can only be removed by understanding the great
+emptiness aspect of true nature, that which is named the Mother of all the
+buddhas. Emptiness is freedom; emptiness is great opportunity. It is
+pervasive and all phenomena arise from it. As the great master Jigme Lingpa
+said, "The entire universe is the mandala of the dakini." The Mother's mandala
+is all phenomena, the display of the wisdom dakini.
+ Without this ultimate great emptiness, the Mother of the buddhas, the
+universe would be without movement, development, or change. Because of this
+great emptiness state of the Mother, we see phenomena continually arising.
+Each display arises, transforms, and radiates, fulfilling its purpose and then
+dissolving back into its original state. This dramatic dance of energy is the
+activity, ability, or mandala of the wisdom dakini. Thus, the combination of
+the great emptiness or openness state, together with the activities of love
+and compassion, is both the ultimate Mother and the ultimate wisdom dakini.
+ -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
+ "Tara's Enlightened Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one
+ Praises to Tara' ", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Just as your innermost wish is to be free from suffering and to abide in
+happiness, so too is it the aspiration of all other beings. But, they, like
+you, encounter sufferings and problems in their lives, and often their
+difficulties are much worse than your own. Examine your capacity to help
+them. At this time your ability to help them is quite limited, but if you
+reduce your own ignorance, anger, attachment, and other faults, and increase
+your good qualities such as generosity, patience, loving-kindness, compassion,
+and wisdom, you will be of greater benefit. If you become fully enlightened,
+you will be of the greatest possible benefit to all beings. Thus generate the
+altruistic intention to become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient
+beings most effectively.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path",
+ foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...at Bodh Gaya, [Shakyamuni] displayed the ways of becoming fully
+enlightened. Then in stages he turned the three renowned wheels of doctrine.
+ In the first period, at Varanasi, Buddha turned the wheel of doctrine that
+is based on the four noble truths; he did this mainly in consideration of
+those having the lineage of Hearers (Sravaka). In the middle period, at
+Grdhrakuta, he set forth the middle wheel of doctrine, which is based on the
+mode of non-inherent existence of all phenomena; he did this mainly in
+consideration of trainees of sharp faculties who bear the Mahayana lineage.
+In the final period, at Vaisali, he set forth the final wheel [which is based
+on discriminating between those phenomena that do and those that do not truly
+exist]; he did this mainly in consideration of trainees of middling and lower
+faculties who bear the Mahayana lineage. The teacher Buddha also appeared in
+the body of Vajradhara, setting forth tantric doctrines.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
+ Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+There are different levels of faith. First, clear faith refers to the joy and
+clarity and change in our perceptions that we experience when we hear about
+the qualities of the Three Jewels and the lives of the Buddha and the great
+teachers. Longing faith is experienced when we think about the latter and are
+filled with a great desire to know more about their qualities and to acquire
+these ourselves. Confident faith comes through practicing the Dharma, when we
+acquire complete confidence in the truth of the teachings and the
+enlightenment of the Buddha. Finally, when faith has become so much a part of
+ourselves that even if our lives were at risk we could never give it up, it
+has become irreversible faith.
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "The Excellent Path to Enlightenment",
+ translated by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ ...when seeking work, or if you already have a job, it is important to
+keep in mind that a human being isn't meant to be some kind of machine
+designed only for production. No. Human life isn't just for work, like [a
+socialistic] vision where everyone's purpose is just to work for the state,
+and there is no individual freedom, where the state even arranges the person's
+vacations and everything is planned out for the individual. That is not a
+full human life. Individuality is very important for a full human life, and
+then accordingly some leisure time, a bit of holiday, and time spent with
+family or friends. That is the means to a complete form of life.... If your
+life becomes only a medium of production, then many of the good human values
+and characteristics will be lost--then you will not, you cannot, become a
+complete person.
+ So if you're looking for work and have a choice of a job, choose a job
+that allows the opportunity for some creativity, and for spending time with
+your family. Even if it means less pay, personally I think it is better to
+choose work that is less demanding, that gives you greater freedom, more time
+to be with your family, or to do other activities, read, engage in cultural
+activities, or just play. I think that's best.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The
+ Art of Happiness at Work"
+~
+ Our painful experiences have brought the five poisons* right into our
+world. Our heavy sense of being a separate person has led to an anxiety about
+our safety in the world. This leads us to aversion and attachment, as we long
+to predict and control our relation with the environment. From this all the
+other fixed and defensive positions arise. And so the world that we encounter
+is covered over and suffused with many subtle moods of hopes and fears,
+doubts, jealousies, pride. So even here on a dharma retreat, as we look
+around the room, we have a complex sense of whose faces we can look at, and
+who we might have to look away from. This is not at all a neutral place. The
+force of projections, interpretations and impulsive reactions keeps us busy in
+trying to stay ahead of the game....
+ However in dzogchen we are trying to get to the essential point where
+nirvana and samsara separate. This is like a great weed killer: If you spray
+it once all the weeds, all the confusion, all the pain and suffering will
+vanish. You don't need to pluck out each weed by itself. Believing that you
+are a bad person is very unhelpful for the practice of dzogchen. Also
+believing that you are a good person is not very helpful in the practice of
+dzogchen. You are not a person! Resting in the unborn state we are a pure
+awareness free of the least defilement. When you give up your ego identity,
+your samsara citizenship, you tear up your identity card and all the problems
+and sins and police records linked to that identity vanish immediately.
+ * Five poisons (dug nga)--the five poisonous mental afflictions are
+ desire, aggression, ignorance, pride, and jealousy. (Penetrating Wisdom)
+ -- "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje Entitled 'The
+ Mirror of Clear Meaning' ", with commentary by James Low, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+And just as men depend upon
+A boat for traversing the sea,
+So does the mental body need
+The matter-body for occurrence.
+And as the boat depends upon
+The men for traversing the sea,
+So does the matter-body need
+The mental body for occurrence.
+Depending each upon the other
+The boat and men go on the sea.
+And so do mind and matter both
+Depend the one upon the other.
+ -- Visuddhimagga (XVIII, 36)
+~
+ There is a Buddhist practice in which one imagines giving joy and the
+source of all joy to other people, thereby removing all their suffering.
+Though of course we cannot change their situation, I do feel that in some
+cases, through a genuine sense of caring and compassion, through our sharing
+in their plight, our attitude can help alleviate their suffering, if only
+mentally. However, the main point of this practice is to increase our inner
+strength and courage.
+ I have chosen a few lines that I feel would be acceptable to people of all
+faiths, and even to those with no spiritual belief. When reading these lines,
+if you are a religious practitioner, you can reflect upon the divine form that
+you worship. Then, while reciting these verses, make the commitment to
+enhance your spiritual values. If you are not religious, you can reflect upon
+the fact that, fundamentally, all beings are equal to you in their wish for
+happiness and their desire to overcome suffering. Recognizing this, you make
+a pledge to develop a good heart. It is most important that we have a warm
+heart. As long as we are part of human society, it is very important to be a
+kind, warm-hearted person.
+ May the poor find wealth,
+ Those weak with sorrow find joy.
+ May the forlorn find new hope,
+ Constant happiness and prosperity.
+
+ May the frightened cease to be afraid,
+ And those bound be free.
+ May the weak find power,
+ And may their hearts join in friendship.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
+ Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato
+ and Richard Gere
+~
+ Although there are as many categories of emptiness* as there are types of
+phenomena, when you realize the emptiness of one specific phenomenon, you also
+realize the emptiness of all phenomena. The ultimate nature, or emptiness, of
+all phenomena is of equal taste and of the same undifferentiable nature. Even
+though the nature of emptiness of all phenomena is the same, and all the
+different aspects of phenomena, such as whether they are good or bad, or the
+way they change, arise from the sphere of emptiness, you should understand
+that emptiness cannot be found apart from the subject or the object.
+ Emptiness refers to an object's being free of intrinsic existence. Things
+depend on causes and conditions. This very dependence on causes and
+conditions signifies that phenomena lack independent, or intrinsic, existence.
+It also demonstrates how all the diverse aspects of things that we experience
+arise because they are by nature empty. When we talk about emptiness, we are
+not dealing with those different aspects, we are dealing with phenomena's
+ultimate reality.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", trans. by Ven. Geshe
+ Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The Treasure Discoverers
+ Most of the influential terma [hidden treasures or teachings] were
+purportedly secreted by Padmasambhava or his immediate disciples, and specific
+instructions were also laid down for each terma at the time of its
+concealment. The theory behind this system is that certain teachings would be
+especially effective at particular points in the future, and so they were
+hidden in a "time release" system which assured that at the appropriate time a
+terton would locate the teaching and disseminate it. When Padmasambhava hid
+these treasures, he prophesied the circumstances for the discovery of each
+terma and the terton who would find it. He predicted that there would be
+three "grand" tertons, eight "great" ones, twenty-one "powerful" ones, one
+hundred eight "intermediate," and one thousand "subsidiary" tertons. Most of
+these were to be recognized as emanations of Padmasambhava or his chief
+disciples.
+ ...Many hidden treasures still remain undiscovered, awaiting the proper
+time for their dissemination. They continue to reinvigorate the Nyingma
+tradition, and a number have been incorporated into other lineages. The
+institution of terma serves as a link with the past of the tradition, a link
+that periodically revitalizes the present and points the way to the future.
+The system reflects the Mahayana ideal of skill in means, the ability to adapt
+teachings to changing circumstances.
+ -- John Powers, "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ Practicing compassion will bring about the recognition of emptiness* as
+the true nature of the mind. When you practice virtuous actions of love and
+compassion on the relative level, you spontaneously realize the profound
+nature of emptiness, which is the absolute level. In turn, if you focus your
+meditation practice on emptiness, then your loving-kindness and compassion
+will spontaneously grow.
+ These two natures, the absolute and the relative, are not opposites; they
+always arise together. They have the same nature; they are inseparable like a
+fire and its heat or the sun and its light. Compassion and emptiness are not
+like two sides of a coin. Emptiness and compassion are not two separate
+elements joined together; they are always coexistent.
+ In Buddhism, emptiness does not mean the absence of apparent existence.
+Emptiness is not like a black hole or darkness, or like an empty house or an
+empty bottle. Emptiness is fullness and openness and flexibility. Because of
+emptiness it is possible for phenomena to function, for beings to see and
+hear, and for things to move and change. It is called emptiness because when
+we examine things we cannot find anything that substantially and solidly
+exists. There is nothing that has a truly existent nature. Everything we
+perceive appears through ever-changing causes and conditions, without an
+independent, solid basis. Although from a relative perspective things appear,
+they arise from emptiness and they dissolve into emptiness. All appearances
+are like water bubbles or the reflection of the moon in water.
+ -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
+ "Opening to our Primordial Nature", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+[Preceding story: Before reaching enlightenment, the Buddha was born as Prince
+Visvantara, who, despite facing many challenges and adversity, brought all of
+his heart and courage to bear against a single enemy--human suffering.]
+
+In giving we not only find wealth while in cyclic existence but we achieve the
+zenith of prosperity in supreme enlightenment. Therefore we all have to
+practice giving. A Bodhisattva's giving is not just overcoming miserliness
+and being generous to others; a pure wish to give is cultivated, and through
+developing more and more intimacy with it, such giving is enhanced infinitely.
+Therefore it is essential to have the firm mind of enlightenment rooted in
+great love and compassion and, from the depths of one's heart, to either give
+one's body, wealth and virtues literally to sentient beings as infinite as
+space, or to dedicate one's body, wealth and virtues for them while striving
+in all possible ways to enhance the wish to give infinitely. As mentioned in
+Engaging in Bodhisattva Activities and in The Precious Garland, we should
+literally give material help to the poor and needy, give teaching to others,
+and give protection to them, even the small insects, as much as we can. In
+the case of things which we are not able to part with, we should cultivate the
+wish to give them away and develop more and more intimacy with that wish.
+ -- "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the Dalai Lama XIV on the
+ Jatakamala", translated by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by Dexter Roberts
+~
+ Mad yogins are known in virtually every tradition in Tibet, but most often
+in the Nyingma and Kagyu lineages, and also in the Shije (Pacification) and
+Chod traditions. The Nyingma, Kagyu, and Chod traditions are the three with
+which Tangtong Gyalpo had the closest ties. One of the texts in Tangtong's
+Oral Transmission, a collection of teachings originally passed down from
+Tangtong, quotes the great yogini Machik Labdron's statement concerning proper
+yogic conduct following realization. In response to a question by one of her
+sons, Machik recommended that a practitioner act like a child with unfeigned
+spontaneity, like a lunatic with no regard for what is conventionally
+acceptable, like a leper with no attachment to his or her own physical health,
+and like a wild animal wandering in isolated and rough terrain.
+ ...Guru Padmasambhava himself prophesied that Tangtong Gyalpo would care
+for living beings by means of unpredictable actions. Tangtong's unusual
+conduct began to manifest at an early age, and resembled traits noted in the
+lives of other mad yogins. He was first called insane by his father and the
+members of his village when, as a child, he subdued a malicious spirit
+responsible for an epidemic. Several other early incidents are mentioned in
+the biographies. When he went to take scholastic examinations at the renowned
+monastery of Sakya he earned the nickname Tsondru Nyonpa (Crazy Tsondru)
+because of his disinterest in explaining the scriptural definitions of the
+highest states of realization. He preferred to spend his time absorbed in
+actually experiencing these states. When he was later practicing deliberate
+behavior secretly in a vast and empty wasteland, the dakinis gave him five
+names indicating his high realization, one of which was Lungtong Nyonpa
+(Madman of the Empty Valley).
+ -- Cyrus Stearns, "King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge
+ Builder Tangtong Gyalpo", a Tsadra Foundation book, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...In the Buddhist teachings, when we search for the causes of suffering,
+we find what is called 'the truth of the origin of suffering', namely that
+negative actions--karma--and the negative emotions that induce such actions
+are the causes of suffering.
+ Talking about causes, if we take a step further and investigate more
+deeply, we find that the cause alone is not sufficient for bringing about the
+results. Causes themselves have to come in contact with co-operative
+circumstances or conditions. For instance, say we search for a material or
+substantial cause for this plant, we will find that it has a continuity
+stretching back into beginningless time.
+ There are certain Buddhist texts that speak of space particles, existing
+before the evolution of this present universe. According to these texts, the
+space particles serve as the material and substantial cause for matter, such
+as this plant. Now if the essential and substantial cause for matter is
+traced to these space particles, which are all the same, how do we account for
+the diversity that we see in the material world? It is here that the question
+of conditions and circumstances comes into play. When these substantial
+causes come in contact with different circumstances and conditions, they give
+rise to different effects, that is, different kinds of matter. So we find
+that the cause alone is not sufficient for bringing about a result. What is
+required is an aggregation of many different conditions and circumstances.
+ Although you can find certain differences among the Buddhist philosophical
+schools about how the universe came into being, the basic common question
+addressed is how the two fundamental principles--external matter and internal
+mind or consciousness--although distinct, affect one another. External causes
+and conditions are responsible for certain of our experiences of happiness and
+suffering. Yet we find that it is principally our own feelings, our thoughts
+and our emotions, that really determine whether we are going to suffer or be
+happy.
+ -- H.H. The Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
+ Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword
+ by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ Right now many of us wish for liberation, yet sometimes we cannot keep
+ourselves from creating the causes for cyclic existence. When we understand
+true suffering well, our wish for liberation will become firm. At present our
+resolve to reach liberation is not firm because we think of suffering, but not
+deeply. The deluded attitude believing that the unsatisfactoriness of change
+is true happiness easily arises in us because we are not yet deeply convinced
+that all happiness in cyclic existence is contaminated and is in fact only a
+variety of suffering. To remedy this, we should meditate on true suffering
+more often and explore its meaning deeply. Then our wish for liberation will
+become firm.
+ We consider many things--clothes, food, good health, nice possessions,
+financial security, the higher rebirths--as true happiness. As a result, we
+are attached to them and create more causes for suffering in cyclic existence
+in order to gain them. Thinking that the human birth is something marvelous,
+we work at creating the causes that propel us toward it. In fact all we are
+doing is creating the cause for yet another rebirth in cyclic existence,
+together with all the problems that such a rebirth involves.
+ If we understand that by its nature, cyclic existence is unsatisfactory,
+we will have a deep aversion to it. If we do not have a deep aversion to it,
+we will not be determined to be free, and therefore will not be able to
+destroy our self-grasping ignorance, which is the root of cyclic existence.
+In that case, we will not be able to attain liberation. However, when we
+deeply feel the extent to which we suffer in cyclic existence, we will
+automatically want to abandon the true origin of suffering, attain the true
+cessation, and meditate on the true path. Having realized true suffering, we
+will easily realize the other three of the four noble truths. Thus it is
+said: suffering is to be known. The origin is to be abandoned. The cessation
+is to be attained. The path is to be practiced. The determination to be free
+is the wish for ourselves to be free of cyclic existence. When we wish others
+to be free, that is compassion.
+ -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage:
+ An Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
+ Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Mantras are invocations to buddhas... prayers, or a combination of these.
+Tantric practitioners repeat them in order to forge karmic connections between
+themselves and meditational deities and to effect cognitive restructuring
+through internalizing the divine attributes that the mantra represents. A
+person who wishes to develop greater compassion, for instance, might recite
+the mantra of Avalokitesvara, who embodies this quality: om mani padme hum...
+[a] mantra [that] is well known to Tibetans. It represents for them the
+perfect compassion of Avalokitesvara, who they believe has taken a special
+interest in the spiritual welfare of the Tibetan people. He epitomizes
+universal compassion that is unsullied by any trace of negative emotions or
+mental afflictions.
+ Among ordinary beings there are, of course, many acts of compassion, but
+these are generally tinged by self-interest, pride, or desire for recognition.
+Avalokitesvara's compassion, by contrast, is completely free from all
+afflictions and is so vast that it encompasses all sentient beings without
+exception and without distinction. People who wish to develop such a
+perspective recite Avalokitesvara's mantra over and over, meditating on its
+significance, and in so doing they try to restructure their minds in
+accordance with the cultivation of his exalted qualities. According to the
+Dalai Lama,
+ 'mani'... symbolizes the factors of method--the altruistic intention to
+become enlightened, compassion, and love. Just as a jewel is capable of
+removing poverty, so the altruistic mind of enlightenment is capable of
+removing the poverty, or difficulties, of cyclic existence and of solitary
+peace.... The two syllables, 'padme'... symbolize wisdom. Just as a lotus
+grows forth from mud but is not sullied by the faults of mud, so wisdom is
+capable of putting you in a situation of non-contradiction whereas there would
+be contradiction if you did not have wisdom.... Purity must be achieved by an
+indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable
+'hum', which indicates indivisibility.... Thus the six syllables, 'om mani
+padme hum', mean that in dependence on a path which is an indivisible union of
+method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into
+the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.
+ -- John Powers, "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ "Now let's look at ultimate reality," the Dalai Lama said, pointing a
+little finger to his mug. "What exactly is it? We're seeing color, shape.
+But if we take away shape, color, material, what is mug? Where is the mug?
+This mug is a combination of particles: atoms, electrons, quarks. But each
+particle is not 'mug.' The same can be said about the four elements, the
+world, everything. The Buddha. We cannot find the Buddha. So that's the
+ultimate reality. If we're not satisfied with conventional reality, if we go
+deep down and try to find the real thing, we ultimately won't find it."
+ Thus, the Dalai Lama was saying, the mug is empty. The term "mug" is
+merely a label, something we use to describe everyday reality. But each mug
+comes into existence because of a complex web of causes and conditions. It
+does not exist independently. It cannot come into being by itself, of its own
+volition.
+ For example: suppose I decide to make a black mug. To do this, I mix
+black clay and water, shape it to my liking, and fire the resulting mixture in
+an oven. Clay plus water turns into a mug because of my actions. But it
+exists because of the myriad different ways that atoms and molecules interact.
+And what about me, the creator of the black mug? If my parents had never met,
+the black mug might never have existed.
+ Therefore the mug does not exist independently. It comes into being only
+through a complex web of relationships. In the Dalai Lama's own words, and
+this is the key concept in his worldview, the mug is "dependently originated."
+It came to be a mug because of a host of different factors, not under its own
+steam. It is empty. "Empty" is shorthand for "empty of intrinsic, inherent
+existence." Or to put it another way, empty is another word for
+interdependent.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, "The Wisdom of
+ Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys"
+~
+ Buddha teaches that one should not practice extremes.... As Nagarjuna's
+"Precious Garland of Advice" says,
+ Practice is not done
+ By mortifying the body,
+ Since you have not forsaken injuring others
+ And are not helping others.
+ When you disregard the basic needs of the body, you harm the many sentient
+organisms that live within the body. You should also avoid the opposite
+extreme of living in great luxury. It is possible to make use of good food,
+clothing, residence, and furnishings without producing afflictive emotions
+such as attachment, pride, and arrogance. The crucial point is the control of
+internal factors such as lust and attachment; external factors are not in and
+of themselves good or bad. It is not suitable if attachment increases toward
+even mediocre food, clothing, and so forth.
+ Contentment is the key. If you have contentment with material things, you
+are truly rich. Without it, even if you are a billionaire, you will not have
+happiness. You will always feel hungry and want more and more and more,
+making you not rich but poor. If you seek contentment externally, it will
+never happen. Your desire will never be fulfilled. Our texts speak of a king
+who gained control over the world, at which point he began thinking about
+taking over the lands of the gods. In the end his good qualities were
+destroyed by pride. Contentment is necessary for happiness, so try to be
+satisfied with adequate food, clothing, and shelter.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
+ Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+There is another way of speaking about the two types of meditation. In this
+case, they are differentiated into 1) meditation that perceives the object and
+2) meditation in which our mind is transformed into a specific affective
+state. An example of the former is meditating on impermanence and emptiness.
+These are subtle objects that we must use analytical meditation to perceive.
+An example of the latter is meditation on the four immeasurables
+(brahmaviharas)--love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Here we are not
+trying to perceive a subtle object, but are practicing to transform our minds
+into those mental states. For example, everyone admires the quality of love,
+but we cannot just say, "I should love everyone," and expect our deepest
+feelings to change. First, we must free our minds from the gross obstacles of
+attachment to friends, hostility to people who threaten or harm us, and apathy
+towards strangers. On this basis, we then train our mind to recognize the
+kindness of others, which arouses in us a natural wish to reciprocate and
+share our kindness with them. After this we meditate on love and cultivate a
+genuine wish for all sentient beings to have happiness and its causes.
+Initially that feeling will arise in us but will not be stable. Anger may
+still flash into our mind making our good feelings towards others disappear.
+We need to cultivate love continuously and do so with a focused mind. The
+greater our concentration, the more stable and penetrative the experience
+will be.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path",
+ foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...for the Christian practitioner, the Creator and the acceptance of the
+Creator as almighty, is a very important factor within that tradition in order
+to develop self-discipline, compassion, or forgiveness and to increase them in
+one's intimate relationship with God. That's something very essential. In
+addition, when God is seen as absolute and almighty, the concept that
+everything is relative becomes a little bit difficult. However, if one's
+understanding of God is in terms of an ultimate nature of reality or ultimate
+truth, then it is possible to have a kind of unified approach.
+ ...As to one's personal religion, I think this must be based on one's own
+mental disposition.... Generally speaking, I think it is better to practice
+according to your own traditional background, and certainly you can use some
+of the Buddhist techniques. Without accepting rebirth theory or the
+complicated philosophy, simply use certain techniques to increase your power
+of patience and compassion, forgiveness, and things like that.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+When we compare two ancient spiritual traditions like Buddhism and
+Christianity, what we see is a striking similarity between the narratives of
+the founding masters: in the case of Christianity, Jesus Christ, and in the
+case of Buddhism, the Buddha. I see a very important parallel: in the very
+lives of the [founders] the essence of their teachings is demonstrated. For
+example... the essence of the Buddha's teaching is embodied in the Four Noble
+Truths: the truth of suffering, the truth of the origin of suffering, the
+truth of the cessation of suffering, and the truth of the path leading to this
+cessation. These Four Noble Truths are very explicitly and clearly
+exemplified in the life of... the Buddha himself. I feel [it] is the same
+with the life of Christ. If you look at the life of Jesus, you will see all
+the essential practices and teachings of Christianity exemplified. And in the
+lives of both Jesus Christ and the Buddha, it is only through hardship,
+dedication and commitment, and by standing firm on one's principles that one
+can grow spiritually and attain liberation. That seems to be a central and
+common message.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited
+ by Mary Craig
+~
+ With the achievement of quiescence, the attention is drawn inwards and is
+maintained continuously, single-pointedly upon its object. Tsongkhapa
+emphasizes that genuine quiescence is necessarily preceded by an experience of
+an extraordinary degree of mental and physical pliancy, which entails an
+unprecedented sense of mental and physical fitness and buoyancy.
+ In the state of meditative equipoise, only the aspects of awareness,
+clarity, and joy of the mind appear, and all one's other sense faculties
+remain dormant. Thus, while one's consciousness seems as if it has become
+indivisible with space, one lacks any sensation of having a body; and when
+rising from that state, it seems as if one's body is suddenly coming into
+being. When genuine quiescence is achieved, one's attention can effortlessly
+be maintained for hours, even days, on end, with no interference by either
+laxity or excitation.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, "Balancing the Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach
+ to Refining Attention", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ In Mahayana Buddhism, when one takes the bodhisattva vow, one pledges to
+work tirelessly in this life and all future lives to awaken oneself and purify
+oneself in order to help all other beings attain freedom from suffering
+through spiritual enlightenment. One vows to help beings whenever possible,
+and a profound way of doing this is to give a being the gift of life through
+an act of kindness. This can take the form of helping an animal in danger
+cross the road to safety before being struck by a vehicle or freeing an animal
+that is in captivity before it is killed by buying it from the captor and
+letting it roam free. If one is in a position to help save another's life--
+whether a human or an animal--one must practice fearless kindness to help the
+other being in danger.
+ In Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed that due to the countless incarnations
+all beings have undergone throughout time, at one point or another any given
+living creature has been one's mother in a past life. Therefore, it is viewed
+as an obligation to repay the kindness of those who are referred to as "mother
+sentient beings." If your own mother in this life were in danger, you would
+certainly do whatever you could to save her life. Similarly, dedicated
+holders of the bodhisattva vow feel this kind of urgency to save the lives of
+all "mother sentient beings."
+ -- Chatral Rinpoche, "Compassionate Action", edited, introduced and
+ annotated by Zach Larson, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ In the frenzy of modern life we lose sight of the real value of humanity.
+People become the sum total of what they produce. Human beings act like
+machines whose function is to make money. This is absolutely wrong. The
+purpose of making money is the happiness of humankind, not the other way
+around. Humans are not for money, money is for humans. We need enough to
+live, so money is necessary, but we also need to realize that if there is too
+much attachment to wealth, it does not help at all. As the saints of India
+and Tibet tell us, the wealthier one becomes, the more suffering one endures.
+ ...Eating, working, and making money are meaningless in themselves.
+However, even a small act of compassion grants meaning and purpose to our
+lives.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life",
+ translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+Unlike the Lesser Vehicle tenet systems, which teach only a selflessness of
+persons, the Great Vehicle tenet systems teach that the most profound reality,
+the most subtle and important type of selflessness, is a selflessness, or
+emptiness, that is a quality of all phenomena. They hold that the bodhisattva
+trains in altruistically motivated meditation on the emptiness of all
+phenomena, thus preparing for the omniscience of buddhahood. Some Great
+Vehicle systems maintain that Lesser Vehicle practitioners do not realize the
+profound emptiness of phenomena at all and are therefore unable to overcome
+the obstructions to omniscience. However, the highest system, the Middle Way
+Consequence system, holds that persons on Lesser Vehicle paths do realize
+emptiness, but are unable to achieve omniscience on their paths because their
+wisdom is not empowered by association with altruism and altruistically
+motivated actions of giving, ethics, patience, etc.
+ -- Guy Newland, "Appearance and Reality: The Two Truths in the Four
+ Buddhist Tenet Systems", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Selflessness in Context: Ultimate Bodhichitta
+ Let us return for a moment to the beginning of [the Heart] Sutra where the
+Buddha enters into the meditative absorption called "appearance of the
+profound" and Avalokiteshvara beholds the practice of the profound perfection
+of wisdom. Generally speaking, the expression "appearance of the profound"
+refers to the bodhisattva deeds, which are encompassed in the practice of the
+six perfections. Here, however, the expression refers particularly to the
+perfection of wisdom, known in Sanskrit as prajnaparamita. What the text
+means by "perfection of wisdom" is a direct, unmediated realization of
+emptiness that is also called "ultimate bodhichitta." This is not the direct
+realization of emptiness alone; rather it is this direct realization in union
+with bodhichitta--the aspiration to become a buddha in order to free all
+beings. This union of wisdom and method constitutes the first bhumi, or level
+of bodhisattva attainment.
+ The importance of this altruistic aspiration cannot be overstated.
+Bodhichitta is not only important as a motivating factor at the beginning of
+practice, it is also important as a complementary and a reinforcing factor
+during every stage of the path. The bodhichitta aspiration is twofold,
+comprised both of the wish to help others and of the wish to become
+enlightened so that one's assistance will be supremely effective.
+ --from Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom
+Teachings by H.H. the Dalai Lama, translated & edited by Thupten Jinpa
+~
+From "The Prayer Requested by Namke Nyingbo" by Padmasambhava
+
+All these things of the outer environment and the beings therein
+That come into sight as the objects of your eyes like this,
+They may appear, but leave them in the sphere free from clinging to a self.
+Since they are pure of perceiver and perceived, they are the luminous-empty
+ body of the deity.
+I pray to the guru in whom attachment is self-liberated,
+I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
+
+All these sounds, taken as pleasant or unpleasant,
+That resound as the objects of your ears like this,
+Leave them in the sphere of inconceivable, empty resonance.
+Empty resonance, unborn and unceasing, is the Victor's speech.
+I pray to the words of the Victor that resound and yet are empty,
+I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
+
+However these thoughts of afflictions' five poisons,
+Which stir as objects in your mind like this, may appear,
+Do not mess around with them through a mind that rushes ahead into the future
+ or lingers in the past.
+Through leaving their movement in its own place, they uncoil as the
+ dharmakaya.
+I pray to the guru whose awareness is self-liberated,
+I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
+
+Grant your blessings that the mind stream of someone like me is liberated
+ Through the compassion of the Tathagatas of the three times,
+So that objects, appearing as if perceived outside, become pure,
+That my very mind, perceiving as if inside, becomes liberated,
+And that, in between, luminosity will recognize its own face.
+
+ -- "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions", translated and
+ introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Some people feel that although it may be right to curb feelings of intense
+hatred which can cause us to be violent and even to kill, we are in danger of
+losing our independence when we restrain our emotions and discipline the mind.
+Actually, the opposite is true. Like their counterparts of love and
+compassion, anger and the afflictive emotions can never be used up. They
+have, rather, a propensity to increase, like a river flooding in summer when
+the snow melts, so that far from being free, our minds are enslaved and
+rendered helpless by them. When we indulge our negative thoughts and
+feelings, inevitably we become accustomed to them. As a result, gradually we
+become more prone to them and more controlled by them. And we become
+habituated to exploding in the face of displeasing circumstances.
+ Inner peace, which is the principal characteristic of happiness, and anger
+cannot coexist without undermining one another. Indeed, negative thoughts and
+emotions undermine the very causes of peace and happiness. In fact, when we
+think properly, it is totally illogical to seek happiness if we do nothing to
+restrain angry, spiteful, and malicious thoughts and emotions. Consider that
+when we become angry, we often use harsh words. Harsh words can destroy
+friendship. Since happiness arises in the context of our relationships with
+others, if we destroy friendships, we undermine one of the very conditions of
+happiness itself.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Ethics for the New Millennium", edited by
+ Alexander Norman, translated by Dr. Thupten Jinpa
+~
+Two Senses of Self
+
+ Psychologists talk about people who are co-dependent because they don't
+have a sense of self. What psychologists mean when they say a person has no
+sense of self is very different from what the Buddha meant by no-self or
+selflessness. People with psychological problems actually have a very strong
+sense of self in the Buddhist sense, although they may not in the
+psychological sense of the word. Psychologically, they don't see themselves
+as efficacious individuals in the world, but they still have a very strong
+sense of "I": "I am worthless." When somebody criticizes them, they don't
+like it. They get into co-dependent relationships to protect or to please
+this "I." When they fall into self-pity, their sense of an inherently
+existent "I" is very strong. Thus they still have self-grasping even though
+they lack a psychologically healthy sense of self.
+ Buddhism recognizes two kinds of sense of self. There's one sense of self
+that is healthy and necessary to be efficacious on the path. The object of
+this sense of self is the conventionally existent "I." The other sense of
+self grasps at an inherently existent self that never has and never will
+exist. Within Buddhism, when we talk about realizing emptiness, we're
+negating the false self, this self that appears inherently existent to us.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of
+ Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ Question: If a person views the self and other phenomena as being empty of
+any inherent existence, is it then, in that state, possible for them to take
+any animate or inanimate phenomenon as their object, and through the power of
+imputation or words, enable that object to actually take on a manifesting role
+with the qualities which we view objects to have?
+
+ His Holiness: This is an instance of not properly understanding the
+meaning of "lack of inherent existence." If we think that "emptiness" means
+things cannot function, then, with an improper understanding of the view of
+emptiness, one will have fallen into nihilism. So, because one has failed to
+reconcile emptiness and the fact that things work, this view is incorrect.
+That is why it is said that the meaning of emptiness is to be understood in
+terms of dependent arising.
+ Now, since the meaning of emptiness is to be explained in terms of
+dependent arising, we can only explain something as arising dependently if
+there is a basis, that is, some thing that is dependent. Hence, such a basis
+must exist. We see then that when we speak of dependent arising, we are
+indicating that things work. Dependent arising proves that things have no
+inherent existence, through the fact that things work in dependence on each
+other. The fact that things work and the fact that they do so in dependence,
+one on the other, eliminates the possibility of their being independent. This
+in turn precludes the possibility of inherent existence, since, to inherently
+exist means to be independent. Hence, the understanding of emptiness, of the
+the emptiness of a kind of inherent existence that is independent, boils down
+to understanding dependent arising.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
+ edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the most profound and commonly
+practiced teachings are those of the Vajrayana. Within this powerful system
+of skillful means, the supreme view and most potent methods are found in the
+teachings and practices of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection. These instructions
+are regarded as the pinnacle of the teachings and as the most direct path to
+realizing the nature of mind and the reality of the world.
+ The instructions of the Dzogchen lineage are used to directly point out
+the nature of mind and bring the experience of enlightenment into our ordinary
+life. These teachings are known as "pith instructions," the pure,
+quintessential knowledge that cuts through all confusion and gets straight to
+the point. There is a saying, "Don't beat around the bush," meaning, "Get to
+the point." That is Dzogchen.
+ In many ways, these teachings go beyond scripture and the formality of
+spiritual techniques. These two do have their place, since it is important to
+study scripture and meditate in a step-by-step manner. Yet, at some point we
+also must connect directly with the nature of mind. We have to strike the
+crucial point, the enlightened state, and leap directly into experiencing and
+realizing the true nature of our mind.
+ -- The Third Dzogchen Rinpoche, "Great Perfection: Outer and Inner
+ Preliminaries", trans. by Cortland Dahl, intro. by Dzogchen Ponlop,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Dzogchen teaches that practice conducted with contriving, rough, fleeting
+minds cannot bring enlightenment. Only practice with the deep awareness of
+non-contriving rigpa--pure awareness--can bring us to the state of a Buddha.
+We can understand this in the same way as we do the statement that practice of
+the yoga class of tantras and below cannot bring us enlightenment by itself.
+The ultimate, deepest reason why it cannot is that the pathways of practice of
+these levels of teaching cannot by themselves make manifest the deep awareness
+of subtlest clear light mind. Without the manifestation of the deep awareness
+of clear light mind, we do not have the perpetrating causes for an
+enlightening body and enlightening mind of a Buddha--causes that are in the
+same uncommon category of phenomena as a Buddha's body and mind. Therefore,
+no matter how much we practice with pathway minds of yoga tantra and below, we
+are never able to attain to enlightenment on their basis alone.
+ ...when we make clear light mind of deep awareness prominent or enhanced
+through techniques presented in the anuttarayoga tantra texts, and then
+transform it into the nature of being a pathway mind, only then do we have
+what can actualize an enlightening body and enlightening mind of a Buddha.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
+ Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Whenever you consider there is bliss, and the objective conditions for
+bliss occur, if you fall under the control of that by becoming arrogant or
+conceited, then that will fester as an obstruction to the spiritual path.
+Rather than thinking about what has caused this happiness, which most probably
+is the accumulation of merit or the removal of obscurations, as soon as the
+bliss occurs, you think, "That's my nature." Based on that, you become
+arrogant or lazy, thinking, "Well, I've accomplished it." This is the
+greatest obstacle to the spiritual path. This is what creates the realms
+of deva-gods. Oftentimes it is said that people can handle only a little bit
+of felicity, but they can handle a lot of adversity. This is because
+happiness on the spiritual path is the most difficult thing to handle. Once
+it arises, that's where the path stops.
+ This does not mean that it is necessary to give it all up. Giving up
+happiness is not the practice. The main point is not to become mesmerized by
+happiness as the end result. You realize that, "Ah, now, the good quality of
+this is that I am fortunate, and this is another result of the great fortune
+of the path and the result of the accumulation of merit and wholesome deeds.
+Even more than ever, I will carry on with the work at hand to achieve
+liberation from cyclic existence." So with more diligence and more courage,
+you continue listening to teachings, contemplating, meditating, and
+appreciating this precious human rebirth.
+ -- Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
+ translated by Sangye Khandro and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ As to what might be the mechanism through which karma plays a causal role
+in the evolution of sentience, I find helpful some of the explanations given
+in the Vajrayana traditions, often referred to by modern writers as esoteric
+Buddhism. According to the Guhyasamaja tantra, a principal tradition within
+Vajrayana Buddhism, at the most fundamental level, no absolute division can be
+made between mind and matter. Matter in its subtlest form is prana, a vital
+energy which is inseparable from consciousness. These two are different
+aspects of an indivisible reality. Prana is the aspect of mobility, dynamism,
+and cohesion, while consciousness is the aspect of cognition and the capacity
+for reflective thinking. So according to the Guhyasamaja tantra, when a world
+system comes into being, we are witnessing the play of this energy and
+consciousness reality.
+ ...Despite the success of the Darwinian narrative, I do not believe that
+all the elements of the story are in place. To begin with, although Darwin's
+theory gives a coherent account of the development of life on this planet and
+the various principles underlying it, such as natural selection, I am not
+persuaded that it answers the fundamental question of the origin of life.
+Darwin himself, I gather, did not see this as an issue. Furthermore, there
+appears to be a certain circularity in the notion of "survival of the
+fittest." The theory of natural selection maintains that, of the random
+mutations that occur in the genes of a given species, those that promote the
+greatest chance of survival are most likely to succeed. However, the only
+way this hypothesis can be verified is to observe the characteristics of
+those mutations that have survived. So in a sense, we are stating simply
+this: "Because these genetic mutations have survived, they are the ones that
+had the greatest chance of survival."
+ From the Buddhist perspective, the idea of these mutations being purely
+random events is deeply unsatisfying for a theory that purports to explain the
+origin of life. ...One empirical problem in Darwinism's focus on the
+competitive survival of individuals, which is defined in terms of an
+organism's struggle for individual reproductive success, has consistently been
+how to explain altruism, whether in the sense of collaborative behavior, such
+as food sharing or conflict resolution among animals like chimpanzees or acts
+of self-sacrifice. There are many examples, not only among human beings but
+among other species as well, of individuals who put themselves in danger to
+save others.
+ ...From the scientific view, the theory of karma may be a metaphysical
+assumption--but it is no more so than the assumption that all of life is
+material and originated out of pure chance.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Universe in a Single Atom: Convergence of
+ Science and Spirituality"
+~
+ Praising others should be part of our daily life and a component of our
+Dharma practice. Imagine what our life would be like if we trained our minds
+to dwell on others' talents and good attributes. We would feel much happier
+and so would they! We would get along better with others, and our families,
+work environments, and living situations would be much more harmonious. We
+plants the seeds from such positive actions on our mindstream, creating the
+cause for harmonious relationships and success in our spiritual and temporal
+aims.
+ An interesting experiment is to try to say something nice to or about
+someone every day for a month. Try it. It makes us much more aware of what
+we say and why. It encourages us to change our perspective so that we notice
+others' good qualities. Doing so also improves our relationships
+tremendously.
+ A few years ago, I gave this as a homework assignment at a Dharma class,
+encouraging people to try to praise even someone they didn't like very much.
+The next week I asked the students how they did. One man said that the first
+day he had to make something up in order to speak positively to a fellow
+colleague. But after that, the man was so much nicer to him that it was easy
+to see his good qualities and speak about them!
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. -- Unknown
+~
+To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.
+ --Unknown
+~
+He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.
+ -- Benjamin Franklin
+~
+ If, after having performed a virtuous action and accumulated its potency,
+that potency remained without degenerating until its fruit issued forth in
+either this or a future life, it would not be so fragile. But that is not the
+case. Rather, the generation of a strong nonvirtuous state of mind, such as
+anger, overpowers the capacity of a virtuously established potency so that it
+cannot issue forth, much like scorching a seed. Conversely, the generation of
+a strong virtuous attitude overpowers potencies established by nonvirtues,
+making them unable to issue their effects. Thus it is necessary not only to
+achieve many powerful constructive causes but also to avoid contrary forces
+that would cause those beneficial causes to degenerate.
+ The good actions required for accumulating these causes, or potencies,
+arise from a tamed mind, whereas bad actions arise from an untamed mind.
+Common beings like us have been accustomed to an untamed mind since
+beginningless time. Given this predisposition, we can conclude that actions
+performed with an untamed mind are more powerful for us and actions performed
+with a tamed mind are weaker. It is important to appreciate that this
+excellent life support of a human body that we now possess is a wholesome
+result of many powerful good actions from a tamed mind in the past. It was
+very difficult to gain, and, since it is very rare, you must take care to use
+it well, making sure that it is not wasted.
+ ...If this human endowment, so difficult to attain, were stable and
+permanent--not prone to deterioration--there would be time later to make use
+of it. However, this life-support system is fragile and easily disintegrates
+from many external and internal causes. Aryadeva's "Four Hundred Stanzas on
+the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas" says that once the body depends on the four
+elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, which themselves oppose each other,
+physical happiness is just an occasional balance of these elements, not an
+enduring harmony.
+ ...So this human body is a precious endowment, potent and yet fragile.
+Simply by virtue of being alive, you are at a very important juncture, and
+carry a great responsibility. Powerful good can be achieved for yourself and
+others, so becoming distracted by the minor affairs of this lifetime would be
+a tremendous waste. You should make wishes to use this lifetime in this body
+effectively and make petitions to your guru, the three refuges, and other
+sources of help. In doing so, urge yourself on from the inside and seek
+assistance from the outside.....
+ In sum, since this human body, which supports your life, is beneficial,
+was difficult to gain, and easily disintegrates, you should use it for your
+benefit and that of others. Benefits come from a tamed mind: When your mind
+is peaceful, relaxed, and happy, external pleasures such as good food,
+clothing, and conversation make things even better, but their absence does not
+overpower you. If your mind is not peaceful and tamed, no matter how
+marvelous the external circumstances are, you will be burdened by frights,
+hopes, and fears. With a tamed mind, you will enjoy wealth or poverty, health
+or sickness, you can even die happily. With a tamed mind, having many friends
+is wonderful, but if you have no friends, it is all right, too. The root of
+your own happiness and welfare rests with a peaceful and tamed mind.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well
+ and Dying Consciously", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
+~
+ One of the reasons there is a need to adopt a strong countermeasure
+against someone who harms you is that, if you let it pass, there is a danger
+of that person becoming habituated to extremely negative actions, which in the
+long run will cause that person's own downfall and is very destructive for the
+individual himself or herself. Therefore a strong countermeasure, taken out
+of compassion or a sense of concern for the other, is necessary. When you are
+motivated by that realization, then there is a sense of concern as part of
+your motive for taking that strong measure.
+ ...One of the reasons why there is some ground to feel compassionate
+toward a perpetrator of crime or an aggressor is that the aggressor, because
+he or she is perpetrating a crime, is at the causal stage, accumulating the
+causes and conditions that later lead to undesirable consequences. So, from
+that point of view, there is enough ground to feel compassionate toward the
+aggressor.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ What do you think would be the chief obstacle in recognizing that each
+individual person has been kind to you? In my case, I was afraid of having to
+return the kindness, because then I'd be under the control of these people. I
+didn't want to do what my parents wanted me to do, although they gave me a lot
+of slack--I left college after my first year, went to the woods of Vermont,
+went to Tahiti, all on my own with whatever cash I earned. I didn't fit into
+the upper-middle-class community where we lived. I didn't want their control;
+the lifestyle they were pushing on me was completely unappealing. Therefore,
+I refused to recognize their kindness.
+ However, assuming a debt with respect to every sentient being differs
+greatly from having a debt to a few. In this meditation, you start with
+friends, then neutral persons, and then enemies and contemplate: "I will
+return the debt of kindness that I have with this person through helping her
+or him achieve happiness." It is easy to determine that the response to all
+sentient beings' kindness cannot be to do everything they want, since, with so
+many people, what they want from you would be at cross-purposes. You cannot
+even do everything your mother of this lifetime wants you to do, though you
+know her advice is, for the most part, motivated by kindness....
+ Those who help us--our parents, for instance--often attain power over us
+for that very reason: "Do as I say because I have helped you." Thus, for some,
+it becomes almost a mental habit to refuse to recognize those who have helped
+us, because they otherwise would attain some power over us. Still, we know we
+should return their many kindnesses. That is one reason why the practice of
+reflecting, "This person has helped me in many intimate ways and thus I must
+do something in return," gets to be uncomfortable, but when it is extended to
+more and more beings, we have to find a way of intending to return their
+kindness without coming under their misguided influence.
+ ...one cannot do everything all those sentient beings want. There are so
+many of them, and they want such contradictory things. Besides, to fulfill
+what they temporarily want may not be the best way to help them. The greatest
+of all ways to return their kindness is to help them become free from all
+suffering and to assist in the process of becoming liberated from cyclic
+existence and attaining the bliss of Buddhahood. It is important to realize
+here in the step of developing an intention to return others' kindness that
+acknowledging a debt does not mean that you must do what they say. Otherwise,
+you might hold back from the truth of their attentive care.
+ --Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
+ with Others", foreword by the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ ...Nagarjuna's Fundamental Treatise says, "That which arises dependently
+we explain as emptiness. This [emptiness] is dependent designation; this is
+the middle way." His Refutation of Objections says, "I bow down to the
+Buddha, the unequaled, supreme teacher, who taught that emptiness, dependent
+arising, and the middle way hold a single meaning."
+ For Tsong-kha-pa, the compatibility of emptiness and dependent arising is
+the very heart of the Madhyamaka view and the key to the path. Dependent
+arising means that things come into being in dependence upon causes and
+conditions. Understanding dependent arising correctly refutes the idea that
+things exist in and of themselves--because they must depend on other things.
+In the same moment, it also refutes the nihilist extreme--because it shows
+that things do arise, they do come into existence, and they affect one
+another. Thus, Tsong-kha-pa advises that if you think that you may have found
+the profound view of emptiness, you should check to see if you have negated
+too much. Can this "emptiness" you have discovered be reconciled with the
+mere existence of things that arise interdependently? If not, then you are
+certainly mistaken.
+ ...The point is that one cannot become a buddha without both compassionate
+action and nondual wisdom--and one cannot have these two types of path without
+both of the two truths, conventional and ultimate. If only emptiness existed
+and there were, in fact, no conventional truths, then there would be no living
+beings, no suffering to relieve; thus there would be no compassionate action;
+and thus there would be no buddhahood. Therefore, maintaining the
+compatibility of the two truths--the compatibility of emptiness and dependent
+arising--is crucial to the whole of the Dharma.
+ -- Guy Newland, "Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-kha-pa's
+ Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path", published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+Anything that can be done chemically can be done by other means.
+ -- William S. Burroughs
+~
+ ...let us discuss true sources of suffering. The fact that sufferings are
+not always produced but are produced in some places at some times and cease at
+some times and in some places indicates that they are caused. Logically, it
+can be said that sufferings are caused because of being produced occasionally.
+If sufferings were produced causelessly, either they would never exist or they
+would always exist.
+ Since sufferings are caused, one needs to look into what their causes are.
+In the Buddhist systems, the causes are explained to be contaminated actions
+and afflictive emotions....
+ For instance, if I had an angry feeling, this could serve as a motivating
+force that would lead to a harsh attitude, harsh speech, and harsh physical
+gestures. Since the anger that serves as the motivating factor is a
+defIlement--an afflictive emotion--the physical and verbal actions done
+through that motivating force are negative karmas, negative actions. Through
+them, the atmosphere immediately changes into one of tension. Right away, I
+might not feel the effects of those actions, perhaps even feeling that I had
+gained a victory over someone, even shouting, "I have won." However, later I
+will feel very sorry and shy, deep down experiencing a guilty conscience.
+Similarly, those around me would immediately lose their tranquility and peace.
+These are painful results of actions impelled by a bad motivation. This is
+the law of karma--motivation, action, result.
+ Conversely, a good, open, sincere motivation such as compassion with a
+deep respect for others impels verbal and physical actions that immediately
+create a peaceful, harmonious, enjoyable atmosphere. Due to that, I feel
+happy and calm, enjoying that atmosphere, and others around me also enjoy the
+same. Therefore, bad motivation creates problems, suffering, and pain,
+whereas good motivation creates happiness and peacefulness--something good.
+ This is the general explanation. On a deeper level, right at the time of
+an action, predisposing potencies are instilled in the consciousness. The
+performance of an action establishes a predisposing potency in the mind that,
+in the future, will serve as the causal condition for one's experiencing a
+good or bad effect.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
+ Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+(Each day before breakfast the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, Thubten
+Chodron, gives a morning motivation for residents and guests. Below is a
+teaching given during March 2008.)
+
+Quiet Place
+
+ Have you ever had this experience? You walk outside, and all of a sudden
+the silence strikes you--it's in such sharp contrast to the chatter that's
+going on in the mind.
+ We live in a very quiet place. We walk outside and it's pretty quiet--a
+few birds chirping, sun shining. Then suddenly the chatter in the mind stops
+because we see that it's just chatter. It's in such stark contrast to the
+silence that's outside.
+ We want to learn to notice that chatter before we even have to walk
+outside. And we want to be able to find that quiet place inside ourselves and
+keep it with us, so that even when we're in a place where there is a lot of
+noise, the mind can be quiet.
+ All that mental chatter is basically negative conceptualization. If we
+were thinking about emptiness or developing compassion with that kind of
+mental activity, fine! Continue that outside, inside, everywhere. But most
+of the time what's going on is, "I like this. I don't like this. I want
+this. I don't want that. Why does this person do this? Why don't they do
+that?" That kind of mental activity makes the mind quite stressful as well
+as accumulates negative karma and wastes a great deal of time.
+ As soon as we can catch it and be aware of what's going on in our mind,
+and come back to that silent space inside, the more peaceful we'll be. Our
+lives will be more productive in terms of having the Dharma grow in our
+hearts, and we'll be more focused in whatever daily activities we're doing.
+We won't be quite so distracted.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, author of numerous books, including Buddhism for
+ Beginners; Taming the Mind; Open Heart, Clear Mind; and Working
+ with Anger
+~
+ ...if people have compassion, naturally that's something they can count
+on; even if they have economic problems and their fortune declines, they still
+have something to share with fellow human beings. World economies are always
+so tenuous and we are subject to so many losses in life, but a compassionate
+attitude is something that we can always carry with us.
+ ...Of course, in attempting to explain to someone the importance of
+compassion, in some cases, you might be dealing with a very hardened,
+individualistic, and selfish person, someone concerned only with her or his
+own interests. And it is even possible that there are people who may not have
+the capacity to empathize with even someone whom they love or who may be close
+to them. But even to such people, it is still possible to present the
+importance of compassion and love on the grounds that it's the best way to
+fulfill their self-interests. They wish to have good health, live a longer
+life, and have peace of mind, happiness, and joy. And if these are things
+that they desire, I've heard that there is scientific evidence that these
+things can be enhanced by feelings of love and compassion.
+ ...educating someone about these facts and scientific studies could
+certainly encourage some people to cultivate a more compassionate state of
+mind. But I think that, even aside from scientific studies, there are other
+arguments that people could understand and appreciate from their own practical
+or direct everyday experience. For example, you could point out that lack of
+compassion leads to a certain ruthlessness. There are many examples
+indicating that at some level deep down, ruthless people generally suffer from
+a kind of unhappiness and discontent, people like Stalin and Hitler. Such
+people suffer from a kind of nagging sense of insecurity and fear. Even when
+they are sleeping I think that sense of fear remains... these people lack
+something that you can find in a more compassionate person--a sense of
+freedom, a sense of abandonment, so when you sleep you can relax and let go.
+Ruthless people never have that experience. Something is always gripping
+them; there is some kind of hold on them, and they aren't able to experience
+that feeling of letting go, that sense of freedom.
+ ...There are always different degrees of benefit that one might receive
+from practicing various methods and techniques, depending on one's particular
+circumstances.... First, through learning, thoroughly understanding the value
+of compassion--this gives you a feeling of conviction and determination.
+Then, employing methods to enhance empathy, such as using your imagination,
+your creativity, to visualize yourself in another's situation. And certain
+exercises or practices that you can undertake, such as Tong-Len, serve to
+strengthen your compassion. But I think it's important to remember that these
+techniques... were developed to help as many as possible, at least some
+portion of the human population. But it was never expected that these
+techniques could help 100 percent of people, the entire human population.
+ ...the main point really, if we are talking about various methods to
+develop compassion, the important thing is that people make a sincere effort
+to develop their capacity for compassion. If they make their best efforts to
+be kinder, to cultivate compassion and make the world a better place, then at
+the end of the day they can say, "At least I've done my best!"
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
+ Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
+~
+ In ascertaining luminous clarity at the time of the path, the general
+technique is to rest evenly in the very essence of luminous clarity. Telopa
+said:
+
+ Rest relaxed within the uncontrived native state;
+ Bonds are released and freedom is sure.
+
+ This and other such instructions are expressed unanimously by the mighty
+adepts. Accordingly, with the body in the seven-point posture of meditative
+stability, the mind rests without support, relaxed and uncontrived. This will
+create the unerring yogic direct perception of emptiness. This is the
+ultimate esoteric instruction of the completion phase found in the profound
+tantras. The reason is that once the vital points of the vajra body, which is
+the support, are bound, the mind, eyes, and energy currents remain in a state
+of nonthought. Because of the special interconnection between body and mind,
+the movement in the right and left channels is stopped and immobilized within
+the central channel, causing the direct experience of mahamudra, emptiness
+with aspects.
+ Therefore the luminous mind, which is the supported, is realized as empty
+appearance arising as the mahamudra of forms of emptiness. This, again,
+depends on the dissolution of the energy currents of the right and left
+channels in the central channel, the supreme support. There is no more
+profound method for affecting this dissolution than resting the mind once it
+is uncontrived and relaxed. Therefore, in all the esoteric instructions of
+highest tantra, this is called "the esoteric instruction of withdrawal" in the
+presentations.
+ -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight, Part
+ Four: Esoteric Instructions, A Detailed Presentation of the Process of
+ Meditation in Vajrayana", trans. and annot. by Sarah Harding, foreword
+ by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
+ -- Mahatma Gandhi
+~
+Dignity does not consist in a silk dress. -- A saying from the Orient
+~
+ To solve the problems humanity is facing, we need to organize meetings of
+scholars, educators, social workers, neuroscientists, physicians, and experts
+from all fields to discuss the positive and negative sides of what we have
+done thus far, as well as what needs to be introduced and what needs to be
+changed in our educational system. Proper environment plays a crucial role in
+the healthy growth of a child. All problems, including terrorism, can be
+overcome through education, particularly by introducing concern for all others
+at the preschool level.
+ Living in society, we must share the suffering of our fellow citizens and
+practice compassion and tolerance not only toward our loved ones but also
+toward our enemies. This is the test of our moral strength. We must set an
+example by our own practice. We must live by the same high standards of
+integrity we seek to convey to others. The ultimate purpose is to serve and
+benfit the world.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are",
+ translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
+~
+ "When Tibet was still free, we cultivated our natural isolation,
+mistakenly thinking that we could prolong our peace and security that way.
+Consequently, we paid little attention to the changes taking place in the
+world outside. Later, we learned the hard way that in the international
+arena, as well as at home, freedom is something to be shared and enjoyed in
+the company of others, not kept to yourself." Budapest, 1994
+ "I believe that Tibet will be free only when its people become strong, and
+hatred is not strength. It is a weakness. The Lord Buddha was not being
+religious, in the popular sense of the term, when he said that hatred does not
+cease by hatred. Rather, he was being practical. Any achievement attained
+through hatred [can only invite] trouble sooner or later." Statement, 10 March
+1971
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama" compiled and edited by
+ Mary Craig
+~
+ Persons from orally oriented cultures, writes Ong, tend to project their
+sensibilities, to see them expressed in the world around them. More widely
+literate cultures create persons who tend to withdraw for insight into their
+own personal psyches. Orally oriented peoples may thus be more inclined than
+persons in print-dominated cultures to set their feelings or experiences in
+the space around them, including the invisible spirits presumed to occupy that
+space, and less likely to project these feelings and experiences onto
+individual persons. In Tibet lineages or sects are the most likely targets of
+negative projections. Western print-oriented persons are more likely to
+project their feelings onto other individuals, especially people in
+significant relationships with them. Unlike Tibet, or the premodern West, the
+contemporary West tends to identify the mind as the exclusive locus of ideas,
+feelings, and values. With this localization, the mind becomes "psychic" in a
+new sense, distinct from bodily soma and from the larger world.
+ This very different configuration of personhood affects the way Westerners
+are likely to understand the Great Bliss Queen practice. For example, there
+is a tendency among Westerners for "visualization" to be a more disembodied
+practice than it is for Tibetans. The point in imagining oneself as the Great
+Bliss Queen is not just to replace one visual image of oneself with another,
+as if observing a changing scene in a movie theater, but to experience a
+physical as well as mental shift from deep inside the body.
+ -- Anne Carolyn Klein, "Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists,
+ and the Art of the Self", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...when you recognize how kind someone has been to you, you are using an
+ordinary worldly attitude to help keep you from responses of hatred. For
+instance, if someone gave me a grant with a blank check to form a team of
+translators of Tibetan thought, I would be more than extremely pleased. Now
+if the person who gave me the money came by someday and gave me a hard time, I
+would feel a measure of restraint due to reflecting on the person's kindness.
+I would seek other means to work things out with the person. When you reflect
+how kind every person has been, there is that restraint to the point where,
+believe it or not, trained Buddhists will look at a fly or an ant walking
+across the table and think, "This is someone who bore me in her womb in a
+former lifetime, who took care of me."
+ If you watch how mothers take precautions for a child in the womb, it is
+clear that they do a great deal to help it. They eat nourishing foods and
+avoid harmful substances like coffee, alcohol, nicotine, and drugs. If you
+reflect on how such a mother takes care of the child in the womb and extend
+this reflection to all sentient beings, I think that because your field of
+awareness is no longer just a few sentient beings but is gradually expanding
+to more and more, you can reflect on the mother's kindness without doing it
+merely because you were helped. The staggering debt deflates your sense of
+exaggerated importance. The boil is pricked.
+ -- Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
+ with Others", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+He that can have patience can have what he will. -- Benjamin Franklin
+~
+One generation plants the trees, and another gets the shade.
+ -- Chinese proverb
+~
+Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad. -- Diogenes the Cynic
+~
+Fashion is something that goes in one year and out the other. -- Unknown
+~
+I'm a born-again atheist. -- Gore Vidal
+~
+ Buddha's teachings on non-manifest phenomena, such as the extremely subtle
+presentations of actions and their effect--which are very hidden phenomena--
+cannot be proved with reasoning. How then can they be verified?
+ There is no need to verify manifest phenomena through reasoning because
+they appear directly to the senses. The slightly hidden, however, can be
+proved with reasoning that generates inferential understanding, and since
+emptiness is very profound but only slightly hidden, it is accessible to
+reasoning.
+ ...very hidden phenomena cannot be proved with reasoning, and it seems
+that Buddha can say whatever he likes. However, through our own experience we
+can confirm Buddha's teachings on more important topics such as emptiness, the
+altruistic mind of enlightenment, love, and compassion, for no matter who
+analyses--Buddhist or non-Buddhist--or how much one analyses, if the person is
+not biased through desire or hatred, these teachings can bear analysis and
+serve as powerful sources of thought. When you see that Buddha does not err
+with regard to these more important phenomena, you can accept his other
+presentations.
+ ...The process of cyclic existence and the eradication of it can be proved
+by the reasoning that establishes the misconception of inherent existence as
+its root cause and establishes the wisdom cognising emptiness as its antidote.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in
+ Tibet", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Meditation on [or cultivation of] the six deities is like faith or love
+meditation in that the mind is being generated into the entity of the object
+meditated. When faith or love are meditated, those two are not the object
+observed but the entity into which the consciousness is being generated.
+Meditation on impermanence or emptiness, on the other hand, means to take
+these as the object and meditate on them. Thus, there are two types of
+meditation--of a subjective aspect and on an objective aspect. Meditation on
+the six deities is the former, for first one generates a wisdom consciousness
+knowing the sameness in suchness of oneself and the deity--the ultimate--and
+then causes it to appear as the sounds, letters, and finally the form of the
+deity.
+ --His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ "Deity Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ Once we realize emptiness, all phenomena are included within this reality,
+which is not separate from the cause and effect of karma and which is free of
+mental constructs. On this ultimate level of realization, it is possible to
+state that there is no wholesome or unwholesome action. When we have realized
+the nature of all phenomena, negative actions naturally subside and positive
+ones are spontaneously accomplished. Until this time, however, we would be
+slipping into nihilism if we said that the phenomena of relative truth, such
+as positive and negative actions or karma, do not exist.
+ Just knowing this authentic view, however, is not enough. For others to
+be able to experience it, we must also know the scriptures and reasonings so
+that we can teach. Without the support of this knowledge, it will be
+difficult for others to trust what we say, and so Milarepa speaks of scripture
+and reasoning as an adornment to realization.
+
+ Dissolving thoughts into the dharmakaya--
+ Is this not meditation naturally arising?
+ Join it with experience
+ To make it beautifully adorned.
+
+ One way to understand meditation is to see it as a practice of working
+with the many thoughts that arise in our mind. With realization they arise as
+mere appearances of the dharmakaya, the natural arising of mind's essential
+nature. Being clear about this true nature of thought is called "attaining
+the level of natural arising." At this point, there is no difference in any
+thought that may arise, because we see the nature of each thought to be
+emptiness, arising as the dharmakaya. Meditation could be defined as
+realizing the dharmakaya of the Buddha.
+ -- Michele Martin, "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art & Teachings of the
+ 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Who is the supreme friend
+ always helpful in times of need?
+ Mindfulness of the spiritual instructions
+ learned through study and contemplation.
+ -- The Seventh Dalai Lama
+
+ Ordinary friends desert us when we fall on hard times or become an
+inconvenience in their lives. Others simply disappear into their own
+destinies. Even our spiritual teachers eventually die and leave us behind.
+ Our practice of the Dharma, however, that has been cultivated by means of
+study, contemplation and meditation, is the one sure anchor that keeps our
+ship stable when the seas become choppy. In fact, the more difficult the
+situation we encounter, the more helpful it is to us.
+ When the Buddha had become very old and was preparing to pass away,
+several of his disciples were overcome with grief. They asked him, "What
+will we do after you are gone?" He replied, "Whenever you rely upon my
+teachings, at that time I am there with you."
+ The Second Dalai Lama wrote, "When we know how to rely on the Dharma, we
+are able to be happy in every situation. Where could one find a more
+trustworthy and reliable friend?"
+ -- Glenn H. Mullin, "Gems of Wisdom from the Seventh Dalai Lama",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ I always believe that each individual human being has some kind of
+responsibility for humanity as a whole. Particularly, I always believe that
+as scientists, you have a special responsibility. Besides your own
+profession, you have a basic motivation to serve humanity, to try to produce
+better, happier human beings. Whether we understand consciousness or not, we
+must produce warm-hearted persons. That is important. I want to express
+that. Whenever I meet scientists, I always have to say this.
+ Through my own profession, I try my best to contribute as much as I can.
+This proceeds without my being concerned whether another person agrees with my
+philosophy or not. Some people may be very much against my belief, my
+philosophy, but I feel alright. So long as I see that a human being suffers
+or has needs, I shall contribute as much as I can to contribute to their
+benefit. Scientists and medically qualified people can contribute especially.
+That's different; that's a particular context. A human being needs to be
+cared for according to your professional calling. You can contribute; that's
+your shared professional responsibility
+ -- H. H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
+ with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
+ Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...while walking in a park the body may be in the park while the mind is
+off working in the office, or at home, or talking to a distant friend, or
+making a list of groceries. That means the mind has disconnected from the
+body. Instead, when looking at a flower, really look at it. Be fully
+present. With the help of the flower, bring the mind back to the park.
+Appreciation for sensory experience reconnects mind and body. When the
+experience of the flower is felt throughout the body, a healing occurs; this
+can be the same when seeing a tree, smelling smoke, feeling the cloth of your
+shirt, hearing a bird call, or tasting an apple. Train yourself to vividly
+experience sensory objects without judgment. Try completely to be the eye
+with form, the nose with smell, the ear with sound, and so on. Try to be
+complete in experience while remaining in just the bare awareness of the
+sensory object.
+ When this ability is developed, reactions will still occur. Upon seeing
+the flower, judgements about its beauty will arise, or a smell may be judged
+to be foul. Even so, with practice the connection to the pure sensory
+experience can be maintained rather than continuing to become lost in the
+mind's distraction. Being distracted by a cloud of concepts is a habit and it
+can be replaced with a new habit: using bodily sensual experience to bring us
+to presence, to connect us to the beauty of the world, to the vivid and
+nourishing experience of life that lies under our distractions. This is the
+underpinning of successful dream yoga.
+ -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
+ edited by Mark Dahlby, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ To succeed in practicing any form of tantra, it is necessary first to
+train in developing the altruistic intention to become enlightened. Dzong-
+ka-ba says that this needs to be done "in accordance with the quintessential
+instructions," these being found in his Great Exposition of the Stages of the
+Path to Enlightenment. Specifically, such an altruistic intention is
+generated by way of the seven cause and effect quintessential instructions or
+the equalizing and switching of self and other. To do those, it is necessary
+to identify what liberation is and to develop an awareness seeking liberation,
+for which it is necessary to reflect on the three types of suffering and
+develop an intention to turn away from over-emphasizing the appearances of
+this life and then to turn away from over-emphasizing the appearances of
+future lives, developing an intention to leave such cyclic existence entirely,
+whereupon it is possible to reflect on how others suffer and develop
+compassion. Done continuously over a long period of time, at best one should
+develop a fully qualified altruistic intention to become enlightened, and at
+least one should develop such an intention from the depths of the heart.
+ With such altruism as your basic motivation it is possible to receive
+initiation and take the pledges that lay out a type of behavior conducive to
+enlightenment.
+ ...nowadays some people look on the practice of religion as if it were
+something that causes them to lose their freedom. Opposite to this, rules
+[for controlling counter-productive ill-deeds and overcoming afflictive
+emotions] are for the sake of utilizing your freedom to develop the limitless
+qualities of Buddhahood, in the quest for which you should never be satisfied.
+Toward material things, which necessarily have a limit, it is best to be
+satisfied with what you have, but with regard to the limitless development of
+spiritual qualities, you should never be satisfied with a mere portion, but
+continually seek higher development. The rules themselves make your mind
+conducive to such progress, so there is no reason to be uptight about them.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra:
+ Paths to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The practice of Dzogchen may begin with doing fixation on an object, in
+order to calm one's thoughts. Then one relaxes the fixation, dissolving the
+dependence on the object, and one fixes one's gaze in open space. Then, when
+one succeeds in making the calm state stable, it is important to work with the
+movement of one's thoughts and one's energy, integrating this movement with
+the presence of contemplation. At this point one is ready to apply
+contemplation in one's daily life. The system of practice just described is
+characteristic of the Series of the Nature of the Mind, but that is not to say
+that in Dzogchen one must necessarily begin with fixation and meditation on a
+calm state. In the Series of Primordial Space, and the Series of Secret
+Instructions, for example, one enters directly into the practice of
+contemplation. Particularly in the former, there are very precise
+instructions on how to find the pure state of contemplation. In the latter,
+on the other hand, the explanations are mainly concerned with how one
+continues in contemplation in all circumstances.
+ The practice of contemplation is concisely explained in the line that
+reads, "but vision nevertheless manifests: all is good." Even if the
+condition of "what is" cannot be grasped with the mind, the whole
+manifestation of the primordial state, including our karmic vision, does
+nevertheless exist. All the various aspects of forms, colours, and so on,
+continue to arise without interruption. When we find ourselves in
+contemplation, this doesn't mean that our impure vision just disappears
+and pure vision manifests instead. If we have a physical body, there is a
+karmic cause for that, so there would be no sense in trying to abandon or
+deny the situation we find ourselves in. We just need to be aware of it.
+If we have a vision of the material, physical level of existence, which is
+the cause of so very many problems, we need to understand that this vision
+is only the gross aspect of the colours, which are the essence of the elements.
+ -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State", edited by
+ Adriano Clemente, translated by John Shane, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.
+ -- Malayan Proverb
+~
+ A tantric yogi who has gained control of the subtle energies of the body
+and the subtle levels of consciousness will have control over the inner and
+outer elements and consequently can transform his or her ordinary samsaric
+form into a joyous rainbow body. But until we can do this, we have to accept
+the fact that our physical basis is a magnet attracting every kind of
+discomfort and pain.
+ ...This samsaric body keeps us running all of our lives. We have to run
+to fulfill its endless needs, to keep it away from things that may harm it,
+and to protect it from anything unpleasant. We have to give it pleasure and
+comfort. We become ordained, and at first this is very satisfactory; but soon
+our body makes it so difficult for us that we think our practice would be less
+disturbed if we were to live as a layperson. So we give up and return to
+ordinary life; but then we end up with a family to support, leaving us with no
+time or energy for meditation. We have the pressing tasks of feeding,
+clothing, and sheltering our children, and of arranging their education and so
+forth. Our lives are spent alternating between work and worry, with
+occasional short periods of pleasure, and then we have to die; but even this
+we cannot do in peace, for, when we lie down to die, our last thoughts are
+worried ones concerning the family we are leaving behind. Such is the nature
+of worldly existence.
+ ...To care for our old people--these ones who have given us our body, our
+life, and our culture--is a sacred duty of humanity. But most humans act more
+like animals than people, and often we see old people who have been abandoned
+by their families. Family units were very strong in Tibet, and old people
+were usually cared for directly by relatives. The national care for the old
+that we see in the West is something very good, a healthy sign, although
+perhaps here the spiritual and psychological basis is somewhat lacking.
+ The suffering of old age is something we all must face, unless we die
+prematurely. There is nothing we can do about it. Gone will be that false
+sense of personal ability and strength that made us so proud when we were
+young. Instead, helpers or friends will bathe us, dress us, spoonfeed us, and
+have to take us to the toilet. Rather than live under the delusion of
+permanence, we should engage in spiritual training so that we can enter old
+age at least with the grace of wisdom.
+ ...So we can see that this body indeed causes us much grief in this life
+and, sadly, in their quest to satisfy its many needs, most people just collect
+an endless stream of negative karmic instincts that will lead them to lower
+rebirths in the future. These are the sufferings of the human world.
+ ...The important point here is to become aware of the third type of
+suffering, the subtle suffering that pervades all imperfect existence, the
+all-pervading misery concomitant with having a perishable, samsaric base....
+[All are] enmeshed in suffering because the nature of their body and mind is
+bound with compulsive cyclic processes. Until we develop the wisdom that is
+able to free the mind from these compelling forces, there is no doubt that we
+shall experience suffering throughout our lives, and that we shall continue to
+wander endlessly in the wheel of birth, life, death, and rebirth where the
+presence of misery can always be felt.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
+ by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Observing the Mind Itself
+
+ The primary meditative technique of great perfection is remaining in the
+state of pure awareness. This is accomplished by calming the mind and then
+abiding in comprehension of its basic clear light nature. The meditative
+practice involves being cognizant of the arising and passing away of feelings,
+emotions, sensations, etc., but understanding them within the context of pure
+awareness. The more one does this, the more one realizes that all phenomena
+arise from mind and remerge into it. They are of the nature of pure awareness
+and are a projection of luminosity and emptiness. Through cultivating this
+understanding, mental phenomena of their own accord begin to subside, allowing
+the clear light nature of mind to become manifest. They appear as reflections
+on the surface of a mirror and are perceived as illusory, ephemeral, and
+nonsubstantial.
+ Those who succeed in this practice attain a state of radical freedom:
+there are no boundaries, no presuppositions, and no habits on which to rely.
+One perceives things as they are in their naked reality. Ordinary beings view
+phenomena through a lens clouded by concepts and preconceptions, and most of
+the world is overlooked or ignored. The mind of the great perfection adept,
+however, is unbounded, and everything is possible. For many beginners, this
+prospect is profoundly disquieting, because since beginningless time we have
+been constricted by rules, laws, assumptions, and previous actions. One who
+is awakened, however, transcends all such limitations; there is no ground on
+which to stand, no limits, nothing that must be done, and no prohibitions.
+This awareness is bottomless, unfathomable, immeasurable, permeated by joy,
+unboundedness, and exhilaration. One is utterly free, and one's state of mind
+is as expansive as space. Those who attain this level of awareness also
+transcend physicality and manifest the "rainbow body" ('ja lus), a form
+comprising pure light that cannot decay, which has no physical aspects, and
+which is coterminous with the nature of mind.
+ -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Traditions are group efforts to keep the unexpected from happening.
+ -- Barbara Tober
+~
+In a democracy it's your vote that counts;
+in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.
+ -- Mogens Jallberg
+~
+You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. -- Indira Gandhi
+~
+Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent.
+ -- Langston Coleman
+~
+Every child is an artist. The problem is how to
+remain an artist once he grows up.
+ -- Pablo Picasso
+~
+ Among Tibetans, at least traditionally, the economic conditions are such
+that this nine-to-five daily employment isn't really an important part of
+[working life]. In Tibet, either you are a farmer or a nomad or a merchant.
+The work is seasonal.... During the season they work very hard, and when they
+finish they come back and don't have any employment.
+ ...in modern society, and particularly in industrialized nations, the
+issue of unemployment is a very difficult situation. There are no easy
+answers. One has no choice but to try to cope, and make one's best effort to
+find new work. There is just no other solution.
+ However, the basic attitude of the individual plays a very significant
+role, and can make a big difference in how someone responds. While we may not
+have control over our situation, our attitude is something that we have some
+control over. So first, what we need to realize is that uncertainty and
+change are very much a part of the modern economy, particularly with regard to
+employment. That is a serious problem, but a fact that we have to accept.
+There is no guarantee that there will be a job tomorrow if you are working
+today. So, if we understand this ahead of time, it may change how we respond
+when that happens. Then we won't feel so surprised, as if we are singled out.
+We understand that the loss of a job has many factors, the result of many
+causes and conditions. We will understand that, in many cases, it may even
+have roots in global economic issues. This way, we won't become so upset by
+taking it personally, or looking around us for someone to blame for our
+problems. This alone may help reduce our mental agitation. Of course, here
+we are talking about unemployment due to some wider causes or layoffs, not due
+to being fired because of one's own incompetence.
+ So there might be different ways in which individuals will respond to the
+challenges of change. What is important is to acknowledge this fact and try
+to work out how best to cope with the immediate problem itself. For example,
+if you need employment as a means of your livelihood and if you become
+unemployed, then all your efforts should be put into looking for new
+employment so that your livelihood will be secure. But there are two
+different responses. One person may feel demoralized and become sort of
+paralyzed, thinking, There is no hope, I lost my job, what am I supposed to
+do? But another individual in the same situation might look at it as an
+opportunity to make some changes. As a challenge. So that is the more
+positive way, the more proactive way of dealing with this problem. But of
+course it is not easy.
+ There may also be other ways that might help at least reduce the mental
+anxiety of dealing with the situation, so that a person can use all their
+mental energy to find new work. For Buddhists, there are certain thought
+processes and considerations that help--for example, the belief in karma
+[one's actions] and ultimately taking responsibility for one's own karma.
+Although this kind of mental attitude may not have any effect in physically
+resolving the situation, at least it will help ease the individual from the
+psychological effect of losing the job, and so on. And of course, believers
+in other religious systems can also take some consolation in their own
+beliefs.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D.,
+ "The Art of Happiness at Work"
+~
+ Compassion and love are not man-made. Ideology is man-made, but
+compassion and love are produced by nature. It is important to recognize
+natural qualities, especially when we face a problem and fail to find a
+solution. For example... in religious business, sometimes even due to
+religion, we create a problem. If we try to solve that problem using
+religious methods, it is quite certain that we will not succeed. So I feel
+that when we face those kinds of problems, it is important to return to our
+basic human quality. Then I think we will find that solutions come easier.
+Therefore, I usually say that the best way to solve human problems is with
+human understanding.
+ It is very important to recognize the basic nature of humanity and the
+value of human qualities. Whether one is educated or uneducated, rich or
+poor, or belongs to this nation or that nation, this religion or that
+religion, this ideology or that ideology, is secondary and doesn't matter.
+When we return to this basis, all people are the same. Then we can truly say
+the words brother, sister; then they are not just nice words--they have some
+meaning. That kind of motivation automatically builds the practice of
+kindness. This gives us inner strength.
+ ...Next, let us talk about the human being as a social animal. Even if we
+do not like other people, we have to live together. Natural law is such that
+even bees and other animals have to live together in cooperation. I am
+attracted to bees because I like honey--it is really delicious. Their product
+is something that we cannot produce, very beautiful, isn't it? I exploit them
+too much, I think. Even these insects have certain responsibilities, they
+work together very nicely. They have no constitution, they have no law, no
+police, nothing, but they work together effectively. This is because of
+nature. Similarly, each part of a flower is not arranged by humans but by
+nature. The force of nature is something remarkable. We human beings, we
+have constitutions, we have law, we have a police force, we have religion, we
+have many things. But in actual practice, I think that we are behind those
+small insects.
+ Sometimes civilization brings good progress, but we become too involved
+with this progress and neglect or forget about our basic nature. Every
+development in human society should take place on the basis of the foundation
+of the human nature. If we lose that basic foundation, there is no point in
+such developments taking place.
+ -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
+ About the Dalai Lama" compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword by
+ Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Emphasizing neither renunciation nor transformation, though incorporating
+both into its preparatory practices, the Great Completeness provides a
+method know as "self-liberation" (rang 'grol), sometimes described as
+"liberation in its own spot" (rang sar 'grol). Liberation takes place in the
+situation just as it is, because one's mind and all things are, despite
+powerful appearances to the contrary, primordially pure. If one has not yet
+made this essential discovery, the Great Bliss Queen ritual can prepare one
+for it. If one is familiar with the Great Completeness perspective, one
+performs the visualization and recitation of the Great Bliss Queen ritual
+entirely within an experience of innate awareness. In either case, the ritual
+encompasses the three nondualisms already discussed.
+ One way of accessing the primordial purity so important to the Great
+Completeness tradition is a practice known as "pure vision." This involves
+visualizing companions, family, surroundings, and so forth as creations of
+light, the habitat of an enlightened being. From the viewpoint of the Great
+Completeness, such pure vision is not an imaginative overlay, but a move
+toward understanding things as they are. As Khetsun Sangpo taught it, this
+practice allows you to understand that apparently ordinary things and persons
+have "been [primordially pure] from the beginning" so that "you are
+identifying their own proper nature. Your senses normally misrepresent what
+is there, but through this visualization you can come closer to what actually
+exists." In short, by identifying one's body, companions, and world with
+those of the Great Bliss Queen, one develops the ability to discover what has
+always been there. This being so, there is no need to renounce or change
+anything, only to see it more completely. This is the Great Completeness
+tradition's special mix of ontological and cognitive nondualisms. Unlike the
+tantric traditions, in which it is necessary to cease the coarse sense and
+mental consciousness in order for the most subtle mind of clear light to
+appear, the Dalai Lama observes that "in the Old [Nyingma] Translation School
+of the Great Completeness it is possible to be introduced to the clear light
+without the cessation of the six operative consciousnesses." Hence the
+possibility of "discovering" what is already in our midst. Such discovery
+reveals a spontaneous presence (yon dan hlun gyis grub ba) of collateral
+qualities such as clarity and spontaneous responsiveness. Thus, comments
+Longchen Rabjam, "primordially pure primordial wisdom is free in the face of
+thought and the primordial wisdom, with a nature of spontaneity, abides as
+primordial radiance, and profound clarity."
+ -- Anne Carolyn Klein, "Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists,
+ and the Art of the Self", by published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Why is it that meeting our yidam deity directly and receiving the deity's
+blessing are so important? If we are studying texts and wish to become great
+scholars, there are an inconceivable number of the Buddha's teachings along
+with the treatises that comment on them. All these have to be studied
+diligently so that we can come to a basic understanding of their meaning;
+beyond this, it is extremely difficult to enter into the more subtle levels.
+In all of this practice and study, it is our own mind that is central.
+Without a great blessing or without awakening the generative power of previous
+habitual patterns, it will be extremely difficult to realize primordial
+wisdom.
+ Lord Maitreya stated that bodhisattvas abiding on the various levels are
+not able to attain omniscience immediately, and he also affirmed that we do
+not need to become expert in all five traditional Buddhist sciences. Among
+these are all classifications of the inner science that deals with the mind.
+In the practice of the Secret Mantrayana, it is said that as long as objects
+continue to arise in our minds, so long will the classifications of the Secret
+Mantrayana last. As long as we have not realized the simultaneity of concepts
+and liberation, as long as we have not been blessed with the knowledge that
+knowing the nature of one phenomenon liberates us into knowing the nature of
+all, we need to train from lifetime to lifetime in the many aspects of the
+teachings. If we try to become expert in all five sciences or try to know all
+the objects of knowledge, our training will be endless. For these reasons, it
+is extremely important to seek accomplishments and blessings from the yidam
+deity, for through the blessing of the deity, our positive habitual patterns
+from the past will be awakened and the doubts that cloud our minds will be
+cleared away.
+ -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth
+ Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje" by Michele Martin, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ Verse 6
+ When someone whom I have helped
+ Or in whom I have placed great hopes
+ Mistreats me in extremely hurtful ways
+ May I regard him still as my precious teacher.
+ -- Shantideva, "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life"
+
+ According to worldly norms of human behaviour, when we help someone and
+place great trust in them and they mistreat us in return, it is seen as
+reasonable to be angry with them because we have been hurt. However,
+practitioners of bodhicitta must not give in to this type of conventional
+thinking. Instead, we should learn to view such people in a special way, as
+objects for our practice of forbearance and loving kindness. We must in fact
+recognise these people as our spiritual teachers.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Advanced meditators develop the ability to create environments of their
+own choosing, and they are able to transcend the sufferings that seem so real
+to ordinary beings who are bound by mundane conceptions. According to Tsong
+Khapa, for one who attains advanced levels of meditation, painful cognitions
+no longer occur, no matter what external experiences one encounters. All of
+one's cognitions are a union of bliss and emptiness. One recognizes that
+nothing is inherently what it appears to be. Whatever occurs is perceived by
+one's unshakably blissful consciousness as the sport of luminosity and
+emptiness, and so,
+
+ "for a Bodhisattva who has attained the meditative stabilisation of
+ bliss pervading all phenomena, only a feeling of pleasure arises with
+ respect to all objects; pain and neutrality do not occur, even though
+ [pieces from his body] the size of a small coin are cut or even though
+ his body is crushed by elephants, only a discrimination of bliss is
+ maintained."
+ -- Tsong-ka-pa on Ratnarakshita's Commentary
+
+ Tantric texts stress that such bodhisattvas are not creating a delusional
+system in order to hide from the harsher aspects of reality. Rather, they are
+transforming reality, making it conform to an ideal archetype. Since all
+phenomena are empty of inherent existence, they have no fixed nature. No one
+ever apprehends an object as it is in its true nature, because there is no
+such nature. Even if phenomena had fixed essences, we would still never be
+able to perceive them, since all we ever experience are our cognitions of
+objects, which are overlaid with conceptions about them. All our perceptions
+are ideas about things, and not real things. These ideas are also empty,
+arising from nothingness and immediately dissolving again into nothingness,
+leaving nothing behind. Tantric adepts develop the ability to reconstitute
+"reality," which is completely malleable for those who train in yogas
+involving blissful consciousnesses realizing emptiness. The sense of bliss
+pervades all their cognitions, and their understanding of emptiness allows
+them to generate minds that are manifestations of bliss and emptiness.
+ -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Beware the flatterer; he feeds you with an empty spoon. -- Cosino DeGregrio
+~
+Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict
+the man before the dollar.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of
+labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is
+the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+ For those of you who are not able to devote all your time to meditation,
+there is nevertheless the possibility of engaging in practice in a serious
+way. For example, the students at the monastic universities in South India
+can, with some effort, do meditations during the prayers. When you recite the
+prayers, you can mentally do the contemplation. The lifestyle and daily
+routine at these monasteries have been structured by the great masters of the
+past in a way that is most conducive to individual practice as well as to the
+flourishing of the dharma.
+ If you find that your mind is in a very fluctuating emotional state--
+displaying anger, hatred, attachment and so forth--then you should first try
+to calm down that state of strong emotion. This should be done by first
+transforming it into a neutral state of mind, because there is no way that one
+can switch directly from a negative state of mind to a positive one.
+Therefore, you should first reduce the force of these emotions and
+fluctuations and try to bring about some sort of calmness, using any means--
+such as taking a stroll or concentrating on the inhalation and exhalation of
+the breath--that will enable you to forget what you are immediately feeling.
+This will help you to reduce the force of strong emotion, thereby giving you
+the calmness necessary for the practice of dharma. Like a white piece of
+cloth which could be dyed any color that you desire, such a neutral state of
+mind could then be transformed into a virtuous state of mind.
+ You could also engage in the preliminary practices of performing 100,000
+prostrations, recitations of the Vajrasattva mantra, and so forth. When you
+undertake these practices, you should do them properly, not being only
+concerned about the number. Many great masters of the past of all traditions
+have emphasized the importance of these preliminary practices--they will
+enable you to have a very firm start. If through them you can acquire a
+fertile mind, then when the seed of meditation is planted, it will readily
+bear the fruits of realizations.
+ Having successfully neutralized the emotional fluctuations within your
+mind and having restored a reasonable degree of calmness, engage in the
+practice of taking refuge and generating the altruistic aspiration to attain
+full enlightenment. Taking refuge in the Three Jewels is the factor that
+distinguishes one's practice from that of an erroneous path, and the
+generation of the altruistic mind makes it superior to the paths aiming at
+individual liberation.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...if you consider just the subtlest mind and the wind or energy that
+serves as its mount, the mere factor of luminosity and knowing of the subtlest
+mind itself as well as the energy associated with it are what will be
+transformed into the mind and body of a Buddha. This is the mind that will
+turn into an omniscient consciousness--a Buddha's mind; it is this mind which
+will be transformed, not some other mind coming from the outside. In other
+words, the Buddha nature is inherent; it is not imported from somewhere else.
+ This is true because the very entity of the mind, its nature of mere
+luminosity and knowing, is not polluted by defilements; they do not abide in
+the entity of the mind. Even when we generate afflictive emotions, the very
+entity or nature of the mind is still mere luminosity and knowing, and because
+of this we are able to remove the afflictive emotions.
+ -- H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
+ Clarity, and Insight", edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The recognition that worldly attainments just do not provide enduring
+happiness, and that we need to work on the internals, rather than the
+externals, is an important motivation. It is also the basis of achieving
+nirvana, often represented by the lotus flower. It is no accident that most
+statues of Buddha have him sitting on cushions resting on a lotus flower--the
+symbol of renunciation.
+ But what if we achieve nirvana? What if, through extreme diligence, we
+attain its supreme peace and happiness? Would that be enough, or is there a
+more profound level of motivation still?
+ Some years ago a number of tourists were kidnapped by terrorists in the
+Philippines, and held hostage in the jungle for many months. Finally they
+were released in small groups. I will never forget the reaction of one
+hostage who was interviewed at the airport on his way home to join his wife,
+who had been freed just days earlier.
+ You would think that after months of extreme privation and the constant
+threat of uncertainty and death, returning safely to one's wife, home, and
+family would be a cause for joyful celebration. But the hostage, while
+relieved, could only think of the group of hostages he'd left behind. Those
+who, in the preceding months, had been his fellow prisoners, whom he now knew
+better than anyone else, and with whom in several cases, he had formed unique
+and profound bonds of attachment. His overriding concern was to ensure that
+those still being held captive would be safely released to experience the same
+freedom he had now. Only then would he really be able to celebrate.
+ -- David Michie, "Buddhism for Beginners: Finding Happiness in an Uncertain
+ World", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The term "meditation" carries with it a burden of trendy, pseudo-mystical
+connotations. The biggest mistake people make is to think that they will "get
+something" out of meditation. It would be more accurate to think they will be
+getting rid of something. Awareness practice undermines our unwitting
+subjugation to hypermentation. It cuts through the cascade of thoughts and
+feelings that distract us from the present moment where life actually happens.
+The inner newsreel, with its imagined or distorted dramas, becomes less urgent
+and seductive. The unexamined hopes and fears that have thrown us into
+automatic or reflexive behavior lose their power to toss us about. What we
+get rid of, initially, is a great deal of compelling noise with no point or
+real substance to it. Even by becoming aware of its nature we de-reify it,
+render it less solid and intractable.
+ ...How can we sort out our neuroses when the mind is a wild, chaotic mess
+of fragmented thought? How can we work with our anger when we experience it
+as a deluge of highly charged, urgent impulses, all mixed in with fleeting
+bits of narrative, physical sensations, whispers of memory, rushes of fear,
+and the visceral press to act? We can't. Every beginning meditator discovers
+very quickly that the mind has a mind of its own. No beginner sits down,
+says, "Peace! Be still!" and accomplishes enlightenment. It's enough at the
+start just to see, discover, and acknowledge the chatter. That, in itself, is
+a great step towards self-awareness. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche taught that the
+awareness of our confusion is the first step towards clarity.
+ Over time, we can learn to just take note of whatever arises without being
+pushed and pulled emotionally. We can sit still and not respond reflexively
+to our hypermentation. We can allow ourselves to rest, to gently release
+thoughts, to find a quiet space apart from the discursive jumble. We can
+choose to be simply and quietly aware. In these quiet moments, experiences
+arise much more clearly and distinctly. Only then can we discover the source
+of our suffering and our anger.
+ I once attended a conference between a highly esteemed Tibetan lama,
+Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and a group of psychiatrists. Someone asked
+Rinpoche: "What is meditation?" Rinpoche looked playfully puzzled, pretended
+not to understand, and after a brief consultation with his translator,
+answered: "Meditation? Meditation? I don't know what that means. We have
+another word for it which means 'paying attention to.' " Whatever the style,
+to meditate is to pay attention.
+ -- Ron Leifer, M.D., "Vinegar into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and
+ Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence", published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ ...practice must be carried out in terms of one's own thought. If one
+knows how to bring the teachings into one's own thought, all physical and
+verbal deeds can be made to accord with practice. If one does not know how to
+bring them into one's own thought, even though one might meditate, recite
+scriptures, or spend one's life in a temple, it will not help; thought is
+therefore important for practice. Thus, taking refuge in the Three Jewels
+(Buddha, his Doctrine and the Spiritual Community), taking into account the
+relationship between actions and their effects, and generating an attitude of
+helping others, are most important.
+
+ Formerly in Tibet there was a famous lama called Drom. One day Drom saw a
+man walking around a reliquary. 'Walking around a reliquary is good,' he
+said. 'Practice is even better.' The man thought, 'Then, reading a holy book
+would be good.' He did so, and one day while he was reading, Drom saw him and
+said, 'Reading a holy book is good; practice is even better.'
+
+ The man thought, 'This also does not seem to be sufficient. Now if I do
+some meditation, that will certainly be practice.' Drom saw him in meditation
+and said, 'Meditation is good; practice is even better.' The man was amazed
+and asked, 'How does one practise?' Drom answered, 'Do not be attached to this
+life; cause your mind to become the practices.' Dram said this because
+practice depends on thought.
+
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
+ Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Dampa said, "If these practitioners want buddhahood, they must reverse their
+present behavior!"
+
+[Kunga] asked, "What is wrong with their present behavior?"
+
+He said:
+
+ They practice thinking that what are in actuality obstacles are
+attainments!
+ They meet the liberating path, but doubting and striving, they part from
+it!
+ Doubting if they should refrain from their ill-omened actions, they
+suffer!
+ The speech of those without experience has become Dharma--supposedly the
+view.
+ Kunga is never parted from his prayers for the three village girls!
+ Now, draw your own conclusions!
+
+...
+
+Dampa said:
+
+ When I see people clinging to illusions as real, compassion arises with a
+force.
+ If one considers the sufferings of the six realms in terms of oneself, one
+has no time to remain ordinary.
+ When one sees that the characteristic of samsara is suffering, a mind
+wanting nothing whatsoever is born!
+ When one sees the various bases as rootless, self-grasping is not born!
+ When impermanence is born in the mind, faith and perseverance will come
+together!
+ Those who grasp at permanence will not destroy persistent grasping at
+things as real!
+ Kunga! Internalize truthlessness and throw the kitchen sauce into the
+water!
+ -- Lion of Siddhas: The Life and Teachings of Padampa Sangye, translated
+ by David Molk, with Lama Tsering Wangdu Rinpoche, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+Books have the same enemies as people:
+fire, humidity, animals, weather, and their own content.
+ -- Paul Valery
+~
+ In Buddhism there are basically two types of practices: Sutra and
+Tantra.... The special purpose of Tantra is to provide a faster path so that
+qualified practitioners can be of service to others more quickly. In Tantra
+the power of imagination is harnessed to meditation in a practice called deity
+yoga. In this practice you imagine 1) replacing your mind as it ordinarily
+appears, full of troubling emotions, with a mind of pure wisdom motivated by
+compassion; 2) substituting your body as it ordinarily appears (composed of
+flesh, blood, and bone) with a body fashioned from compassionately motivated
+wisdom; 3) developing a sense of a pure self that depends on purely appearing
+mind and body in an ideal environment, fully engaged in helping others. As
+this distinctive practice of Tantra calls for visualizing yourself with a
+Buddha's body, activities, resources, and surroundings, it is called "taking
+imagination as the spiritual path."
+ Let us consider a qualm about this practice. You are considering yourself
+to have Buddha qualities which you presently do not have. Is this, then, a
+correct type of meditative consciousness? Yes. Your mind is involved in
+understanding reality, out of which you are appearing as a deity. Therefore,
+your mind, from this viewpoint, is correct. Also, you are purposely imagining
+yourself as having a divine body even if you do not presently possess one.
+This is an imaginative meditation; you are not convinced from the depths that
+you actually have pure mind, body, and selfhood. Rather, based in clear
+imagination of ideal body and mind, you are cultivating the sense of being a
+deity, compassionately helping others.
+ ...to engage in Tantra at any level demands a powerful intention to become
+enlightened for the sake of others, and a feeling that this needs to be done
+very quickly.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
+ Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+Why do we want to be wise and compassionate? If it's because we would simply
+like to be wise and compassionate, we are off course, because the "I" cannot
+attain wisdom and compassion. Wisdom and compassion can only be revealed once
+the "I" has disappeared. When we reach this level, we will be able to benefit
+others. In the meantime, it is the blind leading the blind. All true
+religions seek to gain access to that level of consciousness which is not ego-
+bound. In Buddhism, it is called the unconditioned, the unborn, the
+deathless. You can call it anything you like. You can call it atman. You
+can call it anatman. You can call it God. The fact is, there is a subtle
+level of consciousness which is the core of our being, and it is beyond our
+ordinary conditioned state of mind. We can all experience this. Some people
+experience it through service, others through devotion. Some even think they
+can experience it through analysis and intellectual discipline. Buddhists
+usually try to access it through meditation. That's what we are doing.
+Breaking through to the unconditioned in order to help others break through to
+the unconditioned. But we have to start where we are, from right here. We
+start with these minds, these bodies, these problems, these weaknesses, and
+these strengths.
+ -- Venerable Tenzin Palmo, "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings
+ on Practical Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Over the last few days I have been meeting scientists, mainly specialists
+on the brain, as well as psychologists and psychotherapists.... The majority
+of them agreed... that the key cause of the mental unrest and depression so
+prevalent today... is lack of sympathy and affection.
+ I think you might find the following story quite interesting. A few weeks
+ago I met someone whose mind, I was told, is severely disturbed. At the
+beginning, I used all of my reasoning to encourage him, explaining that, as a
+human being, there was no need for him to be discouraged, because we have such
+a good human brain and intelligence. I pointed out how, with determination,
+we can solve all our human problems and overcome all obstacles, and so there
+is no reason to worry or be discouraged or depressed. Personally, I always
+find this kind of reasoning is quite effective, but this time it failed. He
+was not impressed by this line of thinking. On the contrary, instead of
+showing any appreciation, he developed a rather contrary attitude. After
+listening to what I had to say, he became even more agitated, and asked me,
+"Why are you concerned about my problem? How do I know if your attitude is
+sincere or not?" I felt really sad. I was quite moved as well, and as I was
+explaining something or other, my hand reached out and caressed his arm. It
+was a natural gesture, a sincere expression of how I felt. Gradually, his
+mood altered; I could see his face beginning to change, and finally a smile
+began to appear. Then as I gained confidence, I increased that expression of
+affection. At last a big smile spread right across his face.
+ I told him, "Please consider me as an old friend. Any time, you can come
+to see me. Whatever I can do to help you, I am ready to do. I am at your
+service." When I said this, then his mood, it was clear, became very happy
+and joyful. The following day he came to see me again. When he arrived, he
+already had a happy air about him, but nevertheless he was trying to pretend
+otherwise and was not smiling. Anyway, what this incident really gave me was
+another confirmation of how powerful genuine compassion, love, or altruism can
+be, to affect other people's minds. And how they can remove fear and
+suspicion, and alleviate feelings of insecurity and mistrust.
+ So I always consider compassion as the key, not only for achieving and
+maintaining our own mental calmness, stability and happiness, but also as
+something extraordinarily useful for creating a healthy human society. By
+that I mean a happier and less harmful human society. Therefore--whether it
+be in individual cases, on a family level, a national level, or an
+international level--altruism, love and compassion are the basis for success,
+for happiness, and for a happy environment.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
+ Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron,
+ Foreword by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+According to Tibetan Buddhism, ordinary beings are born into life situations
+in which they are destined to suffer and die. This is the result of former
+contaminated actions and afflictions, which have been accumulated since
+beginningless time. Because of this process, physical and mental afflictions
+are deeply rooted in sentient beings, and so it is generally considered
+necessary to prepare oneself for tantric practice by engaging in the
+"preliminary practices," or ngondro (sngon 'gro, purvagama), in order to begin
+to reverse one's negative conditioning. These practices combine physical
+movements with visualization in order to transform the mind from one that is
+fixated on mundane concerns and desires into one that is primarily oriented
+toward religious practice for the benefit of others. Some teachers consider
+these preparatory trainings to be so essential to successful tantric practice
+that they will not give tantric initiations to those who have not completed
+them, and even teachers who are willing to waive them generally stress their
+importance. The preliminary practices are: (1) taking refuge; (2)
+prostration; (3) Vajrasattva meditation; (4) mandala offering; and (5) guru
+yoga.
+ -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ [It] is quite clear to me is that the moment you think only of yourself,
+the focus of your whole reality narrows, and because of this narrow focus,
+uncomfortable things can appear huge and bring you fear and discomfort and a
+sense of feeling overwhelmed by misery. The moment you think of others with a
+sense of caring, however, your view widens. Within that wider perspective,
+your own problems appear to be of little significance, and this makes a big
+difference.
+ If you have a sense of caring for others, you will manifest a kind of
+inner strength in spite of your own difficulties and problems. With this
+strength, your own problems will seem less significant and bothersome to you.
+By going beyond your own problems and taking care of others, you gain inner
+strength, self-confidence, courage, and a greater sense of calm. This is a
+clear example of how one's way of thinking can really make a difference.
+ One's own self-interest and wishes are fulfilled as a byproduct of
+actually working for other sentient beings. As the well-known fifteenth-
+century master Tsongkhapa points out in his Great Exposition of the Path to
+Enlightenment, "The more the practitioner engages in activities and thoughts
+that are focused and directed toward the fulfillment of others' well-being,
+the fulfillment or realization of his or her own aspiration will come as a
+byproduct without having to make a separate effort." Some of you may have
+actually heard me remark, which I do quite often, that in some sense the
+bodhisattvas, the compassionate practitioners of the Buddhist path, are
+"wisely selfish" people, whereas people like us are the "foolishly selfish."
+We think of ourselves and disregard others, and the result is that we always
+remain unhappy and have a miserable time.
+ ...we find that kindness and a good heart form the underlying foundation
+for our success in this life, our progress on the spiritual path, and our
+fulfillment of our ultimate aspiration, the attainment of full enlightenment.
+Hence, compassion and a good heart are not only important at the beginning but
+also in the middle and at the end. Their necessity and value are not limited
+to any specific time, place, society, or culture.
+ Thus, we not only need compassion and human affection to survive, but they
+are the ultimate sources of success in life. Selfish ways of thinking not
+only harm others, they prevent the very happiness we ourselves desire. The
+time has come to think more wisely, hasn't it? This is my belief.
+ -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Compassionate Life"
+~
+ ...all apparent phenomena are nothing but delusion and there is, moreover,
+no freedom from delusion to be achieved by dispelling delusion. Delusion is,
+by its own essence, completely pure and, hence, enlightened. All phenomena
+are, in this way, primordially, fully, and completely enlightened. Phenomena
+appearing as various attributes are, therefore, indeed the mandala of vajra
+body, speech, and mind. They are like the Buddhas of the three times, never
+transcending the essence of complete purity. Sentient beings and Buddhas are
+not differentiated in terms of their essence. Just like distinct causes and
+results appearing in a dream, they are nothing but perceptions of individual
+minds brought forth by the power of imputation.
+ Here the issue might be raised, "although the scriptures do teach this,
+there is no certainty whether it is to be taken at face value or requires
+interpretation. Therefore the essential purity of phenomena may well be
+established, but it is unreasonable to say that precisely the nature of that
+which appears as subjects with attributes is primordially enlightened. For,
+if it were that way, thorough affliction and samsara would be entirely absent.
+There can't be a reasoning that establishes such a philosophy." The
+conceptual mind that takes objects that appear in the experience of sentient
+beings as valid is, since beginningless time, deluded. It accepts or negates
+with reference to the way things appear to it. With such dialectics it is,
+indeed, not possible to establish the vast and profound meaning. Nevertheless,
+since the nature of phenomena is inconceivable, it is not the case that there
+is no way to realize it by means of discriminating knowledge. Thus it is not
+in any way a mistake if one, rather than that, is inclined to approach simply
+by faith, regarding the scriptures and oral instructions as valid. One will
+then gain access through trust.
+ One may object, "Well, if one cannot prove [the primordial mandala] with
+reasoning, one cannot gain access to it either." We can prove it as follows:
+That phenomena are fully enlightened as the mandala of vajra body, speech, and
+mind is proven with the reasoning of the intrinsic nature. Just as it is
+stated in a sutra, "Form is empty by nature. Why is that? It is so because
+that is its nature." All phenomena are pure by their intrinsic nature and,
+therefore, there is not a single phenomenon that is impure. This is the
+intrinsic nature of phenomena. Complete purity is, therefore, also the
+intrinsic nature of body, speech, and mind, and their complete purity is
+enlightenment. Therefore, body, speech, and mind, distinguished by their
+complete purity, are inseparable, free from mental constructs, and perfectly
+pervasive. One must in this way understand them to be the mandala of vajra
+body, speech, and mind.
+ -- Heidi I. Koppl, "Establishing Appearances as Divine: Rongzom
+ Chozang on Reasoning, Madhyamaka, and Purity", published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Because spirits can be positive or negative in relation to humans, it is
+wise to be careful with practices that connect the practitioner to a spirit.
+It is currently popular for people to take drum journeys in their imaginations
+and to look for guardian spirits and power animals and so on. Although
+usually this is beneficial, or at least harmless, there really are beings with
+whom the rare individual will connect. Not all of them are beings anyone
+should want to connect with. There seems to be little regard for who the
+being is; this can be a dangerous practice. People are much more careful
+about choosing a business partner or a roommate than they seem to be about
+choosing a non-physical being for a guide or guardian.
+ -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Healing with Form, Energy and Light:
+ The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra and Dzogchen",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...reflect upon the negative consequences of our strong attachment to
+friends and hostility toward enemies. Our feelings for a friend or a loved
+one sometimes blind us to certain of his or her aspects. We project a quality
+of absolute desirability, absolute infallibility, upon that person. Then,
+when we see something contrary to our projections, we are stunned. We swing
+from the extreme of love and desire to disappointment, repulsion, and
+sometimes even anger. Even that sense of inner contentment and satisfaction
+in a relationship with someone we love can lead to disappointment,
+frustration, and hatred. Though strong emotions, like those of romantic love
+or righteous hatred, may feel profoundly compelling, their pleasure is
+fleeting. From a Buddhist point of view, it is far better not to be in the
+grip of such emotions in the first place.
+ What are the repercussions of becoming overpowered by intense dislike?
+The Tibetan word for hatred, shedang, suggests hostility from the depth of
+one's heart. There is a certain irrationality in responding to injustice or
+harm with hostility. Our hatred has no physical effect on our enemies; it
+does not harm them. Rather, it is we who suffer the ill consequences of such
+overwhelming bitterness. It eats us from within. With anger we slowly begin
+to lose our appetite. We cannot sleep at night and often end up just rolling
+back and forth, back and forth, all night long. It affects us profoundly,
+while our enemies continue along, blissfully unaware of the state we have been
+reduced to.
+ Free of hatred or anger, we can respond to actions committed against us
+far more effectively. If we approach things with a cool head, we see the
+problem more clearly and judge the best way to address it. For example, if a
+child is doing something that could be dangerous to himself or others, such as
+playing with matches, we can discipline him. When we behave in such a
+forthright manner, there is a far greater chance that our actions will hit the
+mark. The child will respond not to our anger but to our sense of urgency and
+concern.
+ This is how we come to see that our true enemy is actually within us. It
+is our selfishness, our attachment, and our anger that harm us. Our perceived
+enemy's ability to inflict harm on us is really quite limited. If someone
+challenges us and we can muster the inner discipline to resist retaliating, it
+is possible that no matter what the person has done, those actions do not
+disturb us.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in
+ Everyday Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla
+ Rato and Richard Gere
+~
+ "All phenomena should be understood as lacking an end and a middle, just
+ as the mind does not have an end or a middle. With the knowledge that the
+ mind is without an end or a middle, no identity of the mind is perceived.
+ What is thoroughly realized by the mind, too, is realized as being empty.
+ By realizing that, the very identity, which is established as the aspect
+ of the mind, like the identity of physical form, and so forth, is also
+ ultimately not perceived. In this way, when the person does not ultimately
+ see the identity of all phenomena through wisdom, he will not analyze
+ whether physical form is permanent or impermanent, empty or not empty,
+ contaminated or not contaminated, produced or non-produced, and existent
+ or non-existent. Just as physical form is not examined, similarly feeling,
+ recognition, compositional factors, and consciousness are not examined.
+ When the object does not exist, its characteristics also cannot exist.
+ So how can they be examined?"
+ -- Stages of Meditation by Kamalashila
+
+The above passage deals with ultimate reality; its meaning is that in the
+ultimate sense the object of imputation is not findable. In this context we
+find in the Heart Sutra phrases like: "There is no physical form, no sound, no
+smell, no taste, and no object of touch." The mind, too, is not findable in
+the ultimate sense. Since in the ultimate sense such things are non-existent,
+there is no point examining whether they are permanent or impermanent.
+Ultimately all phenomena, including the aggregates and so forth, are devoid of
+true existence. Within the notion of ultimate reality, things are devoid of
+true existence. In the same way, suchness, which is an attribute of
+phenomena, is also devoid of true existence. This is important. Even when we
+understand that phenomena like physical form and so forth are devoid of true
+existence, there is a danger of thinking that ultimate reality may have true
+existence.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
+ translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
+ Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ We usually discriminate strongly between someone who intends to harm us
+and someone who doesn't. We think, "That's all right; he didn't mean it"; or
+the person who has harmed us can say, "Why do you blame me so much? I didn't
+mean to." But we get really angry when we know people mean to harm us. How
+could we possibly see such people as intimate, close, dear--as dear as our
+best of friends?
+ If you can retain a little compassion when people harm you
+unintentionally, you have made progress. But if you retain it when someone
+intends to harm you, you are really successful. It's not that you think,
+"This person is marvelous; she's trying to rob me," but you don't take these
+facts as reasons for hating the person. You recognize the intention and put
+your wallet in your front pocket. You take such measures, but the conditions
+that prompted them no longer serve as reasons for hatred. Our wish to love
+everyone and the actual attitudes we have under pressure are in constant
+conflict. That's just the way we are. We've been wandering in cyclic
+existence since beginningless time, because of desire and hatred, and it's
+going to take a lot of familiarization to change this. Be relaxed about it.
+Don't put pressure on yourself, thinking things like, "Oh, I'm a scumbag
+because I hate so deeply." Rather, try this attitude: "I have to admit it.
+As much as my ideals say I should love so-and-so--or at least be neutral--I
+have to face the fact that I don't." Go easy on yourself.
+ -- Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
+ with Others", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Many types of valid consciousnesses derive from basic, natural, and
+obvious perception. All of us have an innate "I," although if we try to
+locate this "I," we get into a lot of difficulties. This sense of "I" gives
+us a well-founded aspiration to happiness and a wish not to suffer.
+ There are different levels of happiness and different kinds of suffering.
+Material things usually correspond to physical happiness, whereas spiritual
+development corresponds to mental happiness. Since our "I" has these two
+aspects--physical and mental--we need an inseparable combination of material
+progress and internal, or spiritual, progress. Balancing these is crucial to
+utilizing material progress and inner development for the good of human
+society.
+ Big schemes for world development arise from this wish to gain happiness
+and relieve suffering. But there are higher levels of happiness beyond these
+worldly forms, in which one seeks something longer-term, not just confined to
+this lifetime. Just as we need a long-range perspective that protects the
+environment, we need an internal long-range perspective that extends to future
+lifetimes.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of
+ Loving Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ 128.
+ Desire is painful because of not getting,
+ Anger is painful through lack of might,
+ And confusion through not understanding.
+ Because of this, these are not recognized.
+
+ Desire produces suffering when one does not encounter what one badly
+wants. Anger produces suffering when one lacks might to crush the strong.
+Confusion* induces suffering when one fails to understand a subtle matter
+thoroughly. The inability to recognize these forms of suffering when one is
+overwhelmed by desire and so forth is great suffering indeed. Therefore,
+persevere in getting rid of the disturbing emotions. It is like a poor man's
+son who suffered because he wanted a queen.
+ A certain poor man wanted a queen, but kings keep their queens heavily
+guarded, and because he could not get her, his desire made him suffer. He
+felt anger toward the king for guarding his queens well, and since he could
+not do the slightest harm to the king, he suffered acutely on account of his
+anger. Blinded by desire and anger his confusion grew, and unable to
+understand the situation properly, he was tormented by the suffering it caused
+him.
+
+* confusion's function is to feed desire and anger.
+
+ -- "Aryadeva's Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way: with Commentary by
+ Gyel-tsap by Aryadeva and Gyeltsap, additional commentary by Geshe Sonam
+ Rinchen", translated by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Never hope more than you work. -- Rita Mae Brown
+~
+To lead the people, walk behind them. -- Lao Tzu
+~
+ To consider those things which are existent, there are many phenomena
+which are produced only occasionally. For example, certain plants grow only
+during certain seasons, not all the time. That shows that they have been
+produced by their causes and conditions. On the other hand, certain phenomena
+exist permanently. Those are the two types of phenomena. In the case of
+phenomena which arise only occasionally for a certain period of time then
+cease to exist, their production is evidence used to prove their dependence on
+their causes and conditions. But permanent phenomena are not dependent on
+causes and conditions. Generally speaking, almost all phenomena which are
+beneficial or harmful to us belong to the category of the occasional, the
+dependent--the impermanent. Even our mind, which is to be disciplined and
+subdued, belongs to that category.
+ Within the kind of phenomena which are existent, we can talk about
+different types: those which are animate and those which are inanimate; those
+with form and those formless; visible and invisible; audible and inaudible.
+And there are phenomena which definitely exist but can be experienced only by
+our mind, not our sense perceptions; in other words, we can talk about two
+types of phenomena, external matter and internal consciousness. When we talk
+about subduing mind, we refer to internal consciousness, that which has
+clarity and cognitive power and is capable of experiencing objects. Although
+our mind has arisen depending upon its causes and conditions, we need to find
+out to what extent it can be transformed, for it is through the transformation
+of our mind that we can subdue it. The way of transformation is to pacify the
+mind's faults and to cultivate and enhance its good qualities. Although there
+are certain phenomena which, having arisen from their causes and conditions,
+remain as they are and cannot be changed by any means, there are others,
+including our mind, which can be. To establish that kind of distinction, the
+reasons provided in the Lam-rim section on analytical meditation to generate
+special insight are especially important and useful.
+ -- "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries", H.H. the Dalai Lama XIV on the
+ Jatakamala translated by Tenzin Dorjee edited by Dexter Roberts
+~
+Whatever appears, nothing has moved from the absolute nature.
+
+Decide that nothing is extraneous to the absolute nature, taking the
+example of gold jewelry.
+ Once we know how to remain in the absolute nature, the manifold thoughts
+that arise in the mind are no different from gold jewelry. One can make all
+sorts of things out of gold, such as earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, but
+although they have a variety of different shapes, they are all made of gold.
+Likewise, if we are able to not move from the absolute nature, however many
+thoughts we might have, they never depart from the recognition of the absolute
+nature. A yogi for whom this is the case never departs from that realization,
+whatever he does with his body, speech, and mind. All his actions arise as
+the outer display or ornament of wisdom. All the signs one would expect from
+meditating on a deity come spontaneously without him actually doing any formal
+practice. The result of mantra recitation is obtained without his having to
+do a large number of recitations. In this way everything is included in the
+recognition that nothing is ever extraneous to the absolute nature.
+ In that state one does not become excited at pleasant events or depressed
+by unpleasant ones.
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Zurchungpa's Testament: A Commentary on
+ Zurchung Sherab Trakpa's 'Eighty Chapters of Personal Advice'", based
+ on Shechen Gyaltsap's Annotated Edition, translated by the Padmakara
+ Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+crashola in second life:
+due to having been in a vehicle which crossed into forbidden land and got
+taken away, my avatar was left in an indeterminate and very unhealthy state.
+i was unable to move, deep underground, and i saw this object off down to
+my left, so i clicked on it and picked 'edit'. i realized as i was doing
+it, that this was my disembodied hair, which had flown off for some reason.
+once i clicked edit, *crunch*, no more second life.
+~
+It makes no sense to brood anxiously on the harmful actions we have committed
+in the past to the point where we become paralyzed. They are done, it is
+over. If the person is a believer in God, the appropriate action is to find
+some means of reconciliation with Him. So far as Buddhist practice is
+concerned, there are various rites and practices for purification. When the
+individual has no religious beliefs, however, it is surely a matter of
+acknowledging and accepting any negative feelings we may have in relation to
+our misdeeds and developing a sense of sorrow and regret for them. But then,
+rather than stopping at mere sorrow and regret, it is important to use this as
+the basis for resolve, for a deep-seated commitment never again to harm others
+and to direct our actions all the more determinedly to the benefit of others.
+The act of disclosure, or confession, of our negative actions to another--
+especially to someone we really respect and trust--will be found to be very
+helpful in this. We are quite wrong if we merely acknowledge the gravity of
+our actions inwardly and then, instead of confronting our feelings, give up
+all hope and do nothing. This only compounds the error. Above all, we should
+remember that as long as we retain the capacity of concern for others, the
+potential for transformation remains.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Ethics for the New Millennium"
+~
+ According to Buddhism, compassion is an aspiration, a state of mind,
+wanting others to be free from suffering. It's not passive--it's not empathy
+alone--but rather an empathetic altruism that actively strives to free others
+from suffering. Genuine compassion must have both wisdom and lovingkindness.
+That is to say, one must understand the nature of the suffering from which we
+wish to free others (this is wisdom), and one must experience deep intimacy
+and empathy with other sentient beings (this is lovingkindness). Let's
+examine these two elements.
+ The suffering from which we wish to liberate other sentient beings,
+according to Buddha's teachings, has three levels. The first level includes
+the obvious physical and mental sensations of pain and discomfort that we can
+all easily identify as suffering. This kind of suffering is primarily at the
+sensory level--unpleasant or painful sensations and feelings. The great
+Tibetan master Panchen Losang Chokyi Gyaltsan, tutor to the fifth Dalai Lama,
+reminds us that even animals seek to avoid physical suffering and pain.
+ The second level of suffering is the suffering of change. Although
+certain experiences or sensations may seem pleasurable and desirable now,
+inherent within them is the potential for culminating in an unsatisfactory
+experience. Another way of saying this is that experiences do not last
+forever; desirable experiences will eventually be replaced by a neutral
+experience or an undesirable experience. If it were not the case that
+desirable experiences are of the nature of change, then, once having a happy
+experience, we would remain happy forever! In fact, if desirability were
+intrinsic to an experience, then the longer we remained in contact with it,
+the happier we would become. However, this is not the case. In fact, often,
+the more we pursue these experiences, the greater our level of
+disillusionment, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness becomes.
+ ...But the third level of suffering is the most significant--the pervasive
+suffering of conditioning. This refers to the very fact of our unenlightened
+existence, the fact that we are ruled by negative emotions and their
+underlying root cause, namely our own fundamental ignorance of the nature of
+reality. Buddhism asserts that as long as we are under the control of this
+fundamental ignorance, we are suffering; this unenlightened existence is
+suffering by its very nature.
+ If we are to cultivate the deepest wisdom, we must understand suffering at
+its deepest, most pervasive level. In turn, freedom from that level of
+suffering is true nirvana, true liberation, the true state of cessation.
+Freedom from the first level of suffering alone--merely being free of
+unpleasant physical and psychological experiences--is not true cessation of
+suffering. Freedom from the second level is again not true cessation.
+However, freedom from the third level of suffering--being completely free from
+the very source of suffering--that is genuine cessation, genuine liberation.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart
+ of Wisdom Teachings", translated & edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa
+~
+ The only conclusion that can legitimately be reached is that the self is a
+fiction, a mere label superimposed onto the aggregates, a concept created and
+reified by the mind but lacking any substantial reality. This reasoning
+process alone does not eliminate the idea, however; it merely weakens it.
+Because it is so deeply ingrained, the idea of self is only eliminated through
+repeated meditation on the reasonings of no-self, which enable the yogin to
+become progressively more familiar with the understanding that no self or
+essence exists. The Dalai Lama concludes that "when such a realization is
+maintained and reinforced through constant meditation and familiarization, you
+will be able to develop it into an intuitive or direct experience." (From Path
+to Bliss.)
+ Many Westerners reject this notion, contending that it would be a sort of
+cognitive suicide. The idea that the self (which is assumed even by people
+who reject religions that propound the idea) does not exist is profoundly
+disturbing to many non-Buddhists, but in Buddhist thought the denial of self
+is not seen as constituting a loss, but rather is viewed as a profoundly
+liberating insight. Since the innate idea of self implies an autonomous,
+unchanging essence, if such a thing were in fact the core of one's being, it
+would mean that change would be impossible, and one would be stuck being just
+what one is right now. Because there is no such self, however, we are open
+toward the future. One's nature is never fixed and determined, and so through
+engaging in Buddhist practice one can exert control over the process of change
+and progress in wisdom, compassion, patience, and other good qualities. One
+can even become a buddha, a fully awakened being who is completely liberated
+from all the frailties, sufferings, and limitations of ordinary beings. But
+this is only possible because there is no permanent and static self, no soul
+that exists self-sufficiently, separated from the ongoing process of change.
+ -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ I often encounter people in and our of my office who seem to be lost in
+thought. I sometimes ask them what they are thinking about. They are usually
+startled by the question. They look at me blankly and are often surprised to
+hear themselves admit with embarrassment that they don't know or can't say.
+Or they describe one small, fleeting fragment of disconnected thought. The
+"normal" human state of mind is constant, incessant thinking--an enigmatically
+linked stream of consciousness, sensations, memories, feelings, desires,
+fears, and chatter. And at the center of the narrative, the star of the show
+is always--ME! This is why the first leg of the journey requires courage. To
+become familiar with the chaotic, egotistical, and often nonsensical narrative
+of our own mind stream is disconcerting and painful. To discover directly
+that we are literally "lost in thought" can be frightening. But this is where
+we are and where we must begin.
+ It's consoling to remember that everyone is neurotic, each one of us. The
+"normal" mind suffers from a complex of conflicting desires and aversions.
+The best we can do is to become aware of our neuroses, to become wiser in our
+thinking and our conduct of life. In my experience, meditation is the most
+direct and efficient method for developing self-awareness. Self-awareness is
+not a steady state because experience is not a steady state. Through the
+practice of meditation, we can learn to watch our ever-fluctuating mental
+processes from a more detached, aerial perspective. Without necessarily
+understanding ourselves in some intellectual way, we can directly discover how
+the mind works. The mind has its causes and effects, its motivations and
+intentions, and its awareness and evaluation of their possible consequences.
+ -- Ron Leifer, M.D., "Vinegar Into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and
+ Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence", published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ "The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow,
+"is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow
+old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to
+the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world
+about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the
+sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then--to learn. Learn
+why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can
+never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust,
+and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what
+a lot of things there are to learn."
+ -- T. H. White, "The Once and Future King"
+~
+ In Chapter 4 we looked at the when and where of meditation. Whatever
+works best for you, given your personal circumstances and temperament, the
+important thing is to do it regularly, preferably every day.
+ I would also recommend that you keep the session to a length of time that
+feels comfortable. This is because in the early stages of meditation it's
+easy to become discouraged and have thoughts along the lines of: "This might
+work for other people, but I don't have the right personality/mind/lifestyle/
+partner for meditation." Or: "I've been doing this for six months and my
+concentration is no better than when I started." With thoughts like these, you
+may start to resent the time you spend meditating and consider giving up.
+ Much better to keep your practice light and easy to begin with; short
+sessions, and concentrated attention, especially towards the end of your
+practice so that you "finish like a winner" and feel encouraged for the next
+day. Better to end a short session thinking you could have gone on longer
+than keep glancing at your watch with the thought that has passed through the
+mind of every meditator at some stage--"My watch must have stopped. It's been
+longer than two minutes--surely?!"
+ Having reviewed the meditation practices outlined in the previous chapter,
+you may decide you quite like the sound of several of them. On what basis
+should they be practiced? My own preference is to have a simple calendar of
+activity so that, for example, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are breath-
+counting days; Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are visualization days; and
+Sundays are for whatever I'm in the mood to do.
+ On this point, I once asked a high-ranking Tibetan lama which of a number
+of meditation practices I should focus on. He gave me an indulgent smile and
+said simply, "Whichever you enjoy the most." D'oh!
+ -- David Michie, "Hurry Up and Meditate: Your Starter Kit for Inner Peace
+ and Better Health", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+"Always be sustained by cheerfulness."
+
+ The effectiveness of our practice can be measured by looking at our mood.
+If we are in better spirits, the practice is working. We can take heart
+because we have a purpose, to exchange whatever sadness we meet for joy. The
+smallest personal damage can be put to use to dissolve great suffering and do
+away with negativity. If there is a way, we try to stop unfortunate things
+from happening, but when unhappy events occur we meet them optimistically. We
+never let negativity discourage us or injure our ability to help.
+ Setting out on any adventure demands determination. We may have to toil
+and struggle with setbacks along the way but the trials we face are short-
+lived. We can endure them because we have a great end in mind: to benefit all
+sentient beings. Remaining good-natured and enthusiastic shows that our
+efforts are succeeding. Being cheerful is the sign of a good practitioner.
+ -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", edited by B.M. Shaughnessy, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Once we take ourselves and the quality of our life seriously, and
+acknowledge the difficulties we may be experiencing, the next step is to have
+confidence that (1) it is possible to overcome them, (2) there is a way to
+accomplish this, and (3) we are capable of achieving it [Buddha-nature]. This
+bring us to the topics of refuge and Buddha-nature.
+ Taking refuge is not a passive act of placing ourselves in the hands of a
+higher power that will do everything for us, as the English word "refuge"
+might imply. It is an active process of putting a safe, reliable and positive
+direction in our life. That direction is indicated by the Buddhas, the Dharma
+and the Sangha--the Three Precious Gems. They are precious in the sense that
+they are both rare and valuable....
+ In short, the definitive level of the Three Precious Gems of Buddha,
+Dharma and Sangha presents the goal we would like to achieve. Their
+interpretable level indicates what we rely on, externally, to bring ourselves
+there. But we also have internal factors that we need to rely on as well.
+These refer to our Buddha-nature.
+ We are capable of eliminating our problems and achieving the definitive
+Three Precious Gems because everyone has Buddha-nature, namely the various
+factors or working materials that make it possible. Of all our natural
+resources, the most important is mind. We all have a mind which, in its
+nature, is unhampered by anything from experiencing whatever exists. No
+matter what happens--no matter how confused, stressed or unhappy we may be--we
+experience it. Even death is something that we experience when it occurs.
+Therefore, because we have a mind that allows us to experience whatever
+exists, we have the basic resource that allows us to experience a total
+absence of confusion and a utilization of all possible good qualities for
+helping others--provided that such a total absence and utilization actually
+exist. In other words, if we can establish that it is possible for these two
+things to exist--and that they are not just objects of nice but totally
+unrealistic wishes--we can be confident that we are capable of attaining them,
+simply because we have a mind.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition
+ of Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Actually, we Buddhists are supposed to save all sentient beings, but
+practically speaking, this may be too broad a notion for most people. In any
+case, we must at least think in terms of helping all human beings. This is
+very important. Even if we cannot think in terms of sentient beings
+inhabiting different worlds, we should nonetheless think in terms of the human
+beings on our own planet. To do this is to take a practical approach to the
+problem. It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our
+daily lives. If we find we cannot help another, the least we can do is to
+desist from harming them. We must not cheat others or lie to them. We must
+be honest human beings, sincere human beings.
+ On a very practical level, such attitudes are things which we need.
+Whether one is a believer, a religious person, or not, is another matter.
+Simply as an inhabitant of the world, as a member of the human family, we need
+this kind of attitude. It is through such an attitude that real and lasting
+world peace and harmony can be achieved. Through harmony, friendship, and
+respecting one another, we can solve many problems in the right way, without
+difficulties.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
+ edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+We may have all come on different ships, but we're all in the same boat now.
+ -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
+~
+...Maitreya, in his text the Sublime Continuum, gives three reasons on the
+basis of which one can conclude that the essence of Buddhahood permeates the
+minds of all sentient beings. First, he says that the Buddha's activities
+radiate in the heart of all sentient beings. Now this can be understood in
+two different ways: one is that we can understand that in every sentient being
+there is a seed of virtue, and one could see the seed of virtue as an act of
+the completely enlightened, compassionate Buddha. But one could also see it
+in deeper terms, that is, that all sentient beings possess the potential for
+perfection. Therefore, there is a kind of perfected being inherent within all
+sentient beings, radiating. So one can understand it in these ways. Second,
+so far as the ultimate nature of reality is concerned, there is total equality
+between the samsaric state and nirvana. Third, we all possess a mind which
+lacks intrinsic reality and independent existence, which allows us to then
+remove the negativities and delusory states that obscure it. For these three
+reasons, Maitreya concludes that all sentient beings possess the essence of
+Buddhahood.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...Compassion diminishes fright about your own pain and increases inner
+strength. It gives you a sense of empowerment, of being able to accomplish
+your tasks. It lends encouragement.
+ Let me give you a small example. Recently, when I was in Bodh Gaya, I
+fell ill from a chronic intestinal infection. On the way to the hospital, the
+pain in my abdomen was severe, and I was sweating a great deal. The car was
+passing through the area of Vulture Peak (Buddha taught here) where the
+villagers are extremely poor. In general, Bihar State is poor, but that
+particular area is even more so. I did not even see children going to or
+coming from school. Just poverty. And sickness. I have a very clear memory
+of a small boy with polio, who had rusty metal braces on his legs and metal
+crutches up to his armpits. It was obvious that he had no one to look after
+him. I was very moved. A little later on, there was an old man at a tea
+stop, wearing only a dirty piece of cloth, fallen to the ground, left to lie
+there with no one to take care of him.
+ Later, at the hospital, my thoughts kept circling on what I had seen,
+reflecting on how sad it was that here I had people to take care of me but
+those poor people had no one. That is where my thoughts went, rather than to
+my own suffering. Though sweat was pouring out of my body, my concern was
+elsewhere.
+ In this way, though my body underwent a lot of pain that prevented sleep
+(a hole had opened in my intestinal wall), my mind did not suffer any fear or
+discomfort. It would only have made the situation worse if I had concentrated
+on my own problems. This is an example from my small experience of how an
+attitude of compassion helps even oneself, suppressing some degree of physical
+pain and keeping away mental distress, despite the fact that others might not
+be directly helped.
+ Compassion strengthens your outlook, and with that courage you are more
+relaxed. When your perspective includes the suffering of limitless beings,
+your own suffering looks comparatively small.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living
+ Well and Dying Consciously", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ Ph.D.
+~
+ ...blissful light, with a Chenrezig on the tip of each ray, streams out of
+you and touches each and every sentient being--those whom you like, those whom
+you don't, and those you don't know. When this glowing light touches each
+sentient being, it performs two functions: it purifies them of their
+negativities, and it inspires them to realize all the stages of the path to
+enlightenment. We may start imagining the light touching the beings in the
+room and gradually spreading out to those in the area, the country, the
+continent, the world, and the universe. Or we can start with our friends and
+family, then radiate light to strangers, and finally to those who have harmed
+us or of whom we're afraid. Or, we can first radiate light to human beings,
+then animals, hungry ghosts, hell beings, demi-gods, and gods. We can use our
+creativity and imagination when doing this visualization. Each meditation
+session can have a different emphasis.
+ It's very easy to love sentient beings in a general way. But it's more
+effective to be specific in our visualizations. Send light to the guy who cut
+you off on the highway. Send light to the IRS employee who questioned your
+tax return. Send light to the terrorist who thinks that killing others in the
+name of God will cause him to be reborn in heaven. Send light to government
+leaders who think that bombing others solves problems. Send light to your
+teenager who leaves his room a mess and gets mad when you comment on it. Send
+light to specific people you know and care about, people who are having
+problems, strangers, and people you don't like. Send it to hospitals, the
+Middle East, the inner cities, and Beverly Hills. There's suffering
+everywhere. The light frees sentient beings from their suffering.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method
+ of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ In Tibetan drenpa means "mindfulness," and sheshin means "awareness."
+Drenpa also means "mindfulness and memory." It means that one is mindful of
+what one is doing and remembers what one has to do whether one is meditating,
+whether one has lost the power of concentration, and so on. Mindfulness is
+like a causal condition and awareness is like the result. If one has very
+concentrated mindfulness, one immediately notices a thought arising and this
+becomes awareness, which becomes sheshin, and one knows what is occurring.
+Normally, one does not know what is in one's mind or what one is thinking, so
+there is no awareness. But if one has mindfulness, then it is said to the
+extent that mindfulness brings mental stability, one has awareness. So when
+one has mindfulness, it is through one's awareness of what is happening.
+ At this level of pacification we become aware of the negative qualities of
+distraction. Santideva explains this by saying that when the mind is
+distracted, it is between the fangs of the wild animal of the kleshas
+[emotional obscurations], and from mental distractions come all the
+difficulties and mental hardships of this and future lives. Being in a state
+of distraction will increase the negative qualities of the mind more and more.
+However, being aware of the negative qualities motivates us to meditate.
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "The Practice of Tranquillity and Insight:
+ A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation", translated by Peter Roberts,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Developing a flexible approach to living is not only instrumental in
+helping us cope with everyday problems--it also becomes the cornerstone for a
+key element of a happy life: balance.
+ Settling comfortably into his chair one morning, the Dalai Lama explained
+the value of leading a balanced life.
+ "A balanced and skillful approach to life, taking care to avoid
+extremes, becomes a very important factor in conducting one's everyday
+existence. It is important in all aspects of life. For instance, in planting
+a sapling of a plant or a tree, at its very early stage you have to be very
+skillful and gentle. Too much moisture will destroy it, too much sunlight
+will destroy it. Too little will also destroy it. So what you need is a very
+balanced environment where the sapling can have a healthy growth. Or, for a
+person's physical health, too much or too little of any one thing can have
+destructive effects. For example, too much protein I think is bad, and too
+little is bad.
+ "This gentle and skillful approach, taking care to avoid extremes,
+applies to healthy mental and emotional growth as well."
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
+ Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
+~
+ ...Idle talk is usually considered a destructive action because it wastes
+our time. But if our friend is depressed and can't listen to wise advice, we
+can joke, tell silly stories, and use small talk to lighten his mood. Because
+our motivation is kind, our joking and chatting are positive.
+ Laughing and having a good time aren't in opposition to Dharma. The more
+we leave behind attachment, anger, jealousy, and pride, the more we'll enjoy
+whatever we're doing. Our hearts will open to others and we can laugh and
+smile with ease. The holy beings I've been fortunate to meet have a wonderful
+sense of humor and are very friendly.
+ In Buddhist groups, it's important for people to get to know each other
+and have a sense of fellowship. We can share experiences with our Dharma
+friends and encourage each other on the path. Buddhism isn't an isolated
+path, and it's important for Buddhists to cultivate group unity and
+companionship.
+ It's not beneficial to retreat inside ourselves, thinking, "Every time I
+talk to someone I'm motivated by attachment. Therefore I'll concentrate on
+meditation and chanting and won't socialize with others." One of the
+fundamental principles of Buddhism is care and compassion for others.
+Although at times we may need to distance ourselves from others in order to
+settle our own minds, whenever possible we should actively develop genuine
+love for others. To do this, we must be aware of what's happening in others'
+lives, care about them as we do ourselves, and offer help whenever possible.
+Our ability to act with love develops with time and practice, and it has to be
+balanced with our need for private contemplation.
+ -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+Young men and young women may work systematically six days in the week and
+rise fresh in the morning, but let them attend modern dances for only a few
+hours each evening and see what happens. The Waltz, Polka, Gallop and other
+dances of the same kind will be disastrous in their effects to both sexes.
+Health and vigor will vanish like the dew before the sun. It is not the
+extraordinary exercise which harms the dancer, but rather the coming into
+close contact with the opposite sex. It is the fury of lust craving
+incessantly for more pleasure that undermines the soul, the body, the sinews
+and nerves. Experience and statistics show beyond doubt that passionate
+excessive dancing girls can hardly reach twenty-five years of age and men
+thirty-one. Even if they reached that age they will in most instances be
+broken in health physically and morally. This is the claim of prominent
+physicians in this country.
+ -- Quote from a 1910 periodical.
+~
+Why I Can't Go Out With You: I'd LOVE to, but...
+ -- I'm trying to see how long I can go without saying yes.
+ -- I'm attending the opening of my garage door.
+ -- The monsters haven't turned blue yet, and I have to eat more dots.
+ -- I'm converting my calendar watch from Julian to Gregorian.
+ -- I have to fulfill my potential.
+ -- I don't want to leave my comfort zone.
+ -- It's too close to the turn of the century.
+ -- I have to bleach my hare.
+ -- I'm worried about my vertical hold knob.
+ -- I left my body in my other clothes.
+~
+ I remember most vividly my first lesson on epistemology as a child, when I
+had to memorize the dictum "The definition of the mental is that which is
+luminous and knowing." Drawing on earlier Indian sources, Tibetan thinkers
+defined consciousness. It was years later that I realized just how
+complicated is the philosophical problem hidden behind this simple
+formulation. Today when I see nine-year-old monks confidently citing this
+definition of consciousness on the debating floor, which is such a central
+part of Tibetan monastic education, I smile.
+ These two features--luminosity, or clarity, and knowing, or cognizance--
+have come to characterize "the mental" in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist thought.
+Clarity here refers to the ability of mental states to reveal or reflect.
+Knowing, by contrast, refers to mental states' faculty to perceive or
+apprehend what appears. All phenomena possessed of these qualities count as
+mental. These features are difficult to conceptualize, but then we are
+dealing with phenomena that are subjective and internal rather than material
+objects that may be measured in spatiotemporal terms. Perhaps it is because
+of these difficulties--the limits of language in dealing with the subjective--
+that many of the early Buddhist texts explain the nature of consciousness in
+terms of metaphors such as light, or a flowing river. As the primary feature
+of light is to illuminate, so consciousness is said to illuminate its objects.
+Just as in light there is no categorical distinction between the illumination
+and that which illuminates, so in consciousness there is no real difference
+between the process of knowing or cognition and that which knows or cognizes.
+In consciousness, as in light, there is a quality of illumination.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Universe in a Single Atom: Convergence
+ of Science and Spirituality"
+~
+ False conceptions are exaggerated modes of thought that do not accord with
+the facts. Even if an object--an event, a person, or any other phenomenon--
+has a slightly favorable aspect, once the object is mistakenly seen as
+existing totally from its own side, true and real, mental projection
+exaggerates its goodness beyond what it actually is, resulting in lust. The
+same happens with anger and hatred; this time a negative factor is
+exaggerated, making the object seem to be a hundred percent negative, the
+result being deep disturbance. Recently, a psychotherapist told me that when
+we generate anger, ninety percent of the ugliness of the object of our anger
+is due to our own exaggeration. This is very much in conformity with the
+Buddhist idea of how afflictive emotions arise.
+ At the point when anger and lust are generated, reality is not seen;
+rather, an unreal mental projection of extreme badness or extreme goodness is
+seen, evoking twisted, unrealistic actions. All of this can be avoided by
+seeing the fuller picture revealed by paying attention to the dependent-
+arising of phenomena, the nexus of causes and conditions from which they arise
+and in which they exist.
+ Looked at this way, the disadvantages of afflictive emotions are obvious.
+If you want to be able to perceive the actual situation, you have to quit
+voluntarily submitting to afflictive emotions, because in each and every
+field, they obstruct perception of the facts.....
+ Love and compassion also involve strong feelings that can even make you
+cry with empathy, but they are induced not by exaggeration but by valid
+cognition of the plight of sentient beings, and the appropriateness of being
+concerned for their well-being. These feelings rely on insight into how
+beings suffer in the round of rebirth called "cyclic existence," and the depth
+of these feelings is enhanced through insight into impermanence and
+emptiness.... Though it is possible for love and compassion to be influenced
+by afflictive emotions, true love and compassion are unbiased and devoid of
+exaggeration, because they are founded on valid cognition of your relationship
+to others. The perspective of dependent-arising is supremely helpful in
+making sure that you appreciate the wider picture.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are",
+ translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
+~
+The Prajna Paramita is a very profound philosophical doctrine, and I will just
+outline the main ideas in it in order to clarify the Chod. First we start off
+with the confused egocentric state of mind. This state of mind causes us to
+suffer, and so, to alleviate the suffering, we start to practice meditation.
+What happens in meditation is that the speedy mind begins to slow down and
+things begin to settle, like the mud sinking to the bottom of a puddle of
+water when it is left undisturbed. When this settling has occurred, a kind of
+clear understanding of the way things work in the mind takes place. This
+understanding is prajna, profound cognition. Then, according to Buddhist
+doctrine, through the use of this prajna, we begin to see that, in fact,
+although we think that we have a separate and unique essence, or self, which
+we call the "ego," when we look closely, we are a composite of form, sense-
+perceptions, consciousness, etc., and are merely a sum of these parts. This
+realization is the understanding of sunyata, usually translated as emptiness,
+or voidness. It means there is no self-essence, that we are "void of a self."
+If we are void of a self, there is no reason to be egocentric, since the whole
+notion of a separate ego is false. Therefore we can afford to be
+compassionate, and need not continually defend ourselves or force our desires
+onto others.
+ -- Tsultrim Allione, "Women of Wisdom", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ There is a film called "Groundhog Day," which is really a Buddhist movie
+because this is exactly what the plot is about. For those of you who haven't
+seen it, it's about somebody who had to relive the same day again and again
+until he got it right. He started out with an extremely negative attitude,
+and so throughout the first day he created a lot of negative causes. People
+related back to him from his own level of negativity, and so he had a very bad
+day. Then the next day he had to experience the same day all over again.
+Then again, and again. He became desperate to find a way out. He attempted
+suicide many times, but the next morning, there he was again in the same room
+and the same bed. The date hadn't changed, and the same song was playing on
+the radio. His attitude underwent many, many changes, until in the end he
+spent most of his time trying to help people. He forestalled tragedies he
+knew were going to happen because he had lived the day over so many times, and
+his whole attitude gradually turned around into working out ways to help
+others. As his inner attitude transformed, the day gradually got better and
+better. Finally, he was able to break through to a new day.
+ The important thing is how we respond to our situation. We can transform
+anything if we respond in a skillful way. This is precisely what karma is
+about. If we greet situations with a positive attitude, we will eventually
+create positive returns. If we respond with a negative attitude, negative
+things will eventually come our way. Unlike the scenario in the movie, it
+doesn't always happen right away. We can be very nice people but still have
+lots of problems. On the other hand, we can be awful people and have a
+wonderful time. But from a Buddhist perspective, it's just a matter of time
+before we receive the results of our conduct. And usually it is true that
+people with a positive attitude encounter positive circumstances. Even if the
+circumstances do not appear positive, they be transformed through a positive
+view. On the other hand people with negative minds complain even when things
+are going well. They also transform circumstances, but they transform
+positive ones into negative ones!
+ Both our present and our future depend on us. From moment to moment, we
+are creating our future. We are not a ball of dust tossed about by the winds
+of fate. We have full responsibility for our lives. The more aware we
+become, the more capable we are of making skillful choices.
+ -- Venerable Tenzin Palmo, "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings
+ on Practical Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Why is endeavor necessary? If we consider material progress, we see that
+research started by one person can always be continued by another. But this
+is not possible with spiritual progress. The realization we talk about in the
+Buddhadharma is something that has to be accomplished by the individual. No
+one else can do it for us. Of course, it would be wonderful if in the future
+we could attain realization through some sort of new injection or by means of
+a new generation of computers, without having to go through any difficulties.
+If we could be absolutely certain that such a time would come, we could simply
+lie back and wait to get enlightened. But I doubt that this will ever happen.
+It is better to make an effort. We have to develop endeavor.
+ I.
+ Thus with patience I will practice diligence,
+ For it is through zeal that I will reach enlightenment.
+ If there is no wind, then nothing stirs;
+ Neither is there merit where there is no diligence.
+ We can be patient in various ways, such as by not thinking ill of those
+who harm us or by accepting suffering as the path. Of these two, the latter
+is the more important for generating endeavor, and it is endeavor that enables
+us to attain enlightenment. As Shantideva says, "It is through zeal that I
+will reach enlightenment." In the same way that protecting a lamp from the
+wind allows the flame to burn without flickering, endeavor enables the
+virtuous mind to grow undisturbed.
+ What is endeavor? It is finding joy in doing what is good. To do that,
+it is necessary to remove anything that counteracts it, especially laziness.
+Laziness has three aspects: having no wish to do good, being distracted by
+negative activities, and underestimating oneself by doubting one's ability.
+Related to these are taking undue pleasure in idleness and sleep and being
+indifferent to samsara as a state of suffering.
+ -- Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "A Flash of
+ Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of
+ Life", translated by The Padmakara Translation Group.
+~
+ Western women emerging from crisis situations often choose to live alone,
+intuitively knowing that the confrontation with oneself that this brings will
+lead to a deeper understanding. These women in our society (which sees them
+as pitiable and unfortunate) can take strength from the stories of Tibetan
+yoginis.
+ These Western women also seek the support of other women or
+psychotherapists to help them to emerge from their descents, just as the
+yoginis sought the guidance of their teachers and spiritual friends, and the
+Greeks needed the help of the "therapeutes" [helpers] to make sense of the
+memories they brought back from the oracle cave.
+ Speaking of the descent myth in terms of her experiences in controlled
+therapeutic regressions, Jungian analyst M.L. Von Franz describes the descent
+process in relation to the story of "The Handless Maiden":
+ In the Middle Ages there were many hermits, and in Switzerland there
+ were the so-called Wood Brothers and Sisters. People who did not want
+ to live a monastic life but who wanted to live alone in the forest had
+ both a closeness to nature and also a great experience of spiritual
+ inner life. Such Wood Brothers and Sisters could be personalities on
+ a high level who had a spiritual fate and had to renounce active life
+ for a time and isolate themselves to find their own inner relation to
+ God. It is not very different from what the shaman does in the Polar
+ tribes, or what medicine men do all over the world, in order to seek
+ an immediate personal religious experience in isolation.
+ ...If we avoid the descent because of fear of what we will discover about
+ourselves in the "underworld," we block ourselves off from a powerful
+transformative process. This process has been recognized by modern
+psychologists and ancient mystery religions alike.
+ -- Tsultrim Allione, "Women of Wisdom", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The modes of thought in pride and in courageous thought are entirely
+different.
+ Depression caused by disintegration of the ego probably comes from not
+being able to posit a conventionally existent I. Still, when some
+understanding of emptiness develops, you have a different feeling of I than
+that to which you previously were accustomed. Our usual feeling is that the I
+is something solid, really independent, and very forceful. Such no longer
+remains, but at the same time there is a sense of a mere I that accumulates
+karma and performs actions. Such a sense of self is not at all a source of
+depression.
+ If you have difficulty positing a merely nominal I as well as merely
+nominal cause and effect of actions--if you get to the point where if you
+assert selflessness, you cannot posit dependent-arising--then it would be
+better to assert dependent-arising and give up selflessness. Indeed, there
+are many levels of understanding selflessness, and Buddha, out of great
+skillfulness in method, taught many different schools of tenets that posit
+coarser levels of selflessness for those temporarily unable to understand the
+more subtle levels. It is not the case that only if the most profound level
+is immediately accessible, it is suitable, and if it is not accessible, the
+whole endeavor should be thrown away. You have to proceed step by step with
+whatever accords with your level of mind. Between emptiness and dependent-
+arising, you should value dependent-arising more highly.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
+ Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Puba Supoche asked, "Dampa, tell me what it's like when you really
+practice sincerely! I understand neither heads nor tails of it!"
+ Dampa said, "View is the destruction of extreme ideas regarding things!
+Cutting pride of self with confidence is realization! Being without support
+in luminosity is meditation! In insight, absence of recognition is the
+innate! Finding nowhere to place the mind among shifting phenomena is
+subsequent attainment! In their absence, there is no antidote but natural
+intensity! Naked awareness without grasping is dharmakaya! Disappearance
+without being anything is experience! Don't you wonder whether all this truly
+exists?"
+ -- Padampa Sangye, "Lion of Siddhas: The Life and Teachings of Padampa
+ Sangye", translated by David Molk, with Lama Tsering Wangdu Rinpoche,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+[do you have any thoughts about how a person could go about increasing their
+feeling of autonomy or freedom at work?]
+
+ ...it will completely depend on the person's individual circumstances,
+what position they are in. Let's take the example of a prisoner. Now of
+course it is best not to be in prison, but even in that situation, where a
+person may be deprived of freedom, he or she may discover small choices that
+they are able to make. And even if somebody is in prison, with very rigid
+rules, they can undertake some spiritual practices to try to lessen their
+mental frustrations, try to get some peace of mind. So they can work on
+internal development...if people can do this under the extreme conditions of
+prison, in the workplace people may try to discover small things, small
+choices that they can make in how to go about their work. And of course,
+somebody may work on an assembly line with little variation in how to do their
+tasks, but they still have other kinds of choices in terms of their attitudes,
+how they interact with their co-workers, whether they utilize certain inner
+qualities or spiritual strengths to change their attitude at work even though
+the nature of the work may be difficult. Isn't it? So, perhaps that would
+help.
+ Of course, when you are talking about rigid rules and lack of freedom,
+that doesn't mean that you are required to blindly follow and accept
+everything others tell you. In instances where the worker might be exploited,
+where the employer thinks of nothing but profit and pays a small salary and
+demands a lot of overtime, or where one may be asked to do things that are not
+appropriate or are unethical, one should not simply think, "Well, this is my
+karma," and take no action. Here it is not enough to think, "I should just be
+content."
+ If there is injustice, then I think inaction is the wrong response. The
+Buddhist texts mention what is called "misplaced tolerance," or "misplaced
+forbearance." So...misplaced patience or forbearance refers to the sense of
+endurance that some individuals have when they are subject to a very
+destructive, negative activity. That is a misplaced forbearance and
+endurance. Similarly, in the work environment, if there is a lot of injustice
+and exploitation, then to passively tolerate it is the wrong response. The
+appropriate response really is to actively resist it, to try to change this
+environment rather than accept it. One should take some action...perhaps one
+could speak with the boss, with the management, and try to change these
+things. One needs to actively resist exploitation. And in some cases, one
+may simply need to quit and to look for other work.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D.,
+ "The Art of Happiness at Work"
+~
+ The purpose of Buddha's coming to the world was for the sake of sentient
+beings' attaining the wisdom that he achieved. The paths that he taught are
+only a means leading to Buddhahood; he does not lead sentient beings with a
+low vehicle that is not a method leading to Buddhahood. He establishes
+sentient beings in the powers and so forth that exist in his own state.
+
+ "Manjushri, all the doctrines that I teach to sentient beings are for
+ the sake of attaining omniscient wisdom. Flowing into enlightenment
+ and descending into the Mahayana, they are means of achieving
+ omniscience, leading completely to one place. Therefore, I do not
+ create different vehicles."
+ -- from "Chapter of the True One Sutra".
+
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ We are aiming to develop a strong feeling of love and compassion with
+respect to everyone, but this cannot be done without first seeing an equality
+of all beings throught meditatively cultivating equanimity. Otherwise, you'll
+easily be able to generate love and compassion for friends and may be able to
+extend a little of this to neutral people, but even minor enemies will remain
+a huge problem. Thus at first it is necessary to recognize how friends,
+neutral persons, and enemies are equal.
+ This is done in two ways. One way to break down rigid classifications of
+people is by reflecting first with respect to friends, then neutral persons,
+and then enemies:
+ "Just as I want happiness and don't want suffering, so this friend
+ wants happiness and doesn't want suffering. And equally, this neutral
+ person wants happiness and doesn't want suffering. And equally, this
+ enemy wants happiness and doesn't want suffering."
+ Another way is to reflect on what your relationships have been with others
+over the course of lifetimes, beginning with neutral persons, then friends,
+and finally enemies. An enemy in this lifetime wants to do you in, but over
+the course of lifetimes was this person just an enemy? No. If you do not
+believe in rebirth, utilize the rebirth game, the rebirth perspective, as a
+technique for making your mind more flexible.
+ Either of these techniques will work:
+ - Reflecting on the similarity of yourself and others in the basic
+ aspiration to gain happiness and be rid of suffering.
+
+ - Reflecting on the changeability of relationships over the course
+ of lifetimes.
+ -- Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
+ with Others", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ What is wisdom? It is as explained in the perfection of supreme knowledge
+teachings: all phenomena are free from elaborations, and when the perceiving
+subject as well becomes equally free from elaborations, that is wisdom. In
+particular, the wisdom of the buddha consists in the pacification of the
+elaborations and their habitual tendencies in relation to suchness. It is the
+inseparability of the expanse and wisdom. It is free from singularity and
+multiplicity, quality and qualified. It realizes the nonduality of subjects
+and objects. In it all phenomena--samsara and nirvana, faults and qualities,
+and so on--are always undifferentiable and equal. Outside of that, there is
+no way to posit wisdom.
+ In a nonanalytical context of repeating what others accept, we Followers
+of the Middle Way describe knowable objects as existing. The wisdom of the
+buddhas is the same. Since we speak of all phenomena as existing from the
+perspective of others (even though from our own perspective they are free of
+the elaborations of existence and nonexistence), it is unreasonable to debate
+solely about the existence or nonexistence of the wisdom of buddhas.
+ -- "The Karmapa's Middle Way: Feast for the Fortunate by the Ninth Karmapa,
+ Wangchuk Dorje", trans. by Tyler Dewar, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+Well timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. -- Martin Fraqhar Tupper
+~
+A diplomat is a man who says you have an open mind,
+instead of telling you that you have a hole in the head.
+ -- Anonymous
+~
+To achieve great things, two things are needed;
+a plan, and not quite enough time.
+ -- Leonard Bernstein
+~
+To bend a bamboo, start when it is a shoot. -- Malaysian Proverb
+~
+Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.
+ -- John Wooden
+~
+No shade tree? Blame not the sun, but yourself. -- Chinese Proverb
+~
+'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool,
+than to speak and remove all doubt.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+Art is either plagiarism or revolution. -- Paul Gauguin
+~
+ When this world initially formed, there seem to have been two types of
+events or entities, one sentient, the other insentient. Rocks, for instance,
+are examples of nonsentient entities. You see, we usually consider them to
+have no feelings: no pains and no pleasures. The other type, sentient beings,
+have awareness, consciousness, pains and pleasures.
+ But there needs to be a cause for that. If you posit there is no cause
+for consciousness, then this leads to all sorts of inconsistencies and logical
+problems. So, the cause is posited, established. It is considered certain.
+ The initial cause must be an independent consciousness. And on that basis
+is asserted the theory of continuation of life after death. It is during the
+interval when one's continuum of awareness departs from one's body at death
+that the subtle mind, the subtle consciousness, becomes manifest. That
+continuum connects one life with the next.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
+ with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
+ Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Channels and cakras represent the inner structure of the human body,
+referred to in the tantric teachings as the 'vajra body'. 'Vajra' means
+'indestructible', and 'vajra body' refers to the dimension of the three
+fundamental components: the channels and cakras, the prana that flows through
+them, and the bindu or thigle, the white and red seed-essences of the physical
+body that form the basis for practices such as the Tummo.
+ In the tantras of the Upadesa section of Dzogchen, it is explained that
+after the conception of a human being the first thing to develop is the navel
+cakra. Then from this, through a channel, the head cakra develops followed by
+the other main cakras of the throat and the heart. This channel or meridian,
+known as the life-channel, develops into the spinal cord and spine. At the
+same time it remains as the fundamental energy of the central channel.
+ The central channel, known as Uma in Tibetan, is connected with the two
+lateral channels called Roma and Kyangma. The Roma channel, which is white
+and corresponds to lunar energy, is on the right side in men and on the left
+in women. Ro means 'taste', and the main function of this channel is to give
+the sensation of pleasure. The Kyangma channel, red and corresponding to
+solar energy, is on the left side in men and on the right in women. Kyang
+means 'sole', and unlike the Roma, this channel is not connected with many
+secondary channels. Control of this channel is fundamental in order to
+cultivate the experience of emptiness. These are the characteristic features
+of the two channels, which are related to the two principles of upaya or
+method, and of prajna or energy. Method denotes everything pertaining to the
+visible or material dimension; while 'prajna', which generally means
+discriminating wisdom, in this context denotes the energy of emptiness that is
+the base of any manifestation.
+ -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Yantra Yoga: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement",
+ translated by Adriano Clemente, published byy Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Flowers leave some of their fragrance in the hand that bestows them.
+ -- Chinese proverb
+~
+The taller the bamboo grows, the lower it bends.
+ -- Chinese proverb
+~
+You can't depend on the man who made the mess to clear it up.
+ -- Indian proverb
+~
+You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket. -- John Adams
+~
+Kissing is like drinking salted water; you drink and your thirst increases.
+ -- Chinese Proverb
+~
+The eye is a menace to clear sight, the ear is a menace to subtle hearing, the
+mind is a menace to wisdom, every organ of the senses is a menace to its own
+capacity.... Fuss, the god of the Southern Ocean, and Fret, the god of the
+Northern Ocean, happened once to meet in the realm of Chaos, the god of the
+center. Chaos treated them very handsomely and they discussed together what
+they could doto repay his kindness. They had noticed that, whereas everyone
+else had seven apertures, for sight, hearing, eating, breathing and so on,
+Chaos had none. So they decided to make the experiment of boring holes in
+him. Every day they bored a hole, and on the seventh day, Chaos died.
+ -- Chuang Tzu
+~
+ Everybody loves to talk about calm and peace, whether in a family,
+national, or international context. But without inner peace how can we make
+real peace? World peace through hatred and force is impossible. Even in the
+case of individuals, there is no possibility to feel happiness through anger.
+If in a difficult situation one becomes disturbed internally, overwhelmed by
+mental discomfort, then external things will not help at all. However, if
+despite external difficulties or problems, internally one's attitude is of
+love, warmth, and kind-heartedness, then problems can be faced and accepted.
+ -----
+ The necessary foundation for world peace and the ultimate goal of any new
+international order is the elimination of violence at every level. For this
+reason the practice of non-violence surely suits us all. It simply requires
+determination, for by its very nature non-violent action requires patience.
+While the practice of non-violence is still something of an experiment on this
+planet, if it is successful it will open the way to a far more peaceful world
+in the next century.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
+ Mary Craig
+~
+ On the tenth night of the twelfth month, Gyal Dawa, the girl, came again.
+She said, "Don't neglect my request for a prayer. It is very important."
+That's the dream she had. I thought, "I'll write it on the full moon day."
+So on the night of the fourteenth I prayed with single-pointed devotion to
+Guru Rinpoche to grant blessing that the prayer would be beneficial and then
+fell asleep. Early in the morning of the fifteenth I dreamed I was sitting in
+front of the shrine in a very large building that looked like a temple.
+Suddenly a young white man dressed in white with his hair falling loosely over
+his shoulder appeared at the entrance. He was playing the cymbals melodiously
+and dancing the swirling, joyous dance of the Ging. He came closer and
+closer, singing:
+
+ If you want to establish the dharma,
+ Establish it in your mind.
+ In the depth of mind, you will find Buddha.
+ If you wish to visit the buddha fields,
+ Purify ordinary deluded attachment.
+ The perfectly comfortable buddha field is close by.
+ Develop the joyful effort to practice,
+ That is the essence of the teaching.
+ Without practice, who can gain the siddhis?
+ It is hard to see one's faults,
+ But to see them nakedly is powerful advice.
+ In the end when faults have been cleared away,
+ The enlightened qualities increase and shine forth.
+
+ At the end of this he rolled his cymbals. Then he crashed them together,
+and I awoke. After I woke up, I did not forget what he had said. I
+understood it to have been advice on practicing what to accept and what to
+reject. I was sad that although I had actually seen the face of my only
+father, Guru Padmasambhava, I had not recognized him.
+ I, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, old father of the Nyingma, wrote this from my own
+experience. Sarva Mangalam [May all be auspicious].
+ -- Khenpo Tsewaang Dongyal Rinpoche, "Light of Fearless Indestructible
+ Wisdom: The Life and Legacy of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche", published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The modern economy has no national boundaries. When we talk about ecology,
+the environment, when we are concerned about the ozone layer, one individual,
+one society, one country cannot solve these problems. We must work together.
+Humanity needs more genuine cooperation. The foundation for the development
+of good relations with one another is altruism, compassion, and forgiveness.
+For small arguments to remain limited, in the human circle the best method is
+forgiveness. Altruism and forgiveness are the basis for bringing humanity
+together. Then no conflict, no matter how serious, will go beyond the bounds
+of what is truly human.
+ -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
+ About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited bby Sidney Piburn, Foreword
+ by Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Creation in four vajra steps entails meditation on emptiness; generating a
+moon, sun, and seed-syllable from which light emanates and then converges; the
+full manifestation of the deity resulting from the convergence of the light
+and transformation of the seed-syllable; and visualization of three syllables
+at the deity's three places. [The syllables om, ah, and hum are imagined at
+the forehead, throat, and heart, respectively.]
+ ...Kongtrul explains that all the varieties of the creation phase
+incorporate the four key elements of form, imagination, result, and
+transformative power. "Form" means meditating on forms that represent the
+aspects of awakening and generating clear images of these forms, thereby
+stopping impure appearances. "Imagination" means using the force of creative
+imagination to convert the visualized forms of awakening into reality.
+"Result" means meditating on the result, that is, the very goal to be
+attained, and thereby achieving that goal. "Transformative power" means
+turning the ordinary body and mind into pristine awareness by relying on the
+transformative powers of awakened beings. Among these, Kongtrul points out,
+the most important element for realization of the path is the transformative
+power of the vajra master combined with one's own devotion to that master.
+ -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taaye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight,
+ Part Three: The Elements of Tantric Practice", translated by Ingrid
+ Loken McLeod and Elio Guarisco, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+From The Prayer Requested by Namke Nyingbo
+by Padmasambhava
+
+All these things of the outer environment and the beings therein
+That come into sight as the objects of your eyes like this,
+They may appear, but leave them in the sphere free from clinging to a self.
+Since they are pure of perceiver and perceived, they are the
+luminous-empty body of the deity.
+I pray to the guru in whom attachment is self-liberated,
+I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
+
+All these sounds, taken as pleasant or unpleasant,
+That resound as the objects of your ears like this,
+Leave them in the sphere of inconceivable, empty resonance.
+Empty resonance, unborn and unceasing, is the Victor's speech.
+I pray to the words of the Victor that resound and yet are empty,
+I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
+
+However these thoughts of afflictions' five poisons,
+Which stir as objects in your mind like this, may appear,
+Do not mess around with them through a mind that rushes ahead into the
+ future or lingers in the past.
+Through leaving their movement in its own place, they uncoil as the dharmakaya.
+I pray to the guru whose awareness is self-liberated, I pray to
+ Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
+
+Grant your blessings that the mind stream of someone like me is liberated
+Through the compassion of the Tathagatas of the three times,
+So that objects, appearing as if perceived outside, become pure,
+That my very mind, perceiving as if inside, becomes liberated,
+And that, in between, luminosity will recognize its own face.
+
+ -- "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions", translated
+ and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The actual method of cultivating the correct attitudes towards the
+spiritual master is to practice contemplative meditation upon the guru's good
+qualities and the beneficial effects that he or she introduces into one's
+life. By reflecting again and again on the great kindness the guru performs,
+a confidence suitable for spiritual training under him or her is born. This
+process of reflecting on the role of the guru is important in the beginning as
+well as in the higher practices, for as we sit in contemplation we become
+faced with a stream of reactions, which if understood at an early stage can
+clear the mind of much doubt, confusion and superstition.
+ The spiritual master is the source of all spiritual progress. In this
+context, Geshe Potowa once said, "If even those who want to learn a common
+worldly trade must study under a qualified teacher, how much more so must we
+who seek enlightenment? Most of us have come from the lower realms and have
+no background or experience in the paths and stages to enlightenment; and, if
+we wish to gain this experience, why should we not study with someone
+qualified to teach us the methods that develop it?"
+ In the beginning of his Great Exposition, Lama Tsongkhapa writes, "The
+root of spiritual development is to cultivate an effective relationship with a
+master." This means that we must cultivate the correct attitudes and then
+demonstrate them correctly in action. This is the root that, if made strong,
+supports the trunk, branches, leaves and flowers of practice. When the roots
+of a tree are strong, the entire tree becomes strong, whereas when the roots
+are weak, the entire tree will remain weak.
+ ...We should engender respect such that we see the guru as a Buddha. If
+we can do this, then we experience the guru as we would a Buddha and
+consequently are sufficiently inspired to practice what he or she teaches.
+The instruction to see the guru as a Buddha is not unreasonable, for in many
+ways the spiritual master is Buddha himself.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
+ by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Liion Publications
+~
+ ...when you start practicing, you should not expect too much. We live in
+a time of computers and automation, so you may feel that inner development is
+also an automatic thing for which you press a button and everything changes.
+It is not so. Inner development is not easy and will take time. External
+progress, the latest space missions and so forth, have not reached their
+present level within a short period but over centuries, each generation making
+greater developments based on those of the previous generation. However,
+inner development is even more difficult since internal improvement cannot be
+transferred from generation to generation. Your past life's experience very
+much influences this life, and this life's experience becomes the basis for
+the next rebirth's development, but transference of inner development from one
+person to another is impossible. Thus, everything depends on yourself, and it
+will take time.
+ I have met Westerners who at the beginning were very enthusiastic about
+their practice, but after a few years have completely forgotten it, and there
+are no traces of what they had practiced at one time. This is because at the
+beginning they expected too much. Shantideva's Engaging in the Bodhisattva
+Deeds emphasizes the importance of the practice of patience--tolerance. This
+tolerance is an attitude not only towards your enemy but also an attitude of
+sacrifice, of determination, soo that you do not fall into the laziness of
+discouragement. You should practice patience, or tolerance, with great
+resolve. This is important.
+ -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatsoo, "Kindness,
+ Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", edited and translated
+ by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ I take refuge until I am enlightened in the Buddhas,
+ the Dharma, and the Sangha.
+ By the positive potential I create by practicing generosity
+ and the other far-reaching attitudes (ethical discipline,
+ patience, joyous effort, meditative stabilization, and wisdom),
+ may I attain Buddhahood in order to benefit all sentient beings.
+
+ It takes only a few moments to think in this way and to recite the prayer,
+yet doing so has a significant effect on the rest of our day. We'll be more
+cheerful and will be sure of our direction in life. Especially if we don't do
+a regular meditation practice, starting the day in this way is extremely
+beneficial.
+ In the evening, after reviewing the day's activities and freeing our minds
+from any remaining afflictions that may have arisen during the day, we again
+take refuge and generate the altruistic intention.
+ Before going to sleep, we can envision the Buddha, made of light, on our
+pillow. Placing our head in his lap, we fall asleep amidst the gentle glow of
+his wisdom and compassion. Instead, we can learn the guidelines and try to
+implement them as much as we can, reviewing them periodically to refresh our
+minds. We may choose one guideline to emphasize this week in our daily lives.
+Next week, we can add another, and so on. In that way, we'll slowly build up
+the good habits of practicing all of them.
+ -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+Compassion is the wish for another being to be free from suffering;
+love is wanting them to have happiness.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
+~
+The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past,
+worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present
+moment wisely and earnestly.
+ -- Buddha
+~
+Our patience will achieve more than our force. -- Edmund Burke
+~
+The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his tax return,
+it's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.
+ -- Arthur C. Clarke
+~
+ Despite all the material progress in this and the last century we still
+experience suffering, especially in relation to mental well-being. In fact,
+if anything, the complex way of life created by modernisation or globalisation
+is causing new problems and new causes of mental unrest. Under these
+circumstances I feel that the various religious traditions have an important
+role to play in helping to maintain peace and the spirit of reconciliation and
+dialogue, and therefore harmony and close contact between them is essential.
+Whether we are believers or non-believers and, within the category of the
+believers, whether we hold this or that belief, we must respect all the
+traditions. That's very important.
+ I always tell people in non-Buddhist countries that followers of other
+religions should maintain their own tradition. To change religion is not
+easy, and people can get into trouble as a result of confusion. So it is much
+safer to keep to one's own tradition, while respecting all religions. I'm
+Buddhist--sometimes I describe myself as a staunch Buddhist--but, at the same
+time, I respect and admire the works of other traditionss' figures such as
+Jesus Christ. Basically, all the religious traditions have made an immense
+contribution to humanity and continue to do so, and as such are worthy of our
+respect and admiration.
+ When we contemplate the diversity of spiritual traditions on this planet
+we can understand that each addresses the specific needs of different human
+beings, because there is so much diversity in human mentality and spiritual
+inclination. Yet, fundamentally, all spiritual traditions perform the same
+function, which is to help us tame our mental state, overcome our negativities
+and perfect our inner potential.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...For one who abides in thought
+ Feats do not arise.
+ Therefore abandon thought
+ And think a mantra form.
+
+'Abandon thought' refers to the eradication of thought conceiving self
+[inherent existence] through the wisdom of selflessness; it does not mean to
+stop any and all types of thought. 'Think a mantra form' means to meditate on
+a deity. The measure of firmness in deity yoga is indicated by 'whether
+going, standing, or sitting is always immovable though moving about'. When
+one has attained the capacity to hold the mind on the divine body in all types
+of behaviour--whether in meditative equipoise or not--without moving to
+something else, one has the capacity to remove the pride of ordinaariness.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins,
+ "Deity Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ A person who is liberated, who has freed his or her mind of all mental
+afflictions, still experiences physical suffering. The difference between us
+and an arhat, a person who has freed the mind from mental affliction, is that
+an arhat doesn't identify with pain. Arhats experience physical pain vividly
+but don't grasp onto it; they can take action to avoid or alleviate pain, but
+whether they do so or not, the physical pain doesn't come inside. What an
+arhat does not experience is mental suffering. A buddha, one who is perfectly
+spiritually awakened, has gone a further step. A buddha has no mental
+suffering of his or her own, but is vividly and non-dually aware of the
+suffering of others.
+ Superficially, the arhat who is free from mental suffering can seem to us
+who lack this realization as numb and detached, in a state of existential
+anesthesia. A buddha, one who is fully awakened, presents the paradox of
+being free from suffering and also non-dually present with other people's joys
+and sorrows, hopes and fears. A buddha taps into immutable bliss, the
+ultimate ground state of awareness beyond the dichotomy of stimulus-driven
+pain and pleasure. The mind of a buddha has been purified of all obscuration
+and from its own nature there naturally arises immutable bliss, like a spring
+welling up from the earth. With the unveiling of the buddha-nature of
+unconditioned bliss, there is also a complete erosion of an absolute
+demarcation between self and other. The barrier is gone. This is why buddhas
+are vividly and non-dually aware of the suffering of others, their hopes and
+fears, the whole situation, and at the same time are not disengaged from the
+purity and bliss of their own awareness. The mind of a buddha doesn't block
+out anything and nothing is inhibited, and this is why the awareness of an
+awakened being is frequently described as "unimaginable."
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
+ Mind Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The fifth Tara is known as Wangdu Rigje Lhamo. She is Kurukulle in
+Sanskrit and Rigjema or Rigje Lhamo in Tibetan. Wangdu means power of
+"gathering, summoning," or "magnetizing." We can think of it as attracting
+everything beneficial, to benefit all beings. Rigjema means "she who
+precisely understands everything" and Lhamo is "divine lady." So she is known
+as the Tara who precisely understands the power of magnetizing.
+ Kurukulle's practice is very extensively taught throughout Tibetan
+Buddhism. She is often named the "Red Tara" because of her color. Her Praise
+is:
+ CHAG TSHAL TUT TA RA HUNG YI GE
+ Homage, Mother, filling all regions, sky, and the realm of desire
+
+ DO DANG CHOG DANG NAM KHA GANG MA
+ With the sounds of TUTTARA and HUNG,
+
+ JIG TEN DUN PO ZHAB CHI NEN TE
+ Trampling the seven worlds with her feet,
+
+ LU PA ME PAR GUG PAR NU MA
+ Able to summon all before her.
+ -- Khenchen Palden Sherab annd Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, "Tara's Enlightened
+ Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one Praises to Tara'",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
+ -- Gandhi
+~
+Always bear in mind that your resolution to succeed
+is more important than any one thing.
+ -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless-like water. Now you put water into a
+cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle,
+you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can
+crash. Be water, my friend.
+ --Bruce Lee
+~
+All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability.
+The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.
+ --Bruce Lee
+~
+A wise man can learn more from a foolish question
+than a fool can learn from a wise answer.
+ --Bruce Lee
+~
+The remembrance of youth is a sigh. -- Oriental Maxim
+~
+Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.
+ -- Herbert Henry Asquith
+~
+The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next.
+ -- Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)
+~
+What we play is life. -- Louis Armstrong
+~
+Fight for your opinions, but do not believe that they contain
+the whole truth, or the only truth.
+ -- Charles Dana
+~
+Some say the glass is half empty,
+some say the glass is half full,
+I say, are you going to drink that?
+ -- Lisa Claymen
+~
+Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. -- Carl Jung
+~
+Since a politician never believes what he says,
+he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.
+ -- Charles de Gaulle
+~
+On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable.
+The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the
+other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out
+is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting
+against each other.
+ -- Stewart Brand at the first Hackers' Conference in 1984
+~
+Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.
+ -- William Ruckelshaus
+~
+Those who get too big for their briches will be exposed in the end. -- Anon.
+~
+We're not talking about the same thing," he said. "For you the world is weird
+because if you're not bored with it you're at odds with it. For me the world
+is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my
+interest has been to convince you that you must accept responsibility for being
+here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous desert, in this marvelous
+time. I wanted to convince you that you must learn to make every act count,
+since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for
+witnessing all the marvels of it.
+ -- Don Juan, Yaqui Shaman
+~
+Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.
+ -- Wendell Johnson
+~
+People prefer to believe what they prefer to be true. -- Francis Bacon
+~
+The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling,
+but in rising every time we fall.
+ -- Nelson Mandela
+~
+Stapp's Ironical Paradox:
+The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any
+human accomplishment an incredible miracle.
+ -- Col. John P. Stapp
+~
+When the only tool you own is a hammer,
+every problem begins to resemble a nail.
+ -- Abraham Maslow
+~
+Peace is not a little white dove. It is you and me. -- Rigoberta Menchu Tum
+~
+If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
+ -- African proverb
+~
+The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes,
+in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip
+himself of almost all sense and meaning.
+ -- Sir Winston Churchill
+~
+Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is? -- Frank Scully
+~
+Money often costs too much. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with.
+ -- Marty Feldman
+~
+The true meaning of life is to plant trees
+under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
+ -- Nelson Henderson
+~
+The first human being who hurled an insult instead
+of a stone was the founder of civilization.
+ -- Sigmund Freud
+~
+When the weight of the world has got you down
+ and you want to end your life.
+Bills to pay, a dead-end job,
+ and problems with the wife.
+But don't throw in the tow'l,
+ 'cuz there's a place right down the block...
+Where you can drink your misery away...
+At Flaming Moe's.... (Let's all go to Flaming Moe's...)
+When liquor in a mug (Let's all go to Flaming Moe's...)
+ can warm you like a hug. (Flaming Moe's...)
+And happiness is just a Flaming Moe away...
+Happiness is just a Flaming Moe away...
+ -- Flaming Moe's Theme Song, The Simpsons.
+~
+Stop living for what's around the corner
+and start enjoying the walk down the street.
+ -- Grant L. Miller
+~
+Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom. -- George Iles
+~
+One day Ananda, who had been thinking deeply about things for a while, turned
+to the Buddha and exclaimed: "Lord, I've been thinking--spiritual friendship
+is at least half of the spiritual life!" The Buddha replied: "Say not so,
+Ananda, say not so. Spiritual friendship is the whole of the spiritual life!"
+ -- Samyutta Nikaya, Verse 2
+~
+There are moments when one feels free from one's own identification with human
+limitations and inadequacies. At such moments one imagines that one stands on
+some spot of a small planet, gazing in amazement at the cold yet profoundly
+moving beauty of the eternal, the unfathomable; life and death flow into one,
+and there is neither evolution nor destiny; only Being.
+ -- Albert Einstein
+~
+A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but
+together can decide that nothing can be done.
+ -- Fred Allen
+~
+An undefined problem has an infinite number of solutions.
+ -- Robert A. Humphrey
+~
+The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best--and therefore
+never scrutinize or question.
+ -- Stephen Jay Gould
+~
+41. One's own awareness, fresh and uncontrived
+ One's own awareness, fresh and uncontrived,
+ Is the primordially present ultimate Lama
+ From whom you have not been separated for even an instant.
+ This meeting with the original abiding nature--how amazing!
+I, Jnana, wrote this in response to Changchub Palmo's request.
+ -- "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice", translated by
+ Ron Garry, a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion
+~
+ I hunted up statistics, and was amazed to find that after all the glaring
+newspaper headings concerning railroad disasters, less than three hundred
+people had really lost their lives by those disasters in the preceding twelve
+months. The Erie road was set down as the most murderous in the list. It had
+killed forty-six.or twenty-six, I do not exactly remember which, but I know
+the number was double that of any other road. But the fact straightway
+suggested itself that the Erie was an immensely long road, and did more
+business than any other line in the country; so the double number of killed
+ceased to be matter for surprise.
+ By further figuring, it appeared that between New York and Rochester the
+Erie ran eight passenger trains each way every day.sixteen altogether; and
+carried a daily average of 6,000 persons. That is about a million in six
+months.the population of New York city. Well, the Erie kills from thirteen
+to twenty-three persons out of its million in six months; and in the same
+time 13,000 of New York's million die in their beds! My flesh crept, my hair
+stood on end.
+ "This is appalling!" I said. "The danger isn't in travelling by rail, but
+in trusting to those deadly beds. I will never sleep in a bed again."
+ --Mark Twain on Risk Analysis, 1871
+~
+The activities of this degenerate age are like a madman's performance of dance.
+No matter what we do, there is no way to please others.
+Think about what is essential.
+This is my heart's advice.
+ --Bhande Dharmaradza
+
+ In any group of people, there is always some misunderstanding. You cannot
+satisfy everyone, no matter what you do. The Bodhicaryavatara says that every
+individual has a different way of thinking. Thus, it is very difficult to
+please everyone. Even the Buddha could not do it, so how can we? Instead of
+trying to please others, please yourself by applying yourself fully to
+bodhicitta.
+ Investigate your situation carefully, according to the Dharma. For us, it is
+more important to know what is best than to know how to please everyone. Know
+what is right, and on the basis of your own wisdom and skill, just do it.
+Don't expect that other people will be pleased with you or that they will be
+happy about what you do. Rather, do what's best, what's helpful for yourself
+and for others. If they are happy about it, that's fine. If they are not
+happy, what can you do?
+ -- "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path", by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen,
+ edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Lochen Gyurme Dechen, nephew of the great accomplished master Tangtong
+Gyalpo, sang this song, a prayer of the Six Doctrines, called "The Rain
+of Great Bliss":
+
+Nama Shri Jnana Daki Nigupta-ye!
+
+ Lady of the celestial realms, compassionate one,
+ Chief of wisdom dakinis, Niguma,
+ When I, your child, pray fervently to you,
+ In your expanse free from formulations, please think of me.
+ Lady who reveals the sacred circle of great secrets,
+ Bestow now the empowerment of the four joys!
+ Lady who opens the door to the unborn state,
+ Clear away now my negative acts and obscurations with the purification
+ practice!
+ Lady who emits fire from the short Ah,
+ Burn now my soiled aggregates and sense elements!
+ Lady who draws great bliss from the syllable Ham,
+ Bestow now coemergent wisdom!
+ Lady who reveals the natural experience of illusion,
+ Destroy now my attachment to the reality of anger and desire!
+ Lady who emanates and transforms during lucid dreams,
+ Lady who makes spontaneous luminosity arise,
+ Dispel now the darkness of my stupidity!
+ Lady who leads above at the time of departure,
+ Guide me now to the celestial realms!
+ Lady who overcomes the appearances of delusion in the intermediate state,
+ Grant me now the invincible body of enlightenment's perfect rapture.
+
+This prayer was sung by the religious teacher Gyurme Dechen.
+
+ -- "Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse of the Shangpa Masters", compiled by
+ Jamgon Kongtrul, translated & edited by Ngawang Zangpo, a Tsadra
+ Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...ngondro, the foundational practices, are ways to bring body, speech, or
+energy, and all aspects of mind into increasingly effortless harmony with the
+oceanic expanse central to Dzogchen teachings. This expanse is another name
+for reality, the heart of our being, and thus for mind-nature. Its vastness
+challenges the cramped and reified self-images that temporarily obstruct our
+view of the whole. Finitudes of any kind--the sense of being small and
+contained, the familiar urgent rush of business, passions, or plans--are
+simply conceptions. These conceptions are both cause and effect of energetic
+holdings in the body. The foundational practices illuminate these holdings
+and, in the end, lead to their dissolution into the expanse. As Khetsun
+Sangpo Rinpoche has said, "Like a fire that burns fuel, the mind consumes
+thought by working with it."
+ In the Tibetan traditions, teaching and practice sessions typically open
+with a reference, brief or extensive, to the foundational practices. Every
+lineage has its own variations, but the basic structure and principles of
+these practices are virtually identical. After an acknowledgment of one's
+guru or lineage and the intention to benefit all beings, the sequence usually
+begins with the four thoughts. These are reflections on (1) the preciousness
+of one's own life, (2) the fragility of life and the uncertainty of death's
+timing, (3) the inexorable nature of karma, and (4) the impossibility of
+avoiding suffering so long as ignorance holds one in samsara. In addition,
+there are two other contemplations: (5) the benefits of liberation compared to
+life in samsara and (6) the importance of a spiritual guide. These six are
+known as the outer foundational practices.
+ These six are combined with five inner practices, each of which is repeated
+one hundred thousand times. The first inner foundational practice is refuge.
+Refuge, writes Adzom Drukpa, is the cornerstone of all paths. Without it, he
+adds, quoting Candrakirti, all vows come to nothing. Most succinctly, refuge
+helps us cultivate a quality vital to the path and to human interaction in
+general: this is the quality of trust, the ability to fruitfully rely on
+someone or something other than oneself. Adzom Paylo Rinpoche once said that
+whereas relying on others in the context of samsara generally leads us astray,
+relying on the Dharma increases our good qualities.
+ -- "Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse: A Story of Transmission", by Anne C.
+ Klein, foreword by Adzom Paylo Rinpoche, preface by Tulku Thondup
+ Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+1.18 Fruition of the Seed of Enlightenment
+
+ When we engage in virtuous actions, we realize they are beneficial not only
+for others, but also for ourselves. Our good deeds can earn the praise and
+appreciation of others, and the benefits of our work come back to us through
+others. When we are involved with virtuous works, people respect us and hold
+us in high esteem. And we know we must be doing something good, because we
+experience a wholesome, pleasant feeling about our life's work. We quickly
+begin to see the short-term benefits of our involvement in virtuous action as
+our bodies and minds become more peaceful in our daily lives.
+ This serenity in turn increases our longevity as our body and mind become
+more harmonized. Even after our death, we will be reincarnated in higher
+realms of existence as a result of our involvement with virtuous works during
+this life. Yet a higher rebirth is merely a short-term benefit, a temporary
+relief from the sufferings of samsara, for until we achieve liberation from
+samsara we remain trapped in the cycle of suffering, and "whatever goes up,
+must come down!"
+ Within the mundane world, when our evil deeds are common knowledge, no one
+sings their praises. If such deeds are remembered at all, it is in infamy.
+However, when a being lives with a mind of true bodhichitta and does great
+works of pure altruism, their deeds are remembered for centuries. Of such
+cases we have many examples within the Kagyu lineage alone: the historical
+Buddha, Guru Rinpoche, Milarepa, the Karmapas, and countless others. Yet it
+is also important to remember that virtuous action eventually leads us to the
+liberation of buddhahood; this is the ultimate long-term benefit of planting
+the seed of enlightenment of which we speak. Hence, as we make this journey
+towards liberation, it is extremely important for us to learn to recognize
+which of our actions are virtuous and which are not.
+ -- Lama Dudjom Dorjee, "Heartfelt Advice", Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, addressing those who have or will undertake a
+retreat, gives this advice:
+
+ "You will fall sick, experience pain, and encounter many adverse
+circumstances. At such times do not think, 'Although I am practicing the
+Dharma, I have nothing but trouble. The Dharma cannot be so great. I have
+followed a teacher and done so much practice, and yet hard times still befall
+me.' Such thoughts are wrong views. You should realize that through the
+blessing and power of the practice, by experiencing sickness and other
+difficulties now, you are purifying and ridding yourself of negative
+actions.... By purifying them while you have the chance, you will later go
+from bliss to bliss. So do not think, 'I don't deserve this illness, these
+obstacles, these negative influences.' Experience your difficulties as
+blessings...when you do experience such difficulties, you should be very happy
+and avoid having adverse thoughts like, 'Why are such terrible things
+happening to me.'"
+
+ As Rinpoche advises, relating to hardship properly depends on the strength
+of one's view. In general, having a view is knowing exactly where you want
+to go and how to get there. It is the vision of knowing what you want. For
+example, if you have the view to become a doctor, your vision guides you
+through financial burdens, physical and emotional difficulties, and obstacles
+that get in your way. You know it will be difficult and involve sacrifice,
+but with a strong view, you forge to the finish line.
+ Similarly, if you want to become spiritually awakened, it is the power of
+your view that gets you there. If you are having a hard time getting to the
+meditation cushion, or engaging in the necessary study, it is because your
+view is not strong enough or is incomplete. A partial view, in this case, is
+one that doesn't include hardship. You can strengthen your view and
+accelerate progress by understanding how you lose your view in the fog of
+hardship, and therefore lose sight of your path.
+ -- Dr. Andrew Holecek, "The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual
+ Hardship into Joy", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Chod is a very powerful path to buddhahood. Its power comes from working
+with the practitioner's afflictive emotions. Chod is purposely performed in
+frightening places to help the practitioner heighten his fear so that he has
+the opportunity to cut through it.
+ -- adapted from Chod Practice in the Bon Tradition, by Alejandro Chaoul,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Under the heading of the great way's [Mahayana's] perspective, we read of how
+the Buddha merely demonstrates the process of enlightenment in this world,
+something he has done and will do repeatedly. Kongtrul quotes the Buddha in
+an important discourse:
+
+ "In the past, countless ages ago, in a world-system that united as many
+realms as there are grains of sand in the Ganges, I attained enlightenment as
+Transcendent Buddha Crown of the Powerful One, aided beings, and transcended
+sorrow. Then once again, from that point until the present age, I have
+repeatedly demonstrated the inconceivable process of enlightenment.
+ "I will continue, until cyclic existence is empty, to demonstrate [this
+process of] enlightenment beginning with the initial development of the mind
+of awakening as an ordinary being."
+
+ While such statements do not help us grasp the nature of the Buddha's
+enlightenment, they do underline the fact that enlightenment is a specific
+experience, the result of a known and knowable process that the Buddha
+deliberately demonstrates time and again so that we might follow his example,
+no guesswork involved.
+ -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "Treasury of Knowledge, Books Two, Three,
+ and Four: Buddhism's Journey to Tibet" translated and introduced by
+ Ngawang Zangpo, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Yang Gonpa says:
+
+ The essence of thoughts that suddenly arise is without any nature. Do not
+inhibit their appearance in any way, and without thinking of any essence, let
+them arise clearly, nakedly, and vividly. Likewise, if one thought arises,
+observe its nature, and if two arise, observe their nature. Thus, whatever
+thoughts arise, let them go without holding onto them. Let them remain as
+fragments. Release them unimpededly. Be naked without an object. Release
+them without grasping. This is close to becoming a Buddha. This is the self-
+extinction of samsara, samsara is overwhelmed, samsara is disempowered, and
+samsara is exhausted. Knowledge of the path of method and wisdom, appearances
+and emptiness, the gradual stages, the common and special paths, and the 84,
+000 entrances to the Dharma is made perfectly complete and fulfilled in an
+instant. This is self-arisen, for it is present like that in the very nature
+[of awareness]. Natural liberation is the essence of all the stainless paths,
+and it bears the essence of emptiness and compassion.
+ -- Karma Chagme, "A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on the
+ Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga", commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche, trans.
+ by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ We must learn to trust ourselves when we practice the doctrines of the Buddha.
+In time, we come to trust the infallibility of karmic cause and effect and of
+the interdependence of all actions. We must come to know and trust the
+importance of the accumulation of merit and wisdom, in the same way we know
+and trust that even the smallest drops of water falling into a bucket will
+eventually fill it.
+ We must learn to trust that our own dharma practice will remove our entire
+jungle of kleshas [unwholesome qualities], much like knowing a raging wildfire
+can clear an entire forest from the earth. All of our negativities can be
+swept away by the firestorm of our compassionate wisdom. We must trust that
+all of our happiness and sadness is completely dependent on, and a result of,
+our previous karma; when we trust this process we can begin the accumulation
+of virtuous actions immediately.
+ No one achieves perfection in anything meaningful the very first time they
+try; however, we've heard the phrase over and over again that "practice makes
+perfect." It is true that with multiple repetitions and patience everyone can
+achieve perfection over time. I don't know of anyone who has sat down to
+meditate for the very first time and immediately attained enlightenment, but
+just like the drops of water that we trust will eventually fill our bucket,
+consistent dharma practice will eventually lead us to liberation.
+ -- Lama Dudjom Dorjee, "Heartfelt Advice", published by Snow Lion
+~
+ Unbroken practice is like a watchful guard.
+ It is simply unscattered and is free from acceptance or rejection.
+ There is no duality of things to be abandoned and their antidotes.
+ This is my heart's advice.
+
+This verse and the following instructions concern how to continue with
+Mahamudra practice. Once we have received instructions, we have to accomplish
+them and perfect the practice. Continuity of practice is essential for the
+perfection of enlightenment.
+ Unbroken practice means that one is mindful all the time, like a watchful
+guard. Thieves and robbers may come at any time, so the guard of a mansion
+containing great treasure must be alert twenty-four hours a day. In the same
+way, it is important to watch our mind since the thieves of attachment,
+desire, anger, and forgetfulness can come at any time and steal the wealth of
+our compassion and wisdom, along with our realization of Mahamudra.
+ Once mindfulness is continuously established, an unscattered mind is "just
+there," on the spot, whether we are walking, eating, driving, or performing
+other activities. We can watch the mind and see how our mental state shapes
+our world. But when we watch it, we should just relax. Milarepa advises us
+in a vajra song:
+
+ Rest naturally, like a small child.
+ Rest like an ocean without waves.
+ Rest with clarity, like a candle flame.
+ Rest without self-concern, like a corpse.
+ Rest unmoving like a mountain.
+
+ -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path",
+ edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Every time we begin to practice, it helps not to plunge in right away.
+Instead, take a few moments to stop your ordinary chain of thoughts. This is
+especially relevant if you are very busy and have only five minutes for your
+daily practice, but even ordinarily we have this constant stream of thoughts.
+Suppose that just before practice you have a fight with your fianc�. This
+will probably trigger a chain of thoughts about what you want to say to your
+partner. If you start your practice in the midst of all this, it is not going
+to go so well. This is why it helps to put a stop to this chain of thoughts
+for just a few moments.
+ I have found this to be very, very useful. There are actually countless
+methods for stopping the chain of thoughts, but for me, before I practice, I
+just sit for a while. Every time a thought comes along, I try to stop it by
+cultivating a sense of renunciation, and I do this over and over again. I
+think about how I am now forty-years-old and, even if I live to be eighty, I
+only have half of my life left. I think that out of this forty years, I am
+going to sleep the equivalent of twenty years. So now there are only twelve
+hours a day that could actually be termed living. If we then factor in
+watching at least one movie a day, eating, and gossip, we have maybe five
+hours or so left. Out of forty years that means eight years remain, and most
+of that will go to indulging our paranoia, anxiety, and all that.... There is
+actually very little time for practice!
+ This should give you an idea of how to stop the chain of thoughts. Don't
+immediately throw yourself into the practice; instead, just watch yourself,
+watch your life, and watch what you are doing. If you are doing ten minutes
+of practice every day, you should try to stop the chain of thoughts for at
+least two to three minutes. We do this to transform the mind by invoking a
+sense of renunciation. When we think, "I am dying. I am coming closer to
+death" and other such thoughts, it really helps.
+ -- Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in the commentary to "Entrance to the Great
+ Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary Practices", compiled,
+ translated, and introduced by Cortland Dahl, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that
+something else is more important than fear.
+ -- Ambrose Redmoon
+~
+Good timber does not grow with ease;
+the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.
+ -- Douglas Malloch
+~
+Q: Does every kind of desire lead to pain?
+
+A: Not all desire leads directly to pain. However, the very word expresses
+the sense of sticking to something. It does not permit freedom. It binds.
+When attached and fastened to something, we cannot move far away. It is as if
+the desired object pulls us back, and we cannot free ourselves from it. For
+this kind of desire we use a term meaning attachment. So long as we are
+attached, we stick there and cannot achieve liberation. However, this does
+not necessarily entail chaos and pain.
+
+Q: Does that mean that some desire is actually beneficial?
+
+A: In the Tibetan language, desire names an attachment that harms ourselves
+and others. The source of benefit for ourselves and others receives a
+different name; we call that "longing."
+
+ -- "Essential Practice: Lectures on Kamalashila's Stages of Meditation in
+ the Middle Way School by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche", translated and
+ introduced by Jules B. Levinson, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+He who plants a tree plants hope. -- Lucy Larcom
+~
+We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with
+nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a
+presumption that once our eyes watered.
+ -- Tom Stoppard
+~
+The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do
+something stupid.
+ -- Art Spander
+~
+It is our earth, not yours or mine or his. We are meant to live on it,
+helping each other, not destroying each other.
+ -- J. Krishnamurti
+~
+When one has the feeling of dislike for evil, when one feels tranquil, one
+finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and
+appreciates them, one is free of fear.
+ -- Buddha
+~
+In Buddhism, there is a teaching called the "three bodies" (sanjin), also
+called the "three properties" or the "three enlightened properties". These
+are the three kinds of form that a Buddha may manifest as: 1) the Dharma Body
+(dharmakaya or hosshin) is the form in which a Buddha transcends physical
+being and is identical with the undifferentiated unity of being or Suchness
+(Skt. tathata, Jp. shinnyo); 2) the Bliss or Reward Body (sambhogakaya or
+hojin) is obtained as the "reward" for having completed the bodhisattva
+practice of aiding other beings to end their suffering and having penetrated
+the depth of the Buddha's wisdom. Unlike the Dharma Body, which is
+immaterial, the Bliss Body is conceived of as an actual body, although one
+that is still transcendent and imperceptible to common people; 3) the
+Manifested Body (nirmanakaya or ojin) is the physical form in which the Buddha
+appears in this world in order to guide sentient beings. It is considered
+that the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, is nirmanakaya. Honen believed that
+Amida is sambhogakaya.
+~
+ Sometimes we put our glasses in our pockets or on our heads and later we ask,
+"Where are my glasses?" This is quite common. We look everywhere else without
+finding our glasses. That is why we need the guru, who can say to us, "There
+are your glasses." That is all that the Mahamudra and Dzogchen teachers do:
+they simply point out. What they are pointing out is something that you
+already have. It is not something that they give you. They do not give you
+new glasses. They cannot afford to give you new glasses, but they can afford
+to point out where you can find your own glasses.
+ When we receive pointing-out instructions from our root teacher, we are
+being introduced directly and nakedly to the reality of mind's nature. These
+instructions become very effective if we have prepared ourselves to receive
+them.
+ ...Pointing-out is similar to pointing to the sky when it is very cloudy and
+saying to someone, "There is the blue sky." The person will look up and say,
+"Where?" You may reply, "It is there--behind the clouds." The person to whom
+you are pointing out the blue sky will not see it at first. However, if even
+a patch of blue sky appears, then you can say, "Look--the blue sky is like
+that." The person then gets a direct experience. He or she knows
+experientially that there is blue sky, which will be fully visible when the
+clouds are gone.
+ -- The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+In general, clear light is of two types--the objective clear light that is
+the subtle emptiness [of inherent existence], and the subjective clear light
+that is the wisdom consciousness realizing this emptiness.
+ -- Lati Rinbochay, "Death, Intermediate State and Rebirth"
+~
+ [At the time of Buddha, a farmer asked to be ordained as a monk. Shariputra
+did not see his merit. But, with a great, compassionate mind, the Buddha took
+his hand and said, "I will give you ordination. You do have a seed to attain
+arhatship...."]
+ The Buddha explained, "Thousands and thousands of kalpas ago, this man was
+born as a fly. He was sitting on a pile of cow dung when a sudden rush of
+water caught the cow dung, along with the fly, and sent them into the river.
+Downstream, someone had placed a prayer wheel in the water, and that cow dung
+and fly swirled around and around it. Because of that circumambulation, this
+man now has a seed to attain arhatship in this lifetime."
+ Cause and result are so subtle that only omniscient wisdom can perceive
+every detail. That is why we must be very careful that our actions are truly
+beneficial.
+ Reciting just one mantra, protecting the life of even one small bug, giving
+a small thing--we should not ignore such actions by saying, "This is nothing;
+it makes no difference if I do it or not." Many small actions will gather and
+swell like the ocean. These are not merely Buddhist beliefs; these are the
+causes that create our world no matter who we are. Our study and practice
+give us the opportunity to understand this and to be sincere with ourselves
+even in small things.
+ -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path",
+ edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
+ -- Isaac Asimov
+~
+What a blessing it would be if we could open and shut our ears as easily as we
+open and shut our eyes!
+ -- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
+~
+Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an
+acquaintance, or a stranger.
+ -- Franklin P. Jones
+~
+Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.
+Develop the mind of equilibrium. You will always be getting praise and blame,
+but do not let either affect the poise of the mind: follow the calmness, the
+absence of pride.
+ -- Sutta Nipata
+~
+Whosoever has heard the law of virtue and vice is as one who has eyes and
+carries a lamp, seeing everything and will become completely wise.
+ -- Buddha
+~
+...in Dzogchen, one applies specific practices in order to create a variety of
+sensations, so that the practitioner is more clearly enabled to distinguish
+the state of presence--which always remains the same--from the sensations
+which change according to the practice being carried out. This obviously
+enables one to 'no longer remain in doubt' as to what the state of pure
+presence is. The practices known as the twenty-one Semdzin found in the
+Dzogchen Mennagde, or Upadesha, series, have this particular function,
+enabling the practitioner to separate the ordinary, reasoning mind from the
+nature of the mind.
+ -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra
+ and Dzogchen", compiled and edited by John Shane, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+People often wonder how to reconcile the Buddha's teachings on non-attachment
+with those on love. How can we love others without being attached to them?
+Non-attachment is a balanced state of mind in which we cease overestimating
+others' qualities. By having a more accurate view of others, our unrealistic
+expectations fall away, as does our clinging. This leaves us open to loving
+others for who they are, instead of for what they do for us. Our hearts can
+open to care for everyone impartially, wishing everyone to be happy simply
+because he or she is a living being. The feeling of warmth that was
+previously reserved for a select few can now be expanded to a great number of
+people.
+ -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ Even in this world, and even now, there are said to be many hidden yogis or
+discreet yogis, called bepay naljor in Tibetan. It means those realized ones
+who are not generally recognized as great spiritual sages or saints, but have
+deeply tasted the fruit of enlightenment, and are living it. Perhaps they are
+anonymously doing their good works here among us right now!
+ The infinite vast expanse is one's own inconceivable nature. Who can say
+who has realized it and who hasn't? When we travel around the world or
+experience other dimensions, there are so many beings who have tasted it. We
+can see it in their behavior, in their countenance, and in stories that are
+told--not just in the Dzogchen tradition or the Buddhist tradition, but in any
+tradition, and in our Western world too.
+ This true nature is so vast and inconceivable that even some birds and
+animals and beings in other unseen dimensions can be said to have realized it,
+as in some of the ancient Indian Jataka stories and other teaching tales. It
+is always said that everything is the self-radiant display of the primordial
+Buddha Samantabhadra. There are infinite numbers of Buddhas and infinite
+numbers of beings. Who can say who is excluded from it?
+ -- Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche and Lama Surya Das, "Natural Great Perfection:
+ Dzogchen Teachings and Vajra Songs", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Many spiritual seekers are not yet ready to become the disciples of
+spiritual mentors. Their present levels of commitment may suit working only
+with Buddhism professors, Dharma instructors, or meditation or ritual
+trainers. Even if they are ready to commit themselves to the Buddhist path
+and to spiritual mentors, they may not yet have found properly qualified
+mentors. Alternatively, the spiritual teachers available to them may be
+properly qualified and may even have shown them great kindness. Yet, none
+seem right to be their mentors. They feel they can relate to them only as
+their Buddhism professors. Nevertheless, the Kadam style of guru-meditation
+may still help such seekers to gain inspiration from these teachers at the
+present stages of their spiritual paths.
+ Unless our spiritual teachers are total charlatans or complete scoundrels,
+all of them have at least some good qualities and exhibit at least some level
+of kindness. Our Buddhism professors, Dharma instructors, or meditation or
+ritual trainers may lack the qualities of great spiritual mentors. Still,
+they have some knowledge of the Dharma, some insight from applying the Dharma
+to life, or some technical expertise in the practice. Our teachers are kind
+to instruct us, even if their motivations contain the wish to earn a living.
+If we correctly discern and acknowledge whatever qualities and levels of
+kindness that our professors, instructors, or trainers in fact possess, we may
+derive inspiration, through guru-meditation, by focusing on them with
+conviction and appreciation.
+ -- Dr. Alexander Berzin, "Wise Teacher, Wise Student: Tibetan Approaches to
+ a Healthy Relationship", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ A tenth-century Bengali pandita named Palden Atisha reintroduced Buddhism
+into Tibet. He had a servant who was really awful. He was abusive to Atisha,
+disobedient, and generally a big problem. The Tibetans asked Atisha what he
+was doing with such an awful guy who was so completely obnoxious. They said,
+"Send him back. We'll take care of you." Atisha replied, "What are you
+talking about? He is my greatest teacher of patience. He is the most
+precious person around me!"
+ Patience does not mean suppression, and it doesn't mean bottling up our
+anger or turning it in on ourselves in the form of self-blame. It means
+having a mind which sees everything that happens as the result of causes and
+conditions we have set in motion at some time in this or past lives. Who
+knows what our relationship has been with someone who is causing us
+difficulties now? Who knows what we have have done to him in another life!
+If we respond to such people with retaliation, we are just locking ourselves
+into that same cycle. We are going to have to keep replaying this part of
+the movie again and again in this and future lifetimes. The only way to break
+out of the cycle is by changing our attitude.
+ -- "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical Buddhism by
+ Venerable Tenzin Palmo", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+[Understanding through the merging of sound and meaning takes place when one
+immediately understands the meaning of a teaching through hearing the sound of
+the words.]
+
+ One might ask what these words are in the key instructions on the Three
+Words That Strike the Vital Point. The sound and the word are the same. For
+example, the word "mother" can be understood as indicating someone who is very
+kind. If one says "mother," the meaning of what that word expresses is
+pointed out. What is known as "the three words" is like that.
+ What are the three words? "View," "meditation," and "action." What does it
+mean to "strike the vital point" with these three words? If one wants to kill
+a man and strikes his heart with a weapon, the man will not live another hour.
+He will die immediately. What vital point do these three words strike? Just
+as oil is present in a mustard seed, all of us, all sentient beings, have
+buddha nature. Though it is present, we do not recognize it, because our
+minds are obscured by delusions. When, as a result of the view, meditation,
+and action, we come to recognize these delusions, we can get rid of them in a
+moment. In one day sentient beings can be transformed into buddhas--that is
+the ultimate view, meditation, and action of dzogchen. Such a power of
+transformation is called "striking the vital point."
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse, "The Collected Works of Dilgo Khyentse", edited by
+ Matthieu Ricard and Vivian Kurz, excerpt from Volume 3: "Primordial
+ Purity", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ If we can attain nondual, nonconceptual awareness in meditation, we are
+engaged in profound political activity, even though we may lose this awareness
+during the times we are not formally meditating (the buddha's awareness in
+post-meditation is the same as during meditation). Meditating in nondual,
+nonconceptual awareness, which is meditating on the dharmadhatu, immediately
+begins systematically to destroy in ourselves the structure of dualistic
+consciousness with all its attendant cognitive obscurations and emotional
+affiictions. From the standpoint of duality, since this dualistic
+consciousness also involves other sentient beings as the other pole of our
+duality, our activity in dissolving this consciousness has a profound impact
+on them as well.
+ While our nondualistic, nonconceptual meditation is purifying our own
+obscurations and afflictions and thereby transforming our personal experience
+of others, it is also becoming a spark of buddha activity in those others. As
+our meditation becomes effective, the attitude of others towards us begins to
+change, and they themselves begin to turn inward and to search with greater
+conscientiousness through the stuff of their own minds and lives for spiritual
+solutions to their own problems. And as the power of our meditation
+increases, this effect reaches ever-widening concentric circles of sentient
+beings with whom we have karmic interdependence, which in this day and age
+includes not only our immediate family and friends, working associates, and
+local communities, but also everyone with whom we are connected through all
+the media of our lives.
+ --Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "The Ninth Karmapa's Ocean of Definitive
+ Meaning", edited, introduced and annotated by Lama Tashi Namgyal,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and courage.
+Realization doesn't grow within a timid or weak state of mind--it blossoms in
+the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless. When we see
+the true nature of reality, there's nothing hidden, nothing left to fear. At
+last we're seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.
+ ...Thinking of Tara will bring total calm, peace, and protection from all
+fears and all frightening situations. Tara's practice removes the two
+obscurations: negative emotions and subtle conceptual thinking. It will
+increase the two merits: accumulation merit and wisdom merit. From the moment
+you start praying to and practicing Tara, your life will be always under the
+protection of the Great Mother. From then on rebirth in the lower realms will
+be prevented. If you do this prayer for others, it will bring them the same
+benefits; it will protect them in their lifetimes as well as uproot future
+births in the lower realms. So there is great benefit.
+ -- Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal in "Tara's Enlightened
+ Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one Praises to Tara'",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and courage.
+Realization doesn't grow within a timid or weak state of mind--it blossoms in
+the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless. When we see
+the true nature of reality, there's nothing hidden, nothing left to fear. At
+last we're seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.
+ ...Thinking of Tara will bring total calm, peace, and protection from all
+fears and all frightening situations. Tara's practice removes the two
+obscurations: negative emotions and subtle conceptual thinking. It will
+increase the two merits: accumulation merit and wisdom merit. From the moment
+you start praying to and practicing Tara, your life will be always under the
+protection of the Great Mother. From then on rebirth in the lower realms will
+be prevented. If you do this prayer for others, it will bring them the same
+benefits; it will protect them in their lifetimes as well as uproot future
+births in the lower realms. So there is great benefit.
+ -- Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal in "Tara's Enlightened
+ Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one Praises to Tara'",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+6. Meditation on the Buddha
+ Begin by observing your breath for a few minutes to calm the mind.
+ Think of the qualities of infinite love, compassion, wisdom, skillful means,
+and other wonderful qualities you aspire to develop. What would it feel like
+to have those qualities? Get a sense of the expansiveness and peace of having
+a wise and kind heart that reaches out impartially to work for the benefit of
+all beings.
+ Those qualities of love, compassion, wisdom, skillful means, and so on now
+appear in the physical form of the Buddha, in the space in front of you. He
+sits on an open lotus flower, and flat sun and moon disks. His body is made
+of radiant, transparent light, as is the entire visualization. His body is
+golden and he wears the robes of a monk. His right palm rests on his right
+knee and his left is in his lap, holding a bowl of nectar, which is medicine
+to cure our afflictions and other hindrances. The Buddha's face is very
+beautiful. His smiling, compassionate gaze looks at you with total acceptance
+and simultaneously encompasses all sentient beings. His eyes are long,
+narrow, and peaceful. His lips are red and his earlobes long.
+ Rays of light emanate from each pore of the Buddha's body and reach every
+part of the universe. These rays carry countless miniature Buddhas, some
+going out to help beings, others dissolving back into the Buddha after having
+finished their work.
+ The Buddha is surrounded by the entire lineage of spiritual teachers, all
+meditational deities, innumerable other Buddhas, bodhisattvas, arhats, dakas,
+dakinis, and Dharma protectors. To the side of each spiritual master is an
+elegant table upon which are arranged volumes of Dharma teachings.
+ Surrounding you are all sentient beings appearing in human form, with your
+mother on your left and your father on your right. The people you do not get
+along with are in front of you. All of you are looking to the Buddha for
+guidance.
+ -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the
+ Path", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ If we investigate on a deeper level, we will find that when enemies inflict
+harm on us, we can actually feel gratitude toward them. Such situations
+provide us with rare opportunities to put to test our own practice of
+patience. It is a precious occasion to practice not only patience but the
+other bodhisattva ideals as well. As a result, we have the opportunity to
+accumulate merit in these situations and to receive the benefits thereof.
+ The poor enemy, on the other hand, because of the negative action of
+inflicting harm on someone out of anger and hatred, must eventually face the
+negative consequences of his or her own actions. It is almost as if the
+perpetrators of the harm sacrifice themselves for the sake of our benefit.
+Since the merit accumulated from the practice of patience was possible only
+because of the opportunity provided us by our enemy, strictly speaking, we
+should dedicate our merit to the benefit of that enemy. This is why the Guide
+to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life speaks of the kindness of the enemy.
+ --Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
+~
+ If our practice does not diminish self-grasping, or perhaps even enhances
+it, then no matter how austere and determined we are, no matter how many hours
+a day we devote to learning, reflection, and meditation, our spiritual
+practice is in vain.
+ A close derivative of self-grasping is the feeling of self-importance. Such
+arrogance or pride is a very dangerous pitfall for people practicing Dharma.
+Especially in Tibetan Buddhism, with its many levels of practice, the exalted
+aspirations of the bodhisattva path, and the mystery surrounding initiation
+into tantra, we may easily feel part of an elite. Moreover, the philosophy of
+Buddhism is so subtly refined and so penetrating that, as we gain an
+understanding of it, this also can give rise to intellectual pride.
+ But if these are the results of the practice, then something has gone awry.
+Recall the well-known saying among Tibetan Buddhists that a pot with a little
+water in it makes a loud noise when shaken, but a pot full of water makes no
+noise at all.
+ People with very little realization often want to tell everyone about the
+insights they have experienced, the bliss and subtleties of their meditation,
+and how it has radically transformed their life. But those who are truly
+steeped in realization do not feel compelled to advertise it, and instead
+simply dwell in that realization. They are concerned not to describe their
+own progress, but to direct the awareness of others to ways in which their own
+hearts and minds can be awakened.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
+ Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ What is method, within the context of the unity of method and wisdom? It is
+a dedicated heart of bodhichitta, based on love and compassion. It apprehends
+its object, enlightenment, with the intention to achieve it in order to
+benefit others. Compassion, as its basis, apprehends its object, the
+suffering of others, with the wish to remove it.
+ Wisdom, on the other hand, is a correct view that understands voidness--the
+absence of fantasized, impossible ways of existing. Even if it is aimed at
+the same object as method, it apprehends that object as not existing in an
+impossible way.
+ The ways wisdom and compassion each apprehend their object are not at all
+the same. Therefore, we need to actualize these two, as method and wisdom,
+first separately and then together.
+ Even if we speak about the mahamudra* that is method and wisdom, inseparable
+by nature in the ultimate tantric sense, the first stage for its realization
+is understanding the abiding nature of reality.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
+ Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ In Buddhism we speak of three types of phenomena: First, there are evident
+phenomena that are perceived directly.
+ Second, there are slightly hidden phenomena, which are not accessible to
+immediate perception. There are differences of opinion on this even within
+Buddhist philosophy. Generally speaking, we think this second type of
+phenomena can be known indirectly by inference.
+ One example of something known by inference is that anything arising in
+dependence upon causes and conditions is itself subject to disintegration and
+momentary change. This momentary change is not immediately evident to your
+senses. You can look at something with your eyes, and it does not appear to
+be changing right now, but by inference you can know that it is momentarily
+changing. This is an example of the second category of phenomena.
+ Third, there are very concealed phenomena, which cannot be known by either
+of the two preceding methods. They can be known only by relying upon
+testimony of someone such as the Buddha.
+ -- "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on
+ Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand, Robert B.
+ Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in
+magnificent glow, than asleep and permanent as a planet.
+ -- Jack London
+~
+ Sometimes our life can feel devoid of meaning even though we may try in
+different ways to put meaning into it.... Meaning comes when we go deeply
+within, wait, listen, and open. It begins to come when we genuinely open to
+the suffering of those around us with a compassionate heart. Equally, it
+comes as we respond to the environment within which we live with care and
+concern.
+ The meaning or purpose to be found in bodhichitta is less associated with
+what we do than with the quality we bring to what we engage in. Small, simple
+aspects of our life can be profoundly meaningful and have deep impact both for
+ourselves and others. Meaning lies in the quality of heart that we put into
+what we do.
+ It is not, therefore, the outer manifestation of what we can achieve that is
+the root of meaning. It is the undercurrent of bodhichitta's intention or
+purpose and meaning that flows within. What bodhichitta implies is that in
+attuning to our buddha nature or buddha potential, we touch a source of
+meaning in ourselves that will come through whatever we do.
+ This root of meaning gives the bodhisattva the capacity to live a relatively
+ordinary life and transform adverse circumstances into the path. Even small
+things become meaningful, like the way we respond to someone's distress or a
+gesture of friendliness that lifts someone's day. This deeper sense of
+purpose is reflected in the care we give to our relationships and the
+environment.
+ Being present and responsive to what arises may mean that the eventual goal
+of our sense of purpose is less crucial. We are seldom, if ever, able to see
+fully where our path will take us, and once we are open to the meaning present
+in bodhichitta, the ego must surrender ambitions and allow the journey to
+unfold.
+ -- Rob Preece, "The Courage to Feel: Buddhist Practices for Opening to
+ Others", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ We have to admit impermanence into our lives. It's important to live with
+impermanence as a frame of reference so that we can approach each moment or
+each day with a sense of humility about what we are able to do and what we are
+not able to do and relinquish control over things we cannot have control over.
+It is important to live as if things are as permanent as stone.
+ You have to invest yourself in love and concern for people, accept people's
+love as if that's the only thing that exists. The commitment to living as if
+everything is always there forever with the acceptance that nothing is going
+to survive.
+ --David Hodge and Hi-Jin Kang Hodge, "Impermanence: Embracing Change",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+We are the people our parents warned us about. -- Jimmy Buffett
+~
+To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid,
+you must also be well-mannered.
+ -- Voltaire
+~
+I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth.
+ -- Carl Sandburg
+~
+Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time.
+Hatred ceases through love.
+This is an unalterable law.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+ The Tibetan controversies about instantaneous enlightenment through
+recognition of the nature of the mind have been studied by David Jackson.
+As he shows, it is mainly members of the Kagyu traditions in Tibet who have
+maintained this doctrine, although it is certainly common in Chinese Ch'an
+Buddhism and in the teachings of the Great Perfection in Tibet. Dolpopa
+quotes the position that is the object of his refutation: "Recognizing the
+very essence naturally purifies them, without rejection." This expresses the
+view that through recognition of the essence of the thoughts as the dharmakaya
+they are purified or dissolved into the dharmakaya, and also the idea that any
+affliction that arises is actually a manifestation or self-presencing of
+primordial awareness itself. Thus there is no need to reject thoughts or
+afflictions, which are naturally purified by means of the recognition. This
+type of viewpoint is widespread in Tibetan Buddhism.
+ In contrast to these views, Dolpopa claims that the definition of an
+ordinary sentient being or a buddha, and of samsara or nirvana, is determined
+by the presence or absence of the incidental and temporary obscurations that
+veil the true nature of reality. It is not determined solely by recognition
+of the nature of the mind or the thoughts.
+ ...While the ground buddhahood of the dharmakaya and the resultant
+buddhahood of the dharmakaya have not the slightest difference in essence,
+they are distinguished as ground and result by means of the presence or
+absence of incidental stains.
+ -- Cyrus Stearns, "The Buddha from Dolpo: A Study of the Life and Thought
+ of the Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen", a Tsadra Foundation
+ Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ We live in an ocean of cyclic existence whose depth and extent cannot be
+measured. We are troubled again and again by the afflictions of desire and
+hatred as if repeatedly attacked by sharks.
+ Our mental and physical aggregates are impelled by former contaminated
+actions and afflictions and serve as a basis for present suffering as well as
+inducing future suffering. While such cyclic existence lasts, we have various
+thoughts of pleasure and displeasure: 'If I do this, what will people think?
+If I do not do this, I will be too late; I won't make any profit.' When we see
+something pleasant we think, 'Oh, if I could only have that!'
+ ...Day and night, night and day we spend our lives in the company of the
+afflictions, generating desire for the pleasant and anger at the unpleasant,
+and continue thus even when dreaming, unable to remain relaxed, our minds
+completely and utterly mixed with thoughts of desire and hatred without
+interruption.
+ To what refuge should we go? A source of refuge must have completely
+overcome all defects forever; it must be free of all faults. It must also
+have all the attributes of altruism--those attainments which are necessary for
+achieving others' welfare. For it is doubtful that anyone lacking these two
+prerequisites can bestow refuge; it would be like falling into a ditch and
+asking another who is in it to help you out. You need to ask someone who is
+standing outside the ditch for help; it is senseless to ask another who is in
+the same predicament. A refuge capable of protecting from the frights of
+manifold sufferings cannot also be bound in this suffering but must be free
+and unflawed.
+ Furthermore, the complete attainments are necessary, for if you have fallen
+into a ditch, it is useless to seek help from someone standing outside it who
+does not wish to help or who wishes to help but has no means to do so.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ If we were forced to choose between a sense of practical application and
+learnedness, a sense of practical application would be more important, for one
+who has this will receive the full benefit of whatever he knows. The mere
+learnedness of one whose mind is not tamed can produce and increase bad states
+of consciousness, which cause unpleasantness for himself and others instead of
+the happiness and peace of mind that were intended. One could become jealous
+of those higher than oneself, competitive with equals and proud and
+contemptuous towards those lower and so forth. It is as if medicine had
+become poison.
+ Because such danger is great, it is very important to have a composite of
+learnedness, a sense of practical application and goodness, without having
+learnedness destroy the sense of practical application or having the sense of
+practical application destroy learnedness.
+ -- The Dalai Lama, "A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
+ About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword
+ by Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ A bodhisattva, having generated a sincere and spontaneous desire to attain
+full enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, enters the Mahayana
+path of accumulation. Here the bodhisattva cultivates the four mindfulnesses
+and develops mental quiescence, then passes on to the path of application,
+where she or he strives for a conceptual insight into emptiness. When
+quiescence and insight are combined in examining emptiness, the bodhisattva
+attains a direct, non-conceptual realization of emptiness, and thus becomes an
+arya, on the path of seeing.
+ The path of seeing corresponds to the first of the ten bhumis, i.e. stages,
+levels, or grounds said to be traversed by a bodhisattva. The other nine
+bodhisattva stages are coextensive with the path of development, during the
+course of which the disciple completely eliminates not only the defilements
+that are obstacles to liberation but even the traces of defilement, which are
+obstacles to full enlightenment.
+ When the path of development is completed, the disciple is ready to enter
+the path of no-more-training; this marks the attainment of full enlightenment,
+the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya of an omniscient, compassionate,
+and powerful buddha.
+ -- Geshe Lhundub Sopa, Roger Jackson, John Newman, "The Wheel of Time: The
+ Kalachakra in Context", edited by Beth Simon, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+"If you fear you are running after the objects of the six senses, hold
+yourself with the hook:"
+ 'Employ the watchman that is mindfulness.'
+
+ Someone who has been captured with a hook has no option but to go wherever
+he is led. In the same way, if we catch hold of our mind--which risks being
+distracted by the objects of the six senses--with the hook of mindfulness, and
+with vigilance and carefulness, this will be of enormous benefit. We should
+use this watchman to constantly check how many positive or negative thoughts
+and actions we produce during the day. When we are able to control our minds
+through mindfulness, everything that appears in samsara and nirvana becomes an
+aid in our practice and serves to confirm the meaning of the teachings. All
+appearances are understood as being dharmakaya. We perceive everything in its
+natural purity, and there is nothing we can call impure.
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Zurchungpa's Testament: A Commentary on
+ Zurchung Sherab Trakpa's 'Eighty Chapters of Personal Advice'", based on
+ Shechen Gyaltsap's Annotated Edition, translated by the Padmakara
+ Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+A committee can make a decision that is dumber than any of its members.
+ -- David Coblitz
+~
+Art is science made clear. -- Jean Cocteau
+~
+A specification that will not fit on one page of 8.5x11 inch paper
+cannot be understood.
+ -- Mark Ardis
+~
+A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff
+that nature replaces it with.
+ -- Tennessee Williams
+~
+The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all of your time.
+ -- Willem de Kooning
+~
+ We need to understand the essential nature of the broad diversity of
+phenomena. For example, if we are obliged to be involved frequently with a
+man who exhibits a personality that is true only on the surface, as well as
+another basic personality, it is important for us to know both of them. To
+engage in a relationship with this person that does not go awry, we must know
+both aspects of his personality. To know only the facade that he presents is
+insufficient; we need to know his basic disposition and abilities. Then we
+can know what to expect from him; and he will not deceive us.
+ Likewise, the manifold events in the world are not non-existent; they do
+exist. They are able to help and hurt us--no further criterion for existence
+is necessary. If we do not understand their fundamental mode of existence, we
+are liable to be deceived, just as in the case of being involved with a person
+whose basic personality we do not know.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom", translated, edited and
+ annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ One has to be cautious when one is very successful since at that time there
+is danger of becoming prideful and becoming involved in the non-religious, and
+one has to be cautious also when one has undergone lack of success and so
+forth since there is a danger of becoming discouraged--the life of the mind,
+so to speak, dying--due to which harm to one's practice could be incurred.
+ ...Specifically, in situations of low self-esteem, Shantideva recommends
+reflection this way:
+ "Even very tiny bugs and worms have the Buddha nature and thus, when they
+ encounter certain conditions, through the power of effort they can achieve
+ the non-abiding nirvana of a Buddha. Now, I have been born as a human with
+ the capacity to understand what is to be adopted in practice and what is to
+ be discarded; thus, there is no reason for me to be discouraged. The great
+ saints and so forth of the past who achieved a high level were people with
+ a life-basis such as I have, not something separate."
+ Through such reflection, a resurgence of will can be generated.
+ -- "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace by
+ H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso", translated and edited by
+ Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+When we understand the evolution of our unsatisfactory experiences in cyclic
+existence, we will see that meditating on emptiness is their antidote. All
+knowable things--people and phenomena--appear to our minds to be inherently
+existent. We then grasp at them as existing inherently. Our inappropriate
+attention focuses on them, and that gives rise to the various disturbing
+attitudes of anger, attachment, and so on. These disturbing attitudes
+motivate our actions, which in turn leave karmic imprints on our mindstreams.
+When these imprints ripen, we meet with suffering.
+ -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
+ Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
+ Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The essential point about this condition of potentiality is that, although
+there is a causal relationship between the physical world and the world of
+mental phenomena, in terms of their own continuum one cannot be said to be the
+cause of the other. A mental phenomenon, such as a thought or an emotion,
+must come from a preceding mental phenomenon; likewise, a particle of matter
+must come from a preceding particle of matter.
+ Of course, there is an intimate relationship between the two. We know that
+mental states can influence material phenomena, such as the body; and,
+similarly, that material phenomena can act as contributory factors for certain
+subjective experiences. This is something that we can observe in our lives.
+Much of our gross level of consciousness is very closely connected to our
+body, and in fact we often use terminology and conventions which reflect this.
+ For example, when we say 'human mind' or 'human consciousness' we are using
+the human body as the basis to define a particular mind state. Likewise, at
+the gross levels of mind such as our sensory experiences, it is very obvious
+that these are heavily dependent upon our body and some physiological states.
+When a part of our body is hurt or damaged, for instance, we immediately
+experience the impact on our mental state. Nevertheless, the principle
+remains that mental phenomena must come from preceding phenomena of the same
+kind, and so on.
+ If we trace mental phenomena back far enough, as in the case of an
+individual's life, we come to the first instant of consciousness in this life.
+Once we have traced its continuum to this point of beginning, we then have
+three options: we can either say that the first instant of consciousness in
+this life must come from a preceding instant of consciousness which existed in
+the previous life. Or we can say that this first instant of consciousness
+came from nowhere--it just sort of 'popped up'. Or we can say that it came
+from a material cause.
+ From the Buddhist point of view, the last two alternatives are deeply
+problematic. The Buddhist understanding is that, in terms of its continuum,
+consciousness or mind is beginningless. Mental phenomena are beginningless.
+Therefore, the person or the being--which is essentially a designation based
+on the continuum of the mind--is also devoid of beginning.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+If someone wants a sheep, then that means that he exists.
+ -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
+~
+If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one? -- Abraham Lincoln
+~
+There is something about the outside of a horse
+that is good for the inside of a man.
+ -- Sir Winston Churchill
+~
+ Life is a party on death row. Recognizing mortality means we are willing to
+see what is true. Seeing what is true is grounding. It brings us into the
+present and, eventually, into presence. It also brings us into our bodies,
+especially if we combine meditation on impermanence with an energetic
+awareness at the base of the spine. At first, the important thing about
+impermanence seems to be the limited time we have in this precious life. This
+is crucial and foundational, and yet it is not the whole story.
+ The teachings on impermanence concern the death of a self that never
+existed. Our sense of such a false and finite self, which initially is
+inseparable from our wish to practice, can dissolve. Understanding
+impermanence, Khetsun Rinpoche says, will lead you into the natural clarity of
+your own mind. To know impermanence is thus not only a path leading to what
+Dzogchen traditions speak of as "unbounded wholeness" (thigle nyag cig), it is
+also integral to that wholeness.
+ -- Anne C. Klein, "Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse: A Story of
+ Transmission", foreword by Adzom Paylo Rinpoche, preface by Tulku
+ Thondup Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Now, you see, world peace through mental peace is an absolute. It is the
+ultimate goal. But as for the method, there are many factors that must be
+taken into consideration. Under a particular set of circumstances, a certain
+approach may be useful while under other circumstances another may be useful.
+This is a very complicated issue which compels us to study the situation at a
+particular point of time. We must take into account the other side's
+motivation, etc., so it is a very complex matter.
+ But we must always keep in mind that all of us want happiness. War, on the
+other hand, only brings suffering--that is very clear. Even if we are
+victorious, that victory means sacrificing many people. It means their
+suffering. Therefore, the important thing is peace. But how do we achieve
+peace? Is it done through hatred, through extreme competition, through anger?
+It is obvious that through these means it is impossible to achieve any form of
+lasting world peace. Hence, the only alternative is to achieve world peace
+through mental peace, through peace of mind. World peace is achieved based
+only on a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, on the basis of compassion.
+The clear, genuine realization of the oneness of all mankind is something
+important. It is something we definitely need. Wherever I go, I always
+express these views.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
+ edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+koan for dependency inversion:
+
+ High-level modules should not depend upon low-level modules.
+ Both should depend upon abstractions.
+
+ Abstractions should not depend upon details.
+ Details should depend upon abstractions.
+~
+People harm others only when they are unhappy. No one wakes up in the morning
+and says, "I feel so great today! I think I'll go out and harm someone!" When
+we can allow ourselves to know the depth of the pain and confusion felt by
+those who have harmed us, compassion--the wish that they be free from such
+suffering--can easily arise. Thinking in this way does not mean whitewashing
+or denying harm that was done. Rather, we acknowledge it, but go beyond
+amassing resentment, because we know that grudges help neither ourselves nor
+others.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "Working with Anger", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The reason why the qualities of a teacher are described at such length in
+the scriptures is because we should know what to look for when seeking a guru
+capable of opening up the Buddhist paths within us. To take up training under
+an unqualified teacher can be disastrous. It is said in the tantric
+scriptures that one is not unwise to examine a guru for twelve years before
+accepting that person as one's teacher. The choice of teachers is an
+important one and must be made carefully.
+ Not only does the guru perform the work of the Buddhas and thus equal them
+in activity, in terms of kindness the guru surpasses them. Of all Buddhas of
+the past who have manifested as universal teachers, it is said that Buddha
+Shakyamuni is kindest to us; for it is with his teachings that we have come
+into contact...even though Buddha Shakyamuni is most kind of the past Buddhas,
+still we are unable to receive teachings from him or witness his inspiring
+presence.
+ Were all the Buddhas and lineage masters of the past to manifest before us
+at this very moment, we would not be able to recognize them as enlightened
+beings. Due to our not having a sufficiently strong karmic connection with
+them, they would be unable to affect us. The guru performs the great kindness
+of coming to us in an ordinary form which we can perceive and to which we can
+relate, and carries out the work of the Buddhas in our lives. The fact that a
+donkey like us is brought into the family of spiritual beings is purely due to
+the kindness of the guru. The Buddhas can only come to us through him or her.
+Thus if we do not respect the guru and heed his or her teachings, what hope do
+we have? We should meditate upon the guru's unexcelled kindness and give
+birth to profound appreciation.
+ The reason why we have been wandering unceasingly in cyclic existence since
+time immemorial is because we have not met a spiritual master before; or even
+if we have met one we did not cultivate an effective relationship with him or
+her. We should determine to take the opportunities afforded by our present
+human situation and cultivate a spiritual practice under the guidance of a
+master.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
+ by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+There was once a Spartan boy,
+who, one night, stole a fox.
+In order not to be caught,
+he hid it under his cloak.
+He stood stock still as his
+elder looked him over,
+but all the while the fox
+chewed away at his insides.
+The boy bit his lip against
+the pain until he inevitably fell,
+dead to the ground.
+ -- Plutarch
+~
+An exalting task for all humankind
+ The West is fascinated by efficiency. And there is no doubt that in many
+areas its efficiency is quite admirable. That is why I would like to ask this
+question, which seems natural to me: why not apply this technical efficiency
+to protect all forms of life? This would be an exalting task for all
+humankind, especially as we seem to lack a truly large-scale project or ideal.
+It is difficult, yet it is absolutely necessary. If the question of human
+survival is not solved, there will be nobody left to solve the problem. And
+Buddhism can help here.
+ -- "The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner Peace: The Essential Life and
+ Teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama"
+~
+ If you continue to practice meditation, then your experience will gradually
+increase and there will be greater and greater stability and greater and
+greater lucidity. However, the experiences that can arise in meditation can
+take various different forms. And in spite of the fact that the person has a
+real recognition of the mind's nature, there is still the possibility or
+probability of fluctuation in experience even after that.
+ Sometimes you may feel that you have amazing, tremendous meditation, and at
+other times you may feel that you have no meditation at all. This
+characterizes meditation experience, which fluctuates a great deal.
+Realization, which is distinct from experience, does not change, but
+experiences can fluctuate a great deal or alternate between good and bad.
+There will still be times when you will have what you regard as good
+experiences and, in contrast, what you regard as bad experiences. When that
+occurs, just keep on looking. Don't get distracted or sidetracked by the
+experience. Whatever meditation experience arises, you should recognize that
+it is transitory. As is said, "meditation experience is like mist, it will
+surely vanish."
+ Experiences are different from the actual fact of the recognition itself.
+Because they are ephemeral experiences, they aren't worth investing in. So if
+you have a bad meditation experience, do not be alarmed, because it too will
+vanish. If you have a good meditation experience, you need to continue; if
+you have a bad meditation experience, you need to continue. In either case,
+you simply need to continue to rest in this recognition of the mind's nature.
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Pointing Out the Dharmakaya", published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The person witnessing another person's suffering has only one appropriate
+response: "How can I help?" When karma comes to fruition and causes suffering,
+the response should never be, "This is your karma. It's your destiny, so I
+can't help." Your own karma may very well present itself as an opportunity to
+help a suffering person. Misunderstanding actions and their consequences can
+be disastrous.
+ From the Buddhist perspective, the type of fortune we encounter, happiness
+or sorrow, is not due to somebody doing something to us. If I win the
+lottery, it is not because Buddha selected me for a bonus. No god or buddha
+is responsible for what happens to us....This does not imply that a suffering
+person is morally degenerate any more than suffering the consequences of
+eating contaminated food does. The suffering we experience is due to karma
+accumulated under the influence of delusion and mental afflictions. This is
+true for all sentient beings.
+ The Buddhist response to the non-virtues we all commit while strapped to the
+wheel of samsara can be inspiring and encouraging. The Buddhist teaching is
+that it is possible to neutralize negative karmic seeds embedded in the stream
+of consciousness. Deeds cannot be undone, but it is possible to purify one's
+mind-stream so that the impact of karmic seeds will be nullified.
+ The method used to purify the mind-stream is the "four remedial powers"
+[remorse, reliance, resolve, and purification]. The metaphor for the
+effectiveness of the four remedial powers is that of burning a seed. Karma,
+like a seed, can be scorched in the fire of purification so that it will not
+sprout. The seed won't vanish, but it will not sprout.
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
+ Mind Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ ...it is said that through the power of believing one's own body, speech,
+and mind to be undifferentiable from the deity's exalted body, speech, and
+mind all one's physical actions and movements are seals and all one's speech
+is mantra. In this way the Vajrapani Initiation Tantra says:
+ "A son or daughter of lineage* who has seen a mandala, who generates the
+mind of enlightenment, who is compassionate, skilled in means and in teaching
+the ways of letters--the door of Secret Mantra--should think thus, 'Separate
+from speech, there is no mind. Separate from mind, there is no speech.
+Separate from mind, there is no divine form. Mind itself is speech; speech
+itself is mind; divine form itself is also mind, and speech itself is also
+divine form.'
+ "If a mantra practitioner believes in this way that these are
+undifferentiable, he attains purity of mind. At those times when he has a
+pure mind, he always views in all ways his own body to be the same as the
+deity's body, his own speech to be the same as the deity's speech, and his own
+mind to be the same as the deity's mind; then, he is in meditative equipoise."
+* One who is a suitable vessel for the teaching.
+ -- "Deity Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", by His Holiness the Dalai
+ Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+My fellow Americans. As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball, but
+tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward, upward not forward,
+and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom.
+ -- Kodos gives a speech, "Treehouse of Horror VII"
+~
+ Mind is empty like an illusion;
+ Separate from body, it cannot achieve.
+ Body also is like a wall;
+ Separate from mind it is without activity.
+ Similarly the yoga of seals....
+ --Shriparamadhya
+
+ Mind separate from body cannot openly display activities; body separate from
+mind is the same. Rather, actions must be done upon the aggregation of mind
+and body. Just so, here when practicing techniques for transforming basic--or
+ordinary--body, speech, mind, and activities into those of the fruit stage of
+Buddhahood, it is necessary both to cultivate (1) internal meditative
+stabilization on a divine body, on a vajra on a moon disc at the heart, on a
+seed syllable on a vajra in the throat, and on a vajra at the heart, and (2)
+at the same time to construct the appropriate gesture, or seal, with the
+hands. These must be done in unison, for it is said in Yoga Tantra ritual
+texts that if you fail to construct seals with the hands, the rite is
+nullified. Unlike on other occasions, it is not just that if the hand-seals
+are constructed, it is better, but if not, there is no fault of nullifying the
+rite. Here, they must be done.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
+ to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Following the Vajrayana teachings, we do not give up or reject anything;
+rather we make use of whatever is there. We look at our negative emotions and
+accept them for what they are. Then we relax in this state of acceptance.
+Using the emotion itself, it is transformed or transmuted into the positive,
+into its true face.
+ When, for instance, strong anger or desire arises, a Vajrayana practitioner
+is not afraid of it. Instead he or she would follow advice along the
+following lines: Have the courage to expose yourself to your emotions. Do not
+reject or suppress them, but do not follow them either. Just look your
+emotion directly in the eye and then try to relax within the very emotion
+itself. There is no confrontation involved. You don't do anything.
+Remaining detached, you are neither carried away by emotion nor do you reject
+it as something negative. Then, you can look at your emotions almost casually
+and be rather amused.
+ When our usual habit of magnifying our feelings and our fascination
+resulting from that are gone, there will be no negativity and no fuel. We can
+relax within them. What we are trying to do, therefore, is to skillfully and
+subtly deal with our emotions. This is largely equivalent to the ability of
+exerting discipline.
+ -- Ringu Tulku, "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha", edited and
+ translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Although we did not have the fortune to see Buddha Shakyamuni himself in
+person, we do have the great fortune of having access to his own precious
+teachings, which is actually superior to seeing him in person. The same is
+the case with masters like Nagarjuna and his immediate disciples. If we make
+the necessary effort, and undertake the practice and study, we can fully enjoy
+a benefit equal to that of having met them in person.
+ ...So visualize in space, in front of you, all the exalted masters,
+including Buddha Shakyamuni, Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, eighty mahasiddhas, the
+Nyingma masters, Atisha, the Kadampa masters, the five great masters of the
+Sakya tradition, the lineages of Lamdre practice, the great masters of the
+Kagyu lineage, such as Marpa, Milarepa, and also the great masters of the
+Gelugpa lineage, Lama Tsongkhapa, and all of their followers.
+ Around you also are the protectors who have taken the oath in the presence
+of Buddha Shakyamuni to safeguard and protect the precious doctrine of Buddha.
+Visualize as well the harmful spirits--actually an embodiment of your own
+delusions--from which you are being protected by the guardians. Also
+visualize various emanations of the buddhas actively working for the benefit
+of all living beings. Surrounding you are all sentient beings...undergoing
+the sufferings of their individual realms of existence. Now generate a strong
+force of compassion directed towards all these sentient beings, particularly
+your enemies.
+ Having created this mental image, question yourself as to how all these
+objects of refuge, the buddhas and the masters of the past, achieved such a
+high state of realization and reached a state where they can provide
+protection to all living beings. You will find that it is because of their
+having made effort in the practice of dharma in general and, in particular,
+the practice of bodhicitta*. Think as follows: "I shall, from today, follow
+in the footsteps of these great masters, and take the initiative of generating
+bodhicitta."
+ * The aspiration to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all beings.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves.
+ -- Gandhi
+~
+I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire
+to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
+ -- E.B. White
+~
+ The question then is "How do we cultivate and develop this bodhicitta, the
+mind of enlightenment?" The key, and the root, is great compassion.
+Compassion here refers to a state of mind that makes it utterly unbearable for
+us to see the suffering of other sentient beings. The way to develop this is
+through understanding how we feel about our own suffering. When we become
+conscious of our own suffering, we have a spontaneous wish to be free from it.
+If we are able to extend that feeling to all other beings, through realizing
+the common instinctive desire we all have to avoid and overcome suffering,
+then that state of mind is called 'great compassion'.
+ All of us have the potential to develop that kind of compassion, because
+whenever we see people who are suffering, especially those close to us, we
+immediately feel empathy towards them, and witness a spontaneous response
+within our minds. So all we have to do is to bring that potential out, and
+then to develop it to become so impartial that it can include all sentient
+beings within its embrace, whether friend or foe.
+ To cultivate this great compassion within ourselves, first of all we need to
+develop what is called loving-kindness, a feeling of connectedness or
+closeness with all living creatures. This closeness and intimacy should not
+be confused with the kind of feeling we normally have toward our loved ones,
+which is tainted by attachment...ego and selfishness. On the contrary, we are
+seeking to develop a feeling of closeness towards other sentient beings, and
+affection for them, by reflecting on the fact that suffering is inherent in
+their very nature, on the helplessness of their situation, and on the
+instinctive desire they all have to overcome suffering.
+ The greater the force of our loving kindness towards other beings, the
+greater the force of our compassion. And the greater the force of our
+compassion, the easier it will be for us to develop a sense of responsibility
+for taking upon ourselves the task of working for others. The greater that
+sense of responsibility, the more successful we will be in generating
+bodhicitta, the genuine altruistic aspiration to attain buddhahood for the
+benefit of all.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
+ Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword by
+ Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ Understanding the power of the path provides the inspiration that keeps us
+going forward; exploring its pain provides the understanding of what holds us
+back. It doesn't take long to discover the power, nor to feel the pain.
+Waking up hurts. And if we don't understand why, we will run from the pain
+and abandon the path. There are countless people who have become spiritual
+dropouts, or who are lost in detours because they have not understood
+hardship.
+ When your arm falls asleep, it prickles and burns as it returns to life.
+Frozen fingers sting when they thaw; we jolt awake when the alarm clock rings.
+But physical instances of anesthesia are mild compared to the anesthesia born
+of ignorance, and so is the level of discomfort upon awakening. The longer
+something has been asleep, the more painful it is to wake it up. If your
+fingers are merely cold, it is easy to warm them up. But if your fingers are
+frozen solid, it hurts like hell when they thaw. According to the traditions,
+unless one is already a buddha, an "awakened one," one has been snoring from
+beginningless time, and it can really hurt before we completely wake up.
+Mingyur Rinpoche writes,
+ "I'd like to say that everything got better once I was safely settled among
+the other participants in the three-year retreat.... On the contrary,
+however, my first year in retreat was one of the worst in my life. All the
+symptoms of anxiety I'd ever experienced--physical tension, tightness in the
+throat, dizziness, and waves of panic--attacked in full force. In Western
+terms, I was having a nervous breakdown. In hindsight, I can say that what I
+was actually going through was what I like to call a 'nervous breakthrough'."
+ -- Dr. Andrew Holecek, "The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual
+ Hardship into Joy", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Through our eyes the universe is perceiving itself, and through our ears the
+universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witness through which the
+universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.
+ -- McMurdo Station Forklift Driver paraphrasing Alan Watts
+~
+ As human beings we are deeply insecure and we do not know who we truly are.
+Of course this problem does not show on the surface of our lives. We are
+always telling ourselves who we are, based on this notion that we are separate
+from everything else. This sense that "I am separate" is the ground of our
+sense of self. It is reinforced by various false identities that we cling to,
+notions that "I am this" or "I am that." Whatever beliefs we have about
+ourselves are just another extension. Most of the time when we look around,
+we immediately see that our surroundings are validating these false
+identities. For this very reason, it is a challenging endeavor to deconstruct
+this illusion of self.
+ Every time we look into our mirror we might have some thought about
+ourselves. Each of these thoughts adds up. They become the conceptual bricks
+we use to keep building this illusory castle of self. Yet, there is a
+suspicion that this notion of self might be very fragile and transient, and
+this thought is silently lurking somewhere in our consciousness. Most of the
+time this suspicion is not brought into the light of awareness, but if it is,
+some deep, inner wisdom will arise without choice.
+ Our suspicion of the fragility of this false notion of self can go in one of
+two directions. In general it becomes a source of fear, anxiety, and
+insecurity. We often see people who are fearful and overly defensive when it
+comes to their own identity. We ourselves tend to become fearful if our
+identity is threatened. But at other times the suspicion can go another way.
+When that happens, it can be a life-changing revelation that can lead us to
+the realization of the highest level of truth. This idea is not some new,
+lofty theory. It is timeless wisdom that has been realized by many people in
+human history. Buddha taught this wisdom, and in his tradition it is called
+anatman or "no self." Anatman, or "no self," is the term used to mean that one
+has seen through this false sense of self. One has seen that this false sense
+of self is merely an identification with one's roles in life. It is just a
+mask, not the truth.
+ -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem", edited by Sharon Roe, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ It is common worldly knowledge that by believing untrue information to be
+true we fall into confusion and are harmed. Similarly, by believing phenomena
+to be inherently existent when in fact they are not inherently existent, we
+are also harmed. For example, with respect to the different ways in which
+there can be a consciousness of 'I', there is a definite difference between
+the way the 'I' is apprehended when desire, hatred, pride and so forth are
+generated based on this 'I', and the way the 'I' is apprehended when we are
+relaxed without any of those attitudes being manifest.
+ Similarly, there is the mere consciousness that apprehends an article in a
+store before we buy it, and there is the consciousness apprehending that
+article after it has been bought, when it is adhered to as 'mine' and grasped
+with attachment. Both these consciousnesses have the same object, and in both
+cases the mode of appearance of the article is the appearance of it as
+inherently existent. However, there is the difference of the presence or
+absence of our adhering to it as inherently or independently existent.
+ ...a consciousness conceiving inherent existence precedes any bad
+consciousness, leading it on by the nose, and also accompanies, or aids, many
+other bad consciousnesses as well. Thus, if there were no ignorance
+conceiving inherent existence, then there would be no chance for desire,
+hatred and so forth to be generated.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
+ Jeffrey Hopkins, with Anne Klein, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Avoid Sidetracks
+
+ As practitioners we will face many obstacles and sidetracks on our path to
+liberation, and these will provide us with many challenges along the way. We
+shouldn't allow our practice to become interrupted due to these obstacles and
+sidetracks, such as the appearance and disappearance of the many friends we
+will have over the course of our lives.
+ We also shouldn't allow our practice to become interrupted by a change in
+the availability or quality of food and shelter. And we shouldn't allow our
+practice to become interrupted by the obstacles and sidetracks presented by
+the many distractions of mind that are readily available in the mundane world
+of our external environment. We shouldn't allow our practice to be
+interrupted by obstacles and sidetracks that arise due to the desire and
+attachment we feel for loved ones, or our aversion to enemies, or our
+indifference towards others. Finally, we should not allow our practice to
+become interrupted by our desire to accumulate wealth, or by our attachment to
+our material possessions. Only an advanced practitioner, motivated by deep
+bodhichitta, can get through these obstacles and avoid these sidetracks to
+reach their goal of liberation from samsara.
+ -- Lama Dudjom Dorjee, "Heartfelt Advice", published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ Cultivating an aspiration to help other sentient beings becomes a cause for
+wanting to achieve Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. These are
+the two levels of the awakening mind of bodhichitta.
+ Such a mind cannot be cultivated in a mere few months or years, but this
+does not mean it cannot be cultivated at all. If you continue your practice
+to cultivate bodhichitta, a time will come when you will be successful. For
+example, in the initial stage you may not even understand the meaning of the
+word bodhichitta. You might wonder how you could ever cultivate such a mind.
+But through repeated practice and familiarity, you will gradually come closer
+to such a mind.
+ It is the nature of conditioned things that they change depending on causes
+and conditions. So it is important to recall the advantages and benefits of
+such a mind and cultivate a strong determination to achieve it. Make ardent
+prayers. Whether you sleep, walk, or sit, you should think: "How good it
+would be if I could cultivate such a mind." Try to cultivate bodhichitta even
+on an aspirational level. If you spend your days in such repeated and
+persistent practice, you can definitely develop it. Make the determination to
+cultivate it even if it will take many aeons. As Shantideva prays in his
+Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life:
+
+ As long as space endures
+ And as long as sentient beings remain,
+ May I too abide
+ To dispel the sufferings of all sentient beings.
+
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
+ translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
+ Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The theory of dependent-arising can be applied everywhere. One benefit of
+applying this theory is that viewing a situation this way gives you a more
+holistic picture, since whatever the situation is--good or bad--it depends on
+causes and conditions. An event is not under its own power but depends on
+many present causes and conditions as well as many past causes and conditions.
+Otherwise, it could not come into being.
+ When you think from this viewpoint, you can see much more of the whole
+picture, and from this wider perspective, you can see the reality of the
+situation, its interdependence. With the help of this relational outlook, the
+action that you take will be realistic.
+ ...Failure to look at the whole picture means realism is lost. The attitude
+that money alone is sufficient leads to unforeseen consequences. Money is
+certainly necessary; for instance, if you thought that religious retreat in
+meditation alone was sufficient, you would not have anything to eat. Many
+factors have to be considered. With awareness of the fuller picture, your
+outlook becomes reasonable, and your actions become practical, and in this way
+favorable results can be achieved.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are",
+ translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
+~
+Fear and Fearlessness.
+
+ Perhaps the first reaction we have to our own suffering is fear. Fear
+arises in us almost automatically when we experience strong emotions or pain.
+We don't have to sit there and generate fear--it just arises. When we
+experience a disturbing emotion such as jealousy we think, "No, I don't want
+this." We would rather not experience it. However, if we examine fear
+closely, we see that it is a thought to which we have been habituating our
+mind for a very long time. We have repeated this thought pattern of fear for
+many years, and from a Buddhist point of view, many lifetimes.
+ In just the same way, when we habituate our minds to being fearless, to
+being brave and open towards our emotions, fearlessness will also arise
+naturally. In order for this to happen, we must train in applying antidotes
+to our thought patterns that are caught up in fear. In this way, we transcend
+fear first through a conceptual process, which later becomes nonconceptual, a
+natural fearlessness. In order to become fearless in this way, we need
+determination and the willingness to face our emotions. With that strong
+determination and courage, fearlessness will arise effortlessly.
+ -- "Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara",
+ trans. by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ There is both a reason and a purpose for cultivating the meditative
+stabilization observing exhalation and inhalation of the breath. The reason
+is mainly to purify impure motivations. What exactly is to be purified? The
+main of these are the three poisons--desire, hatred, and obscuration. Even
+though we have these at all times and even though the meditator will still
+retain them, she or he is seeking to suppress their manifest functioning at
+that time. The specific purpose for cleansing impure motivations before
+meditation is to dispel bad motivations connected with this lifetime, such as
+having hatred toward enemies, attachment to friends, and so forth.
+ In terms of the practice I am explaining here, even the thought of a
+religious practitioner of small capacity is included within impure
+motivations; such a person engages in practice mainly for the sake of a good
+future lifetime. Similarly, if on this occasion one has the motivation of a
+religious practitioner of middling capacity--that of only oneself escaping
+from cyclic existence, this is also impure.
+ What is a pure motivation? To take as one's aim the welfare of all sentient
+beings. This is the motivation of a religious practitioner of great capacity.
+Meditators should imagine or manifest their own impure motivation in the form
+of smoke, and with the exhalation of breath should expel all bad motivation.
+When inhaling, they should imagine that all the blessings and good qualities
+of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, in the form of bright light, are inhaled into
+them. This practice is called purification by way of the descent of ambrosia.
+There are many forms of this purification, but the essence of the practice is
+as just indicated.
+ -- Geshe Gedun Lodro, "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving Spiritual
+ Transformation Through Meditation", translated and edited by Jeffrey
+ Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Tsongkhapa pays homage to the "foremost holy lamas," for it is in dependence
+upon a qualified lama that the three principal aspects of the path are
+realized.
+ The high title "lama" alone does not qualify someone as a lama; the good
+qualities associated with the title must also be present. The three words--
+foremost, holy, and lama--set forth the three qualities of a lama.
+ "Foremost" describes a person who has diminished emphasis on this lifetime
+and is primarily concerned with future lifetimes and deeper topics. Such a
+person has a longer perspective than the shortsighted one of those who mainly
+look to the affairs of this life and thus, in relation to common beings whose
+emphasis is mainly on this life, is the foremost, or a leader.
+ "Holy" refers to one who, as a result of developing renunciation for all
+forms of cyclic existence, is not attached to any of its marvels and is
+seeking liberation. A holy person has turned his or her mind away from
+attachment outside to the better things of cyclic existence and focused it
+within.
+ In the word "lama", "la" means high, and "ma" is a negative, which indicates
+that there is none higher; this is a person who has turned away from self-
+cherishing to cherishing others, has turned away from the lower concern for
+personal benefit in order to achieve the higher purpose of attaining benefit
+for others.
+ -- "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", by The
+ Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, edited and translated
+ by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+...beginning with an attitude
+Of love for all living creatures,
+Consider beings, excluding none,
+Suffering in the three bad rebirths,
+Suffering birth, death and so forth.
+
+ The" attitude of love" to which the text refers is the affection which sees
+all living beings as lovable. The stronger our affection the more easily
+compassion arises and the more intense and steadfast it is. Compassion can
+arise without it, but it will not be consistent. Unless we see all living
+beings as near, dear, appealing and beloved, we won't care what happens to
+them. On the contrary, we may even wish more suffering on those we dislike.
+That affection is what a doting mother feels for the apple of her eye, what a
+dog-owner feels for a beloved pet--a warm feeling that makes you want to hug
+and pat and say, "Adorable!"
+ At present our feelings of affection are restricted to those we like and,
+even then, vanish quite quickly if they do something that goes against our
+wishes. It's a tall order to ask us to feel affection toward all living
+beings. It doesn't come naturally, which is why we need to train ourselves to
+see them in a new way.
+ -- "Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment", commentary by Geshe Sonam
+ Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ Why should one work so hard to please people, doing all sorts of things for
+others in order to make them feel happy? If one can't bear one's enemy's
+happiness, then why should one do all sorts of things to make anyone else
+happy?
+ Shantideva explains an inconsistency regarding this issue. He notes that
+when praise is directed toward oneself, when people speak highly of oneself,
+one not only feels happy but also expects others to be happy when they hear
+this praise. However, this is totally inconsistent with one's attitude toward
+others. When people praise others, then not only does one disapprove of
+others' happiness but one's own peace of mind and happiness are destroyed as
+well. So there seems to be an inconsistency when it comes to relating to
+praise directed toward oneself and praise directed toward others.
+ Then, especially for a Bodhisattva practitioner who has dedicated his or her
+life to bringing about joy and happiness in others and leading them to the
+ultimate state of happiness, to be jealous of others' happiness and joy is
+totally inappropriate. In fact, one should feel that if other sentient beings
+of their own accord, from their own efforts, gain any little experience of
+happiness and joy here and there, we should be all the more grateful, because
+without our helping them, they have been able to achieve these joyful
+experiences and happiness.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ What is meant by going for refuge is that you are seeking refuge from some
+fear. All the objects [Buddha, lama, guru, etc.] in front of you are what is
+known as the causal refuge, because they serve as the cause for bringing about
+the resultant refuge within you. You should entrust yourself to these objects
+from the depth of your heart, and you should see the objects as protectors.
+The resultant state of your own future realizations, becoming an arya being
+and attaining buddhahood--which depends on your own actualization of the path-
+-is called the resultant refuge. Someone in difficulty seeking the assistance
+of a high official is analogous to someone seeking refuge in the causal
+refuge.
+ But depending upon others' protection forever is not a courageous way of
+life; therefore, one has to try to achieve a state where one is no longer
+dependent upon such a refuge, and this is likened to taking refuge in the
+resultant buddha, dharma, and sangha. That is the process of taking refuge by
+a person of high faculty and courage. This practice should be done not for
+the sake of oneself alone but rather for the sake of all other sentient
+beings. When you cultivate such an aspiration focused toward the achievement
+of the omniscient state, it is very much like the generation of the
+bodhichitta mind.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the
+ Practice of Guru Yoga", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ Many of the methods of practicing Dharma that are learned during waking can,
+upon development of dream awareness, be applied in the dream condition. In
+fact, one may develop these practices more easily and speedily within the
+Dream State if one has the capacity to dream lucidly. There are even some
+books that say that if a person applies a practice within a dream, the
+practice is nine times more effective than when it is applied during the
+waking hours.
+ The dream condition is unreal. When we discover this for ourselves within
+the dream, the immense power of this realization can eliminate obstacles
+related to conditioned vision. For this reason, dream practice is very
+important for liberating us from habits. We need this powerful assistance in
+particular because the emotional attachments, conditioning, and ego
+enhancement which compose our normal life have been strengthened over our
+many, many years.
+ In a real sense, all the visions that we see in our lifetime are like the
+images of a dream. If we examine them well, the big dream of life and the
+smaller dreams of one night are not very different. If we truly see the
+essential nature of both, we will find that there really is no difference
+between them. If we can finally liberate ourselves from the chains of
+emotions, attachments, and ego by this realization, we have the possibility of
+ultimately becoming enlightened.
+ -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light",
+ ed. & intro. by Michael Katz, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Cultivating Memory and Joyful Effort
+
+ [This] foundational practice is engaged upon awaking in the morning. It
+further cultivates strong intention and also strengthens the capacity to
+remember the events of the night.
+ Begin by reviewing the night. The Tibetan term for this preparation is
+literally "remembering." Did you dream? Were you aware that you were in a
+dream? If you dreamt but did not attain lucidity, you should reflect, "I
+dreamt but did not recognize the dream as a dream. But it was a dream."
+Resolve that next time you enter a dream you will become aware of its true
+nature while still in the dream.
+ If you find it difficult to remember dreams, it can be helpful, throughout
+the day and particularly before sleep, to generate a strong intention to
+remember dreams. You can also record dreams in a notepad or with a tape
+recorder, as this will reinforce the habit of treating your dreams as
+something valuable. The very act of preparing the notebook or recorder at
+night serves to support the intention to recall the dream upon waking. It is
+not difficult for anyone to remember dreams once the intention to do so is
+generated and sustained, even over just a few days.
+ If you did have a lucid dream, feel joy at the accomplishment. Develop
+happiness relative to the practice and resolve to continue to develop the
+lucidity the following night. Keep building intention, using both successes
+and failures as occasions to develop ever stronger intent to accomplish the
+practice. And know that even your intention is a dream.
+ --Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ On some occasions, people faint. Even when your breath temporarily stops,
+during that moment, there is a reduced level of consciousness. Consciousness
+is most reduced late in the course of dying. Even after all physical
+functions cease, we believe that the "I," or "self," still exists. Similarly,
+just at the beginning of life, there must be a subtle form of consciousness to
+account for the emergence of consciousness in the individual.
+ We must explore further the point at which consciousness enters into a
+physical location. At conception, the moment when and the site where
+consciousness interacts with the fertilized egg is something to be discovered,
+although there are some reference to this in the texts.... The Buddhist
+scriptures do deal with it, but I am interested to see what science has to say
+about this. During this period we believe that without the subtle
+consciousness, there would be a life beginning without consciousness. If that
+were the case then no one could ever recollect experiences from their past
+life. It is also in terms of Buddhist beliefs relating to this topic that
+Buddhism expounds its theory of cosmology: how the universe began and how it
+later degenerates.
+ Based on this metaphysical reasoning and other arguments, and based on the
+testimony of individuals who are able to recollect their experiences in past
+lives very vividly, Buddhists make this claim. I am a practitioner, so based
+on my own limited experiences, and the experiences of my friends, I cannot say
+with one hundred percent certainty that there is a subtle consciousness.
+ Scientists don't posit consciousness in the same sense that Buddhists do.
+At the moment of conception, however, there has to be something that prevents
+the sperm and egg from simply rotting, and causes it to grow into a human
+body. When does that occur? Why does that occur?
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
+ the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand,
+ Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion
+Taking the reins is the key to happiness
+~
+ The state of mind of a Buddhist practitioner should be stable, and should
+not be subject to too many conflicting events. Such a person will feel both
+joy and pain, but neither will be too weak or too intense. Stability is
+developed through discipline. The heart and mind become more full of energy,
+more resolute, and therefore less susceptible to being blown about by outside
+events.
+ Deep within the human being abides the wisdom that can support him or her in
+the face of negative situations. In this way, events no longer throw him
+because he is holding the reins. Similarly, when something good happens it is
+also possible to rein it in. Taking the reins is the key to happiness. In
+Tibet we have a saying: "If you are beside yourself with joy, tears are not
+far behind." This shows how relative what we call joy and pain are.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner
+ Peace: The Essential Life and Teachings"
+~
+ From a Buddhist perspective, busying ourselves with worldly activities is a
+form of laziness, because we're lax in self-cultivation. Our lives are so
+busy in modern society: Our appointment books are completely full and we're
+always running here and there. We often complain there isn't enough time for
+the Dharma.
+ However, whenever we have a spare moment, we work overtime or call some
+friends to fill in the gap. We always have time to eat, but we hardly ever
+have time to nourish ourselves spiritually by attending Dharma classes or
+meditating. When the temple has entertainment and free meals, we go; but when
+there is meditation or lessons, we're busy.
+ This hindrance to spiritual progress comes because we're attached to worldly
+pleasures: food, money, reputation, amusement, and friends. The harm comes
+from our inappropriate way of relating to them. Attached, we selfishly
+indulge in them. However, these things in and of themselves aren't bad.
+Through pacifying our afflictions, we can enjoy these things with a good
+motivation--to improve ourselves for the benefit of others.
+ -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ It is important to note that we should make sure that our meditation suits
+our mind. If we feel comfortable doing analytical meditation on the various
+topics in a progressive way, we should go ahead with it. If, on the other
+hand, we find it difficult and it is not compatible with our mind, we should
+meditate on whatever topic we like.
+ If we enjoy meditation on emptiness, we should go ahead with this. If it
+suits us and we derive pleasure from meditating principally on the altruistic
+intention, we can emphasize this. At some point if we find that we cannot
+really get into whatever analytical meditation we have been doing, but doing
+prostrations, chanting mantra, visualizing a meditation deity, or reciting
+aspirational prayers brings peace and pleasure to our mind, we should do that
+practice.
+ -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
+ Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
+ Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Attaining realization is not such a long path once we become able to
+integrate all our movements of energy in our practice, because then every
+action is governed by presence and becomes a step on the path and an
+expression of virtue.
+ Practice is not only sitting in meditation, reciting mantras, or chanting.
+It is the application of practice in daily life that is most difficult,
+working with our energy in every life situation, with every sense perception,
+with every person we meet, whether we want to encounter that person or not.
+ -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of
+ Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet", published by Snow Lion
+~
+When we focus our attention on the passage of breath, we break the usually
+continuous flow of thoughts of attachment, hostility and so forth, whatever
+they might be. This causes such thoughts to subside for the moment. Thus, by
+occupying the mind with our breath, we cleanse it of all positive and negative
+conceptual thoughts and thus remain in a neutral state of mind unspecified as
+either constructive or destructive. This is the meaning of the line in the
+root text, "Thoroughly clean out your state of awareness." This unspecified or
+neutral state of mind, cleaned out of all positive and negative conceptual
+thoughts, is the most conducive one to work with. Because an unspecified
+state of mind like this is unburdened and supple, it is relatively easy to
+generate it into a constructive state.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
+ Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+76.
+ "You may ask: If there is no sentient being, whose is the goal? We grant
+ that desire [for liberation, etc.] is indeed delusive. Still, in order to
+ eradicate suffering, effective delusion, whose result [is understanding of
+ the ultimate] is not prevented."
+ -- Shantideva
+
+Objection:
+ If sentient beings do not exist, who is it that attains the fruition of the
+spiritual path--full awakening? And while on the path, for whom does one
+cultivate compassion?
+
+Response:
+ Sentient beings do exist. It is for them that compassion is felt, and
+compassion is cultivated by existent people. Whatever is designated by
+delusion is to be acknowledged. Due to cultivating compassion while on the
+spiritual path, the fruition of full awakening is attained. Who attains
+awakening? That, too, is to be established conventionally, without [ultimate]
+examination or analysis. In order to pacify the suffering of oneself and
+others, impure appearances that arise due to ignorance are not to be rejected.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom", translated, edited and
+ annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The object of meditation this time is emotion. In other words, we
+specifically focus on the emotions that arise from our feelings of good, bad,
+and indifferent. In the first of the equanimity meditations, we made the
+choice to not follow up these emotions. This time we make the choice to
+meditate on them. We might choose to meditate on sensations and feelings that
+arise in our immediate, present environment. We might also choose to meditate
+on an event or person that sets off strong sensations, feelings, and emotions.
+ Let's say you choose to base your meditation on an event such as a family
+argument. This time you contemplate an aspect of that event and try to
+disentangle the sensations, feelings, and emotions. Sensations are what you
+feel with your body. Feelings assess whether that sensation is nice, nasty,
+or neutral. What emotions arise as a result of those sensations and feelings?
+ As we now know, equanimity means not getting caught in further
+exaggerations: "Oh, I am so bad because this is what I did," "Look how good I
+am," "How could anyone love someone like me?" and so on. In this meditation,
+equanimity means not judging whether we are good or bad people, but just
+noting what happened.
+ -- Chonyi Taylor, "Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from
+ Addictive Patterns", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Everyone tries to remove superficial pain, but there is another class of
+techniques concerned with removing suffering on a deeper level--aiming at a
+minimum to diminish suffering in future lives and, beyond that, even to remove
+all forms of suffering for oneself as well as for all beings. Spiritual
+practice is of this deeper type.
+ These techniques involve an adjustment of attitude; thus, spiritual practice
+basically means to adjust your thought well. In Sanskrit it is called dharma,
+which means "that which holds." This means that by adjusting counterproductive
+attitudes, you are freed from a level of suffering and thus held back from
+that particular suffering. Spiritual practice protects, or holds back,
+yourself and others from misery.
+ From first understanding your own situation in cyclic existence and seeking
+to hold yourself back from suffering, you extend your realization to other
+beings and develop compassion, which means to dedicate yourself to holding
+others back from suffering. It makes practical sense...by concentrating on
+the welfare of others, you yourself will be happier.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well
+ and Dying Consciously", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
+~
+Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me eight
+times, I must be a f**king idiot.
+ -- Jon Stewart, on the last eight presidents vowing to end America's
+ addiction to foreign oil
+~
+A lot of disappointed people have been left standing on the street corner
+waiting for the bus marked "Perfection".
+ -- Donald Kennedy
+~
+ In his closing discussion on loving-kindness, Buddhaghosa asks: "What is the
+proximate cause of loving-kindness?" The answer is the observation of
+lovableness in the person to whom you are attending.
+ Bring to mind right now someone whom you find lovable. It could be a person
+you have a romance with, or a child, or a dear friend, or a great teacher--
+someone to whom your heart would leap like a deer in the forest if this person
+were to walk through the door, someone whose presence is so lovable that a
+gladness arises on seeing him or her. If you can sense that in a dear friend,
+then try to seek out the lovableness of a neutral person. Then, finally, when
+you break down all the barriers, see it in a person who has done you injury.
+ It's a great key if you can seek out something to love, even in the enemy.
+Bear clearly in mind that this does not endorse or embrace evil. The crucial
+point here is to be able to slice through like a very skilled surgeon,
+recognizing vicious behavior that we would love to see annihilated as separate
+from the person who is participating in it. The doctor can be optimistic. A
+cure is possible: the person is not equivalent to the action or the
+disposition. Moreover there is something there that we can hold in affection,
+with warmth. That really seems to be a master key that can break down the
+final barrier and complete the practice.
+ One way of approaching this is to look at the person you hold in contempt,
+and try to find any quality he might share with someone you deeply admire and
+respect. Is there anything at all noble to be seen, anything that would be
+akin to what a truly great spiritual being would display? Focus on that:
+There is something there that you can love. The rest is chaff, that hopefully
+will be blown away quickly, to everyone's benefit. It is as if you could see
+a little ray of light from within, knowing that its source is much deeper than
+the despicable qualities on the outside. That light is what you attend to.
+(p. 112)
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Four Immeasurables: Practices to Open the Heart",
+ edited by Zara Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Question: I have the strong wish to be reborn in any of the realms in a
+position to truly help other sentient beings in that realm. Is it wrong for
+me in these circumstances not to have the strong wish to leave the wheel of
+cyclic existence?
+
+Answer: Your wish to stay in order to help is certainly right. One of
+Shantideva's prayers, roughly translated is, "As long as there is space, I
+will remain with sentient beings, to serve and help them." Therefore, I also
+am trying to practice this. Helping others is the real purpose of life; it
+will bring the most satisfaction. The one action of helping others out of a
+sincere motivation brings two results--satisfaction for yourself and benefit
+to others. It is most beautiful.
+ One might ask whether there is a contradiction between a Bodhisattva's
+developing a determination to leave cyclic existence by viewing it as faulty
+and a Bodhisattva's wishing to remain in cyclic existence in order to help
+others. An answer to this is given in Bhavaviveka's Heart of the Middle Way:
+...because of being under the influence of love and compassion, one is not
+captivated by the idea of retreating into solitary peace and, with an attitude
+of seeking to bring about the welfare of other sentient beings, remains in
+cyclic existence. This attitude is really marvelous. Though you are really
+fed up with cyclic existence, still because of a willingness and a
+determination to serve others, you voluntarily accept to remain.
+ However, as is indicated by the frequently cited example of a lotus that is
+produced from mud but not polluted by it, a Bodhisattva stays in cyclic
+existence but is not affected by its faults. It would indeed be hypocritical
+to claim from one's mouth that one had taken up the practice of a Bodhisattva
+but actually to be happily stuck in cyclic existence with great attachment.
+(p. 91)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard:
+ Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey
+ Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Sutras, tantras, esoteric instructions, and experiences teach
+ The vital point of deathlessness, awakening without meditating:
+ How this body of karma fully ripening
+ Arises as a naturally pure awareness body.
+ Visualize the fully ripening karmic body as the deity's form
+ And meditate without fixation on it.
+ It is itself inseparable from mind.
+ No essence of mind is established,
+ So where is something that dies?
+ "Death" is just a concept.
+ The hosts of concepts are nonexistent phenomena of samsara and nirvana.
+ -- Mokchokpa
+
+ According to this and other statements, since one's own mind in essence has
+no real existence whatsoever, it was always unborn. Therefore the great
+natural liberation of deathlessness is attained. As for this body of fully
+ripening karma, since it is a conglomeration of inert matter, it is not a
+basis on which to attribute the designations of birth or death. In fact, the
+body even arises as a mere appearance of mind.
+ When one gains confidence in the realization that the mind is unborn and
+undying, then the body appears as the deity's form in mahamudra and one
+becomes bound to basic space without erring into the path of deluded
+appearance. By this kind of instruction one discovers the kaya of union in
+this lifetime. Even just hearing it can cause one to get enlightened in the
+intermediate state as the sambhogakaya of the victors. Of the Five Golden
+Dharmas, it is said to be like the ripened fruit. (p. 248)
+ -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight, Part
+ Four: Esoteric Instructions, A Detailed Presentation of the Process of
+ Meditation in Vajrayana", translated by Sarah Harding, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ Buddhas and Bodhisattvas see clearly that our neglect of others, our self-
+preoccupation and our disregard for the connection between actions and their
+effects are responsible for all our miseries. The feeling that it doesn't
+matter what we do as long as we can get away with it kills our chances of
+liberation and enlightenment. Our selfishness robs us of worldly and
+supramundane good qualities, leaving us naked and empty-handed. It separates
+us from happiness now and in the future and fetters us to suffering.
+ Resolve never again to let yourself be dominated by this mean and selfish
+way of thinking and do everything in your power to combat it. Your happiness
+begins the moment you recognize self-cherishing as your chief foe. There are
+many good reasons why cherishing others makes sense. Shantideva says:
+ The state of Buddhahood is accomplished
+ Equally through living beings and Victorious Ones.
+ What kind of behavior then is it to revere
+ Victorious Ones but not living beings?
+ ...If we truly want to please Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and all those noble
+beings in the world whom we admire and whose sole guiding principles are their
+affection, love and compassion for others, we can do nothing better than to
+cherish living beings. (p. 100)
+ -- "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path", an oral teaching by Geshe
+ Sonam Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+How Purification Works
+
+ During Nyungne [fasting] practice, true purification is possible primarily
+because of the power of Chenrezig's compassion and blessing, as well as our
+faith, devotion, and correct motivation to do the practice. When such causes
+and conditions come together, a result inevitably occurs, and this result is
+understood as the interdependently-arising nature of all phenomena.
+ For the most part, enlightened and unenlightened phenomena all arise due to
+this interdependently-arising nature. As a spiritual practitioner, the basic
+qualities one must bring to the practice are faith, devotion, and a trust in
+the power of the practice and Chenrezig. These qualities stem from our own
+pure nature of mind, a purity that is identical to Chenrezig's heart, that is,
+unceasing love and compassion. When these two things are combined together,
+our devotion and faith and Chenrezig's love and compassion, one could say
+miracles happen; a true purification takes place.
+ It has been said that when one is sitting before the mandala of Chenrezig,
+one should believe that although Chenrezig is not physically visible to us, in
+fact he is really there in front of us. Just as we would be very careful of
+our thoughts and behavior if we were in the presence of a powerful and
+clairvoyant enlightened guru, in the same way we must generate vigilance so
+that we don't act shamefully in front of this great being. If we develop such
+vigilance and noble habit, then our negativities will automatically decrease.
+(p.11)
+ -- Wangchen Rinpoche, "Buddhist Fasting Practice: The Nyungne Method of
+ Thousand-Armed Chenrezig", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Reflect on the basic pattern of our existence. In order to do more than
+just barely survive, we need shelter, food, companions, friends, the esteem of
+others, resources, and so on; these things do not come about from ourselves
+alone but are all dependent on others. Suppose one single person were to live
+alone in a remote and uninhabited place. No matter how strong, healthy, or
+educated this person were, there would be no possibility of his or her leading
+a happy and fulfilling existence.... Can such a person have friends? Acquire
+renown? Can this person become a hero if he or she wishes to become one? I
+think the answer to all these questions is a definite no, for all these
+factors come about only in relation to other fellow humans.
+ When you are young, healthy, and strong, you sometimes can get the feeling
+that you are totally independent and do not need anyone else. But this is an
+illusion. Even at that prime age of your life, simply because your are a
+human being, you need friends, don't you? This is especially true when we
+become old and need to rely more and more on the help of others: this is the
+nature of our lives as human beings.
+ In at least one sense, we can say that other people are really the principal
+source of all our experiences of joy, happiness, and prosperity, and not only
+in terms of our day-to-day dealings with people. We can see that all the
+desirable experiences that we cherish or aspire to attain are dependent upon
+cooperation and interaction with others. It is an obvious fact.
+ Similarly, from the point of view of a Buddhist practitioner, many of the
+high levels of realization that you gain and the progress that you make on
+your spiritual journey are dependent upon cooperation and interaction with
+others. Furthermore, at the stage of complete enlightenment, the
+compassionate activities of a buddha can come about spontaneously only in
+relation to other beings, for those beings are the recipients and
+beneficiaries of those enlightened activities. (p.5)
+ -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
+~
+ The difficulty with a purely materialistic interpretation of life is that,
+in addition to ignoring an entire dimension of the mind, it does not deal
+effectively with the problems of this life. A materialistic mind is an
+unstable mind, for its happiness is built on transient, physical
+circumstances. Mental disease is as high among the affluent as it is among
+the poor, which is a clear indication of the limitations of the approach.
+ Although it is essential to maintain a reasonable material basis on which to
+live, the emphasis in one's life should be on cultivating the mental and
+spiritual causes of happiness. The human mind is very powerful and our
+worldly needs are not so great that they must demand all of our attention,
+especially in light of the fact that materialistic success solves so few of
+the many challenges and problems that confront men and women throughout their
+lives, and it does nothing for them at death.
+ On the other hand, if one cultivates spiritual qualities such as mental
+harmony, humility, non-attachment, patience, love, compassion, wisdom and so
+forth, then one becomes equipped with a strength and intelligence able to deal
+effectively with the problems of this life; and because the wealth one is
+amassing is mental rather than material, it will not have to be left behind at
+death. There is no need to enter the after-death state empty-handed. (31)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
+ by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The bardo* of this life does not last forever. We know that, like a guest
+in a hotel, our mind is only temporarily sheltered in this body. As we face
+the challenges of this life and the impending challenges of the bardos to
+come, how does engaging in the three-stage process of study, contemplation and
+meditation help us? By applying ourselves to these three, we acquire the
+skills to stabilize our mind and we develop actual insight into how our mind
+functions. First we gain an understanding of the nature of mind; then, we
+experience that nature; and finally, we arrive at the ultimate benefit, which
+is fully realizing that nature.
+ When we practice these stages of the path, it is like accumulating the exact
+things we will need to take with us on our trip. When we are ready to pack
+our suitcase, we will have what we need without looking further. We will not
+have to go out at the last minute and buy a map or a guidebook. We will not
+have to worry about whether we are forgetting something crucial.
+ We have knowledge and experience that has blossomed into realization;
+therefore we can handle any situation. We have confidence in ourselves, in
+the teachings, and the guidance of our lineage teachers. At this point, we
+can let go of all our doubt and hesitation. We can simply relax and be who we
+are, wherever we are. (p.58)
+ * in-between state, interval
+ -- The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ The thoughts that in this year and month
+ I will put right all my tasks and plans
+ And then start a perfect dharma practice
+ Is in fact the devil which brings all downfalls.
+
+ The lack of death awareness prevents one from undertaking the practice of
+dharma. This is very true: If one is not aware of the eventuality of death,
+one will be totally concerned and preoccupied with the affairs of this
+lifetime alone, and with actions that are just for the benefit of this
+lifetime. Such ventures may take all one's time and energy, but no matter how
+important they appear to be, since they are directly related to this lifetime
+alone, their benefits are limited--once one leaves the present body, their
+benefit ends. Even though one might have a best friend, when one has to leave
+the body, one cannot take the friend along.
+ ...Think that after twenty or thirty years even the Dalai Lama will also be
+no more. While I am alive, there will be people who are, from the depths of
+their hearts, prepared to give their lives for my sake, but on the day when I
+have to leave, I cannot take even one among them with me. Neither will I be
+able to take any of my possessions, even the body which I have always
+preserved and protected. This also will be left behind. At that time of my
+death, what will benefit is only the positive seeds that are imprinted upon my
+consciousness. No other factors will help at that time. (p.106)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ At the beginning of the process of deity meditation and mantra repetition
+one meditates on emptiness, settling the non-inherent existence of oneself and
+the deity through a reasoning such as that of dependent-arising--the fact that
+both oneself and the deity arise in dependence on their respective bases of
+designation. One's own final nature and the final nature of the deity are the
+same, an emptiness of inherent existence.
+ To perform deity yoga one does not just withdraw ordinary appearances and
+then appear as a deity but causes the mind realising emptiness itself to
+appear as a deity. Thus, it is essential initially to meditate on emptiness,
+cleansing all appearances in emptiness. One then uses that wisdom
+consciousness realising emptiness as the basis of emanation of a divine body.
+This must be done at least in imitation of a consciousness actually doing
+this, for meditation on a truly existent divine body, instead of helping, will
+only increase adherence to inherent existence. Meditated properly, the
+appearance of a divine figure is the sport of the ultimate mind of
+enlightenment, first in imitation and later in fact. (p.39)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity
+ Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ If one could attain the state of perfect buddhahood that is free from all
+faults, that sees directly all aspects of the qualities to be cultivated and
+faults overcome in the quest for enlightenment, and that is physically adorned
+with the marks and signs of perfection, the mere perception of which is
+beneficial, then one would be beyond the distinction of feeling attraction or
+aversion toward the infinite sentient beings. One would regard all beings
+with an equal compassion, and would have the ability to really benefit them.
+Think, "I should make every effort to attain this all-beneficial state."
+ In brief, the motivation should be, "For the ultimate benefit of the
+sentient beings, who are as infinite as the sky is vast, I must attain the
+state of a peerless, perfect, pure buddha." This is the aspirational aspect of
+the bodhimind.
+ -- Glenn Mullin, "The Practice of Kalachakra", foreword by H.H. the Dalai
+ Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+After suffering severe puncture wounds without shooting any goop on my
+opponent, I realized I was simply outgunned. Never bring caulk to a
+nailgun fight.
+ -- Stephanie S. Thompson
+~
+My cat Elea added a trick to her repertoire this morning.
+I sleep in a bit on the weekend, and both cats protest by
+visiting the bed every few minutes until I get up.
+Elea, being toothless, is afflicted with a mean case of drool when
+she's hungry. So this morning I got a "drool shower" since she
+sat next to my face and shook her head vigorously,
+flinging drool everywhere (especially onto my face).
+I know this wasn't just a fluke because a few minutes later
+she came back and did it again.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+On Arcadia Asylum, pioneering creator in Second Life...
+ "Nope, she can't log into Arcadia, Aley Arai, nor Lora Lemon. She's great
+ at building, but she doesn't think she should have to pay the Lindens for
+ anything, so she doesn't, and they get mad about that and close her
+ accounts. :D"
+~
+The important thing is the obvious thing nobody is saying.
+ -- William S. Burroughs
+~
+ Our fundamental nature--what we term 'the buddha nature', the very nature of
+our mind, is inherently present within us as a natural attribute. This mind
+of ours, the subject at hand, has been going on throughout beginningless time,
+and so has the more subtle nature of that mind. On the basis of the
+continuity of that subtle nature of our mind rests the capacity we have to
+attain enlightenment. This potential is what we call 'the seed of
+buddhahood', 'buddha nature', 'the fundamental nature', or 'tathagatagarbha'.
+ We all have this buddha nature, each and every one of us. For example, this
+beautiful statue of Lord Buddha here, in the presence of which we are now
+sitting, is a representation that honours someone who attained buddhahood. He
+awakened into that state of enlightenment because his nature was the buddha
+nature. Ours is as well, and just as the Buddha attained enlightenment in the
+past, so in the future we can become buddhas too.
+ ...In any case, there dwells within us all this potential which allows us to
+awaken into buddhahood and attain omniscience. The empowerment process draws
+that potential out, and allows it to express itself more fully. When an
+empowerment is conferred on you, it is the nature of your mind--the buddha
+nature--that provides a basis upon which the empowerment can ripen you.
+Through the empowerment, you are empowered into the essence of the buddhas of
+the five families. In particular, you are 'ripened' within that particular
+family through which it is your personal predisposition to attain buddhahood.
+(p.29)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
+Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword by
+Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+For achieving calm abiding... your mind must have two qualities:
+ -great clarity of both the object and the consciousness itself
+ -staying one-pointedly on the object of observation.
+ Two factors prevent these from developing--laxity and excitement. Laxity
+prevents the development of clarity, and excitement prevents the stability of
+staying with the object.
+ That which interferes with the steadiness of the object of observation and
+causes it to fluctuate is excitement, which includes any scattering of the
+mind to an object other than the object of meditation. To stop that, withdraw
+your mind more strongly inside so that the intensity of the mode of
+apprehension of the object begins to lower. If you need a further technique
+to withdraw the mind, it helps to leave the object of meditation temporarily
+and think about something that makes you more sober, such as the imminence of
+death. Such reflections can cause your heightened mode of apprehension of the
+object, the mind's being too tight, to lower or loosen somewhat, whereby you
+are better able to stay on the object of observation.
+ It is not sufficient just to have stability; clarity is also needed. That
+which prevents clarity is laxity, which is a case of the mind's becoming too
+relaxed, too loose, lacking intensity--the tautness of the mind having become
+weak, caused by over-withdrawal inside. Heaviness of mind and body can lead
+to becoming lax, which can lead to a type of lethargy in which, losing the
+object of observation, you have as if fallen into darkness; this can lead even
+to sleep. When this begins to occur, it is necessary to raise, to heighten,
+this excessive declination of the mind by making it more taut, more tight. To
+accomplish this, it helps to brighten the object of meditation or, if that
+does not work, to leave the object of meditation temporarily and think on
+something that makes you joyous, such as the wonderful opportunity that a
+human lifetime affords for spiritual practice. If that does not work, you can
+even leave off meditating and go to a high place or where there is a vast
+view. Such techniques cause your deflated mind to heighten, to sharpen.
+ While holding the object of observation with mindfulness, investigate with
+introspection from time to time to see whether the mind has come under the
+influence of laxity or excitement and determine the best practice for lowering
+or heightening it. In time, your will develop a sense of the proper level of
+tautness of the mind such that you will be able to catch laxity and excitement
+just before they arise and prevent their arising. (p.50)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
+to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow
+Lion Publications
+~
+The position of the body [during meditation] is very important because the
+channels within the body will follow the external disposition of the body.
+The way the body is placed will set the channels; and the winds, of course,
+flow inside the channels, so if they are properly set, the winds will flow
+properly. Mind follows the wind. To focus the mind properly, the winds must
+also be functioning properly. (p.39)
+ -- Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, "The Practice of Mahamudra", translated
+ by Robert Clark, ed. by Ani K. Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion
+~
+ The real source of my suffering is self-centeredness: my car, my possession,
+my well-being. Without the self-centeredness, the suffering would not arise.
+What would happen instead? It is important to imagine this fully and to focus
+on examples of your own. Think of some misfortune that makes you want to lash
+out, that gives rise to anger or misery. Then imagine how you might respond
+without suffering. Recognize that we need not experience the misery, let
+alone the anger, resentment, and hostility. The choice is ours.
+ Let's continue with an example. You see that there is a dent in the car.
+What needs to be done? Get the other driver's license number, notify the
+police, contact the insurance agency, deal with all the details. Simply do it
+and accept it. Accept it gladly as a way to strengthen your mind further, to
+develop patience and the armor of forbearance. There is no way to become a
+Buddha and remain a vulnerable wimp.
+ Patience does not suddenly appear as a bonus after full enlightenment. Part
+of the whole process of awakening is to develop greater forbearance and
+equanimity in adversity. Santideva, in the sixth chapter of his Guide to the
+Bodhisattva's Way of Life, eloquently points out that there is no way to
+develop patience without encountering adversity, and patience is indispensable
+for our own growth on the path to awakening. (p.66)
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
+ Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ While the great adept [Tangtong Gyalpo] did not stray from vajralike
+meditative concentration on the peak of glorious Riwoche, the ornamental wheel
+of his inexhaustible enlightened body, speech, and mind manifested in three
+great regions of Kham.
+ At Gyalmorong, a person who had received the Path with the Result at Sakya,
+and who meditated single-mindedly on the Time of the Path during four sessions
+and on the Profound Path Guruyoga, saw the great adept to be Vajradhara, the
+lord of all spiritual families, and made countless prostrations.
+ ...A person who recited a thousand of the heart-mantra of Tara every day,
+declared, "This isn't Avalokiteshvara. It's Tara."
+ Also, a person said, "This is the Great Adept of Iron Bridges. O great
+adept, why do different visual manifestations appear to us?" The great adept
+replied:
+ By bringing the vital winds
+ and mind under control,
+ taking control of how things appear to myself,
+ overwhelming how things appear to others,
+ and positioning magical bodies,
+ I display whatever will tame sentient beings
+ according to their various inclinations.
+ (p.410)
+ -- Cyrus Stearns, "King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge Builder
+ Tangtong Gyalpo", a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion
+~
+ When I was a boy, Ling Rinpochay, who was then my junior tutor, was always
+very stern; he never smiled, not even a little. This bothered me a lot. By
+wondering why he was so humorless, I examined more and more what I was doing
+in my own mind. This helped me develop self-awareness with regard to my
+motivation. By my early twenties when I had matured, Ling Rinpochay
+completely changed; he always had a big smile when we were together.
+ Effective practice of the morality of individual liberation depends upon
+sound, long-term motivation. For example, one should not become a monk or a
+nun to avoid having to work at a worldly job for food and clothing. Also, it
+is not sufficient merely to seek to avoid difficulty in this lifetime. To be
+motivated by such trifling purposes does not help to achieve freedom from
+cyclic existence--the ultimate reason to practice the morality of individual
+liberation.
+ This is confirmed by Buddha's life story. One day Shakyamuni slipped
+outside the palace wall to experience life for himself. For the first time he
+saw a sick person, an old person, and a corpse. Deeply troubled by the
+suffering of sickness, aging, and death, he came to the conclusion that
+worldly life is without substance. Later, inspired by several religious
+practitioners, Buddha became captivated by the possibility of a higher, more
+meaningful, spiritual life. At that point he escaped from the palace, leaving
+his ordinary life behind to pursue that vision.
+ What does this teach us? Like Buddha we need to begin by becoming concerned
+about the suffering of cyclic existence and by turning away from temporary
+distractions. Influenced by this new attitude, we must take up a system of
+morality by renouncing cyclic existence and by taking vows of pure behavior
+through seeking to avoid the ten nonvirtues. (p.29)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
+ Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ Tsong-ka-pa's intention in praising Buddhism is not to insult other
+teachers. Statements of the greatness of Buddhism are made in order to
+develop one-pointedness of mind toward practice, for one who is able to
+practise Buddhism must generate effort to do so. It is necessary for him to
+have confidence in Buddha's teaching from the round orb of his heart.
+ There is a Tibetan saying that one cannot sew with a two-pointed needle or
+achieve aims with a two-pointed mind. Similarly, if a practitioner is
+hesitant, he will not put great force into the practice of any one system.
+Tsong-ka-pa states that Buddhism is the best in order that persons who would
+be helped more through engaging in the Buddhist path than through another
+system might not be diverted to another path. (p.48)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ At the level of conventional truth we all naturally possess both the desire
+and the potential to overcome suffering and to attain happiness. In this
+context, we can reflect upon the Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths
+and the Two Truths, and on the basis of such reflection we gradually develop
+an understanding of how we can gain freedom from suffering and of the
+potential we possess within ourselves for accomplishing such a goal.
+ We can reflect further that: 'Just like me, all other sentient beings
+possess this same desire and potential to be happy and overcome suffering',
+and ask ourselves: 'If I continue to be guided by my own self-centredness and,
+through my single-pointed concern for my own well-being, continue to ignore
+the well-being of others, what will the consequences be?'
+ Then we can reflect: 'From beginningless lifetimes I have harboured this
+self-cherishing attitude and have grasped onto the notion of an intrinsically
+real, enduring self. I have nurtured these two thoughts of self-cherishing
+and self-grasping deep in my heart as if they are twin jewels. But where has
+this way of being led me? By pursuing the dictates of my self-grasping and
+self-centredness, have I actually managed to attain the fulfilment of my self-
+interest? If it were possible, surely by now I should have achieved my goal.
+But I know that this is not the case.'
+ We should then compare ourselves to enlightened beings such as the Buddha
+Shakyamuni who achieved total victory over all defilements and perfected all
+qualities of goodness. We should then ask ourselves: 'How did the Buddha
+accomplish this?' Through contemplation we will come to recognise that, at a
+certain point in his existence, the Buddha reversed the normal way of thinking
+and being. In the place of self-cherishing he cultivated the thought of
+cherishing the well-being of other sentient beings, and in place of self-
+grasping he cultivated the wisdom realising the absence of self-existence. In
+this way he attained full awakening. (p.30)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+In the history of the Nyungne tradition, many practitioners have been able to
+overcome incurable disease through the practice of Nyungne. We could say
+miracles like this literally do take place, although in the Buddhist
+understanding, overcoming great obstacles and disease would be considered
+blessings. A miracle is something else. It is the enlightened power that is
+demonstrated by enlightened masters. A true miracle in the Buddhist sense
+would be like the miracle of Milarepa entering into a little horn while his
+student, Rechungpa, sees him in his usual size yet he is inside the horn. Or
+like the miracle of Milarepa sitting on a lake and people seeing that he
+hasn't become any larger nor has the lake shrunk in size, yet he is completely
+covering it. These are real, enlightened miracles.(p.13)
+ -- Wangchen Rinpoche, "Buddhist Fasting Practice: The Nyungne Method of
+ Thousand-Armed Chenrezig", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ [In listening to teachings one] of the defects is to listen in a way that is
+like a container with holes. This means that even though we are listening to
+the teachings, we do not retain their contents. In this case we lack
+mindfulness and memory. Practice of Dharma means that we should be able to
+benefit from what we have heard. It is not a pastime, like listening to a
+story. The teachings give us guidance on how to live meaningful lives and how
+to develop proper attitudes. So in order to benefit from the teachings, we
+must retain them with mindfulness.
+ In all kinds of learning processes, listening, reading, etc., we must pay
+full attention and should endeavor to remember their contents. When our
+interest is halfhearted, we only remember half the points, and we retain them
+for only a short time. We should reflect and think about whatever we have
+heard, over and over again. In this way, the knowledge will stay in our mind
+for a long time. Another technique for remembering instructions is debate as
+it is practiced in the traditional debating schools. (p.22)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
+ translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
+ Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ We are duped by maya. The whole display of our senses has tricked us into
+believing it and thus seduces us into the world of suffering. And the
+illusionist is that old trickster, one's own mind. But when this illusory
+nature is recognized to be just that, one is released from the bondage of the
+magic show, at which time it becomes a wonderful spectacle, even a display of
+the unimpeded creativity and freedom of mind. Then maya itself is both the
+medium for this realization and the expression of it.
+ This conscious and intentional method of relating to all phenomena as
+illusion is thus cast in a totally positive light on the spiritual path, a
+complete turn-around from the original negative valuation of it as deceit.
+Now illusion is seen as illumination and opportunity. The nature of our
+relationship with it is the salient point, rather than its own nature, which
+certainly does not exist anyway, in any way.
+ Aryadeva says:
+ Since everything is an illusory display,
+ it is possible to attain enlightenment.
+ The transformation of the maya concept from something to escape to something
+to engage may be loosely correlated with the shift of emphasis on
+understanding emptiness that emerged in the mahayana teachings. A further
+development may be seen in the vajrayana teachings with the esoteric
+instruction known as Illusory Body (sgyu lus). This occurs as one of the Six
+Dharmas of Niguma and in other configurations of completion stage practices in
+many lineages. (p.40)
+ -- Sarah Harding, "Niguma, Lady of Illusion", a Tsadra Foundation Series
+ book, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Afflictions are classed as peripheral mental factors and are not themselves
+any of the six main minds [eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mental
+consciousnesses]. However, when any of the afflicting mental factors becomes
+manifest, a main mind [a mental consciousness] comes under its influence, goes
+wherever the affliction leads it, and 'accumulates' a bad action.
+ There are a great many different kinds of afflictions, but the chief of them
+are desire, hatred, pride, wrong view and so forth. Of these, desire and
+hatred are chief. Because of an initial attachment to oneself, hatred arises
+when something undesirable occurs. Further, through being attached to oneself
+the pride that holds one to be superior arises, and similarly when one has no
+knowledge of something, a wrong view that holds the object of this knowledge
+to be non-existent arises.
+ How do self-attachment and so forth arise in such great force? Because of
+beginningless conditioning, the mind tightly holds to 'I, I' even in dreams,
+and through the power of this conception, self-attachment and so forth occur.
+This false conception of 'I' arises because of one's lack of knowledge
+concerning the mode of existence of things. The fact that all objects are
+empty of inherent existence is obscured and one conceives things to exist
+inherently; the strong conception of 'I' derives from this. Therefore, the
+conception that phenomena inherently exist is the afflicting ignorance that is
+the ultimate root of all afflictions. (p.26)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
+ Jeffrey Hopkins, with Anne Klein, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ With regard to awareness of the present moment, our mind is utterly
+insubstantial and yet has this characteristic of luminosity (Tib. salwa).
+"Luminosity" here simply means the cognitive capacity, the fact that our mind
+can know, experience, feel, and so on. This awareness always occurs in the
+present. When we are not thinking of the past or thinking of the future, when
+we're letting our mind simply rest in the direct experience of the present
+moment, then this awareness or lucidity emerges as an unfabricated
+intelligence.
+ Initially we do this very briefly, for one moment, two moments, and so on,
+but as we work with this, it starts to take on a momentum. However, it's
+important not to interfere with the naturalness of this awareness by
+appraising what is occurring, which means that we shouldn't think, "Well, this
+is happening, that is happening, I'm aware of this, I'm aware of that." Nor
+should we judge what's happening by thinking, "Well, this is good, this is
+what's supposed to be happening," or, "This is bad, this isn't what's supposed
+to be happening."
+ On the other hand, we do need to "plant the watchman of mindfulness and
+alertness," which means that we maintain some intentional awareness of what is
+occurring. Here, mindfulness means a simple, direct recollection of what
+we're trying to do. In other words, mindfulness is recollecting that we are
+trying to rest in a direct experience of the present moment. Alertness then
+is that faculty of mind that becomes aware when we become distracted from this
+present experience. However, this watchfulness or, this watchman, has to be
+very relaxed and gentle. It can't be too heavy-handed, otherwise the whole
+thing becomes a conceptual judgement. The technique of mind is to rest in
+this awareness of the present moment with a gentle watchman of mindfulness and
+alertness. (p.36)
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Pointing Out the Dharmakaya", foreword by
+ the Dalai Lama, introduction by Lama Tashi Namgyal, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet. -- William Gibson
+~
+ Complete spiritual fulfillment requires the ability to act compassionately,
+and that involves making practical distinctions. Therefore, Tsong-kha-pa
+insists upon the clarifying power of analysis that is not ultimate, analysis
+that operates within the constraints and boundaries of conventional fact and
+language so as to illuminate what does and what does not exist, what is and
+what is not helpful.
+ Not all useful analysis need immediately reduce everything to emptiness. In
+other words, we can learn valuable, practical things by analyzing which car is
+good to drive, which action is good to do, which seed is good to plant,
+without at each step interrogating the final ontological status of the car,
+action, or seed.
+ ...A pervasive sense that things are real and solid and exist just as they
+appear is woven right into the fabric of the world as we experience it. While
+tables do exist, we have yet to see them just as they are. Our very
+perception of them--while a valid source of information--is at the same time
+contaminated with a layer of distortion. That distortion is the appearance of
+the table as something that is able to be there on its own power, something
+that exists in and of itself.
+ Thus when we begin to see, or even to suspect, that things lack essence and
+are not at all as we had supposed, we may feel terrified, as though our world
+is coming apart at the seams or evaporating beneath our feet. We calm those
+fears by again remembering that it is not that there is nothing. There is
+dependent arising, just as there has always been. Analysis threatens nothing
+but the false overlay, the distorting superimposition, which has caused us and
+others so much misery. (p.43)
+ -- Guy Newland, "Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-kha-pa's
+ Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path", published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ The play of this divine mind,
+ The union of bliss, the supreme father, and emptiness,
+ Is unlimited and thus beyond concept.
+ -- The Seventh Dalai Lama, Kelsang Gyatso
+
+ Cultivate a state of mind focused on bliss and emptiness as forcefully as
+possible. The wisdom of bliss and emptiness is compared to space, which is
+non-obstructive and expansive. Because offerings are the manifestation of the
+wisdom of bliss and emptiness, these substances are called "offerings of
+Samantabhadra (All-Good)."
+ Generally speaking, a bodhisattva named Samantabhadra is renowned for his
+elaborate offerings to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. But here the term all-
+good (samantabhadra) refers most appropriately to the wisdom of bliss and
+emptiness. It is all-good from the viewpoint of emptiness and also from the
+viewpoint of bliss. This emptiness is the ultimate truth and also the
+ultimate virtue. And the wisdom of great bliss is the clear light wisdom:
+With a feeling of joy, imagine that offerings having such a nature pervade
+entire space. (p.64)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the
+ Practice of Guru Yoga", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ The spiritual path is truly simple. It is simple because it is not about
+acquiring, accumulating, or achieving anything. It is all about giving up
+what we don't need. It's about giving up what isn't useful instead of
+acquiring things with the idea of going somewhere or achieving something.
+That was the old game. That game which we have been playing for a long time
+is like a vicious circle. It has no end.
+ Sometimes the spiritual search itself prevents us from seeing the truth that
+is always one with us. We have to know when to stop the search. There are
+people who die while they are searching for the highest truth with
+philosophical formulas and esoteric techniques. For them spiritual practice
+becomes another egoic plot which simply maintains and feeds delusions.
+Amazing! Buddha, God, truth, the divine, the great mystery, whatever you have
+been searching for, is here right now. (p.37)
+ -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem", edited by Sharon Roe, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Practice of the morality of individual liberation, whether lay or monastic,
+leads to contentment.... Examine your attitudes toward food, clothes, and
+shelter. By reducing expectations you will promote contentment. The extra
+energy which is released should be devoted to meditation and to achieving
+cessation of problems, corresponding to the fourth and third noble truths. In
+this way, contentment is the basis, and the resulting action is called "liking
+meditation and abandonment."
+ We should be contented in material areas, for those are bound by limitation,
+but not with regard to the spiritual, which can be extended limitlessly.
+Though it is true that a discontented person who owned the whole world might
+want to own a tourist center on the moon, that person's life is limited, and
+even the amount that can be owned is limited. It is better right from the
+beginning to be contented.
+ However, with regard to compassion and altruism there is no limit, and thus
+we should not be content with the degree that we have. We are just the
+opposite; in the spiritual field we are content with slight amounts of
+practice and progress, but materially we always want more and more. It should
+be the other way around. Everyone needs to practice this, whether lay or
+monastic. (p.67)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
+ Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ If we view the world's religions from the widest possible viewpoint and
+examine their ultimate goal, we find that all of the major world religions,
+whether Christianity or Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism, are dedicated to the
+achievement of permanent human happiness. They are all directed toward that
+goal. All religions emphasize the fact that the true follower must be honest
+and gentle, in other words, that a truly religious person must always strive
+to be a better human being. To this end, the different world religions teach
+different doctrines which will help transform the person. In this regard, all
+religions are the same, there is no conflict. This is something we must
+emphasize. We must consider the question of religious diversity from this
+viewpoint. And when we do, we find no conflict.
+ ...Different kinds of food have different tastes: one may be very hot, one
+may be very sour, and one very sweet. They are opposite tastes, they
+conflict. But whether a dish is concocted to taste sweet, sour, or hot, it is
+nonetheless made in this way so as to taste good. Some people prefer very
+spicy, hot foods with a lot of chili peppers. Many Indians and Tibetans have
+a liking for such dishes. Others are very fond of bland tasting foods. It is
+a wonderful thing to have variety. It is an expression of individuality; it
+is a personal thing. Likewise, the variety of the different world religious
+philosophies is a very useful and beautiful thing. (p.13)
+ -- "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists by the Dalai Lama", edited
+ by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The basic principles and precepts of all true religions are very pure. What
+you see as impure is simply the inability of those who adhere to them. So as
+Buddhists, for instance, if you fail to embrace and internalize the basic
+principles and precepts of the practice, then your mind is always going to be
+overrun by the five mental afflictions. These negative afflictions are
+desire, hatred, jealousy, pride, and ignorance. They are the basic obstacles
+which impede you from making any true progress on the path. It is, in fact,
+the function of the preliminary training to prepare the field of the mind so
+that you are actually able to put to rest the gross delusions and give rise to
+your innermost qualities. This allows you to actualize your true bodhicitta
+nature, the mind which cares about others more than self.
+ Leaving aside the idea of the so-called spiritual path, or religion, if you
+are able to uproot these delusions, the stones and boulders, from the field of
+your mind, then you will become an honorable person, respected in the world,
+with an easier, flexible attitude toward yourself and others. If you are
+able, through your development of wisdom and skillful means, to unite the
+teachings with your life, then true results will be achieved. (p.96)
+ -- Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
+ trans. by B. Alan Wallace and Sangye Khandro, published by Snow Lion
+~
+ What premises or grounds do we have for accepting that mental afflictions
+can be ultimately rooted out and eliminated from our mind? In Buddhist
+thought, we have three principal reasons for believing that this can happen.
+One is that all deluded states of mind, all afflictive emotions and thoughts,
+are essentially distorted in their mode of apprehension, whereas all the
+antidotal factors such as love, compassion, insight, and so on not only are
+undistorted, but they also have grounding in our varied experience and in
+reality.
+ Second, all these antidotal forces also have the quality of being
+strengthened through practice and training. Through constant familiarity, one
+can enhance their capacity and increase their potential limitlessly. So the
+second premise is that as one enhances the capacity of these antidotal forces
+and increases their strength, one is able to correspondingly reduce the
+influences and effects of delusory states of mind.
+ The third premise is that the essential nature of mind is pure; in other
+words, there is the idea that the essential nature of mind is clear light or
+Buddha-nature.
+ So it is on these three premises that Buddhism accepts that delusions, all
+afflictive emotions and thoughts, can be ultimately eliminated through
+practice and meditation. (p.38)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ As we become aware of the working of our mind, we'll find ourselves
+grappling with an inner trickster. Pay attention! The mind in which anger
+arises is also the mind that holds it, hides it, fans it, justifies it, or
+suppresses it. That's why this first step is crucial--before we can
+understand, befriend, tame, and transform our anger, we have to recognize it
+clearly and acknowledge it frankly. This is no small task.
+ Self-awareness is a precondition for understanding and healing our anger.
+If we become aware of the workings of our mind we can discover the means by
+which we create our anger and the key to healing it. If we become aware that
+we are harboring irrational beliefs, ideas with false premises, mistaken
+assumptions or flawed logic, we can examine them and correct them. If we
+discover that we cherish ideas which are not in harmony with the realities of
+life and nature we can learn to relax into existence. If we find that we
+harbor desires, hopes, and expectations which cannot be achieved we have the
+option of letting them go.
+ ...To develop awareness is to take a journey within--into the heart of our
+being. (p.33)
+ -- Ron Leifer, M.D., "Vinegar into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and
+ Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence", published by Snow Lion
+~
+ A kind heart is the essential cause of happiness. Being kind to others is
+the nicest thing we can do for ourselves. When we respect others and are
+considerate of their needs, opinions and wishes, hostility evaporates. It
+takes two people to fight, and if we refuse to be one of them, there is no
+quarrel.
+ ...A kind heart is the root of harmony and mutual respect. It prevents us
+from feeling estranged or fearful of others. It also protects us from
+becoming angry, attached, closed-minded, proud or jealous. When opportunities
+arise to help others we won't lack courage or compassion. If political
+leaders had impartial minds and kind hearts, how different our world would be!
+ As all problems arise from the self-cherishing attitude, it would be wise
+for each of us, as individuals, to exert ourselves to subdue it. World peace
+doesn't come from winning a war, nor can it be legislated. Peace comes
+through each person eliminating his or her own selfishness and developing a
+kind heart...we can each do our part beginning today. The beneficial result
+in our own lives will immediately be evident. (p.76)
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "Open Heart, Clear Mind", foreword by His Holiness
+ the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ In order to have strong consideration for others' happiness and welfare, it
+is necessary to have a special altruistic attitude in which you take upon
+yourself the burden of helping others. In order to generate such an unusual
+attitude, it is necessary to have great compassion, caring about the suffering
+of others and wanting to do something about it. In order to have such a
+strong force of compassion, first you must have a strong sense of love which,
+upon observing suffering sentient beings, wishes that they have happiness--
+finding a pleasantness in everyone and wishing happiness for everyone just as
+a mother does for her sole sweet child.
+ In order to have a sense of closeness and dearness for others, you first
+train in acknowledging their kindness through using as a model a person in
+this lifetime who was very kind to yourself and then extending this sense of
+gratitude to all beings. Since, in general, in this life your mother was the
+closest and offered the most help, the process of meditation begins with
+recognizing all other sentient beings as like your mother. (p.44)
+ -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
+ Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", edited and translated
+ by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ Most people feel cozy enough in samsara. They do not really have the
+genuine aspiration to go beyond samsara; they just want samsara to be a little
+bit better. It is quite interesting that "samsara" became the name of a
+perfume. And it is like that. It seduces us into thinking that it is okay:
+samsara is not so bad; it smells nice! The underlying motivation to go beyond
+samsara is very rare, even for people who go to Dharma centers. There are
+many people who learn to meditate and so forth, but with the underlying motive
+that they hope to make themselves feel better. And if it ends up making them
+feel worse, instead of realizing that this may be a good sign, they think
+there is something wrong with Dharma. We are always looking to make ourselves
+comfortable in the prison house. We might think that if we get the cell wall
+painted a pretty shade of pale green, and put in a few pictures, it won't be a
+prison any more.
+ ...There are two basic reasons we follow a spiritual path and look for
+liberation. One reason is that we want to be free. Let's take the
+traditional example of a burning house: your whole house is on fire, and you
+run out from it. But all your family--your partner, your children, your
+parents, even your pet dog--are all still inside. What are you going to do?
+You don't just say, "Well, I'm out. So too bad. Do your best to get out,
+too." Naturally this leads to the second basic reason for following a
+spiritual path: we will try to pull them out as well. (p.71)
+ -- Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, "Into the Heart of Life", foreword by H.H. the
+ Gyalwang Drukpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form."
+
+ We are empty, or rather the matter of which we are composed is empty. But I
+must emphasize that emptiness does not mean nothingness. Some commentators
+have been mistaken when they have accused Buddhism of being nihilistic. We
+believe that the world in which we live is part of a flux, a stream of events.
+This does not mean it is nothing. Everything depends on everything else.
+Nothing exists on its own. On account of all the influences that come to bear
+upon them, things appear, exist, and disappear, and then reappear again. But
+they never exist independently. Form is therefore empty, by which we mean it
+is not separate and independent. Form depends on a multitude of different
+factors. And emptiness is form because all forms emerge from emptiness, from
+this absence of independent existence. Emptiness exists only to give rise to
+form. (p.341)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner
+ Peace: The Essential Life and Teachings".
+~
+ When we understand the empty nature of our own mind, then the consequences
+of merit and sin will not be realized. In the state of emptiness, there
+exists no objective merit or sin.
+ ...The nature of the mind is like a mirror; merits and sins are like the
+reflections in this mirror; and reflections in no way affect or modify the
+nature of the mirror. When we are in a state of contemplation, we are living
+in the condition of the mirror. At the time when all phenomena are exhausted
+and pass into the nature of reality, then our virtuous and vicious deeds will
+cause no benefit or harm to us. There is no basis for effect--all
+limitations, all frames of reference, all solid ground having been eliminated.
+But if we do not understand the nature of the mind and intrinsic awareness
+through direct personal experience, it will be a very dangerous situation for
+us.
+ Indeed, it is not sufficient merely to understand these teachings
+intellectually; one must first practice and attain realization from this
+practice. Otherwise the virtuous and the vicious acts we commit in this life
+will create and accumulate karma, leading us again inevitably into
+transmigration. From the present time until we realize the ultimate
+exhausting of all phenomena into the nature of reality, our behavior must be
+refined; it must be heedful and scrupulous. Otherwise our view is only so
+much empty intellectual talk. (p.66)
+ -- "Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness", translation and
+ commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds, foreword by Namkhai Norbu, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The attainment of shamata is a serenely stilled state of mind, settled on
+mind itself. Although the attainment of such a meditational state focused on
+mind is the foundation for developing the highest attainments and is, of
+course, very excellent, by itself it is insufficient for reaching those goals.
+ When we achieve a mind focused on mind with the perfect placement of
+absorbed concentration, free from all faults of dullness or flightiness, we
+increasingly experience an element of bliss accompanying our meditation. When
+we experience serene joy, on both a physical and mental level, brought on by
+the force of total absorption of mind on mind, we achieve a meditational state
+that fulfills the definition of shamata.
+ Our ordinary mind is like raw iron ore that needs to be made into a steel
+sword. Progressing through the stages for attaining shamata is like forging
+the iron into steel. All the materials are there at our disposal. But since
+the mind wanders after external objects, then although it is the material for
+attaining shamata, it cannot yet be used as this product. We have to forge
+our mind through a meditational process. It is like putting the iron ore into
+fire.
+ To fashion the steel into a sword, or in this analogy to fashion the mind
+into an instrument that understands voidness, our serenely stilled and settled
+mind needs to come to decisive realization of voidness as its object. Without
+such a weapon of mind, we have no opponent with which to destroy the
+disturbing emotions and attitudes. (p.142)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
+ Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The Yolmo Valley has many different aspects that are beneficial to
+practitioners. Ian Baker writes:
+ Chatral Rinpoche said that specific [places] in Yolmo are conducive to
+particular kinds of practice. Places with waterfalls inspire reflection on
+impermanence. Places with steep cliffs where the rocks are dark and jagged
+are good for meditating on wrathful deities. Places with rolling hills and
+flowering meadows support meditation on peaceful deities....
+ Chatral Rinpoche clarified that the beyul [hidden lands] that Padmasambhava
+established in Tibet are not literal arcadias, but paradises for Buddhist
+practice, with multiple dimensions corresponding to increasingly subtle levels
+of perception. Beyond Yolmo's visible terrain of mountains, streams, and
+forests, he said, lies an inner level, corresponding to the flow of intangible
+energies in the physical body. Deeper still, the subtle elements animating
+the environment merge with the elements present within the practitioner--the
+secret level.
+ Finally, at the beyul's innermost level--yangsang--lies a paradisiacal, or
+unitary dimension revealed through an auspicious conjunction of person, place,
+and time.... Chatral Rinpoche contended that yangsang is not merely a
+metaphor for the enlightened state, but an ever-present, if hidden, reality.
+(p.62)
+ -- Chatral Rinpoche, "Compassionate Action", edited and annotated by Zach
+ Larson, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Distinguishing between constructive and destructive emotions is right there
+to be observed in the moment when a destructive emotion arises--the calmness,
+the tranquillity, the balance of the mind are immediately disrupted. Other
+emotions do not destroy equilibrium or the sense of well-being as soon as they
+arise, but in fact enhance it--so they would be called constructive.
+ Also there are emotions that are aroused by intelligence. For example,
+compassion can be aroused by pondering people who are suffering. When the
+compassion is actually experienced, it is true that the mind is somewhat
+disturbed, but that is more on the surface. Deep down there is a sense of
+confidence, and so on a deeper level there is no disturbance. A consequence
+of such compassion, aroused by intelligent reflection, is that the mind
+becomes calm.
+ The consequences of anger--especially its long-term effects--are that the
+mind is disturbed. Typically, when compassion moves from simply being a
+mental state to behavior, it tends to manifest in ways that are of service to
+others, whereas when anger goes to the point of enactment it generally, of
+course, becomes destructive. Even if it doesn't manifest as violence, if you
+have the capacity to help, you would refrain from helping. That too would be
+a kind of destructive emotion. (p.158)
+ -- "Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them?" A Scientific Dialogue
+ with the Dalai Lama narrated by Daniel Goleman
+~
+I love smiles. That is a fact. How to develop smiles? There are a variety
+of smiles. Some smiles are sarcastic. Some smiles are artificial-diplomatic
+smiles. These smiles do not produce satisfaction, but rather fear or
+suspicion. But a genuine smile gives us hope, freshness. If we want a
+genuine smile, then first we must produce the basis for a smile to come.
+ —- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ Suffering is something very concrete, which everyone knows and wants to
+avoid if possible, and the Buddha therefore began his teaching by talking
+about it in his famous formulation of the Four Noble Truths.
+ The first truth draws our attention to the fact that we suffer, pointing out
+the existence of the basic dissatisfaction inherent in our condition; the
+second truth explains the cause of dissatisfaction, which is the dualistic
+state and the unquenchable thirst (or desire) inherent in it: the subject
+reifies its objects and tries to grasp them by any means, and this thirst (or
+desire) in turn affirms and sustains the illusory existence of the subject as
+an entity separate from the integrated wholeness of the universe.
+ The third truth teaches that suffering will cease if dualism is overcome and
+reintegration achieved, so that we no longer feel separate from the plenitude
+of the universe. Finally, the fourth truth explains that there is a Path that
+leads to the cessation of suffering, which is the one described by the rest of
+the Buddhist teachings.
+ All the various traditions are agreed that this basic problem of suffering
+exists, but they have different methods of dealing with it to bring the
+individual back to the experience of primordial unity. (p.47)
+ -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra,
+ and Dzogchen", compiled and edited by John Shane, published by Snow Lion
+~
+ To disciples of increasing purity, ability, and rarity the Buddha gave more
+private guidance in the subtle mysteries. It appears that such teachings are
+included in the Mahayana sutras. There is no certainty, however, that all of
+the tantras were taught while the historical Buddha was alive. To an
+extremely small number of pure disciples the Buddha could appear today. They
+could encounter Vajradhara, the King of the Tantras, and he could reveal
+tantras and quintessential guidance to them.
+ This is possible even though more than twenty-five hundred years have gone
+by since the historical Buddha passed away. There is no possibility, after
+the Buddha's death, of additions being made to his public discourses. But I
+think that teachings to disciples of pure action do not necessarily have to be
+given during the historical Buddha's lifetime. (pg.44)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom", translated, edited and
+ annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ 30.
+ Since the five perfections without wisdom
+ Cannot bring perfect enlightenment,
+ Along with skillful means cultivate the wisdom
+ Which does not conceive the three spheres [as real]
+ This is the practice of Bodhisattvas.
+ -- Gyelsay Togmay Sangpo
+
+ Practice of the five perfections without the understanding of reality
+remains contaminated, and though it may yield boundless happiness, it doesn't
+lead to omniscience. Love and compassion without the understanding of reality
+cannot help us to escape from worldly existence.
+ On the other hand, we may easily remain trapped in a state of personal peace
+if we have understood reality but lack enough love and compassion. It is
+therefore the practice of Bodhisattvas to combine the two--skillful means and
+wisdom. Which of us can say we don't want to possess knowledge, kindness and
+pure conduct? Our text is a manual of instruction on how to gain these
+qualities and become a fully developed human being. (p.70)
+ -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas",
+ translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ "The Buddhas have already achieved all their own goals, but remain in the
+cycle of existence for as long as there are sentient beings. This is because
+they possess great compassion. They also do not enter the immensely blissful
+abode of nirvana like the Hearers. Considering the interests of sentient
+beings first, they abandon the peaceful abode of nirvana as if it were a
+burning iron house. Therefore, great compassion alone is the unavoidable
+cause of the non-abiding nirvana of the Buddha."
+ -- Kamalashila
+
+ Compassion's importance cannot be overemphasized. Chandrakirti paid rich
+tribute to compassion, saying that it was essential in the initial,
+intermediate, and final stages of the path to enlightenment.
+ Initially, the awakening mind of bodhichitta is generated with compassion as
+the root, or basis. Practice of the six perfections and so forth is essential
+if a Bodhisattva is to attain the final goal.
+ In the intermediate stage, compassion is equally relevant. Even after
+enlightenment, it is compassion that induces the Buddhas not to abide in the
+blissful state of complacent nirvana. It is the motivating force enabling the
+Buddhas to enter non-abiding nirvana and actualize the Truth Body, which
+represents fulfillment of your own purpose, and the Form Body, which
+represents fulfillment of the needs of others. Thus, by the power of
+compassion, Buddhas serve the interests of sentient beings without
+interruption for as long as space exists. This shows that the awakening mind
+of bodhichitta remains crucial even after achieving the final destination.
+(p.44)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, root text by Kamalashila, "Stages of Meditation",
+ translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
+ Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ [During sleep and waking states] there are physiological processes that
+correspond to different mental states, and these are associated with
+subjectively experienced energies in the body.
+ In the waking state, these energies tend to be drawn into a locus in the
+center of the head, at the level of the forehead. In the dreaming stage,
+these energies will be even more drawn to a point in the throat. In the deep
+sleep state, these energies are more drawn into the heart. The location is
+not the physical heart, the organ, but the heart center which is right in the
+center of the chest.
+ Certain events are experienced in meditation that seem to corroborate this
+theory. For example, in meditation, it is possible to bring your awareness
+into the heart cakra, and sometimes when this happens, the person will faint.
+On other occasions, the meditative awareness, finely concentrated, may be
+brought into the area of the navel. And at this juncture, it has been found
+experientially that heat is produced by such concentration. If you look at
+the anatomy of the body, you don't find these cakra points. (p.106)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
+ the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand,
+ Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ When you meditate with concentration, there are three particular experiences
+that arise: bliss, clarity, and nonthought.
+ The experience of meditative bliss is greater than ordinary worldly
+happiness. Sometimes when you are meditating, a feeling of blissfulness
+suddenly arises from the subtle state of your mind and pervades your entire
+body. This bliss is healthy and brings out your inner qualities. Some people
+use drugs to induce blissfulness and visions, but drugs are external supports
+that cannot bring lasting happiness. The bliss experienced in meditation can
+last for many days, according to your ability to meditate. When you
+experience this kind of bliss, on the outside you might look very poor, but
+inside you remain very joyful.
+ The second main experience in meditation is clarity. Sometimes while
+meditating you can suddenly feel that your mind is very clear and bright.
+Even if you are meditating in the dark, you do not feel heavy or tired.
+Sometimes your body feels very light and your mind is very clear, and many
+kinds of reflections appear. Clarity brings great wisdom and the ability to
+read other people's minds, as well as to see your own past and future lives.
+ The third main experience is nonthought, or a state of equanimity without
+distractions. Beginners can also experience this. Nonthought is more settled
+than the experiences of bliss and clarity. If you have thoughts, they
+suddenly dissolve and you can remain continuously in meditation. As your
+ability to meditate develops, your mind becomes more and more settled, so that
+you can meditate for one hour or one week or one month without being
+distracted by thoughts. You simply remain in the natural state for as long as
+you want.
+ Bliss, clarity, and nonthought are the main qualities of concentration.
+However, it is important not to be attached to them or concerned about whether
+they arise or not; one should simply continue to practice. (p.29)
+ -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
+ "The Buddhist Path: A Practical Guide from the Nyingma Tradition of
+ Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The Buddha's teachings can be divided into two main categories: the
+scriptures and realization. A verse states:
+
+ The teachings of the Teacher have two aspects:
+ Scripture and realization presented as they truly are.
+ There is nothing else to do but
+ Sustain them, speak of them, and practice them.
+
+ When we practice listening, reflecting, and meditating, the teachings will
+free us from the heavy darkness of suffering. They are like a never-setting
+sun whose luminous rays reach to the farthest corners of this world. Among
+the eighty-four thousand teachings of the Buddha are those found in Tibet that
+maintain the unity of the sutra and mantra traditions. These teachings are
+like a tree trunk with numerous branches: a variety of lamas hold lineages
+within diverse traditions.
+ ...In showing how to cut through the delusion of duality, these teachings
+open up to every living being the possibility of attaining true mastery over
+the immense and profound gates to the eighty-four thousand teachings. They
+are precious because they make nonconceptual wisdom manifest and bring forth
+the amrita of all-pervading emptiness. Like placing a perfect fruit in the
+palm of our hand, these teachings bring about two kinds of wisdom: the wisdom
+that sees the multitude of all phenomena distinctly and the wisdom that sees
+clearly into their nature.
+ Relying on an appropriate path allows the fruition of practice to manifest.
+This result is possible because buddha nature is found in the mindstream of
+all living beings. (p.160)
+ -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth
+ Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, published by Snow Lion
+~
+ All is neither real nor delusive--
+ Held to be like [a reflection of] the moon on water by the learned.
+ Just this ordinary mind
+ Is called "dharmadhatu" and "Heart of the victors."
+ --Venerable Rangjung Dorje
+
+ ...Thus, seeming reality consists of the adventitious stains that are like
+[mistakenly seeing] a [white] conch as being yellow. Ultimate reality is the
+tathagata heart, which is like the [natural] white of the conch. Except for
+the mere appearances from the perspective of a mistaken [perceiving] subject,
+within the object--the conch--there is nothing white or yellow to be added or
+to be removed. Therefore, the pith instruction is to rest naturally and
+uncontrived.
+ In brief, what are called "samsara" and "nirvana" are set up from the point
+of view of mere seeming appearances, while the nature of both--luminosity free
+from reference points--is called tathagata heart. Consequently, in terms of
+the definitive meaning, mere appearances and their nature cannot be separated,
+just like fire and its heat. For this reason, the mother [sutras] say:
+ "Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form. Emptiness is nothing other than
+form. Form is nothing other than emptiness." (p.165)
+ -- "Gone Beyond: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear
+ Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition", Volume One
+ translated and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, a Tsadra Foundation Series book,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ In the Mahayana 'cause and effect' refer to totally supreme emptiness and
+supreme immutable bliss. The Brief Explication of Initiations (Shekhoddesha)
+[included in the Kalachakra cycle] says:
+
+ That bearing the form of emptiness is the cause,
+ That bearing immutable compassion is the effect.
+ Emptiness and compassion indivisible
+ Are called the mind of enlightenment.
+
+ The indivisibility of these two is a Cause Vehicle in the sense of being the
+means by which one progresses, and it is an Effect Vehicle in the sense of
+being that to which one is progressing. Such a Vajra Vehicle has reference to
+Highest Yoga Tantra and cannot occur in the lower tantras. For the supreme
+immutable bliss can only arise when one has attained the branch of meditative
+stabilisation (in the system of the Kalachakra) and thus the branches of
+mindfulness and those below must be the means of achieving it. The three
+lower tantras do not have all the factors that are included in these causal
+branches. (p.107)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+...one of the things you can learn from history is that men have learned
+to live with machinery at least as well as, and probably a good deal better
+than, they have learned to live with one another.
+ -- E. E. Morison, from "Computers and the World of the Future"
+~
+Everything is perfect in the universe--even your desire to improve it.
+ -- Dr. Wayne Dyer
+~
+On Practice Space
+
+ I encourage you to conduct your own research on the results of practicing in
+various environments. Tibetan yogis are especially attracted to places with
+an enormous amount of open space and distant vistas. I have greatly enjoyed
+meditating in the high desert of the eastern Sierra Nevada range, where the
+views extend to peaks sixty miles away. The ability to direct the attention
+to such distant points gives a very expansive feeling to the intervening
+space.
+ In such a spacious environment, allow your awareness to come out, with your
+eyes open and your gaze resting vacantly in the space in front of you. The
+experience in a vast space is very different from that in a tiny room. Gazing
+up at a clear night sky studded with stars is a wonderful way to experience
+the sheer enormity of space.
+ It is important to distinguish between the contents of a space and the space
+itself. Colors and shapes constitute the contents of visual space. These are
+aspects or representations of ordinary phenomena in the visual field.
+Attending to the space of the mind means attending to that space from which
+all such contents emerge, in which they are present, and into which they
+dissolve; it is the space that lingers in between discrete events. (p.220)
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, "Minding Closely: The Four Applications of Mindfulness",
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ "Through analytical meditation, you come to a point of clarity and decisive
+insight, and at this point it is beneficial to abide in that revelation. Your
+insight will grow gradually like a sprout. Simply be present and settle your
+mind in the absolute nature of reality. Remain in a state of meditative
+equipoise, and do not think of this as a waste of your time. If you think you
+should rather be actively engaged in such practices as circumambulations or
+the stage of generation, it is the time for you to be simply present in
+meditative equipoise. But do not just sit and space out."
+ --Karma Chagme
+
+ In some scholarly discursive meditations in the sutra tradition, one
+continually seeks out the mind, and there is a tradition in which
+investigation is needed. Here, in the tradition of Mahamudra and Atiyoga, it
+is enough to seek and investigate during this phase of Dharma practice, but
+afterwards it is not necessary to continue the search. In the Katok
+tradition, the investigation of the mind is said to takes months, for one
+examines for three days each of the points of the mind's color and shape as
+well as the exterior and the interior of the body. Our tradition does not
+take so long, so it is important for you to seek out the mind without even a
+moment's distraction. (p.100)
+ -- Karma Chagme, "A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on the
+Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga", commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche, trans. by B.
+Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ When the root of duality--dualistic clinging, dualistic perceptions, deluded
+perceptions--is severed, all the leaves, the branches, and even the tree trunk
+of samsara and nirvana naturally wither on their own and topple in their own
+time. Then this great spreading tree of samsara and nirvana, of duality, of
+worldliness, of conditioned being, does not need to be chopped down: it is
+already as if dead. We can relax; done is what had to be done, as the Buddha
+sang.
+ This is the whole point of the Dharma, of spiritual awakening, of
+Buddhahood; this is its ultimate evolution or unfolding. If we aspire to
+experience such an awakening, there is nothing else to do except recognize the
+true nature of our primordial awareness, our own essential being, our own
+birthright, which is within. This is the intrinsic nature of our own heart-
+mind, also known as bodhicitta or bodhi-mind. It is our own being, our own
+nature, this renowned buddha-nature. It is not a Buddha anywhere else. (p.103)
+ -- Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche and Lama Surya Das, "Natural Great Perfection:
+ Dzogchen Teachings and Vajra Songs", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ A common [Tibetan Buddhist] motif is the "Wheel of Life," symbolizing the
+workings of cyclic existence. This is frequently found at the doorway to a
+main assembly hall and serves to remind the inhabitants of the dangers of
+mundane existence. This striking image has a large central circle divided
+into two halves. The top half has three sections, representing the three
+"happy transmigrations"--humans, demi-gods, and gods. The lower half also has
+three sections, indicative of the three bad transmigrations--animals, hungry
+ghosts, and hell beings. A pigeon symbolizes the mental affliction of desire,
+a snake represents hatred, and a pig--symbol of ignorance--holds the tails of
+the first two in its mouth. These three afflictions are the primary factors
+that bind people to cyclic existence, causing them to transmigrate helplessly
+from birth to birth.
+ The theme of cause and effect is further illustrated by twelve sections
+around the rim of the wheel, symbolizing the twelve links of dependent arising
+(a summary of the process of transmigration). The whole wheel is held in the
+jaws of the Lord of Death, indicating that death is inevitable for those who
+are caught up in this cycle. Outside of the wheel are buddhas and
+bodhisattvas, often shown teaching the dharma, which provides an avenue of
+escape for those who are perceptive enough to recognize this and follow their
+instructions. (p.239)
+ -- John Powers, "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+Is Anger Beneficial?
+
+ We generally consider something beneficial if it promotes happiness. But
+when we ask ourselves, "Am I happy when I'm angry?" the answer is undoubtedly
+no. We may feel a surge of physical energy due to physiological reasons, but
+emotionally we feel miserable. Thus, from our own experience, we can see that
+anger does not promote happiness.
+ In addition, we don't communicate well when we're angry. We may speak
+loudly as if the other person were hard of hearing or repeat what we say as if
+he had a bad memory, but this is not communication. Good communication
+involves expressing ourselves in a way that the other person understands. It
+is not simply dumping our feelings on the other. Good communication also
+includes expressing our feelings and thoughts with words, gestures, and
+examples that make sense to the other person. Under the sway of anger,
+however, we neither express ourselves as calmly nor think as clearly as usual.
+ Under the influence of anger, we also say and do things that we later
+regret. Years of trust built with great effort can be quickly damaged by a
+few moments of uncontrolled anger.... If we could tame our anger, such
+painful consequences could be avoided.(p.23)
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "Working with Anger", published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ Why should we want to help our enemies or to give them happiness? Here are
+various useful ideas to consider. One approach is to think that the harm they
+have done us is, in fact, the result of our own past negative actions through
+which we have set ourselves up as a target for their harm. We could also
+consider how those who harm us are totally driven by their disturbing
+emotions.
+ If someone in our family, someone we love dearly, becomes insane and tries
+to harm us, we wouldn't think of taking revenge but would try to help them
+regain a normal state of mind. Living beings, our mothers, are crazed by
+their disturbing emotions. Those who harm us are in particular need of our
+love and compassion. (p.52)
+ -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Bodhisattva Vow", translated and edited by
+ Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ On top of the sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and death, we encounter
+the pains of facing the unpleasant, separating from the pleasant, and not
+finding what we want. The basic problem lies with the type of mind and body
+that we have. Our mind-body complex serves as a basis for present sufferings
+in the form of aging, sickness, and death, and promotes future suffering
+through our usual responses to painful situations.
+ By reflecting on birth and on the nature of mind and body, you will be moved
+from the depths of your heart to seek relief, thinking, "If I could only be
+free from a life driven by afflictive emotions and karma!" Without such
+reflection on pain, your knowledge of your own condition will be limited,
+which itself will put a limit on your compassion. As Tsonghkapa says:
+ "If you do not cultivate a genuine sense of disenchantment with cyclic
+existence--whose nature is a mind-body complex under the sway of afflictive
+emotions and karma--you will have no chance to develop a genuine attitude
+intent on liberation, and there will be no way to develop great compassion for
+beings wandering in cyclic existence. Therefore, it is crucial to reflect on
+your situation." (p.151)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Becoming Enlightened", trans. and ed. by
+ Jeffrey Hopkins, PhD
+~
+ When I was a young boy, Tantra was just a matter of blind faith. At age
+twenty-four I lost my own country, and then after coming to India started
+really reading Tsongkhapa's explanations on emptiness. Then, after moving to
+Dharamsala, I put more effort into the study and practice of the stages of the
+path, emptiness, and Tantra. So it was only in my late twenties after gaining
+some experience of emptiness that deity yoga made sense.
+ One time in the main temple in Dharamsala I was performing the ritual of
+imagining myself as a deity of Highest Yoga Tantra, called Guhyasamaja. My
+mind continuously remained on the recitation of the ritual text, and when the
+words "I myself" came, I completely forgot about my usual self in relation to
+my combination of mind and body: Instead, I had a very clear sense of "I" in
+relation to the new, pure combination of mind and body of Guhyasamaja that I
+was imagining. Since this is the type of self-identification that is at the
+heart of Tantric yoga, the experience confirmed for me that with enough time I
+could definitely achieve the extraordinary, deep states mentioned in the
+scriptures. (p.188)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
+ Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ In Buddhism, one speaks of three different levels of understanding, which
+are sequential--an understanding arrived at through learning and studying, an
+understanding developed as a result of deep reflection and contemplation, and
+an understanding acquired through meditative experience.
+ There is a definite order in the sequence of this three. So on the basis of
+study and learning--which is the first level--we deepen our understanding of a
+given topic by constantly reflecting upon it until we arrive at a point where
+we gain a high degree of certainty or conviction that is firmly grounded in
+reason. At this point, even if others were to contradict our understanding
+and the premises upon which it is based we would not be swayed, because our
+conviction in the truth has arisen through the power of our own critical
+reflection. This is the second level of understanding which, however, is
+still at the level of the intellect.
+ If we pursue this understanding further and deepen it through constant
+contemplation and familiarity with the truth, we reach a point where we feel
+the impact at the emotional level. In other words, our conviction is no
+longer at the level of mere intellect. This is the third level of
+understanding, which is experiential, and this is referred to in the Buddhist
+texts as an understanding derived through meditative experience.... You will
+need to deepen your understanding still further by engaging in regular
+meditation so that you can progress to the third level of understanding.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Shortly after attaining enlightenment under the bodhi tree, the Buddha gave
+a sermon in Varanasi sharing the fruits of his realization. This sermon is
+referred to as the "first turning of the wheel of Dharma." The word Dharma
+here refers to the Buddha's teachings themselves. It was this sermon in which
+the Buddha developed what would become the framework for the entirety of his
+teachings: the four noble truths.
+ These four truths are the truth of suffering, the truth of its origin, the
+truth of the possibility of its cessation, and the truth of the path that
+leads to that cessation. In essence, the four noble truths say that we all
+naturally desire happiness and do not wish to suffer--and that the suffering
+we wish to avoid comes about as a result of a chain of causes and conditions
+begun even before our birth. If we are to pursue our aspiration to gain
+freedom from suffering, we need to clearly understand the causes and
+conditions that give rise to suffering and strive to eliminate them.
+Additionally, we must clearly understand the causes and conditions that give
+rise to happiness as well, and actively practice them. This is the essence of
+the four noble truths.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's
+ Heart of Wisdom Teachings", translated & edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa
+~
+ In Dzogchen, while thoughts are active, rigpa permeates them all, so that
+even at the very moment when powerful thoughts like attachment and aversion
+are arising, there remains a pervasive quality of clear light rigpa.
+Dodrupchen says, "in Dzogchen, since the clear light's natural way of being is
+like the sun and its rays, inseparable, if you are able, through this, to
+bring out the radiance of genuine mind, you will be able to maintain the
+experience of clear light in meditation, without it fluctuating, or coming and
+going."
+ Longchen Rabjam speaks of self-arising wisdom, which is in fact rigpa:
+"Self-arising wisdom is rigpa that is empty, clear and free from all
+elaboration, like an immaculate sphere of crystal. Its very being is such
+that it never explores objects of the senses."
+ This "self-arising wisdom" is rigpa, which in essence is primordially pure.
+Longchenpa describes it as "empty and clear". To call it empty is to refer to
+its essence, primordially pure. To call it clear is to speak of its nature,
+spontaneously present. As such, it is "free from all elaboration", and free
+from the elaborations of adventitious phenomena. So it is like a flawless
+crystal sphere, and truly "its very being is such that it never explores
+objects of the senses". (p.180-5)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ There is an Indian saying: if you are struck by a poisonous arrow, it is
+important first to pull it out, there is no time to ask who shot it, what sort
+of poison it is and so on. First handle the immediate problem, and later we
+can investigate. Similarly, when we encounter human suffering, it is
+important to respond with compassion rather than question the politics of
+those we help. Instead of asking whether their country is enemy or friend, we
+must think, "These are human beings, they are suffering, and they have a right
+to happiness equal to our own."
+ Our attitude towards suffering is very important because it can affect how
+we cope with it when it arises. Our usual attitude consists of an intense
+aversion and intolerance of our own pain and suffering. However, if we can
+transform our attitude, adopt an attitude that allows us greater tolerance of
+it, this can do much to help counteract feelings of mental unhappiness,
+dissatisfaction and discontent. (p.92)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
+ Mary Craig
+~
+ Why should we want to help our enemies or to give them happiness? Here are
+various useful ideas to consider. One approach is to think that the harm they
+have done us is, in fact, the result of our own past negative actions through
+which we have set ourselves up as a target for their harm. We could also
+consider how those who harm us are totally driven by their disturbing
+emotions.
+ If someone in our family, someone we love dearly, becomes insane and tries
+to harm us, we wouldn't think of taking revenge but would try to help them
+regain a normal state of mind. Living beings, our mothers, are crazed by
+their disturbing emotions. Those who harm us are in particular need of our
+love and compassion. (p.52)
+ -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Bodhisattva Vow", translated and edited by
+ Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ If you are totally concerned and preoccupied with the affairs of this
+lifetime, there is a great danger of causing your own downfall. If by such
+concern you were able to achieve the desired happiness, that is okay, but this
+is not the case.
+ We all let ourselves be caught in this web of preoccupation with the
+activities and confusion of this lifetime. Having too much worldly
+involvement ends in confusion. We spend our whole lives thinking that this
+might be better than that, I should do this, or perhaps something else is
+better and I should do that. If you reflect upon the underlying
+dissatisfaction, then you will be able to find that, well, after all, whatever
+they might be, the affairs of this lifetime are not that important, because
+they yield a limited benefit. This does not mean that you should not work for
+your own livelihood, but it does indicate that you should not be preoccupied
+with that alone. (p.107)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Do you understand who the enemy is? You do not need to beat anyone up, and
+you do not need a weapon to kill your enemy. You do not need money to buy a
+weapon. It is all very easy.
+ How is liberation accomplished? The offering of liberation is accomplished
+by abandoning the dualistic mind of discursive thoughts. The sharp weapon of
+primordial wisdom, which completely annihilates the dualistic mind, is the
+means for achieving this separation. This "weapon" has been part of your
+continuum for a long time now. With this weapon you can completely devastate
+the dualistic mind, leaving not even a trace behind, thus liberating the mind
+into the sphere of unborn truth. The enemy will never return. This is called
+great liberation.
+ I must emphasize that primordial wisdom is not something you can buy, get
+from your best friend or have handed to you by a buddha in heaven. It is not
+something that someone else has but you do not. Abandon such concepts.
+Primordial wisdom does not come from an external source. It is simply your
+true nature. It is something that you and everyone else have as the very
+essence of your mind.
+ You should know what your qualities and capabilities are. (p.79)
+ -- Gyatrul Rinpoche, "The Generation Stage in Buddhist Tantra", published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ With regard to ordinary study, except for the fact that there is a limit to
+our lifetime, it is not that you arrive at a point where there is no more room
+in your brain. No matter how much you study, even if you study a hundred
+thousand million words, the mind can still retain them. This indicates that
+the basis of these qualities, consciousness, is stable and continuous.
+ The other day, I made a joke to someone who was asking about the brain. I
+said that if, like a computer, you needed a cell for each moment of memory,
+then as you become more and more educated, your head would have to get bigger
+and bigger!
+ Because of these reasons--that compassion, wisdom, and so forth are
+qualities that depend on the mind, and the mind is stable and continuous--they
+can be developed to a limitless degree.
+ It is from this point of view that it is said that the conception of
+inherent existence can be extinguished. When one removes the conception of
+inherent existence, one thereby also ceases the afflictive emotions generated
+in dependence upon that ignorance. Also, since the ignorance that drives
+contaminated actions has ceased, this class of actions ceases. Once the
+motivator of the action and the actions cease, the results of those actions
+will cease. That is how the third noble truth--true cessation--comes to be.
+(p.103)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at
+ Harvard: Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and
+ edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ "Accumulating merit" can be approached from a psychological perspective that
+lends itself to experiential verification or from a spiritual dimension that
+requires some faith. "Merit" can be understood as "spiritual power" that
+manifests in day-to-day experience. When merit, or spiritual power, is
+strong, there is little resistance to practicing Dharma and practice itself is
+empowered.
+ Tibetans explain that people who make rapid progress in Dharma, gaining one
+insight after another, enter practice already having a lot of merit. By the
+same theory, it is possible to strive diligently and make little progress.
+Tibetans explain this problem as being due to too little merit. Merit is the
+fuel that empowers spiritual practice.
+ How do you accumulate merit? Engaging in virtue of any sort, with your
+mind, your speech, or your body results in merit. Just as merit can be
+accumulated, it can also be dissipated by doing harm. In general, mental
+afflictions dissipate merit. The mental affliction that is like a black hole
+sucking up merit, worse than all the others, is anger. Attachment or sensual
+craving can get you in a lot of trouble, but it doesn't have the debilitating
+impact upon spiritual practice that anger does. Remember the warrior
+metaphor--standing at the gateway of the mind, vigilant, spear ready. The
+spear is for mental afflictions, especially anger. Nip anger in the bud. (p.208)
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point Mind
+ Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ It is necessary to alternate stabilising meditation and analytical
+meditation... by merely cultivating non-conceptuality and non-analysis it is
+impossible to enter into the yoga of signlessness.
+ Even after emptiness has been realised, powerful and repeated analysis is
+needed. Merely to set one's mind on the meaning of emptiness is the mode of
+cultivating calm abiding observing emptiness; in order to cultivate special
+insight it is necessary to analyse again and again. These two modes of
+meditation--stabilising and analytical--are alternated until analysis itself
+induces even greater stablisation, at which point stabilisation and wisdom are
+of equal strength, this being a union of calm abiding and special insight.
+ In Performance as well as in Action Tantra the meditative stabilisation
+which is a union of calm abiding and special insight is used to gain feats for
+the sake of aiding sentient beings and accumulating merit quickly. (p.42)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity
+ Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Seeking a Place of Refuge.
+
+ A spiritual aspirant requires a model, something he or she can look up to as
+an ideal and thus find guidance and inspiration. In Buddhism this is the
+Triple Gem, or the Three Jewels of Refuge: the Buddhas, Dharma and Sangha.
+ When we think of the fully enlightened Buddhas--the beings who have purified
+their minds of all stains and obscurations and who have expanded their wisdom
+to the limits of existence--we feel very attracted and awed; but somehow there
+always seems to be a great distance between the Buddhas and us. Therefore,
+there is the refuge of Sangha, the community of spiritual aspirants, the
+assembly of practitioners dwelling in the various stages of practice and
+attainment.
+ These beings provide us with a perspective on the path. We have to look up
+to the Sangha, but not as far as to the Buddhas. The Sangha make us think,
+"This person is not that far ahead of me. If I just make a bit more
+effort...." They give us confidence for spiritual practice. Sometimes they
+make us feel like we can even race them to enlightenment. These are the
+Sangha of spiritual friends.
+ Thoughts of the Buddhas make us numb with admiration; thoughts of the Sangha
+cause us to jump to it and to apply ourselves with zeal to the spiritual path.
+This path and the methods for traversing it are the third Jewel of Refuge, the
+Dharma. This is the collection of teachings to be practiced and the
+realizations to be attained. (p.97)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
+ by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Suppose there is this religious group building thousands of childcare
+facilities and hospices.... Although these religious workers are doing a lot
+of caring work, there is no wish to enlighten sentient beings. Their aim is
+just to provide food and education. At the same time, imagine there is one
+hermit living somewhere in the mountains of the Himalayas who is doing none of
+this. In fact, within close range of him, there are a lot of babies dying,
+yet outwardly he is doing nothing about it. Inwardly, however, he is actually
+meditating, "May all sentient beings be enlightened!" and he continues to do
+this every day. Purely because of the enlightenment aspect, this person is
+worthier of homage than the first group. Why? Because it is so difficult to
+truly and genuinely wish for the enlightenment of others. It is much easier
+to give people food and educate them.
+ Most of us don't really appreciate this fact. We have never before
+genuinely wished for someone else to achieve enlightenment. Likewise, if
+someone were to come over and say to us: "Here you go, you have a ticket for
+enlightenment. There is only one ticket." I don't think we would even think
+about giving it to someone else! We'd grab it and go for it. Enlightenment
+is such a valuable thing.
+ Actually, enlightenment is much too large a subject, so let's not take that
+as an example. Instead, let's say someone comes along with a potion that
+promises you clairvoyance or omniscience. We would drink it ourselves, not
+even sharing half of it with others!
+ Just think how often we are jealous when someone is a better practitioner.
+How often do we get jealous when someone receives a better or a higher
+teaching than we do? If you have genuine bodhichitta, you should be happy,
+shouldn't you? After all, isn't that what you wished for? Their getting
+enlightenment means your wish is at last coming true. Their receiving higher
+teachings, or becoming better practitioners, means that your aspiration is
+finally being fulfilled! But we don't feel this way, instead we feel jealous
+or envious. Some of us may be so-so Dharma practitioners, so we don't really
+feel jealous or envious, but we still feel left behind. Who cares? If you
+are a genuine bodhisattva, you shouldn't care about these things. (p.123)
+ -- "Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary
+ Practices", compiled, translated, and introduced by Cortland Dahl,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ It is very difficult to help somebody overcome his or her problems when the
+problems are unstructured, when in a certain way this person does not have any
+problems, though deep inside all the problems are there. It is very difficult
+for a human being whose problem is confused, whose ego is ill-defined and
+without foundation, to really purify, clarify, and develop anything.
+ The same principle applies to praying. As long as we have our self, our
+ego, we pray to the Buddha: "Please bless me so that my prayers for the
+benefit of all sentient beings be fulfilled." Otherwise our prayer does not
+follow any line or direction. It would be like going to a big five-star hotel
+with five hundred rooms and not knowing your room number, or taking an
+elevator without knowing which floor to go to--this would be a big problem.
+ This is the reason for calling upon the great compassion of the Buddha and
+asking him to consider our prayers. The reason is not that the Buddha only
+listens to someone who prays to him; rather, without praying to the Buddha we
+are not developed enough to have the condition necessary to receive his
+blessing. Rain might be falling for ten thousand years, yet if our cup is
+upside down it will remain empty. Through praying we open up, we turn our cup
+to let the water get inside. (p.48)
+ -- XII Khentin Tai Situpa Rinpoche, "The Third Karmapa's Mahamudra Prayer",
+ translated and edited by Rosemarie Fuchs, published by Snow Lion Pub
+~
+Catproof is an oxymoron, childproof nearly so. -- unknown
+~
+ In Tibetan there is no word for "emotion."
+ Bearing in mind that the fundamental goal of Buddhist practice is the
+achievement of nirvana, when you study the mind what you're really concerned
+with is what specific mental states impede the accomplishment of that end.
+That's what the six primary states and twenty derivative states (the
+unwholesome mental factors) all have in common. Some are emotions and some
+are not, but it doesn't really matter. What's important is they all share
+that common factor of being impediments.
+ In contrast, modern psychology does not have the aim of nirvana. My
+conjecture, in terms of trying to understand why the West places such a strong
+emphasis on identifying emotion, is that, going back to the Enlightenment,
+even as far back as Aquinas, there is an enormous priority placed on reason
+and intelligence. What can impede reason? Emotion.
+ You have two categories that are set in opposition to each other. The fact
+that there is a specific term for emotion in Western thought does not
+necessarily imply that there was a special emphasis placed on understanding
+the nature of emotion. Perhaps initially the motive for labeling something as
+emotion was to enhance reason by identifying something that is unreasonable,
+something that is irrational. (p.159)
+ -- "Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them? A Scientific Dialogue
+ with the Dalai Lama", narrated by Daniel Goleman, foreword by the Dalai
+ Lama
+~
+The solution of this problem is trivial and is left as an exercise for the reader.
+ -- Standard textbook cookie
+~
+Question:
+ Your Holiness and other teachers tell us to be sincerely joyful about
+others' worldly achievements, happiness, and acquisitions. But if we know
+with certainty that a person has acquired or achieved something through
+unskillful or non-virtuous means, such as lying, stealing, cheating, harming,
+in what manner should that happiness for them be experienced and expressed?
+
+Dalai Lama:
+ One's attitude toward superficial successes that are achieved through wrong
+means of livelihood such as lying, stealing, cheating, and so on, should not
+be the same as for achievements and happiness which are genuine. However,
+here you must bear in mind that if you examine this carefully, you will find
+that although the immediate circumstances that gave rise to a person's joy and
+happiness may be a wrong means of livelihood, that is merely the immediate
+circumstance: the actual cause of that happiness is the individual's merit in
+the past.
+ So one has to see the difference between immediate circumstances and long-
+term causes. One of the characteristics of karmic theory is that there is a
+definite, commensurate relationship between cause and effect. There is no way
+that negative actions or unwholesome deeds can result in joy and happiness.
+Joy and happiness, by definition, are the results or fruits of wholesome
+actions. So, from that point of view, it is possible for us to admire not so
+much the immediate action, but the real causes of joy. (p.119)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ At all times, do not lose courage in your inner awareness; uplift yourself,
+while assuming a humble position in your outer demeanor. Follow the example
+of the life and complete liberation of previous accomplished masters (siddha).
+Do not blame your past karma; instead, be someone who purely and flawlessly
+practices the Dharma. Do not blame temporary negative circumstances; instead,
+be someone who remains steadfast in the face of whatever circumstances may
+arise.
+ In brief, taking your own mind as witness, make your life and practice one,
+and at the time of death, with no thought of anything left undone, do not be
+ashamed of yourself. This itself is the pith instruction of all practices.
+ Eventually, when the time of death arrives, completely give up whatever
+wealth you possess, and do not cling to even one needle. Moreover, at death,
+practitioners of highest faculty will be joyful; practitioners of middling
+faculty will be without apprehension; and practitioners of the lowest faculty
+will have no regrets. When realization's clear light becomes continuous day
+and night, there is no intermediate state (bardo): death is just breaking the
+enclosure of the body.
+ If this is not the case, but if you have confidence that you will be
+liberated in the intermediate state, whatever you have done in preparation for
+death will suffice. Without such confidence, when death arrives, you can send
+your consciousness to whichever pure land you wish and there traverse the
+remaining paths and stages to become enlightened. (p.58)
+ -- "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice", translated by Ron Garry,
+ a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ There are many different forms of bodywork that can purify and heal in the
+context of preparing for tantric practice. Trauma held in the body from early
+experiences is cleared only when we are able to work therapeutically in the
+body. Whether it is body-centered therapy or the various practices of
+acupuncture, osteopathy, homeopathy, and so on, if the practice releases and
+transforms trauma, then it is beneficial as a preliminary to any further
+tantric practice. I often suggest to people I teach that they follow some
+form of body-energy healing in order to further their release of trauma.
+Also, after trauma has been released, it is often extremely useful to then
+explore some form of psychotherapy.
+ We should not assume that the traditional practices will do it all for us.
+It is simply idealistic and naive to think that all our ills can be resolved
+by doing the traditional preliminary practices or, indeed, by classical
+"dharma practice" alone. We should consider a healthy body-mind-life
+relationship as a necessary part of our practice. When we get this balance
+right, we create the basis for a sound dharma practice.
+ The practice of tantra in particular needs this healthy, balanced basis
+because when we work with tantric practices, we stimulate processes in the
+body that are often very powerful. If we have a sound base for practice and
+have a level of emotional and energetic maturity, then the effects of tantra
+can be held and grounded without creating the potential for problems to arise.
+Without a sound relationship to the body, the practice of tantra has no real
+base from which to unfold.(p.53)
+ -- Rob Preece, "Preparing for Tantra: Creating the Psychological Ground
+ for Practice", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+During a visit to America, Winston Churchill was invited to a buffet luncheon
+at which cold fried chicken was served. Returning for a second helping, he
+asked politely, "May I have some breast?" "Mr. Churchill," replied the
+hostess, "in this country we ask for white meat or dark meat." Churchill
+apologized profusely. The following morning, the lady received a magnificent
+orchid from her guest of honor. The accompanying card read: "I would be most
+obliged if you would pin this on your white meat."
+~
+The Three Refuges
+
+ What are the methods for causing one's own mind to become the practices?
+Initially, one should take refuge and think about actions and their effects.
+The refuge is the Three Jewels: Buddha, his Doctrine and the Spiritual
+Community.
+
+ [Buddha] When a sentient being purifies the taints of his own mind as well
+as their latent predispositions, he is free of all defects that act as
+obstructions. Thus, he simultaneously and directly knows all phenomena. Such
+a being is called a Buddha, and he is a teacher of refuge, like a physician.
+
+ [Dharma] The Doctrine jewel is the superior paths--the chief right paths
+which remove the taints as well as their latent predispositions--and the
+absences which are states of having removed what is to be removed. The
+Doctrine is the actual refuge, like medicine.
+
+ [Sangha] The Spiritual Community jewel is all persons, whether lay or
+ordained, who have generated a superior path in their continuum. They are
+friends helping one to achieve refuge, like nurses.
+
+ The three refuges that have been achieved and presently exist in other
+beings' continuums are one's own causal refuge; one relies on a protector just
+as a weak person takes refuge in a stronger person. The three refuges that
+one will attain in the future are one's own effect refuge. One who relies on
+the Three Jewels from the point of view of knowing that he is to attain them,
+must cause them to be generated in his own continuum.(p.35)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
+ Jeffrey Hopkins, with Anne Klein, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Buddhism was extremely helpful to me during the process of my sister's
+lingering death two years ago. She was forty-five years old and had very few
+spiritual aspirations. She was actually fearful and closed to any suggestions
+that she might find comfort in expanding her degree of awareness and
+understanding. At first I was extremely upset by her attitude, but then I
+realized it was not for me to decide what she should or should not do with the
+last few months of her life. I was with her for support and comfort and not
+to force her to view her life in a way which was foreign and threatening to
+her.
+ Enabling a person to accomplish a sense of having lived purposefully and
+with significance is a major goal of caregivers and loved ones. Being able to
+support someone during their dying trajectory, regardless of what they are
+thinking or feeling is probably one of the most valuable services one person
+can offer to another. But, it is difficult to stay close to someone who is
+dying. Not trying to evade an open encounter with the intense psychic pain
+that usually accompanies the recognition of impending death is one of the most
+valuable contributions that a nurse or any other caregiver or loved one can
+make to the patient who wishes to discuss his or her circumstances. Facing
+forthrightly the situation of dying, however, requires feeling comfortable
+with one's own feelings about death and the frailty of being human.
+ Buddhism has taught me that death need not be approached only as a tragedy;
+it is also an event from which a profound understanding can unfold. (p.44)
+ -- "Buddhism through American Women's Eyes", edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Offerings should not be influenced by fluctuations of motivation and they
+should not be procured by devious means--offerings procured through wrong
+means are not good offerings. They should be arranged with proper motivation.
+As explained in the precepts of refuge, you should make offerings of the first
+portion of your food or drink of the day, whether it be food, milk or tea.
+ Offerings should be made of what is edible; it is not helpful to arrange a
+torma that could not be eaten and then to say OM AH HUM, OM AH HUM. If you
+can in reality transform something into delicious food just by reciting OM AH
+HUM three times, then it is alright! On the other hand, if your offerings
+remain as mere tsampa (roasted barley flour) after having repeated OM AH HUM a
+thousand times, it will not help much. The offerings should be the best you
+can afford. At least you can offer the first portion of your daily food, as
+no one can live without food! Our offerings should be something which is
+edible.... [Even] if you make water offerings in a proper manner, you can
+generate great merit.(p.35)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the
+ Practice of Guru Yoga", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ Hundreds of people may be more popular, powerful, and wealthy than we are,
+but from the point of view of the Dharma, no one is more fortunate. We have a
+very precious opportunity to make the best of our lives by working toward the
+attainment of buddhahood. We have obtained this precious human birth and have
+come in contact with the teachings and spiritual friends. All the favorable
+conditions are available--we could not ask for more. Yet this is only for a
+very short period of time. Within this very short time, the best thing we can
+do for ourselves is commit ourselves fully and wholeheartedly to practicing
+the disciplines, which are an essential part of the practice of the teachings.
+ ...The practice of discipline is very profound. In terms of the
+effectiveness of the practice of the Dharma, there is a hundredfold difference
+between someone who follows some level of discipline and someone who does not.
+Whether visualizing a deity, practicing basic meditation, or reciting mantras,
+the benefit is a hundredfold greater when we have the ground of discipline.
+ The teachings of the Buddha say that if we take dust from the footprint of a
+person who embodies discipline and put it on our heads, it is a blessing.
+Even the king of the devas would do that, because of the sacredness of
+discipline. There is a tradition, followed to this day in India, of touching
+the feet of a holy person or touching the doorstep before entering his or her
+door, and then touching our foreheads. This is not merely a cultural
+tradition, but is acknowledging something very profound.(p.73)
+ -- Khenpo Karthar, "Dharma Paths" 2nd Edition, translated by Ngödup Burkhar
+ and Chöjor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ According to the lower schools of Buddhist thought, when a being, like
+Sakyamuni Buddha, attains mahaparinirvana and passes away, he ceases to exist,
+there is no further continuity of consciousness. Therefore, according to the
+Vaibhasika school, for example, after this point there is no more being, no
+more consciousness. Only the name remains. And yet, they believe that this
+being who has now disappeared can influence the course of those who follow him
+due to the virtues that he created in the past.
+ This is not accepted by the higher schools of thought, however, that instead
+believe that there are two kinds of bodies, those that are pure in nature and
+those that are impure. The latter is more gross, whereas a body that has been
+purified is more subtle. Now, for example, when Sakyamuni Buddha gave up his
+body, there still remained the more subtle one. So, according to these
+schools of thought, at the stage of Buddhahood, there are two bodies: a mental
+body and a physical one. I don't know whether the English word "body" is the
+most appropriate one. In Sanskrit, the words used to signify these two bodies
+of the Buddha are dharmakaya and rupakaya. The first is of the nature of
+mind, whereas the latter is material. So when the Buddha passes away, there
+is still this more subtle body, which is of the nature of mind, and since the
+mental continuum is also present, we can say that the personality is still
+there. Even today, the Buddha remains as a living being. I think this is
+better, don't you?(p.91)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
+ edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Blame everything on one thing. It simplifies life incredibly, and yet it
+truly is not simplistic. If we believe from our hearts that all of our
+misfortunes can be attributed to self-centeredness, this must radically
+transform our lives.
+ Do we have reservations? Isn't there some part of the mind that says,
+"Self-centeredness is not such a bad idea. It got me my job, a good salary,
+my house and car. How can this be my enemy?" On the surface self-centeredness
+may seem like an aide who looks after our interests. There is one powerful
+answer to this: insofar as self-centeredness dominates our lives, it brings us
+into conflict with virtually everyone else. Because most people are dominated
+by self-centeredness, their interests are at odds with our own. There is
+bound to be conflict, and conflict gives rise to suffering.
+ Imagine what life would be like without self-centeredness. Would we give
+away all our possessions, waste away from malnutrition, and die prematurely of
+disease? No. This would be a partial lack of self-centeredness combined with
+a large part of stupidity. If we are to serve others effectively, we must
+take care of ourselves. A bodhisattva has no self-centeredness, but there
+have been people in all stations of life, including kings, who are
+bodhisattvas. If we free ourselves of self-centeredness and really concern
+ourselves with the cherishing of others, then our own welfare comes as a kind
+of echo.(p.67)
+ -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
+ Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ When we achieve a mind focused on mind with the perfect placement of
+absorbed concentration, free from all faults of dullness or flightiness, we
+increasingly experience an element of bliss accompanying our meditation. When
+we experience serene joy, on both a physical and mental level, brought on by
+the force of total absorption of mind on mind, we achieve a meditational state
+that fulfills the definition of shamata.
+ Our ordinary mind is like raw iron ore that needs to be made into a steel
+sword. Progressing through the stages for attaining shamata is like forging
+the iron into steel. All the materials are there at our disposal. But since
+the mind wanders after external objects, then although it is the material for
+attaining shamata, it cannot yet be used as this product. We have to forge
+our mind through a meditational process. It is like putting the iron ore into
+fire.
+ To fashion the steel into a sword, or in this analogy to fashion the mind
+into an instrument that understands voidness, our serenely stilled and settled
+mind needs to come to decisive realization of voidness as its object. Without
+such a weapon of mind, we have no opponent with which to destroy the
+disturbing emotions and attitudes.(p.142)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
+ Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Focusing the mind on the object of meditation is like planting a seed for
+the arisal of the realization.... Even in the beginning stages one might
+become impatient, thinking, "I really want to get this done quickly." One
+might think that by exerting more effort, by adding more and more stuff, by
+changing things this way or that way the process can be made to go faster.
+ The good gardener knows that too much water or fertilizer is harmful, not
+helpful. The mature meditator must understand this as well. The Kadampa
+masters of old gave this counsel: First, pay great heed to getting the proper
+causes and conditions together. Next, engage in the practice without
+agitation and without anxiety. Then, with the mind at ease, carry on to the
+end.(p.20)
+ --Gen Lamrimpa, "How to Practice Shamatha Meditation: The Cultivation of
+ Meditative Quiescence", translated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+The Need for Reasoning
+
+ All Buddhist schools agree that the analytical reasoning process which leads
+to an inference (a conceptual realization) derives from basic, shared, direct
+perception. As an example let us consider the following reasoning:
+
+ A plant does not inherently exist because of being a dependent-arising.
+
+ You begin by reflecting on the fact that a plant is a dependent-arising
+because its production depends on certain causes and conditions (such as a
+seed, soil, sunlight, and water), but eventually the reasoning process must be
+supported by direct perception, or it cannot stand. We can see with our eyes
+that plants change; they grow; mature, and finally dry up. In this sense,
+inference is blind, since it must eventually rely on direct perception.
+Inference depends on reasoning, which in turn rests on basic, shared,
+indisputable experience through direct perception. (p.153)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
+ Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ The root of all qualities of the Bodhisattva vehicle is caring for sentient
+beings. We admire and respect the Buddha because he has reached the state
+free of all faults and possessing all good qualities, knows the method to
+reach that state, and teaches it to us. If we do as the Buddha did, by
+meditating on love and compassion for all sentient beings, not harming or
+getting angry with them, we too can become a Buddha.
+ Our enlightenment depends on the Buddhas and on sentient beings, and from
+this point of view, they are equally important to us. Thus when we look at
+any sentient being, we should recognize that she is indispensable to our
+attainment of enlightenment. Our enlightenment comes from cherishing sentient
+beings; it does not come from cherishing only ourselves. Understanding this,
+whenever we encounter people in our lives, it becomes easy to feel, "May this
+person be happy and free from suffering."
+ Caring for sentient beings means freeing them from the suffering of
+unfortunate rebirths and of cyclic existence in general, teaching the Dharma
+to those who want to hear it, providing the means for them to eliminate the
+causes which bring suffering temporarily and ultimately, not harming them, not
+lying to them, not creating discord among them, not speaking harshly to them,
+and so on. Through caring about them now, excellent results will follow, for
+us and for them.(p.179)
+ -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
+ Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
+ Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The term 'karma' literally means 'action', and more specifically refers to
+the process of cause and effect, where the intention of an agent or being is
+involved. So here karma means an intentional act committed or carried out by
+a being who possesses a sentient nature and who is also capable of having a
+sentient experience.
+ ...Buddhist texts state that only a buddha's omniscient mind can penetrate
+the subtlest aspects of the workings of karma, and know at the most
+microscopic level which specific causes and conditions give rise to which
+specific consequences. At our level, we can only recognise that an intimate
+relationship exists between the external elements of the material world and
+the internal elements of our mental world; and, based on that, we can learn to
+detect varying levels of subtlety within our mental and emotional experiences.
+(p.13)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ All attachment and aversion come from what we have mentally created. We
+have made an image and that is our mind as we normally experience it. In
+order to solve this problem in a more profound and permanent way, we have to
+look at our mind and see its true nature. In our innate, unfabricated nature,
+which is the basic state of our mind, there is no problem. We make all our
+problems by creating concepts and all kinds of mental conditioning.
+ Seeing the true nature of mind means experiencing the way the mind is when
+we do not fabricate and contrive anything. We need to look at our mind when
+it is devoid of our creations and free from mental elaborations. If we can
+see this state of mind, there is no grasping, no grasped object, and no
+subject doing the grasping. There is simply perception or seeing, which in
+itself does not cause a problem.
+ When the true nature of mind is seen, there are just appearances without any
+evaluation. One thing arises in the mind and then another thing arises. The
+arising that is pleasant is no better than the one that is unpleasant. They
+are simply different manifestations of the mind. There is no need to grasp
+one and reject the other. Once this is seen clearly, we see the true nature
+of mind. This is something that we need to experience directly. When we see
+the truth, we become liberated from our struggle within the nets of aversion
+and attachment.(p.97)
+ --Ringu Tulku, "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha", edited and
+ translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ In general, most non-Buddhist religions meditate on the deity as being
+outside the physical body. In these cases the deity takes the form of a
+refuge, or of a protector or messenger. Thus do they meditate, and of course
+this is fine. In the Buddhist tradition, however, the deity is not meditated
+on as being outside the physical body. One meditates on the deity as being
+one's own essence expressing itself through oneself arising as the deity. One
+therefore thinks, "I am the deity," and with this conviction one meditates.
+ Why is it justifiable to meditate in this manner? As previously seen, the
+five afflictions are actually self-expressions of the five kinds of primordial
+awareness; thus our own mind is in essence exactly the same as the mind of a
+Buddha. In the philosophical treatises this is sometimes referred to as
+'sugatagarbha' or 'buddha-nature'.
+ Because all beings possess this innately pure buddha-nature, they are pure
+by nature and not at all impure. Being pure by nature it is perfectly
+justified to meditate that you are the deity, because this is exactly how it
+is! (p.95)
+ --Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Everyday Consciousness and Primordial
+ Awareness", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ In day to day life if you lead a good life, honestly, with love, with
+compassion, with less selfishness, then automatically it will lead to
+nirvana....We must implement these good teachings in daily life. Whether you
+believe in God or not does not matter so much; whether you believe in Buddha
+or not does not matter so much; as a Buddhist, whether you believe in
+reincarnation or not does not matter so much. You must lead a good life.
+ And a good life does not mean just good food, good clothes, good shelter.
+These are not sufficient. A good motivation is what is needed: compassion,
+without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy; just understanding that
+others are human brothers and sisters and respecting their rights and human
+dignity. That we humans can help each other is one of our unique human
+capacities. We must share in other peoples' suffering; even if you cannot
+help with money, to show concern, to give moral support and express sympathy
+are themselves valuable. This is what should be the basis of activities;
+whether one calls it religion or not does not matter.... In my simple
+religion, love is the key motivation.(p.20)
+ -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
+ Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", edited and translated by
+ Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion
+~
+ All beings suffer in the same way as we do, and some are even more deeply
+immersed in sorrow. Yet all of these beings wish to experience only happiness
+and to avoid all suffering, frustration, and pain. They wish lasting
+happiness but do not know how to cultivate its causes, and they wish to avoid
+misery but automatically collect only causes of further misery. As Shantideva
+said, "Although seeking happiness, they destroy their own causes of happiness
+as they would an enemy. And although seeking to avoid misery, they treat its
+causes as they would a close friend."
+ Were the countless sentient beings unrelated to us, or were they not to mind
+their sufferings, perhaps there would be no need for us to bother with their
+welfare. In reality, however, all are related to us and not one of them
+wishes to suffer. Over the billions of lifetimes that we have experienced
+since beginningless time, we have known all the living beings again and again.
+Sometimes they have been parents to us, sometimes friends or mates, sometimes
+enemies. Without exception, each of them has been even a mother to us again
+and again, performing all the kindnesses of a mother. How can we be
+indifferent to them?
+ Wishing them to have only happiness and its causes and to be free of
+suffering and its causes, we ourselves should generate a sense of
+responsibility for their well-being. Finally, as only an omniscient
+Enlightened One is effectively able to benefit beings in deep, lasting, and
+ultimate ways, we must quickly attain enlightenment. This is the wishing
+bodhimind, the inner basis of Mahayana practice.(p.136)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
+ by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Recalling our interconnectedness, we begin to recognize our total
+interdependence and that whatever we enjoy in our life comes through others--
+through their efforts, their work, their hardships.
+ It does not necessarily require that others had a specific intention to
+enable us to enjoy the things of our life. If we think of this in terms of
+the obvious examples like food and clothing, we can immediately see the global
+meaning of this contemplation. Our food comes from all over the world and if
+we consider the people and other creatures involved in its production,
+picking, packaging, transportation, and selling so that we can enjoy it, the
+numbers are vast. It is through their labor, their efforts, their struggles
+that we enjoy what we eat. Often their lives are terribly hard, and to feed a
+family they must work for very little--yet we enjoy the fruits of their labor.
+This is something to feel a huge gratitude for.
+ If we begin to look more closely at our Western life, we can see how much we
+are dependent upon people in considerably poorer circumstances all over the
+world for what we consume. What we often don't consider is the impact of this
+consumption on those who produce it. In this meditation, it can be very
+useful to spend some time dwelling upon this so that we really feel the
+profound depth of appreciation for our interdependence upon others for our
+lives. This can counter the tendency to take our good fortune for granted and
+can open up a sense of gratitude for the kindness of those around. If guilt
+arises, it can be used to increase our awareness of the responsibility we have
+globally.
+ Gradually, we may begin to see the complete interdependent nature of our
+relationship with the countless other beings around us. We cannot overlook
+this connectedness to others and the kindness and benefit we have gained
+through them. When we come to feel this deeply, we will be able to hold
+others dear and automatically respond to others with a greater sense of care
+and concern.(p.80)
+ -- Rob Preece, "The Courage to Feel: Buddhist Practices for Opening to
+ Others", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+If you cannot stop worrying over something in the past or what might happen in
+the future, shift your focus to the inhalation and exhalation of your breath.
+Or recite this mantra: om mani padme hum (pronounced "om mani padmay hum").
+Since the mind cannot concentrate on two things simultaneously, either of
+these meditations causes the former worry to fade.(p.133)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
+ Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+When serving society or others in general, it is very important to set a
+proper motivation at the start of each day. When we wake up each morning, we
+reflect, 'Today I am not going to come under the power of either attachment or
+hostility. Today I am going to be of benefit and help to others.' Thus we
+consciously set the tone for the entire day so that we go through it within
+the context of a pure, altruistic motivation and attitude.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, excerpted from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
+ Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ We all have a certain style for doing things--how we drive, how we cook, how
+we dress. Some of us are shy or cautious, others assertive or flamboyant.
+We've refined that style over the years based on how successful it is, but
+it's not usually something of which we're completely aware. As long as it
+gets the job done, as long as we get the appropriate feedback from others, our
+style goes unnoticed, and when questioned we'll say, "That's just the way I
+am."
+ When we begin meditation, it is inevitable that we will meditate with the
+same style with which we do everything else, because it's who we think we are.
+Furthermore, this style has proven to be reasonably successful in our other
+activities. However, in this case, it is not at all appropriate. If there is
+any style, there is a hidden agenda and an implicit judgment of the various
+phenomena of meditation. There is not the true detachment or choiceless
+awareness of real meditation. Our style contains our unacknowledged attitudes
+toward meditation.
+ ...What's the problem in meditating with an attitude? First, a large amount
+of energy goes into maintaining the attitude. To make this clearer, if we are
+trying to be aware of our breathing, 100 percent of our attention should be on
+our breathing. If we're thinking, "I'm a shy person and I'm a little afraid
+of what's going on here," even if we're not consciously aware of that thought,
+it will be taking our energy away from the breathing and keeping it tied up in
+the world of ego. Consequently, this energy is not available for our
+practice. And your evaluation of your practice and progress will be based on
+your agenda rather than on the Buddha's teaching.
+ Of course, no one is a perfect meditator. It's not like we have to wait
+until we have a perfect attitude before we begin. If that were the case, we
+would never start..With time, the purity of your attitude will grow...refining
+one's approach is a lifetime's work and is at the same time the practice
+itself.(p.72)
+ -- Bruce Newman, "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism", published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Developing a sense of good cheer in the face of adversity, you can
+specifically use adversity as the support for refuge and true spiritual
+development. I am discussing how you relate to your suffering, how you relate
+to your adversity, as it affects you in life and on the path.
+ Now, as you know, whenever you are suffering by way of the body, speech, and
+mind, be it physical illness or a mental affliction, this is a very big deal
+to you. Usually it appears as something major. Even if it's minor, you make
+it into some great distress. If you lose a little money or if someone speaks
+nastily to you, it invokes a strong reaction. This is called "appearances
+arising as the enemy." When your habituation to adversity reaches such a
+point that you actually fall prey to appearances arising as the enemy, it
+means that you no longer have patience for suffering.
+ ...If you can't bear the minor aspects of adversity in this, the best
+rebirth in cyclic existence, the precious human rebirth, what will you do when
+you're reborn in the three lower realms? Samsara is so vast, so deep and
+limitless, and the number of sentient beings within samsara are equal to that.
+All of them want to be free; all of them desire liberation. You should
+consider then how unnecessary or pointless it is to think that your small
+problems in this fortunate life are so great, when in fact they really are
+not.
+ Any rebirth in this ocean of cyclic existence will by nature bring this type
+of discontent or suffering. Since you've been in this cycle of rebirths from
+beginningless time until now and you are still not free, it points out the
+fact that help is needed. Refuge is necessary. Adversity then becomes the
+support for training in refuge, which demonstrates that adversity is used to
+your advantage.(p.44)
+ -- Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
+ trans. by B. Alan Wallace and Sangye Khandro, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ The practice of Dharma is to pacify the afflictions and concepts that fill
+our minds. When we blend the teachings with our minds, the power of the
+Dharma can act upon and pacify afflictions and concepts. If on the outside we
+look like Dharma practitioners while on the inside our Dharma practice has not
+diminished our afflictions or concepts, we merely call ourselves practitioners
+without actually being one. This is not to say that outer behavior, our
+reflection in the world, is not important, but what is crucial is to train in
+taming our minds.
+ What we tame are the three main afflictions: ignorance, attachment, and
+aversion. Ignorance, the root of the two others, is defined as the continual
+fixation on our self that we assume to be permanent and independent. This
+ego-clinging is the main cause for our cycling in samsara. We wish to be in
+paradise for our own advantage; we wish to erase all suffering for our own
+advantage. We cling to this "I" of ours, thinking that it is so special that
+we should not be bothered with problems but enjoy wealth, power, and charisma.
+If we honestly look into our minds, it is quite easy to see this kind of
+coarse and obvious grasping to a self.
+ There are also subtle forms of fixating on the self ("I") and what belongs
+to it ("mine"), like the quick thought of ourselves before another one comes.
+When practicing Dharma, we are taming this coarse and subtle clinging to an
+ego. If this does not happen, we will merely be able to suppress the
+afflictions temporarily, distancing ourselves for the time being. To cut
+through them completely, we must steadily apply ourselves to practice.(p.187)
+ -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth
+ Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ "The mantra of the perfection of wisdom--the mantra of great knowledge,
+ the unexcelled mantra, the mantra equal to the unequalled, the mantra
+ that quells all suffering--is true because it is not deceptive."
+ -- The Heart Sutra
+
+ The perfection of wisdom is called "the mantra of great knowledge" because
+thoroughly understanding its meaning eliminates the three poisons of craving,
+hatred, and delusion. It is called the "unexcelled mantra" because there is
+no greater method than the perfection of wisdom for saving one from the
+extremes of cyclic existence and the isolated peace of individual nirvana. It
+is called the mantra "equal to the unequalled" because the Buddha's
+enlightened state is unequalled, and, through the deepest realization of this
+mantra, one attains a state equal to that state. Finally, the perfection of
+wisdom is known as the "mantra that quells all suffering" because it quells
+manifest sufferings and also removes all propensities for future suffering.
+ The perfection of wisdom is the ultimate truth, thus the statement "it is
+true." In the realm of the ultimate truth, there is no disparity, as there is
+in conventional reality, between appearance and reality, and thus this
+manifest ultimate truth is "not deceptive." This nondeceptiveness also
+suggests that, through actualization of this mantra, the perfection of wisdom
+can enable one to attain total freedom from suffering and its causes. From
+this perspective too, we can say that it is the truth.
+ "The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is proclaimed: tadyatha gate gate
+paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha! Shariputra, the bodhisattvas, the great
+beings, should train in the perfection of wisdom in this way."
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart
+ of Wisdom Teachings", translated & edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa
+~
+For as long as space endures
+And for as long as sentient beings remain,
+Until then may I too abide,
+To dispel the misery of the world.
+ -- Shantideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life
+~
+Global Responsibility
+
+ Occasionally I notice that people are making a convenient distinction
+between ethics on the personal level and ethics on the wider social level. To
+me, such attitudes are fundamentally flawed, as they overlook the
+interdependence of our world.
+ That individual ethics--or rather their absence--can have an impact on the
+lives of many is powerfully demonstrated by the global financial crisis that
+began in 2008, the repercussions of which are still being felt around the
+world. It revealed the way unbridled greed on the part of a few can adversely
+affect the lives of millions. So, just as in the wake of the 9/11 attacks we
+started to take the dangers of religious extremism and intolerance seriously,
+so too, in the wake of the financial crisis, should we take the dangers of
+greed and dishonesty seriously. When greed is seen as acceptable, even
+praiseworthy, there is clearly something wrong with our collective value
+system.
+ In this age of globalization, the time has come for us to acknowledge that
+our lives are deeply interconnected and to recognize that our behavior has a
+global dimension. When we do so, we will see that our own interests are best
+served by what is in the best interests of the wider human community. By
+contrast, if we concentrate exclusively on our inner development and neglect
+the wider problems of the world, or if, having recognized these, we are
+apathetic about trying to solve them, then we have overlooked something
+fundamental. Apathy, in my view, is itself a form of selfishness. For our
+approach to ethics to be truly meaningful, we must of course care about the
+world. This is what I mean by the principle of global responsibility, which
+is a key part of my approach to secular ethics.(p.84)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole
+ World", trans. by Thupten Jinpa Langri
+~
+ Speech that is not harmful is the meaning of "right speech." It is wise
+speech. Wise people can still be quite firm and decisive when that is what is
+needed. It means finding generous and productive ways of saying things.
+There are times when we need to be strict, but we do not have to denigrate or
+harm the person or child who is out of line. Firm speech can also be wise
+speech.
+ Wise speech is another tool that can be practiced. We can begin by
+practicing wise speech to ourselves--replacing the inner voice of guilt that
+is putting us down and opening a space to listen to our deeper needs.
+ What can I say which will be helpful to someone? What tone of voice will I
+use? And when is it wise to say nothing? Imagine yourself actually saying
+something helpful and supportive. Imagine the difference it would make in
+your life if you could say just one helpful thing to one person. Imagine your
+life if your speech always came from wisdom.(p.136)
+ -- Chonyi Taylor, "Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from
+ Addictive Patterns", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+The famous nineteenth-century dzogchen master Paltrul Rinpoche explained self-
+liberation concretely and precisely:
+
+ The practitioner of self-liberation is like an ordinary person as far as
+ the way in which the thoughts of pleasure and pain, hope and fear,
+ manifest themselves as creative energy. However, the ordinary person,
+ taking these really seriously and judging them as acceptable or rejecting
+ them, continues to get caught up in situations and becomes conditioned by
+ attachment and aversion.
+
+ Not doing this, a practitioner, when such thoughts arise, experiences
+ freedom: initially, by recognizing the thought for what it is, it is freed
+ just like meeting a previous acquaintance; then it is freed in and of
+ itself, like a snake shedding its skin; and finally, thought is freed in
+ being unable to be of benefit or harm, like a thief entering an empty
+ house.
+
+...Freeing or liberating thought does not mean ignoring, letting go of, being
+indifferent to, observing, or even not having thoughts. It means being
+present in hope and fear, pain and pleasure, not as objects before us, but as
+the radiant clarity of our natural state. Thus anger, for example, when
+experienced dualistically, is an irritation which we may indulge in or reject,
+depending on our conditioning. Either way we are caught up in it and act out
+of it. But when aware of anger as a manifestation of clarity, its energy is a
+very fresh awareness of the particulars of the situation. However, these
+particulars are no longer irritating.(p.77)
+
+ -- Longchenpa, "You Are the Eyes of the World", translated by Kennard Lipman
+ and Merrill Peterson, introduction by Namkhai Norbu, published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+ In this practice one recollects negativity, contemplates its nature,
+generates apprehension of its karmic implications, and resolves to purify
+one's mind of the negative traces. On the basis of this resolve one takes
+refuge, develops the bodhimind and enters the Vajrasattva meditation or
+whatever method is being used. One can also do exercises such as prostrations
+and so forth. This concentration of purifying energies destroys the potency
+of negative karmic imprints like the germ of a barley seed roasted in a fire.
+ Here it is important to begin the meditation session with a contemplative
+meditation and then to transform this into settled meditation for a prolonged
+period of time. One abides in the settled meditation until it begins to lose
+intensity, and then temporarily reverts to contemplative meditation in order
+to invigorate the mind, returning to fixed meditation once a contemplative
+atmosphere has been restored.
+ Generally our mind is habituated to directing all of our energies into
+things that benefit this life alone, things of no spiritual consequence. By
+performing these types of meditations, our natural attachment to the
+meaningless activities of this life subsides and we begin to experience an
+inner appreciation for spiritual values. When spontaneously one's mind
+appreciates spiritual rather than mundane goals one has become an active
+practitioner of initial perspective.(p.117)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
+ by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ When doing lamrim meditations, it is important to know clearly the state of
+mind you want to reach as a conclusion to the meditation. Lamrim texts
+describe the purpose of each meditation, and we want to make sure that our
+mind arrives at that conclusion and not at an incorrect or irrelevant
+conclusion. For example, when meditating on the disadvantages of the self-
+centered thought, our mind may twist that meditation and conclude, "I'm a
+horrible person because I'm so selfish." This is the wrong conclusion to reach
+from that meditation. The Buddha didn't teach the disadvantages of self-
+centeredness so that we would deride ourselves.
+ If you meditate on a lam rim topic and arrive at an incorrect conclusion,
+the meditation hasn't been done correctly. In the above case, thinking, "I'm
+a bad person because I'm so selfish," indicates that we have misunderstood the
+purpose of the meditation and probably have fallen into an old pattern of
+putting ourselves down. Stop and ask yourself,
+ "What conclusion does the Buddha want me to reach from this meditation? He
+wants me to ascertain that the self-centered mind is the actual 'enemy' that
+destroys my happiness. Self-centeredness is not an intrinsic part of me; it
+is not who I am. It's an incorrect, but deeply entrenched, thought that
+creates problems for me. I can free myself from it. Since I want to be
+happy, I will realize this selfish attitude for what it is and will stop
+following it! Instead, I will cultivate love and compassion for all beings."
+ This is the conclusion you want to reach.(p.58)
+ -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the
+ Path", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
+~
+ Greed is a form of desire. However, it is an exaggerated form of desire,
+based on overexpectation. The true antidote of greed is contentment.
+ For a practicing Buddhist, for a Dharma practitioner, many practices can act
+as a kind of counterforce to greed: the realization of the value of seeking
+liberation or freedom from suffering, recognizing the underlying
+unsatisfactory nature of one's existence, and so on. These views also help an
+individual to counteract greed. But in terms of an immediate response to
+greed, one way is to reflect upon the excesses of greed, what it does to one
+as an individual, where it leads. Greed leads one to a feeling of
+frustration, disappointment, a lot of confusion, and a lot of problems.
+ When it comes to dealing with greed, one thing which is quite characteristic
+is that although it arises from the desire to obtain something, it is not
+satisfied by obtaining it. Therefore, it becomes limitless or boundless, and
+that leads to trouble. The interesting thing about greed is that although the
+underlying motive is to seek satisfaction, as I pointed out, even after
+obtaining the object of one's desire, one is still not satisfied. On the
+other hand, if one has a strong sense of contentment, it doesn't matter
+whether one obtains the object or not; either way, one is still content.(p.32)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+We will hereby start scouring the net for people who say git is hard to
+understand and use, and just kill them. They clearly are just polluting
+the gene pool.
+ -- Linus Torvalds
+~
+i got nothin'.
+~
+ What is the Bodhisattva's Way of life? It is the way of life that follows
+naturally from having cultivated the awakening mind of bodhicitta.
+Omniscience is achieved only through the process of purifying the disturbing
+emotions within your mind. It cannot be achieved merely through wishes and
+prayers. We have to train in eliminating all the specific disturbing emotions
+within your mind. We have to train in eliminating all the specific disturbing
+emotions by relying on specific antidotes.
+ All the activities of a Bodhisattva can be included in two major categories:
+the practice of skillful means and the practice of wisdom. If the practices
+of giving, ethics, and so forth are to be perfected, they should be supported
+and influenced by the practice of wisdom. Without the practice of wisdom, the
+first five of the six perfections cannot actually become practices of
+perfection. In order to cultivate such wisdom, you must first cultivate the
+genuine unmistaken philosophical view that is known as the view of the Middle
+Way, or Madhyamika.
+ ...even when you have understood the wisdom realizing emptiness, that alone
+will not become a powerful antidote to ignorance if it is not supported by
+other practices such as giving, ethics, patience, and so forth. Mere
+understanding of selflessness is not sufficient to defeat the disturbing
+emotions.(p.76)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
+ translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
+ Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The many tantras of both the Ancient and New traditions unanimously agree
+that these, and others, are the consequences of violating the pledges.
+
+ Means of Restoration
+ The proclaimers' vows, like a clay pot, once broken cannot be repaired;
+ The awakening mind commitments, like gold or silver, can be restored;
+ 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.
+An awakening mind commitment that has been transgressed is like a cracked gold
+or silver vase which can still be soldered by a blacksmith. A violated vow or
+pledge in this Secret Mantra system is likened to a dented golden vessel,
+which can be straightened out by the practitioner's own strength.
+ Pledges are restored through action, precious substances, earnest desire,
+contemplation, and reality.
+ The Great Cleansing can purify all transgressions.(p.296)
+ -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "Treasury of Knowledge--Book Five: Buddhist
+ Ethics", trans. by the Kalu Rinpoche Translation Group, under the
+ direction of Ven. Bokar Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ How to Become a Receptacle Suitable for Cultivating the Paths.
You are
+made into a vessel suitable for cultivating the path through entering a
+mandala such as that of the Vajra Element, receiving initiation, and receiving
+the pledges and vows.
+ Concerning this, there are two types: those who merely enter a mandala and
+those who enter and receive initiation, of which there are two types. The
+former are those who cannot hold the vows of the five lineages but who hold
+the Bodhisattva vows; only the initiation of a student is granted to them.
+However, to those who can hold both Bodhisattva and mantra vows the full
+initiation of a vajra master is granted.(p.78)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
+ to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Awareness as virtue. Beyond choosing more virtuous forms of speech, you can
+also try to cultivate awareness of the subtle vibration underlying your speech
+and of how your speech manifests from there. Is your voice creating the right
+energy field?
+ In dzogchen the concept of virtuous speech is taken to its highest level.
+For example, the A-Tri system of dzogchen offers a group of successive
+practices in which one learns to maintain awareness while engaging in various
+virtuous, neutral, and nonvirtuous activities.
+ One initially tries to stay present amid virtuous activity such as praying
+or chanting mantras. Once that experience is stabilized, one integrates
+presence with neutral speech, such as conversing casually with a friend about
+cooking or gardening. Finally, one tries to integrate with negative speech
+such as lying, arguing, or giving insults. It is easier if you can establish
+your intent for self-awareness before you get drawn into an angry argument.
+For example, think of how courtroom lawyers argue a case: although they may
+use strong, sharp language, they are never driven by their emotions--every
+word is carefully chosen for its impact and is guided by intent, if not
+awareness.
+ From this perspective "nonvirtuous speech" might be defined as speech that
+is driven and not guided and through which you lose connection with your self.
+In dzogchen practice you aim to arrive at a place where all activity of body,
+speech, and mind becomes an expression of contemplative awareness and an aid
+to spiritual development--therefore virtuous in the truest sense of the word.
+(p.85)
+ -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Tibetan Yogas of Body, Speech, and Mind",
+ edited by Polly Turner, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Bodhisattvas give solely out of concern for others, without a self-
+cherishing attitude. That is the proper way of giving. Courageous
+Bodhisattvas risk even their lives to help others, and so, when we are in
+relatively better, more comfortable situations, we must certainly practice
+giving. Even if they are threatened, the courageous ones will not engage in
+improper actions. Instead, after examining the situation carefully, when they
+find that certain actions are correct and justified, on the basis of reason,
+they engage in them even at the risk of their lives. That is the way of the
+decent, civilized and courageous ones, who do not follow misleading paths.(p.20)
+ -- H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the
+ Dalai Lama XIV on the Jatakamala, Garland of Birth Stories", translated
+ by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by Dexter Roberts
+~
+ Merely understanding the mind is not good enough. Recognizing it as the
+source of happiness and suffering is good, but great results come only from
+looking inward and meditating on the nature of the mind. Once you recognize
+its nature, then you need to meditate with joyful effort. Joyful meditation
+will actualize the true nature of the mind, and maintaining the mind in this
+natural state will bring enlightenment. This type of meditation reveals the
+innermost, profound wisdom that is inherent in the mind.
+ Meditation can transform your body into wisdom light, into what is known as
+the rainbow body of wisdom. Many masters in the history of the Nyingma
+lineage have achieved this, as can anyone who practices these methods of
+meditation. The wisdom aspect of our nature exists at all times in each of
+us. You have always had this nature and it can be revealed through
+meditation. When you maintain the mind in its natural state, wonderful
+qualities shine out like light from the sun. Among these qualities are
+limitless compassion, limitless loving-kindness, and limitless wisdom.
+ -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
+ "The Buddhist Path: A Practical Guide from the Nyingma Tradition of
+ Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ In order for the wisdom of special insight to remove impediments to proper
+understanding, and to remove faulty mental states at their very roots, we need
+concentrated meditation, a state of complete single-mindedness in which all
+internal distractions have been removed.
+ Single-minded meditation involves removing subtle internal distractions such
+as the mind's being either too relaxed or too tight. To do so we must first
+stop external distractions through training in the morality of maintaining
+mindfulness and conscientiousness with regard to physical and verbal
+activities--being constantly aware of what you are doing with your body and
+your speech. Without overcoming these obvious distractions, it is impossible
+to overcome subtler internal distractions. Since it is through sustaining
+mindfulness that you achieve a calm abiding of the mind, the practice of
+morality must precede the practice of concentrated meditation.(p.23)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life",
+ translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ Buddha means one who is fully enlightened. In other words, a buddha has
+fully awakened from the sleep of delusion. He is free from all obscurations,
+both gross and subtle, and has revealed the two intrinsic wisdom awarenesses.
+Buddhahood is the spontaneously established, uncompounded nature that does not
+depend on any other conditions. A buddha has perfect wisdom, has perfectly
+accomplished the nature of compassion, and has every ability to manifest all
+excellent activities.
+ There are many buddhas in the past, present, and future. In fact, there are
+as many buddhas as there are particles of dust. Basically, the term buddha
+refers to anyone whose mind is fully awakened and who is free from all
+suffering and its causes. When we point to Buddha Shakyamuni as a buddha, he
+is an example of this. A buddha has four forms, all of which emanate from the
+dharmakaya:
+ 1. Nirmanakaya is a buddha who has emanated in a physical form. A
+nirmanakaya can emanate anywhere as anything animate or inanimate--as a human
+being, an animal, or even a bridge, if necessary...
+ 2. Sambhogakaya is the expression of the complete, perfect manifestation
+of the Buddha's excellent, infinite qualities, called the enjoyment body--
+splendid and glorious. All the buddhas appear and manifest in the limitless
+buddha fields in this form...
+ 3. Dharmakaya is one's own perfection, fully free from all delusion and
+suffering. It is infinite and transcends all boundaries...
+ 4. Svabhavikakaya is the indivisible nature of the other three forms.(p.165)
+ -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path",
+ edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Boundless joy is the joy you should feel when you see gifted and learned
+beings who are happy, famous or influential. Instead of feeling uneasy and
+envious of their good fortune, rejoice sincerely, thinking, "May they continue
+to be happy and enjoy even more happiness!" Pray too that they may use their
+wealth and power to help others, to serve the Dharma and the Sangha, making
+offerings, building monasteries, propagating the teachings and performing
+other worthwhile deeds. Rejoice and make a wish: "May they never lost all
+their happiness and privileges. May their happiness increase more and more,
+and may they use it to benefit others and to further the teachings."
+ Pray that your mind may be filled with boundless equanimity, loving-
+kindness, compassion and joy--as boundless as a Bodhisattva's. If you do so,
+genuine bodhichitta will certainly grow within you.
+ The reason these four qualities are boundless, or immeasurable, is that
+their object--the totality of sentient beings--is boundless; their benefit--
+the welfare of all beings--is boundless; and also their fruit--the qualities
+of enlightenment--is boundless. They are immeasurable like the sky, and they
+are the true root of enlightenment.(p.49)
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "The Excellent Path to Enlightenment",
+ translated and edited by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Regarding an online merchant... I think I have bought a couple things from
+them before, and my "cornholio sense" is not tingling (a power I got from
+being bitten by a radioactive asshole), so I don't think they were jerks when
+I used them last time.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+ External circumstances are not what draw us into suffering. Suffering is
+caused and permitted by an untamed mind. The appearance of self-defeating
+emotions in our minds leads us to faulty actions. The naturally pure mind is
+covered over by these emotions and troubling conceptions. The force of their
+deceit pushes us into faulty actions, which leads inevitably to suffering.
+ We need, with great awareness and care, to extinguish these problematic
+attitudes, the way gathering clouds dissolve back into the sphere of the sky.
+When our self-defeating attitudes, emotions, and conceptions cease, so will
+the harmful actions arising from them.
+ As the great Tibetan yogi Milarepa says, "When arising, arising within space
+itself; when dissolving, dissolving back into space." We need to become
+familiar with the state of our own minds to understand how to dissolve ill-
+founded ideas and impulses back into the deeper sphere of reality. The sky
+was there before the clouds gathered, and it will be after they have gone. It
+is also present when the clouds seem to cover every inch of the sky we can
+see.(p.22)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
+ Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ Usually the reason that we can't experience transcendent bliss is because
+our consciousness is actually chained by the illusion called "I." It is
+chained because this concept literally ties our consciousness to the prison of
+duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. What most people experience is
+that their consciousness is chained by that illusion.
+ But now and then there are people who find the so-called spiritual path.
+This is another quite strange and sneaky way that ego can actually keep
+binding our consciousness once again to another form of prison, the prison of
+duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. Transcendent bliss comes from
+breaking every chain.
+ Breaking all chains, losing every concept, every idea, sounds very
+frightening to the ego's mind. But actually when we let go of every concept,
+we land on this infinite ground of eternal bliss, and that bliss is not some
+kind of religious or mystical experience, some altered state of consciousness.
+That bliss is not the result of doing something to our consciousness, rather
+it is the pure state of our consciousness.(p.74)
+ -- Anam Thubten, "The Magic of Awareness", edited by Sharon Roe, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The all-base consciousness* works like a savings bank. Continuously money
+is paid into the bank and continuously it is taken out again. In the same way
+karmic imprints are absorbed by the all-base, are stored there, and can
+therefore be brought forth again.
+ Learning, for example, occurs through the mind consciousness. The mind
+consciousness itself vanishes. Nevertheless, on the next day we have a memory
+of what we learned. At this time of remembrance, the mind consciousness of
+what we learned is no longer actually present, since it has ceased to exist.
+Yet, still we did not forget what we learned previously. What we learned was
+seized by the all-base in the form of karmic imprints, and stored. Due to the
+'all-base of complete ripening' these imprints can be re-awakened, so that the
+mind consciousness perceives them afresh. This is why we learn things. It is
+similar with strong mental afflictions.
+ ...The example of the savings bank is particularly effective, especially in
+the context of karmic actions. Whoever puts money into the bank can get it
+out again later, often including interest!(p.37)
+
+* The all-base consciousness is the general basis for the whole mind, all
+aspects of the mind.
+
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Everyday Consciousness and Primordial
+ Awareness", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Q: How can Dzogchen help us in our daily jobs and careers?
+
+ HHDL: In the first place, it is quite difficult to have an experience of
+Dzogchen. But once you do have that experience, it can be extremely
+beneficial in dealing with your day to day life, your job, and your career.
+This is because that kind of experience will give you the ability to prevent
+yourself from being overwhelmed by circumstances, good or bad. You will not
+fall into extreme states of mind: you will not get over-excited or depressed.
+Your attitude toward circumstances and events will be as if you were someone
+observing the mind, without being drawn away by circumstances.
+ For example, when you see a reflection of a form in a mirror, the reflection
+appears within the mirror but it is not projected from within. In the same
+way, when you confront the situations of life, or deal with others, your
+attitude too will be mirror-like.
+ Also, when a reflection appears in the mirror, the mirror does not have to
+go after the object that is reflected: it simply reflects, spontaneously, on
+the surface. The same with you: since there is no attachment or agitation at
+having these 'reflections' in your mind, you will feel tremendous ease and
+relief. You are not preoccupied by what arises in the mind, nor does it cause
+you any distress. You are free from conceptuality or any form of
+objectifying. And so it really does help you, in allowing you to be free from
+being caught up in the play of emotions like hatred, attachment, and the like.
+(p.162)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
+ Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, foreword by
+ Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ The quality of one's rebirth in the next life is determined by the quality
+of one's mental activity in this life. Generally speaking, we have no power
+to choose how we are born; it is dependent on karmic forces. However, the
+period near the time of death is very influential in terms of activating one
+from among the many karmas that a person has already accumulated, and,
+therefore, if one makes particular effort at generating a virtuous attitude at
+that time, there is an opportunity to strengthen and activate a virtuous
+karma. Moreover, when one has developed high realization and has gained
+control over how one will be reborn, it is possible to take what is called
+"reincarnation" rather than mere rebirth.(p.42)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard:
+ Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey
+ Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Without an acute awareness of our personal suffering and a deep, heartfelt
+determination to be completely rid of both this suffering and its causes,
+there is no way to begin the spiritual quest authentically. For just as
+Prince Siddhartha's sudden and unexpected visions of old age, sickness and
+death shocked him out of mistaking the world to be a pleasure palace, so too
+must all spiritual seekers confront the unsatisfactory nature of their lives
+so directly that they become thoroughly disenchanted with the ordinary human
+condition.
+ If we do not take a long, hard look at the uncomfortable truths of our
+impermanent existence, we can easily waste the time between now and our
+inevitable death in essentially worthless pursuits, never taking advantage of
+this precious opportunity to do something truly meaningful with our life.
+Like the foolish prisoner who becomes so accustomed to the confines of his
+cell that he turns a blind eye to all chances of escape, we shall be
+condemning ourselves to spiritual stagnation and the endlessly recurring
+miseries of cyclic existence.
+ Yet it is not enough merely to become discontent with our present condition;
+everyone experiences discontent at one time or another but very few do
+anything of real significance about it. In fact, the usual ways of dealing
+with problems and disappointment--blaming them on someone else or drowning
+them in forgetfulness--only bind us tighter to the wheel of suffering. What
+we must do is recognize that the true causes of all our misery lie rooted in
+our own ignorant misconceptions and that these can only be eradicated through
+the development of a clear, penetrating insight into the nature of reality.
+Only through the continued cultivation of such penetrating wisdom will it
+eventually be possible to attain liberation from all states of existence
+conditioned by ignorance and be free of suffering.(p.45)
+ -- "Images of Enlightenment: Tibetan Art in Practice", by Jonathan Landaw
+ and Andy Weber, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ We must distinguish between pride and self-confidence. Self-confidence is
+necessary. It is what enables us, in certain situations, not to lose courage
+and to think with some justification, 'I am capable of succeeding.' Self-
+confidence is quite different from excessive self-assurance based on a false
+appreciation of our capacities or circumstances.
+ If you feel able to accomplish a task that other people cannot manage, then
+you cannot be called proud as long as your assessment is well founded. It is
+as if someone tall came across a group of short people who wanted to get
+something too high for them to reach, and said to them, 'Don't exert
+yourselves, I can do it.' This would simply mean that he was more qualified
+than the others to carry out a particular task, but not that he is superior to
+them or that he wants to crush them.(p.259)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "365 Dalai Lama: Daily Advice from the
+ Heart", edited by Matthieu Ricard, translated by Christian Bruyat,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ What is progress? How do we recognize it? The teachings are like a mirror
+before which we should hold our activities of body, speech, and mind. Think
+back to a year ago and compare the stream of activities of your body, speech,
+and mind at that time with their present condition. If we practice well, then
+the traces of some improvement should be reflected in the mirror of Dharma.
+ The problem with having expectations is that we usually do not expect the
+right things. Not knowing what spiritual progress is, we search for signs of
+it in the wrong areas of our being. What can we hope for but frustration? It
+would be far better to examine any practice with full reasoning before
+adopting it, and then to practice it steadily and consistently while observing
+the inner changes one undergoes, rather than expecting this or that fantasy to
+become real.
+ The mind is an evolving organism, not a machine that goes on and off with
+the flip of a switch. The forces that bind and limit the mind, hurling it
+into unsatisfactory states of being, are impermanent and transient agents.
+When we persistently apply the practices to them, they have no option but to
+fade away and disappear.
+ Ignorance and the "I"-grasping syndrome have been with us since
+beginningless time, and the instincts of attachments, aversion, anger,
+jealousy and so forth are very deeply rooted in our mindstreams. Eliminating
+them is not as simple as turning on a light to chase away the darkness of a
+room. When we practice steadily, the forces of darkness are undermined, and
+the spiritual qualities that counteract them and illuminate the mind are
+strengthened and made firm. Therefore, we should strive by means of both
+contemplative and settled meditation to gain stability in the various Lam Rim
+topics.(p.176)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
+ by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ We are beings of the Desire Realm, and thus our minds are also included
+within Desire Realm minds. If we cultivate great compassion, our own minds
+are the basis for great compassion. By contemplating countless sentient
+beings and meditating to develop great compassion, one eventually achieves
+great compassion. At that point, the mental basis--one's own mind--has become
+of the entity of great compassion. There is no distinguishing the two at that
+time. Meditating on great compassion does not mean taking compassion as an
+object and looking at it; it means taking sentient beings as one's object and
+developing compassion for them such that the mind comes to be of the nature of
+great compassion.
+ The texts frequently speak of different mental bases: the basis for calm
+abiding, the basis for meditative absorption, the basis for achieving a path.
+The way of understanding all of these is the same. You may wonder whether,
+when one cultivates a certain path, the mind becomes of the entity of that
+path. It is important to understand this question because that is, in fact,
+what occurs when one cultivates calm abiding. The mental basis becomes of the
+nature of calm abiding.
+ -- Geshe Gedun Lodro, "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving Spiritual
+ Transformation Through Meditation", translated and edited by Jeffrey
+ Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Nature's law dictates that, in order to survive, bees must work together.
+As a result, they instinctively possess a sense of social responsibility.
+They have no constitution, no law, no police, no religion or moral training,
+but because of their nature, they labor faithfully together. Occasionally,
+they may fight, but in general, based on cooperation, the whole colony
+survives.
+ We human beings have a constitution, laws and a police force. We have
+religion, remarkable intelligence and a heart with a great capacity for love.
+We have many extraordinary qualities, but in actual practice, I think we are
+lagging behind those small insects. In some respects I feel we are poorer
+than the bees.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
+ Mary Craig
+~
+ Nagarjuna offers us encouragement in terms of someone of modest potential
+accomplishing the practice, in verse 116:
+
+ And even those who realized the truth
+ Did not fall from the heavens, nor emerge
+ Like crops of corn from earth's dark depths, but once
+ Were ruled by kleshas and were ordinary men.
+
+ Not one of all the sublime beings who have appeared--individuals who had
+direct realization of the Dharma of the four truths--was already a sublime
+being right from the beginning: they did not fall from the sky, nor did they
+emerge from the darkness of the earth like a crop. In the past they were
+subject to afflictive emotions ['kleshas']--they were ordinary people
+dominated by the afflictive emotions. They are therefore worth following as
+an example for accomplishing the path.(p.150)
+ -- Nagarjuna, "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur
+ Rinpoche", with commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kyabje Kangyur
+ Rinpoche, translated by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Our sense of self
+
+ As long as we cling to some notion of objective existence--the idea that
+something actually exists in a concrete, identifiable way--emotions such as
+desire and aversion will follow. When we see something we like--a beautiful
+watch, for example--we perceive it as having some real quality of existence
+among its parts. We see the watch not as a collection of parts, but as an
+existing entity with a specific quality of watch-ness to it. And if it's a
+fine mechanical timepiece, our perception is enhanced by qualities that are
+seen to exist definitely as part of the nature of the watch. It is as a
+result of this misperception of the watch that our desire to possess it
+arises.
+ In a similar manner, our aversion to someone we dislike arises as a result
+of attributing inherent negative qualities to the person. When we relate this
+process to how we experience our own sense of existence--how the thought "I"
+or "I am" arises--we notice that it invariably does so in relation to some
+aspect of our physical or mental aggregates.
+ Our notion of ourselves is based upon a sense of our physical and emotional
+selves. What's more, we feel that these physical and mental aspects of
+ourselves exist inherently. My body is not something of which I doubt the
+specificity. There is a body-ness as well as a me-ness about it that very
+evidently exists. It seems to be a natural basis for my identifying my body
+as "me." Our emotions such as fear are similarly experienced as having a valid
+existence and as being natural bases for our identifying ourselves as "me."
+Both our loves and our hates serve to deepen the self sense. Even the mere
+feeling "I'm cold" contributes to our sense of being a solid and legitimate
+"I."(p.61)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "A Profound Mind: Cultivating Wisdom in Everyday
+ Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Richard Gere
+~
+ In the Mahayana, there exist the vows of the Bodhisattva... but in Dzogchen,
+there exist no such rules or vows.
+ When the Indian Buddhist master Atisa came to Tibet in the eleventh century,
+he met the famous Tibetan translator Rinchen Zangpo. Atisa asked him how he
+practiced the Tantras which he had translated, and he replied that he
+practiced them meticulously one after the other. But Atisa told him that this
+was not the correct way. He pointed out to the translator that all of the
+Tantras could be condensed and integrated into a single Upadesa and one need
+only practise that in order to maintain all of the transmissions which he had
+received.
+ The same is true with Dzogchen. If we really understand this single
+teaching here which comes directly from Guru Padmasambhava, we can attain
+liberation. But we must grasp this vital core of the teaching. No matter
+what we are doing, which ever among the four modes of behavior--walking,
+sitting, lying down, or eating, we must always hold to awareness, never
+forgetting, never losing this awareness. This is the real meaning of Rigdzin,
+one who is totally aware. In Dzogchen, there is only one rule--always be
+aware in whatever we do, never be distracted!(p.68)
+ -- "Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness", translation and
+ commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds, foreword by Namkhai Norbu,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Our mind needs to stretch to encompass emptiness. Our minds are so stuck in
+the idea, "Things exist the way they appear to me. What I see is reality. It
+is 100 percent true. There's nothing to doubt. Things exist exactly as they
+appear to my senses, exactly as they appear to my mental consciousness." We
+hardly ever doubt that. Not only do we have the appearance of inherent
+existence to our sense consciousnesses and mental consciousness, but also our
+mental consciousness grasps on to that appearance and says, "Yes! Everything
+really exists in this findable, independent way. Everything is real as it
+appears to me."
+ When we believe there's a real "me," then we have to protect that self and
+bring it happiness. Thus, we are attached to things that are pleasurable and
+become angry at anything unpleasant. Pride, jealousy, laziness, and the whole
+gamut of negative emotions follow. Motivated by these, we act physically,
+verbally, and mentally. These actions, or karma, leave seeds on our
+mindstream, and when these ripen, they influence what we experience. We again
+relate to these experiences ignorantly, so more emotions arise, motivating us
+to create more karma. As a result, cyclic existence with all its difficulties
+continues on and on, created by our mind, dependent on the ignorance that
+misconceives the nature of ourselves and all other phenomena.
+ ...However, when we investigate more deeply and look beyond appearances, we
+realize that it's impossible for things to exist in the way they appear.
+Seeing this gives us a kind of spaciousness and freedom because, if samsara
+were inherently existent and everything really did exist the way it appears to
+us, then transformation and change could not occur...and the best we could
+ever have is what we have right now. Thinking about the emptiness of inherent
+existence shows us the possibility for change. Beauty can come forth because
+nothing is inherently concrete, fixed, or findable.(p.105)
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of
+ Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+Three Meditations
+
+ If one does not sow the seed
+ Of appreciation for a perfect guru,
+ The tree of spiritual power is not born.
+ With undivided mind entrust yourself.
+
+ Human life is rare and precious,
+ Yet if not inspired by thoughts of death,
+ One wastes it on materialism:
+ Be ready to die at any moment.
+
+ All living beings have been our mothers,
+ Three circles of suffering always binding them.
+ Ignoble it would be not to repay them,
+ Not to strive to attain enlightenment. (p.100)
+
+ The colophon [inscription] for this poem reads, "Written at the request of
+Ritropa Samdrub, an Amdo monk from Dechen Monastery, who begged for a short
+teaching...." The Seventh Dalai Lama advises him to establish three central
+pillars in his spiritual practice: (1) a disciplined spiritual connection with
+his teacher; (2) awareness of the preciousness of life, and the uncertainty of
+the time of death; and (3) the mind of love and compassion for all living
+beings, coupled with the aspiration to enlightenment as the best means of
+fulfilling that love and compassion.
+ -- The Seventh Dalai Lama, "Meditations to Transform the Mind", translated,
+ edited, and introduced by Glenn Mullin, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ Courageous Bodhisattvas risk their lives to help others, and so, when we are
+in relatively better, more comfortable situations, we must certainly practice
+giving. Even if they are threatened, the courageous ones will not engage in
+improper actions. Instead, after examining the situation carefully, when they
+find that certain actions are correct and justified, on the basis of reason,
+they engage in them even at the risk of their lives. That is the way of the
+decent, civilized and courageous ones, who do not follow misleading paths.(p.20)
+ -- H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the
+ Dalai Lama XIV on the Jatakamala, Garland of Birth Stories", translated
+ by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by Dexter Roberts
+~
+ One day, when a very learned scholar or geshe and I were discussing the fact
+that the self is an elusive phenomenon, that it is unfindable in either body
+or mind, he remarked: 'If the self did not exist at all, in a sense that would
+make things very simple. There would be no experience of suffering and pain,
+because there would be no subject to undergo such experiences. However, that
+is not the case. Regardless of whether we can actually find it or not, there
+is an individual being who undergoes the experience of pain and pleasure, who
+is the subject of experiences, who perceives things and so on. Based on our
+own experience we do know that there is something--whatever we may call it--
+that makes it possible for us to undergo these experiences. We have something
+called discernment or the ability to perceive things.'
+ In fact, when we examine the experience of suffering, although some
+sufferings are at the sensory or bodily level, such as physical pain, even the
+very experience of pain is intimately connected with consciousness or mind and
+therefore is part of our mental world. This is what distinguishes sentient
+beings from other biological organisms, such as plants, trees and so on.
+Sentient beings have a subjective dimension, which we may choose to call
+experience, consciousness or the mental world.
+ ....One thing we can understand, both through scientific analysis and also
+from our own personal experience or perception, is that whatever experiences
+we have now are consequences of preceding conditions. Nothing comes into
+being without a cause. Just as everything in the material world must have a
+cause or condition that gives rise to it, so must all experiences in the
+mental world also have causes and conditions.(p.74)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
+ Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Meditation, when learned skillfully, can enable a return to awareness of the
+body, our sensations, and feelings. When we are not given specific guidance
+to ground our meditation within the body, however, meditation can easily
+perpetuate a disembodied spiritual practice. This is accentuated if our view
+of spirituality sees the body as some kind of problem to be transcended.
+Unfortunately, this view can prevail even within the Buddhist world, despite
+being counter to the essential principle of mindfulness and presence. When,
+however, we cultivate the capacity to remain present in our felt experience
+within the body, our relationship to ourselves changes. We can begin to feel
+more grounded in our life and more stable in our identity.
+ Engaging in a disembodied spirituality is no solution to our life demands.
+It may be a way of experiencing states of mind that can be very seductive,
+even addictive. Seldom does it address the roots of our emotional problems.
+Transformation comes when we are willing and able to restore or develop a
+sound relationship to our body in a healthy way. With many Buddhist
+practices, such as Tantra, this is essential, for the body contains the
+vitality that is the heart of our innate creative potential.
+ Embodiment therefore implies a full engagement in life with all of its
+trials and tribulations, rather than avoidance through disembodied spiritual
+flight. The value of meditation is that it can enable this engagement because
+it cultivates the capacity to be present and remain open, not grasping at or
+rejecting what arises. When meditation emphasizes presence rather than
+transcendence, this openness is a natural outcome.(p.143)
+ -- Rob Preece, "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of Individuation
+ in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Those training in great love should forsake self-centeredness and engage in
+the Buddha's practice, the root of which is compassion. You may be thinking,
+Love is indeed very profound, but I do not have the skill to practice it; I
+will focus my efforts on practices aimed at getting myself out of cyclic
+existence instead. On one hand, this is true, because you should choose a
+path of development appropriate to your ability. On the other hand, there is
+great advantage in attempting the highest degree of love you can.
+ Even if you cannot actually implement the practices of love and compassion,
+merely hearing about them establishes powerful predispositions for future
+success. This can be amplified by planting prayer-wishes aspiring to
+altruism. Do not be discouraged; it is difficult to absorb such a profound
+perspective. Be courageous and think of your future potential. It is
+particularly important to do the best you can.(p.82)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
+ Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ What is very important for us to recognise is our own falsity. This is not
+a judgement that sometimes we are authentic and sometimes we are false. It
+means that everything about us in our ordinary sense of self is false because
+it is grounded on a misapprehension of the nature of reality.... It is like
+somebody in University who is having their final examinations. They go into
+the wrong examination room and not reading the questions very clearly they
+write very long answers on their own subject that is unfortunately not the one
+they are being examined on. It does not matter how good the answer is they
+will fail, for they are not addressing the question.
+ The basic question is always: "Who are you?", "Who am I?" but we do not
+understand it and so we answer with a ceaseless narrative of self definition.
+This covers over the freshness of the question, the possibility of looking and
+seeing, and so all our answers are stale, the reworking of self-protective
+versions constructed out of unexamined elements. We have many, many, many
+answers and all of them are false. That's why it is very important when you
+do meditations, to put your full energy one-pointedly into the practice, to
+try to repair the initial basic fault that has torn subject and object apart.
+ It is very important to stop being ashamed of being false. For we have to
+see how falsity arises, how obscuration develops. We want to look directly at
+our falsity and learn its tricks so that we will not be caught by them. This
+helps to open the space in which we can recognise our own nature.
+ "When you understand the falsity of your confusion remain unartificially,
+effortlessly in the natural mode (dharmakaya)."(p.90)
+ -- "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje entitled 'The
+ Mirror of Clear Meaning' with commentary by James Low", published by Snow
+ Lion Publications
+~
+groundhog daze:
+ this is an event that can be caused by strong intoxication of various sorts.
+the sufferer passes out while seated at a table, such that he or she then has
+their head thud down onto the table. after a brief rest, the unlucky person
+wakes up again, and starts to rise off the table. when the head rises to a
+certain point, where blood pressure starts to increase, the effect of the
+intoxication takes over again, and they pass out once more. bam. hence, the
+head repeatedly banging into the table: a groundhog daze.
+ i have seen this happen. it's not fun to watch. well, maybe a little.
+ --fred t. hamster
+~
+ We are the source of healing and happiness. Our generosity and concern
+pacify every negative situation. As we send out kindness, we grow accustomed
+to being strong and kind. In this way, our positive feelings are constantly
+renewed and can never be exhausted.
+ Perhaps you know the story about the man who arrived in heaven and when
+asked by God where he wanted to go replied that he wanted to see both heaven
+and hell. First, he went to hell. There was a large table with all the
+inhabitants of hell sitting around it. The center of the table was full of
+delicious food. Each person had two very long chopsticks. They could reach
+the food but they could not get it into their mouths because their chopsticks
+were too long. They were miserable. No one was eating and everyone went
+hungry. Next he was taken to visit heaven. All the inhabitants of heaven
+were also sitting around a big table full of delicious food but they were
+happy. They too had very long chopsticks but they were eating and enjoying
+themselves. They used the chopsticks to feed each other across the table.
+The people in heaven had discovered that it was in their interest to
+collaborate unselfishly.(p.69)
+ -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ When you are in a fluctuating state of mind, like when you are angry or have
+lost your temper, then it is good to bring back calmness by concentrating on
+breathing. Just count the breaths, completely forgetting about anger.
+Concentrate on breathing and count in/out "one, two, three," up to twenty.
+ At that moment when your mind concentrates fully on breathing, the breath
+coming and going, the passions subside. Afterwards it is easier to think
+clearly.
+ Since all activities, including meditation, depend very much on the force of
+intention or motivation, it is important that, before you begin to meditate,
+you cultivate a correct motivation... The correct motivation is the
+altruistic attitude.(p.69)
+ -- Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Cultivating a Daily
+ Meditation", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The crazy elephant of the mind behaving wildly
+ Is tied to the pillar of an object of observation
+ With the rope of mindfulness.
+ By degrees it is brought under control with the hook of wisdom.
+ --Bhavaviveka
+
+ "Wisdom" here is introspection. Hence, the example of taming an elephant
+indicates the achievement of a serviceable mind by way of the two--mindfulness
+and introspection. The subtle vajra that is the base on which the mind is
+being set is like a stable pillar to which an elephant is tied. The
+unserviceable mind is like an untamed elephant. Causing the mind not to be
+distracted from its object of observation through relying on mindfulness is
+like using a rope to tie an elephant. Setting the mind free from fault--when
+it does not hold the object of observation as originally set--through
+immediately recognizing such by means of introspection is like a herder's
+hitting an elephant with a hook and correcting it when it strays from the tie-
+up.
+
+ Hence, there are two important factors with regard to holding the mind:
+ + From the beginning, stay on the object of observation without being
+ distracted to anything other than it.
+ + Then if distracted, immediately recognize such, and again focus the mind
+ as before. (p.94)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
+ to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate. Neither wisdom nor
+technique has a place in this. A real man does not think of victory or
+defeat. He plunges recklessly towards an irrational death. By doing this
+you will awaken from your dreams.
+ -- Hagakure, Yamamoto Tsunetomo
+~
+LEEEEEEEROYYYY JENNNNNKINZZZ!!!
+ -- To be yelled before irrationally throwing away all plans and jumping into
+ the worst possible situation.
+~
+what is an inference?
+ someone says, "my hand stinks because my butt stinks."
+an inference you could draw:
+ that hand has probably been too close to that butt.
+~
+What Do We Mean by Bodhisattva?
+
+ Bodhi means enlightenment, the state devoid of all defects and endowed with
+all good qualities. Sattva refers to someone who has courage and confidence
+and who strives to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. Those who
+have this spontaneous, sincere wish to attain enlightenment for the ultimate
+benefit of all beings are called bodhisattvas. Through wisdom, they direct
+their minds to enlightenment, and through their compassion, they have concern
+for beings. This wish for perfect enlightenment for the sake of others is
+what we call bodhichitta, and it is the starting point on the path.
+~
+The Notion of Self
+
+ When we talk about the notion of self in Buddhism, it is important to bear
+in mind that there are different degrees or types. There are some types of
+sense of self which are not only to be cultivated but also to be reinforced
+and enhanced. For instance, in order to have a strong determination to seek
+buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, one needs a very strong
+sense of confidence, which is based upon a sense of commitment and courage.
+This requires a strong sense of self. Unless one has that identity or sense
+of self, one will not be able to develop the confidence and courage to
+strongly seek this aim.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+Genuine peace of mind is rooted in affection and compassion. There is a very
+high level of sensitivity and feeling involved. So long as we lack inner
+discipline, an inner calmness of mind, then no matter what external facilities
+or conditions we may have, they will never give us the feeling of joy and
+happiness that we seek. On the other hand, if we possess this inner
+quality—that is, calmness of mind, a degree of stability within—then even
+if we lack various external facilities that are normally considered necessary
+for a happy and joyful life, it is still possible to live a happy and joyful
+life.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+COMPLICATED SIMPLICITY
+
+ Emptiness is the simplest and most unelaborated thing we could imagine, but
+then there is this whole literature about all these very discursive details
+with all their subpoints. There are five paths and ten bhumis, and each path
+is divided into a number of stages, with certain numbers of obscurations
+having to be relinquished on each one of those subpaths. Most people just
+think, "Who wants or needs to know all that? Don't we have too many
+thoughts already? I thought this was about letting go of all reference
+points."
+ Of course nobody really wants to know all those details and in a sense we
+all know them already, because they are the details of the many reference
+points that we already have in our mind. The fact that these sutras and their
+commentaries talk about our obscurations is precisely the point why they seem
+so endless and complicated—because our minds are complicated. Emptiness is
+extremely simple, but our convoluted minds that do not get this simplicity are
+very complicated. It is not that the Buddha and the other speakers in the
+sutras and the commentaries really like to, but they need to address each one
+of those knots in our minds, which are like knots in space.
+~
+If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have
+to be a horrible warning.
+ -- Catherine Aird
+~
+THE MIND OF CLEAR LIGHT
+
+ Is spiritual practice really worthwhile? Is it really possible to eliminate
+from within ourselves the forces that give rise to suffering? As is said,
+"The ultimate nature of mind is clear light." Consciousness has many
+levels, and although the coarser levels are affected by the defiling forces,
+the most subtle level remains free of gross negativities. In the Vajrayana
+this subtle level of consciousness is called the mind of clear light.
+ The delusions and emotional afflictions as well as the dualistic mind of
+right and wrong, love and hatred, etc., are associated only with the coarse
+levels of consciousness. At the moment, we are totally absorbed in the
+interplay of these coarse states, so we must begin our practice by working
+within them. This means consciously encouraging love over hate, patience in
+place of anger, emotional freedom rather than attachment, kindness over
+violence, and so forth. Doing this brings immediate peace and calm to the
+mind, thus making higher meditation possible.
+ Then, because grasping at a self and at phenomena as being truly existent is
+the cause of all the vast range of distorted states of mind, one cultivates
+the wisdom that eliminates this ego-grasping. To overcome ego-grasping is to
+overcome the entire host of mental distortions.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+It is the general Buddhist procedure that one's own pleasure and pain are
+acheived by oneself and not from the outside, and that, therefore, sentient
+beings themselves must understand and implement practices to bring about their
+own happiness. Thus, the most efficacious way to help others is through
+teaching what should be adopted in practice and what should be discarded from
+among current behavior. There is no way to do this unless you come to know
+all of the topics involved in what should be adopted in practice and what
+should be discarded—you must become omniscient. As mentioned earlier, there
+is no way to accomplish this except by removing the obstructions to
+omniscience, and one who has overcome, utterly and forever, the obstructions
+to omniscience is a Buddha.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ In meditation, imagine that in front of you are three persons—an enemy, a
+friend, and a neutral person. At that time, in our minds we have (1) a sense
+of closeness for one of them, thinking, "This is my friend"; (2) a sense
+of dislike even when imagining the enemy; and (3) a sense of ignoring the
+neutral person. Now, we have to think about the reasons why we generate these
+feelings—the reasons being that temporarily one of them helped us whereas
+the other temporarily harmed us, and the third did neither. However, when we
+think in terms of the long course of beginningless rebirth, none of us could
+decide that someone who has helped or harmed us in this life has been doing so
+for all lifetimes.
+ When you contemplate this way, eventually you arrive at a point where a
+strong generation of desire or hatred appears to you to be just senseless.
+Gradually, such a bias weakens, and you decide that one-sided classification
+of persons as friends and enemies has been a mistake.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ Generally speaking, even if money brings us happiness, it tends to be the
+kind that money can buy: material things and sensory experiences. And these,
+we discover, become a source of suffering themselves. As far as actual
+possessions are concerned, we must admit that they often cause us more, not
+less, difficulty in life. The car breaks down, we lose our money, our most
+precious belongings are stolen, our house is damaged by fire. Or we worry
+about these things happening.
+ The problem is not materialism as such. Rather it is the underlying
+assumption that full satisfaction can arise from gratifying the senses alone.
+Unlike animals whose quest for happiness is restricted to survival and to the
+immediate gratification of sensory desires, we human beings have the capacity
+to experience happiness at a deeper level, which, when achieved, can overwhelm
+unhappy experiences.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of
+others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like
+it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives in which we do not benefit
+from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most
+of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others. Nor
+is it so remarkable that our greatest joy should come when we are motivated by
+concern for others. But that is not all. We find that not only do altruistic
+actions bring about happiness, but they also lessen our experience of
+suffering. Here I am not suggesting that the individual whose actions are
+motivated by the wish to bring others happiness necessarily meets with less
+misfortune than the one who does not. Sickness, old age, mishaps of one sort
+or another are the same for us all. But the sufferings which undermine our
+internal peace—anxiety, doubt, disappointment—these are definitely less.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+If we view the world's religions from the widest possible viewpoint and
+examine their ultimate goal, we find that all of the major world religions,
+whether Christianity or Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism, are dedicated to the
+achievement of permanent human happiness. They are all directed toward that
+goal. All religions emphasize the fact that the true follower must be honest
+and gentle, in other words, that a truly religious person must always strive
+to be a better human being. To this end, the different world religions teach
+different doctrines which will help transform the person. In this regard, all
+religions are the same, there is no conflict. This is something we must
+emphasize. We must consider the question of religious diversity from this
+viewpoint. And when we do, we find no conflict.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+Emptiness vs. Non-Existence
+
+The doctrines of emptiness and selflessness do not imply the non-existence of
+things. Things do exist. When we say that all phenomena are void of self-
+existence, it does not mean that we are advocating non-existence, that we are
+repudiating that things exist. Then what is it we are negating? We are
+negating, or denying, that anything exists from its own side without depending
+on other things. Hence, it is because things depend for their existence upon
+other causes and conditions that they are said to lack independent self-
+existence.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+If we view the world's religions from the widest possible viewpoint and
+examine their ultimate goal, we find that all of the major world religions,
+whether Christianity or Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism, are dedicated to the
+achievement of permanent human happiness. They are all directed toward that
+goal. All religions emphasize the fact that the true follower must be honest
+and gentle, in other words, that a truly religious person must always strive
+to be a better human being. To this end, the different world religions teach
+different doctrines which will help transform the person. In this regard, all
+religions are the same, there is no conflict. This is something we must
+emphasize. We must consider the question of religious diversity from this
+viewpoint. And when we do, we find no conflict.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ The process of overcoming our defilements goes in conjunction with gaining
+higher levels of realisation. In fact, when we speak of gaining higher levels
+of realisation in Buddhism we are speaking primarily of the processes through
+which our wisdom and insight deepen. It is actually the wisdom aspect that
+enables the practitioner to move from one level to the next on the path.
+ The attainment of the levels of the path is explained in condensed form in
+the Heart Sutra, where we find the mantra tadyatha om gate gate paragate
+parasamgate bodhi svaha. Tadyatha means It is thus; gate gate means go, go;
+paragate means go beyond and transcend; parasamgate means go utterly beyond,
+go thoroughly beyond; and bodhi svaha means firmly rooted in enlightenment.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ENDURING SUCCESS
+ It is often seen that human beings can endure problems quite well, but
+cannot endure success. When we are successful and have everything we desire,
+it can easily go to our heads. There is a great danger of losing our common
+sense and becoming careless and arrogant. As it is said, "Nothing corrupts a
+person more than power." Very powerful people sometimes become so proud that
+they no longer care about their actions or about the effect they have on
+others. Losing any sense of right and wrong, they create severe problems for
+themselves and everyone else.
+ Even if we have all the success we could dream of—fame, wealth, and so
+on—we must understand that these things have no real substance. Attachment
+does not come from having things, but from the way our mind reacts to them.
+It is fine to participate in good circumstances, provided we can see that they
+have no real essence. They may come and they may go. When seeing this, we
+will not become so attached. Even if we lose our wealth we will not be badly
+affected, and while it is there we will enjoy it without being senseless and
+arrogant.
+ -- Ringu Tulku, from "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha",
+ edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, page 92.
+~
+The role of other sentient beings
+
+ In relation to the attainment of liberation from cylic existence, which is
+known also as "definite goodness," the role of other sentient beings is
+indispensable. In the Buddhist understanding, the key spiritual practices
+that lead to the attainment of liberation are the Three Higher
+Trainings—higher training in morality, in meditation, and in wisdom. The
+last two are based upon the foundation of the first, namely the training in
+morality. As I said before, the presence of other sentience beings is
+indispensable for this training. This is how we come to the powerful
+realisation that the role of other sentient beings is essential in all areas
+of our mundane and spiritual activities.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ To avoid being hurt by thorns and brambles, we might consider covering all
+the mountains with leather. That would be impossible, but putting on shoes
+would serve the same purpose. Similarly, if we tried to subdue all our outer
+enemies, we would never succeed. Once one was eliminated, another would rise
+against us. While doing this, our anger would continue to breed new foes.
+The only way to overcome our enemies is to turn inward and kill the real one,
+which is our own hatred.
+ -- Ringu Tulku, from "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha",
+ edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs.
+~
+ One should not view one's dharma practice as being something decorative,
+regarding statues and images as material possessions or as furnishings for
+one's house, or thinking that because there is an empty space on a wall one
+might as well put up a thangka for decoration. That kind of attitude should
+not be cultivated. When you arrange the statues or thangkas, you should do so
+out of a deep respect from the mind, moved by your faith and conviction. If
+you can arrange these physical representations—statues and so forth—out of
+deep respect and faith, that's all right. On the other hand, the attitude
+that they are merely material possessions is dangerous and destructive. I
+think that some people who have a cupboard or the like in which they keep all
+their precious possessions may arrange an altar on it just for the sake of
+decoration. This is very wrong.
+ Having such motivations is not the proper way to become a Buddhist; the
+proper way to become a Buddhist is to bring about some positive change within
+the mind. Any practice that can give you more courage when you are undergoing
+a very difficult time and that can provide you with some kind of solace and
+calmness of mind is a true practice of the dharma.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+The environment where you are doing the meditation should be properly cleaned.
+While cleaning, you should cultivate the motivation that since you are engaged
+in the task of accumulating great stores of merit by inviting the hosts of
+buddhas and bodhisattvas to this environment, it is important to have a clean
+place. You should see that all external dirt and dust around you is basically
+a manifestation of the faults and stains within your own mind. You should see
+that the most important aim is to purge these stains and faults from within
+your mind. Therefore, as you cleanse the environment, think that you are also
+purifying your mind. Develop the very strong thought that by cleaning this
+place you are inviting the hosts of buddhas and bodhisattvas who are the most
+supreme merit field, and that you will subsequently engage in a path that will
+enable you to purge your mind of the stains and delusions.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ From the point of view of one who seeks enlightenment, it is far better to
+be a human being than to be born even in the heavens of the gods, where there
+is nectar to live on and all wishes are granted by the wish-fulfilling tree;
+where there is neither fatigue nor difficulty, neither sickness nor old age.
+It is as humans, possessed of the eight freedoms and the ten endowments, and
+not as gods, that every one of the thousand Buddhas of this age has attained,
+or will attain, enlightenment. This human existence, moreover, is not to be
+achieved by force or mere chance; it is the result of positive actions. And
+because it is rare for beings to accomplish positive actions, a precious human
+existence is indeed difficult to obtain.
+ Nevertheless, we have now managed to be born into such a state; we have
+encountered the Buddadharma, have entered the path and are now receiving
+teachings. But if we are unable to practise them, simply listening to the
+teachings will not in itself liberate us from samsara, and will be of no help
+to us when we are confronted by the hardships of birth, disease, old age and
+death. If we do not follow the doctor's prescription when we are sick, then
+even if the doctor sits constantly by our side, the pain will not go away.
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, from "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the
+ Seven-Point Mind Training", translated by Padmakara Translation Group.
+~
+The realization of the nature of the mind is not something we can find by
+searching for it from afar. It is present within the essence of the mind
+itself. If we do not alter or change that in any way, that is enough. It is
+not as if we were lacking something before, so we need to make something new
+through our meditation. It is not as if we are bad and have to go through all
+sorts of efforts to make ourselves good. Goodness is something we all have.
+It has always been with us, but we have just not looked for it or seen it yet,
+so we have become confused. Therefore all we need to do is to just rest
+within it without changing it. We see where it stays and rest there, so we
+are like a kusulu. This means that we rest free and easy with nothing to do,
+very simply. We do not need to think that we are making something good or
+that we need to meditate properly. It is enough just to know what we already
+have.
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from "Vivid Awareness", in "The Best Buddhist
+ Writing 2012", edited by Melvin McLeod and the editors of the Shambhala
+ Sun, pages 196–197.
+~
+We all have to recognize the tremendous opportunity that we have. As humans
+we have this rare intelligence, but there is a real danger that we will waste
+it. Death is certain, but when we will die is totally unpredictable. We
+could lose our precious human existence at any moment. With such reflections,
+we must motivate ourselves to do something meaningful right now. The best way
+to make your human existence meaningful is to really engage in the practice of
+Dharma. During formal sitting meditation and in between sessions, in
+different ways, be mindful and introspectively vigilant. Keep constant watch
+on your mind.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ In order to carry out a practice--such as constantly watching the mind--you
+should form a determination, make a pledge, right when you wake up: "Now, for
+the rest of this day, I will put into practice what I believe just as much as
+I can." It is very important that, at the start of the day, we should set out
+to shape what will happen later. Then, at the end of every day, check what
+happened. Review the day. And if you carried through for that whole day your
+morning's determination, then rejoice. Reinforce further your motivation to
+continue in the same line. However, when you do your reviewing, you may
+discover that you did things during the day that are contrary to your
+religious values and beliefs. You should then acknowledge this and cultivate
+a deep sense of remorse. Strengthen your resolve not to indulge in these
+actions in the future.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ There are two different ways in which we can understand the term "ordinary
+mind." One way is to not take control over anything and end up following our
+afflictions. When a thought of anger arises, we follow it; when greed arises,
+we lose control of ourselves to it. Similarly, we lose control of ourselves
+to our pride and jealousy. Although we might think of this as our ordinary
+state of mind, it is not what we mean here. Here it does not mean losing
+control of ourselves to negative emotions. Instead, it means that we do not
+need to do anything at all to the essence of the mind itself.
+ We do not need to alter this essence in any way. We do not have to worry
+about what we are thinking, what is pleasant, or what is painful. We can
+leave this mind as it is. If we try to alter the mind in any way, thoughts
+will arise. But if we do not do anything to it and let it rest easily, then
+it is unaltered. The Kagyu masters of the past called this the ordinary mind,
+or the natural state. They called it this out of their experience. This
+ordinary mind itself is the dharma expanse and the essence of the buddhas; it
+is our buddha-nature.
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from "Vivid Awareness" in "The Best Buddhist
+ Writing 2012", edited by Melvin McLeod and the editors of the Shambhala
+ Sun, page 200.
+~
+ If your engagement with others is tainted by strong attachment, craving,
+aversion, anger, and so forth, then that form of grasping is undesirable. But
+on the other hand, when you are interacting with other living beings and
+become aware of their needs or suffering or pain, then you need to fully
+engage with that and be compassionate. So there can be positive attachment in
+this sense of active engagement.
+ Buddhist masters have long used the term attachment to describe the quality
+of compassion for others. For example, a verse from Haribhadra's Clear
+Meaning Commentary refers to compassion that is attached to other living
+beings. And as we have seen, Nagarjuna teaches that attachment for other
+living beings will arise spontaneously in the person who realizes emptiness.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+Kongtrul Rinpoche suggested we pray to the guru, buddhas, and bodhisattvas and
+ask them to grant their blessings, "So I may give birth to the heart of
+sadness." But what is a "heart of sadness"? Imagine one night you have
+a dream. Although it is a good dream, deep down you know that eventually you
+will have to wake up and it will be over. In life, too, sooner or later,
+whatever the state of our relationships, or our health, our jobs and every
+aspect of our lives, everything, absolutely everything, will change. And the
+little bell ringing in the back of your head to remind you of this
+inevitability is what is called the "heart of sadness." Life, you realise,
+is a race against time, and you should never put off dharma practice until
+next year, next month, or tomorrow, because the future may never happen.
+ -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-
+ Called Preliminary Practices"
+~
+ What we want to eliminate is grasping that is grounded upon falsification of
+the object, distortions that arise as afflictions grasp at the apparent
+substantial existence of an object. Some texts say that mental states such as
+compassion and faith are, by their very nature, virtuous and thus cannot at
+the same time be afflicted mental states. Yet there are other texts that
+refer to "afflicted compassion" or "afflicted faith." For those of us
+who have not realized emptiness, when we generate strong devotion toward the
+Buddha perhaps there is within that faith, within that devotion, an element of
+grasping at the Buddha as substantially real. This makes it an instance of
+so-called "afflicted devotion."
+ Still, it is important to distinguish grasping rooted in falsification and
+distortion from the attachment, focus, or holding that we associate with
+compassion. In our immediate experience, these two forms of grasping may seem
+the same, but in terms of the overall mental environment they are quite
+different. Compassion is fact-based, while distorted grasping is not.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ By and large, human beings tend to prefer to fit in to society by following
+accepted rules of etiquette and being gentle, polite, and respectful. The
+irony is that this is also how most people imagine a spiritual person should
+behave. When a so-called dharma practitioner is seen to behave badly, we
+shake our heads over her audacity at presenting herself as a follower of the
+Buddha. Yet such judgments are better avoided, because to "fit in" is not
+what a genuine dharma practitioner strives for.
+ Think of Tilopa, for example. He looked so outlandish that if he turned up
+on your doorstep today, odds are you would refuse to let him in. And you
+would have a point. He would most likely be almost completely naked; if you
+were lucky, he might be sporting some kind of G-string; his hair would never
+have been introduced to shampoo; and protruding from his mouth would quiver
+the tail of a live fish. What would your moral judgment be of such a being?
+"Him! A Buddhist?" This is how our theistic, moralistic, and judgmental
+minds work. Of course, there is nothing wrong with morality, but the point of
+spiritual practice, according to the vajrayana teachings, is to go beyond all
+our concepts, including those of morality.
+ -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-
+ Called Preliminary Practices".
+~
+Because it is a reality that we are by nature social animals, bound to depend
+on each other, we need to cultivate affection and concern for other people if
+we really desire peace and happiness. Look at wild animals and birds. Even
+they travel together, flock together, and help each other. Bees do not have a
+particular legal system, they do not follow any spiritual practice, but for
+their livelihood and survival they depend on each other--that is their
+natural way of existence. Even though we intelligent human beings must also
+depend on each other, we sometimes misuse our intelligence and try to exploit
+each other. That goes against human nature. For those of us who profess to
+believe in a particular religious practice, it is extremely important that we
+try to help each other and cultivate a feeling of affection for each other.
+That is the source of happiness in our life.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ It's important to differentiate a thought from an emotion. We say things
+such as, "I feel like they don't accept me." Actually, that is a thought.
+We may feel hurt or frustrated, and it's because we're thinking that others
+don't accept us. How do we know they don't accept us? We don't. We
+haven't asked them. Instead, on the basis of how they looked at us or a
+comment they made, our mind constructs a story that we believe.
+ As soon as you hear yourself saying, "I feel like...," stop and recognize
+that you can't "feel like" something. You are thinking. After you have
+identified the thought, ask yourself, "Is that true? How do I know it's true?
+What evidence do I have to prove the validity of that thought?" It's really
+startling to see how often we assume our interpretation of a situation is true
+when in fact it is based on flimsy evidence.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, from "Don't Believe Everything You Think: Living with
+ Wisdom and Compassion"
+~
+We are all human beings, and from this point of view, we are the same. We all
+want happiness and we do not want suffering. If we consider this point, we
+will find that there are no differences between people of different faiths,
+races, colors, or cultures. We all have this common wish for happiness.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+Enlightenment is not anything new or something we create or bring into
+existence. It is simply discovering within us what is already there. It is
+the full realization of our intrinsic nature. In Tibetan, buddha is sang
+gyay. Sang means that all of the faults have been cleared away, while gyay
+means "full realization"; just as from darkness, the moon waxes, likewise
+from ignorance, the qualities of the mind's intrinsic nature emerge.
+ -- Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
+~
+The fundamental teaching of the Buddha is that we should view others as being
+more important than we are. Of course, you cannot completely ignore yourself.
+But neither can you neglect the welfare of other people and other sentient
+beings, particularly when there is a clash of interest between your own
+welfare and the welfare of other people. At such a time you should consider
+other people's welfare as more important than your own personal well-being.
+Compare yourself to the rest of sentient beings. All other sentient beings
+are countless, while you are just one person. Your suffering and happiness
+may be very important, but it is just the suffering and happiness of one
+individual, whereas the happiness and suffering of all other sentient beings
+is immeasurable and countless. So, it is the way of the wise to sacrifice one
+for the benefit of the majority and it is the way of the foolish to sacrifice
+the majority on behalf of just one single individual. Even from the point of
+view of your personal well-being, you must cultivate a compassionate
+mind—that is that source of happiness in your life.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ Attachment and love are similar in that both of them draw us to the other
+person. But in fact, these two emotions are quite different. When we're
+attached we're drawn to someone because he or she meets our needs. In
+addition, there are lots of strings attached to our affection that we may or
+may not realize are there. For example, I 'love' you because you make me feel
+good. I 'love' you as long as you do things that I approve of. I 'love' you
+because you're mine. You're my spouse or my child or my parent or my friend.
+With attachment, we go up and down like a yo-yo, depending on how the other
+person treats us. We obsess, "What do they think of me? Do they love me?
+Have I offended them? How can I become what they want me to be so that they
+love me even more?" It's not very peaceful, is it? We're definitely stirred
+up.
+ On the other hand, the love we're generating on the Dharma path is
+unconditional. We simply want other to have happiness and the causes of
+happiness without any strings attached, without any expectations of what these
+people will do for us or how good they'll make us feel.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "Don't Believe Everything You Think: Living with Wisdom
+ and Compassion"
+~
+Because we don't recognize our essential nature--we don't realize that
+although appearances arise unceasingly, nothing is really there--we invest
+with solidity and reality the seeming truth of self, other, and actions
+between self and others. This intellectual obscuration gives rise to
+attachment and aversion, followed by actions and reactions that create karma,
+solidify into habit, and perpetuate the cycles of suffering. This entire
+process needs to be purified.
+ -- Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, from "In the Presence of Masters: Wisdom from 30
+ Contemporary Tibetan Buddhist Teachers", edited by Reginald A. Ray.
+~
+ Effort is crucial in the beginning for generating a strong will. We all
+have the Buddha nature and thus already have within us the substances through
+which, when we meet with the proper conditions, we can turn into a fully
+enlightened being having all beneficial attributes and devoid of all faults.
+The very root of failure in our lives is to think, "Oh, how useless and
+powerless I am!" It is important to have a strong force of mind thinking,
+"I can do it," this not being mixed with pride or any other afflictive
+emotion.
+ Moderate effort over a long period of time is important, no matter what you
+are trying to do. One brings failure on oneself by working extremely hard at
+the beginning, attempting to do too much, and then giving it all up after a
+short time. A constant stream of moderate effort is needed. Similarly, when
+meditating, you need to be skillful by having frequent, short sessions; it is
+more important that the session be of good quality than that it be long.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight"
+~
+We Buddhists are supposed to save all sentient beings, but practically
+speaking, this may be too broad a notion for most people. In any case, we
+must at least think in terms of helping all human beings. This is very
+important. Even if we cannot think in terms of sentient beings inhabiting
+different worlds, we should nonetheless think in terms of the human beings on
+our own planet. To do this is to take a practical approach to the problem.
+It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily
+lives. If we find we cannot help another, the least we can do is to desist
+from harming them. We must not cheat others or lie to them. We must be
+honest human beings, sincere human beings.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ How things appear and how they actually exist differ greatly. A person
+engaging in practice of the perfection of wisdom does this kind of analysis
+and then examines how things appear in ordinary experience, alternating
+analysis and comparison with the usual mode of appearance in order to notice
+the discrepancy between the actual mode of subsistence of phenomena and their
+appearance.
+ In this way the inherent existence which is the object of negation will
+become clearer and clearer. As much as the object of negation becomes
+clearer, so much deeper will your understanding of emptiness become. Finally,
+you will ascertain a mere vacuity that is a negative of inherent existence.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ Three attitudes prevent us from receiving a continual flow of blessings.
+They are compared to three "pots": a full pot, a pot with poison in it,
+and a pot with a hole in the bottom.
+ The pot that's filled to the brim is like a mind full of opinions and
+preconceptions. We already know it all. We have so many fixed ideas that
+nothing new can affect us or cause us to question our assumptions.
+ The pot containing poison is like a mind that's so cynical, critical, and
+judgmental that everything is poisoned by this harshness. It allows for no
+openness and no willingness to explore the teachings or anything else that
+challenges our righteous stance.
+ The pot with a hole is like a distracted mind: our body is present but
+we're lost in thought. We're so busy thinking about our dream vacation or
+what's for dinner that we're completely deaf to what's being said.
+ Knowing how sad it is to receive blessings and not be able to benefit,
+Shantideva wants to save himself grief by remaining open and attentive.
+Nothing will improve, he says, unless we become more intelligent about cause
+and effect. This is a message worth considering seriously.
+ -- Pema Chödrön, from "No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the
+ Bodhisattva".
+~
+ Shantideva cites three benefits of pain. First, it is valuable because
+through sorrow, pride is driven out. No matter how arrogant and condescending
+we've been, great suffering can humble us. The pain of a serious illness or
+loss of a loved one can be transformative, softening us and making us less
+self-centered.
+ The second benefit of pain is empathy: the compassion felt for those who
+wander in samsara. Our personal suffering brings compassion for others in the
+same situation. A young woman was telling me that when her baby died, she
+felt a deep connection to all the other parents who had lost children. This
+was, as she put it, the unexpected blessing of her sorrow.
+ The third value of suffering is that evil is avoided and goodness seems
+delightful. When we practice according to Shantideva's instructions, we can
+get smarter about cause and result. Based on this understanding, we'll have
+less inclination to cause harm, and more desire to gather virtue and benefit
+others.
+ -- Pema Chödrön, from "No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the
+ Bodhisattva"
+~
+ Since emptiness, from between positive and negative phenomena, is a negative
+phenomenon and, from between affirming negatives and non-affirming negatives,
+is a non-affirming negative, when it appears to the mind, nothing will appear
+except an absence of such inherent existence—a mere elimination of the
+object of negation. Thus, for the mind of a person realizing emptiness there
+is no sense of, "I am ascertaining emptiness," and there is no thought,
+"This is emptiness." If you had such a sense, emptiness would become
+distant. Nevertheless, the emptiness of inherent existence is ascertained and
+realized.
+ After such realization, even though whatever phenomena appear appear to
+exist in their own right, you understand that they do not exist that way. You
+have a sense that they are like a magician's illusions in that there is a
+combination of their appearing one way but actually existing another way.
+Though they appear to exist inherently, you understand that they are empty of
+inherent existence.
+ When phenomena are seen this way, the conceptions that superimpose a sense
+of goodness or badness on phenomena beyond what is actually there and serve as
+a basis for generating desire and hatred lessen; this is because they are
+based on the misconception that phenomena are established in their own right.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ Rely on timeless awareness, which is free of elaboration, without
+ identity, and the very essence of being;
+ do not rely on ordinary consciousness, which is a mind fixated
+ on characteristics and concepts.
+
+ Timeless awareness entails (a) understanding that the way in which phenomena
+actually abide is, from the ultimate perspective, free of all limitations
+imposed by elaborations of origination, cessation, and so forth; (b)
+realization of the nonexistence of the two kinds of identity; and (c) unerring
+knowledge of sugatagarbha as utter lucidity, the way in which things actually
+abide, beyond any context of speculative value judgments. It is on this
+awareness that one should rely.
+ Ordinary consciousness entails (a) belief that what one immediately
+perceives constitutes something truly existent; (b) conceptualization in terms
+of characteristics, such as the sense of personal identity and the mind-body
+aggregates; and (c) mental states that are conditioned, for example, by
+attitudes of naively fixating on the pleasures of the senses. One should not
+rely on such consciousness.
+ -- Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Taye, from "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Seven
+ and Book Eight, Parts One and Two"
+~
+ Such is the process of karma: it is ineluctable; its results are greatly
+magnified; actions not committed have no effect; and the effects of actions
+committed never expire on their own.
+ Generally speaking, whether you are an ordinary mortal individual or a
+spiritually advanced being, all positive experiences that carry with them any
+pleasant sensation—down to even the slightest pleasure caused by a cool
+breeze for beings reborn in a hell realm—occur due to positive karma
+reinforced in the past; it is not in accord with the nature of things that
+happiness be due to negative karma. And all negative experiences that carry
+with them any unpleasant sensation—down to even the slightest suffering that
+could occur in the experience of an arhat—occur due to negative karma one
+has reinforced in the past; for it is not in accord with the nature of things
+that suffering be due to positive karma.
+ -- Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Taye, from "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Seven
+ and Book Eight, Parts One and Two"
+~
+ "That which is seen and that which is touched are of a dream-like and
+ illusion-like nature. Because feeling arises together with the mind,
+ it is not [ultimately] perceived." --Shantideva
+
+ There is nothing whatever that has a true mode of existence. Nevertheless,
+this does not suggest that a person who experiences feelings and the feelings
+themselves—pleasant and unpleasant—are utterly non-existent. They do
+exist, but in an untrue fashion. Thus, the things that we see and touch have
+a dream-like and illusion-like quality.
+ In the second line the author refutes the true existence of the mind that
+experiences feelings. Since feelings arise in conjunction with the mind,
+feelings are not perceived by the mind that is simultaneous with them. There
+must be a causal relationship between the experienced object and the
+experiencing subject. If two entities are substantially distinct and exist
+simultaneously, there could be neither a causal relationship nor an identity
+relationship between them.
+ For this reason the author denies that either [intrinsic] relationship could
+hold for the feelings and the awareness that is simultaneous with them. Two
+mental events that arise in conjunction with each other are not able to
+apprehend one another. This holds true for all states of awareness. Thus,
+feelings are not observed by the awareness that arises in conjunction with
+them and that exists simultaneously with them.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+Any happiness there is in the world ultimately turns to pain. Why? Consider
+the two sides of a coin: just because what we desire is to be seen on the
+front does not mean that dislike won't soon appear on the back. Likewise,
+hope and fear are a single coin, one entity with two faces--on the other side
+of a moment in which we hope for more happiness will be our fear of more
+suffering. Until attachment is eliminated, we can be certain of having both
+hope and fear. As long as there is hope and fear, the delusions of samsara
+will be perpetuated and there will be constant suffering. Thus attachment is
+the nature of both hope and fear: looking at the ultimate emptiness of the
+self-envisioned magical illusion of hope and fear, we should hang loosely in
+the flow.
+ --Tulku Pema Rigtsal, "The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the
+ Nonduality of Dzogchen", translated by Keith Dowman
+~
+ The feelings of joy and sorrow do not exist from their own side. Although
+they exist as conceptual imputations, you cling to them as existing from their
+own side. Feelings do not exist by their own intrinsic nature; rather, they
+are identified on the basis of contributing circumstances.
+ Therefore, this analysis is cultivated as an antidote for that [false
+conception of intrinsic existence]. The meditative absorption that arises
+from the field of discriminative investigation is the food of the
+contemplative.—Shantideva
+ Feelings do not truly exist; they are not found when sought through
+analysis; they do not exist independently, but exist by the power of
+convention. Thus, the means for overcoming the misconception of the true
+existence of feelings is meditation on their lack of such existence. This
+entails analyzing the mode of existence of feelings.
+ Such investigation is an aid to meditative absorption and leads to the
+integration of meditative quiescence and insight. That increases the physical
+vitality of the contemplative and enhances the power of his [or her] spiritual
+practice. Thus it is called the nourishment of the contemplative.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom".
+~
+It is not enough merely to look into the space of happiness or sadness; it is
+important to have pure presence constant in that flow. If the power of
+meditation is not constant, it is impossible to remain long in the place of
+nondual perception. Thoughts that arise intermittently will break the
+continuity, and radiating out from this, like ripples on a pond, the poisonous
+taste of emotion will arise to obstruct the meditation. As gross thoughts
+increase, ripples become rough waves that intensify the emotion. Until subtle
+emotions are left behind, we cannot eradicate suffering, so it is crucially
+important to sustain the state of meditation. When we gain strong familiarity
+by staying in that space for a long time, then no matter what thoughts arise,
+whether gross or subtle, they will not be able to dislodge us: upon
+recognizing the first thought, whatever thought it may be, in that very
+moment, we realize it to be the play of the spontaneous creativity of
+dharmakaya. Like a wave falling back into the ocean, the thought vanishes
+into the dharmakaya. In that space of naked empty pure presence that is the
+view, always cherishing thoughts of the five poisonous emotions and all the
+movements of body, speech, and mind, and the acts of eating, sleeping, moving,
+and sitting, we are known as the yogins and yoginis who stand guard over the
+shifting dharmakaya display. This is the supreme method of sustaining the
+essence of meditation. According to Dzogchen teaching, this is unadulterated
+by any kind of focus; it is called "the great meditation that is
+nonmeditation."
+ --Tulku Pema Rigtsal, "The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the
+ Nonduality of Dzogchen", translated by Keith Dowman.
+~
+ Who is more shameless in this world,
+ Than one who abandons to samsara's ocean of suffering
+ All the mothers who have tenderly cared for him since beginningless time
+ And instead strives toward the peace of a solitary nirvana?
+ --Shechen Gyaltsap Pema Namgyal
+
+ In each of our lives since beginningless time, our mother carried us within
+her body for nine months. She took care of us when we were helpless babies;
+she gave us food, education, and protection. In return, we feel love and
+gratitude for her kindness.
+ Why not extend our respect and appreciation for our mother to everyone else?
+If we take a broader perspective, we can consider that, within the countless
+existences we have lived, every being has been our mother at one time or
+another. Don't they also deserve our kindness now? We can extend the same
+debt of gratitude that we owe our present mother to all sentient beings. By
+doing so, we naturally begin to develop a deep concern for the happiness of
+others, and this feeling makes sense to us.
+ We take the refuge vow not just for our own sake, but also for the sake of
+all sentient beings. This is bodhichitta, or the altruistic mind, which aims
+for the enlightenment of all sentient beings.
+ --Shechen Rabjam, "The Great Medicine That Conquers Clinging to the Notion
+ of Reality: Steps in Meditation on the Enlightened Mind"
+~
+ Direct perfect enlightenment [with regard to] all aspects,
+ and abandonment of the stains along with their imprints
+ [are called] buddha and nirvana respectively.
+ In truth, these are not two different things.
+ —Arya Maitreya
+
+All aspects of the knowable—all absolute and relative phenomena—are
+directly known. Through this knowledge one is immediately and perfectly
+enlightened. This is the aspect of realization. All the adventitious
+defilements—the two veils along with their remaining imprints—are
+abandoned without any exception. This is the aspect of abandonment. These
+two qualities have been led to ultimate perfection. They are therefore named
+"perfect buddha" ["perfectly awakened and expanded"] from the
+viewpoint of the former aspect, and "nirvana" ["gone beyond any torment
+and pain"] from the viewpoint of the latter aspect. These two aspects are
+contained in one and the same meaning, the meaning of the tathagatagarbha,
+whereas a difference only lies in the convention of the different terms. In
+the sense of the absolute field of experience of the noble ones' primordial
+wisdom the qualities of realization and abandonment are therefore completely
+inseparable and do not exist as two different things.
+ -- Arya Maitreya, "Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with
+ Commentary", with commentary by Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Thaye
+~
+ "Vehicle" (yana) has two meanings: the means by which one progresses and
+the destination to which one is progressing. Mahayana in the sense of the
+vehicle by which one progresses means to be motivated by the mind of
+enlightenment—wishing to attain highest enlightenment for the sake of all
+sentient beings, one's objects of intent—and means to engage in the six
+perfections.
+ Seeing reason and need, Buddha set forth many systems and vehicles, but
+these did not arise due to his being intimate with some and alien to others.
+The trainees who were listening to his teaching had various dispositions,
+interests, and abilities, and thus he taught methods that were suitable for
+each of them. For those who temporarily did not have the courage to strive
+for Buddhahood or who did not at all have the capacity of obtaining Buddhahood
+at that time, Buddha did not say, "You can attain Buddhahood." Rather, he
+set forth a path appropriate to the trainees' abilities. Buddha spoke in
+terms of their situation, and everything that he spoke was a means of
+eventually attaining highest enlightenment even though he did not always say
+that these were means for attaining Buddhahood.
+ Since the purpose of a Buddha's coming is others' realization of the
+wisdom of Buddhahood, the methods for actualizing this wisdom are one vehicle,
+not two. A Buddha does not lead beings by a vehicle that does not proceed to
+Buddhahood; he establishes beings in his own level. A variety of vehicles are
+set forth in accordance with temporary needs.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+You do not have to seek out loneliness--it is always there. Egolessness is a
+concept, a philosophy, but loneliness is a reality that you experience. A
+feeling of loneliness is part of the journey. As for me, I feel that way
+constantly, and I think it's a very healthy feeling, a very real feeling.
+When you sense that you are not you anymore and that nothing can replace that
+state, you begin to make discoveries. You discover devotion, and you discover
+a quality of richness and artistic expression that is very special. Being
+you, but not being you, is very resourceful. You become a complete mountain
+man: you know how to make fire and cook food. But it doesn't mean anything.
+You are still nobody. That is the inspiration.
+ -- Chögyam Trungpa, "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume
+ One: The Individual Path of Liberation"
+~
+ Interdependence is our reality, whether we accept it or not. In order to
+live productively within such a reality, it is better to acknowledge and work
+with interdependence, wholeheartedly and without resistance. This is where
+love and compassion come in. It is love that leads us to embrace our
+connectedness to others, and to participate willingly in the relations created
+by our interdependence. Love can melt away our defenses and our painful sense
+of separation. The warmth of friendship and love makes it easy for us to
+accept that our happiness is intimately linked to that of others. The more
+widely we are able to love others, the happier and more content we can feel
+within the relations of interdependence that are a natural part of our life.
+ Love is possible in all our relationships because all people want happiness.
+No one wants to suffer. This is true of the people we love. It is also true
+of those we dislike. We are all absolutely identical in this respect. I
+think this universal wish for happiness is something we can easily grasp
+intellectually. When we learn to also feel and respect this in our heart,
+love naturally flourishes within us.
+ -- The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, "The Heart is Noble: Changing the World
+ from the Inside Out"
+~
+ Day and night, night and day we spend our lives in the company of the
+afflictions, generating desire for the pleasant and anger at the unpleasant,
+and continue thus even when dreaming, unable to remain relaxed, our minds
+completely and utterly mixed with thoughts of desire and hatred without
+interruption.
+ To what refuge should we go? A source of refuge must have completely
+overcome all defects forever; it must be free of all faults. It must also
+have all the attributes of altruism—those attainments which are necessary
+for achieving others' welfare. For it is doubtful that anyone lacking these
+two prerequisites can bestow refuge; it would be like falling into a ditch and
+asking another who is in it to help you out. You need to ask someone who is
+standing outside the ditch for help; it is senseless to ask another who is in
+the same predicament. A refuge capable of protecting from the frights of
+manifold sufferings cannot also be bound in this suffering but must be free
+and unflawed. Furthermore, the complete attainments are necessary, for if you
+have fallen into a ditch, it is useless to seek help from someone standing
+outside it who does not wish to help or who wishes to help but has no means to
+do so.
+ Only a Buddha has extinguished all faults and gained all attainments.
+Therefore, one should mentally go for refuge to a Buddha, praise him with
+speech, and respect him physically. One should enter the teaching of such a
+being.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ All that is has me—universal creativity,
+ pure and total presence—as its root.
+ How things appear is my being.
+ How things arise is my manifestation.
+ Sounds and words heard are my messages
+ expressed in sounds and words.
+ All the capacities, forms, and pristine
+ awareness of the buddhas;
+ The bodies of sentient beings, their
+ habituations, and so forth;
+ All environments and their inhabitants,
+ life forms, and experiences;
+ Are the primordial state of pure and total
+ presence.
+
+ Without understanding me, the creativity of
+ the universe,
+ But investigating the phenomena that I
+ manifest,
+ You perceive everything dualistically due
+ to your attachment and longing.
+ Impermanent, apparitional things will fade
+ away.
+ They are aimless, like a blind man.
+
+ All that is experienced and
+ Your own mind are the unique primary reality.
+ They cannot be conceptualized according to
+ the cause and effect systems of thought.
+ Investigate your mind's real nature
+ So that your pure and total presence will
+ actually shine forth.
+
+ -- Longchenpa, "You Are the Eyes of the World"
+~
+ Devotion, or mögü in Tibetan, can be divided into two aspects: möpa and
+küpa. Möpa means "longing" or "wanting," and küpa means "humility,"
+"respect," or "being without arrogance." With küpa, you are not pretending
+to be somebody who has reached a higher level of wisdom. So in devotion,
+longing and humbleness are put together. That state of mind brings openness
+to the teacher and to the dharma.
+ With küpa, the longing of möpa does not become purely an emotional
+indulgence or demand on the part of either the student or the teacher. The
+devotion of küpa is the respect or sacredness that comes from that experience
+of aah [the space before first thought]! Küpa arises because every highlight
+in your life has always been touched by the sacredness of vajrayana, even
+before you knew it.
+ -- Chogyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma,
+ Volume Three: The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness"
+~
+All suffering in this life and others is created by the unsubdued mind.
+Similarly, the basis of all the practices of the six paramitas, such as
+generosity, moral discipline, and so on, is the mind.
+
+Nothing is more important than guarding the mind. Let us constantly keep
+watch over the wild elephant of the mind, curbing it with mindfulness and
+vigilance. This is how to avoid being influenced by different external
+conditions. But even in retreat in a very secluded place, if the mind is not
+kept under control, it will wander all over the place. Even completely alone,
+we can have an enormous amount of negative emotions.
+
+How are we to guard the mind? We should use attentiveness to watch our
+thoughts and use mindfulness to judge whether we are acting correctly. With
+these two we have the means to annihilate all adverse conditions. But without
+them, we will not see whether our thoughts are positive or negative or whether
+we are doing right or wrong, nor will we then be able to use antidotes as
+necessary.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+The great yogi Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol replies to a Losar Day request from
+his disciple Depa Wangpo on what to adopt and what to reject regarding
+attitude and conduct...
+
+ Don't harm your friends and neighbors; help them.
+ Don't be stingy; use your wealth for offerings and charity.
+ Don't let your body be idle; do prostrations and circumambulations.
+ Don't let your mouth be idle; recite the mani mantra.
+ Always have pure thoughts towards others.
+
+ In brief, keeping Death in mind, practice the sacred Dharma.
+ Give up doing wrong, and do what is wholesome.
+ Whatever happiness and sufferings you undergo,
+ Regard them as the result of previous actions.
+ Always act in accord with the Dharma.
+ Even though I may be far away,
+ These instructions will remain like my very presence.
+ Keep them in mind!
+
+ -- Shabkar Natshok Rangdrol, in "The Life of Shabkar"
+~
+On the very night of Dodrupchen's death, his spiritual testament was
+received by his principal disciple, Do Khyentse. Dodrupchen appeared in the
+sky in a radiant light body and an attire of lights. He was floating on a
+carpet of light, which was held up by four dakinis. In a very enchanting
+voice he sang the verses of his testament, which include the following lines:
+
+ I am going into the expanse of the Wisdom of the Ultimate Sphere,
+ Which is the state that transcends thoughts and expressions.
+ I am going into the state of Mirrorlike Wisdom,
+ Which is the ceaseless clear glow, fresh and open.
+ I am going into the expanse of the Wisdom of Evenness,
+ In which all the thoughts of grasping and grasper have vanished into the
+ ultimate sphere.
+ I am going into the Wisdom of Discriminative Awareness,
+ Which is the clarity, the dawn of six kinds of foreknowledge.
+ I am going into the state of the Wisdom of Accomplishment,
+ Which emanates various manifestations in accordance with [the needs of]
+ trainable beings.
+
+ Son, please stay healthy.
+ Now you have won over the obstructions of your life.
+ Until all the phenomenal existents are liberated as the signs and
+ teachings [of Dharma],
+ [You should be] aware of samsara and nirvana as dreams and illusions.
+ Dedicate yourself to the meditation where there is no reference point.
+ This is the empowerment of total entrustment and aspiration.
+ This is the supreme empowerment of empowerments.
+
+ -- from "Masters of Meditation and Miracles", by Tulku Thondup.
+~
+ The view of interdependence makes for a great openness of mind. In general,
+instead of realizing that what we experience arises from a complicated network
+of causes, we tend to attribute happiness or sadness, for example, to single,
+individual sources. But if this were so, as soon as we came into contact with
+what we consider to be good, we would be automatically happy, and conversely,
+in the case of bad things, invariably sad. The causes of joy and sorrow would
+be easy to identify and target. It would all be very simple, and there would
+be good reason for our anger and attachment. When, on the other hand, we
+consider that everything we experience results from a complex interplay of
+causes and conditions, we find that there is no single thing to desire or
+resent, and it is more difficult for the afflictions of attachment or anger to
+arise. In this way, the view of interdependence makes our minds more relaxed
+and open.
+ By training our minds and getting used to this view, we change our way of
+seeing things, and as a result we gradually change our behavior and do less
+harm to others. As it says in the sutras:
+
+ Abandon evildoing;
+ Practice virtue well;
+ Subdue your mind:
+ This is the Buddha's teaching.
+
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "For the Benefit of All Beings"
+~
+In the avadhuti, the main path of enlightenment,
+Prana and mind, bliss and warmth, are united,
+Becoming unconditioned great bliss.
+The wisdom of unobscured insight dawns.
+
+"This is unsurpassable," the guru has said.
+The darkness of ignorance is purified in space.
+One is free from the two obscurations of grasping and fixation.
+Therefore bliss and luminosity dawn in simplicity.
+
+This appearance of collective coincidence
+Is a reflection without self-nature.
+All appearances are realized like that,
+And just like appearances in a dream,
+All dharmas arise as illusions...
+
+When thoughts arise, rest naturally.
+When dreaming, be mindful without corrupting it.
+When in the pardo, don't control, but be aware.
+When there is fruition, let it arise without obscuration.
+
+ -- from "The Life of Marpa the Translator" translated by Chögyam Trungpa
+ and the Nalanda Translation Committee.
+~
+The Four Seals in Buddhism are:
+
+ All products are impermanent.
+ (or all compounded phenomena are impermanent?)
+ ('du byed thams cad mi rtag pa)
+
+ All contaminated objects are miserable.
+ (zag bcas thams cad sdug bsngal ba)
+
+ All phenomena are selfless.
+ (chos thams cad bdag med pa)
+
+ Nirvana is peace.
+ (mya ngan las 'das ba zhi ba)
+
+ --from "Meditation on Emptiness" (London: Wisdom, 1983), by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ When you pass away, nothing will do you any good except for the pure Dharma.
+You will not simply disappear when you die. Rather, what happens next will be
+dictated by your previous actions.
+ For these reasons, you should exert yourself by whatever means necessary to
+free yourself from samsara, which is nothing but a vast ocean of suffering!
+Practice your teacher's guidance concerning what to do and what to give up
+to the letter, without falling under the influence of immature friends or bad
+influences. To the best of your ability, incorporate this genuine teaching on
+the certainty of death into each and every day.
+ Keeping all this in mind, arouse faith in the Three Jewels so that you will
+be able to practice in this manner, thinking to yourself, "Think of me,
+Three Jewels!" At the same time, be sure to generate an intense sense of
+renunciation and subdue your mind stream.
+ -- from "Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen
+ Preliminary Practices", edited and translated by Cortland Dahl
+~
+I would like to mention my visit to Lourdes as a pilgrim. There, in front of
+the cave, I experienced something very special. I felt a spiritual vibration,
+a kind of spiritual presence there. And then, in front of the image of the
+Virgin Mary, I prayed. I expressed my admiration for this holy place that has
+long been a source of inspiration and strength, that has provided spiritual
+solace, comfort and healing to millions of people. And I prayed that this may
+continue for a long time to come. My prayer there was not directed to any
+clearly defined object, like Buddha or Jesus Christ or a bodhisattva, but was
+simply directed to all great beings who have infinite compassion towards all
+sentient beings.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+The Buddhist teaching is superior in four ways: view, meditation, behavior,
+and fruit.
+
+1. The "four seals" that distinguish the [Buddhist] view are as follows: all
+composed phenomena are impermanent, all contaminated things are miserable, all
+phenomena are selfless, and nirvana is peace.
+
+2. Buddhist meditation serves as an antidote to all cyclic existence within
+the three realms.
+
+3. Buddhist behavior is free from the two extremes, having abandoned both the
+extreme of overindulgence of desire, which is a case of being desirous and
+wanting good and great quantities of food and clothing, and the extreme of
+being too tired and worn out in body and mind.
+
+4. The fruits are the true cessations, which are abandonments such that the
+obstruction that is removed does not arise again [and which comes about]
+through analyzing individually the nonexistence of the referent object of the
+conception of self.
+
+These four [view, meditation, behavior, and fruit] are the distinguishing
+features of Buddhist doctrine.
+ -- Jamyang Shayba, from "Buddhist Philosophy: Losang Gonchok's Short
+ Commentary to Jamyang Shayba's Root Text on Tenets", by Daniel Cozort
+ and Craig Preston, page 88.
+~
+When you are busy and preoccupied, you feel hassled by your own existence.
+You are so busy that you think that you do not have any time to spare for your
+practice. Such torment and busyness seem to be monumental or historic, but
+that is not the case. As far as we are concerned, that kind of torment is
+absolutely ordinary. As you begin to work on that, you realize that the
+inconvenience, discomfort, and anguish that you experience is no more than
+anybody else experiences. So your experience is no longer regarded as
+monumental—no more than if you step on a cat's tail, and the cat cries
+out, "Wooaaaoow!" However, it is still a problematic situation. Therefore
+you need to practice the paramita of discipline, which overcomes that type of
+preoccupation altogether. You begin to realize that preoccupations are
+garbage; they are worth flushing out so that something real could come up.
+Then paramita activity begins to make sense, and you begin to act in a more
+genuine way.
+ -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma.
+ Volume Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion"
+~
+If we unbalance nature, humankind will suffer. Furthermore, we must consider
+future generations: a clean environment is a human right like any other. It
+is therefore part of our responsibility toward others to ensure that the world
+we pass on is as healthy as, if not healthier than, we found it. This is not
+quite such a difficult proposition as it might sound. For although there is a
+limit to what we as individuals can do, there is no limit to what a universal
+response might achieve. It is up to us as individuals to do what we can,
+however little that may be. Just because switching off the light on leaving
+the room seems inconsequential, it does not mean we shouldn't do it.
+ -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Pocket Dalai Lama"
+~
+Basically we are trying to put a stop to frivolity of any kind. Frivolity is
+an interesting word. It can mean being crazy and indulging unnecessarily in a
+very crude fashion, but it could also mean indulging in something in the name
+of humor and overdoing it slightly. If you are embarrassed to deal with a
+particular subject, you find another subject to discuss. If you are tired of
+drinking vodka, you switch to sake. If you are bored with talking to one
+person, you switch to somebody else. Frivolity is anything that creates
+further confusion, or the longing for further confusion. Confusion may seem
+luxurious: when you no longer have it, you begin to miss that confusion, and
+you would like to re-create it. It is like going back to an adult bookshop
+and getting more magazines. But with discipline, you control any form of
+potential escape from reality.
+ -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma.
+ Volume Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion"
+~
+ The essence of all the songs can be epitomized by the four dharmas of
+Gampopa. These are: (1) one's mind becomes dharmic; (2) that dharma
+practice becomes path; (3) in following that path, confusion is removed; (4)
+having removed confusion, everything dawns as wisdom.
+ The first dharma is the ground, where our mind becomes dharmic so that we
+and the dharma are no longer separate entities. We develop true renunciation
+and have a sense of revulsion towards samsara. The second dharma is the path.
+When our mind goes along with the dharma, the dharma becomes the path, and any
+obstacles, whether extreme or ordinary, become a part of our journey. The
+third dharma is the fruition. As the journey is taking place, the process of
+the journey liberates us from confusion and anxiety. We are delighted by our
+journey and we feel it is good. The fourth dharma is the total vision. When
+we are able to overcome confusion and anxiety, even our anxiety is not
+regarded as anti-dharma or anti-path. Cosmic wakefulness takes place.
+ -- Chögyam Trungpa's in the foreword to "The Rain of Wisdom: The Essence of
+ the Ocean of True Meaning"
+~
+Scrutinize Apperances
+
+No matter what our mind makes appear as an object of one of our six
+collections of consciousness—sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile or
+bodily sensations, or mental objects or events—we thoroughly scrutinize its
+mode of appearance. Our mind is making it appear as though its existence were
+established by virtue of itself, empowered by some truly and inherently
+existent self-nature—and not by virtue simply of mental labeling
+establishing its existence as what can be labeled "this" or "that"
+from this side. We thoroughly scrutinize this mode of appearance and the mode
+of existence it implies. There does appear to be something solidly there, not
+existing as what it is by virtue simply of mental labeling, but by virtue of
+itself, independently of anything else. But, by reminding ourselves that it
+does not exist as it appears to exist—by being mindful that its existence
+and identity are not established through its own power—we automatically
+reconfirm and become even stronger in our conviction in its bare mode of
+existence. In other words, as the text [the First Panchen Lama's A Root
+Text for the Precious Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra] says, "[You
+experience] their bare mode of existence dawning in an exposed, resplendent
+manner."
+ -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition
+ of Mahamudra"
+~
+The dakini principle must not be oversimplified, as it carries many levels of
+meaning. On an outer level, accomplished female practitioners were called
+dakinis.... But ultimately, though she appears in female form, a dakini
+defies gender definitions. "To really meet the dakini, you have to go
+beyond duality," Khandro Rinpoche teaches, referring to an essential
+understanding in Vajrayana that the absolute reality cannot be grasped
+intellectually. The Tibetan word for dakini, khandro, means "sky-goer" or
+"space-dancer," which indicates that these ethereal awakened ones have
+left the confinements of solid earth and have the vastness of open space to
+play in.
+ -- Michaela Haas, from "Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the
+ Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West"
+~
+Drawing from Longchenpa, Jamgon Kongtrul explains the method of awakening in
+the Dzog-chen system, calling it the "Liberation as Ever-Perfect," as the
+primordial buddha Samantabhadra... Liberation as Ever-Perfect does not refer
+to the liberation of a buddha that has occurred in the past, such as that of
+Buddha Sakyamuni, but to the way in which countless beings are liberated right
+now and will continue to be liberated in the future simply by realizing their
+primordial purity. The basis, the path, and the ultimate result in this
+system are all of a singular, undifferentiated nature: total, pure awareness.
+Thus, the primordial freedom that one seeks to attain by practicing the
+spiritual path is something that one already possesses. Intrinsic freedom is
+itself the path that leads to the actualization of the goal.
+ -- from the Translator's Introduction, "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book One,
+ Myriad Worlds", by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye
+~
+ If we realize, "I am a human being. A human being can do anything,"
+this determination, courage, and self-confidence are important sources of
+victory and success. Without will power and determination, even something
+that you might have achieved easily cannot be achieved. If you have will
+power and reasonable courage—not blind courage but courage without
+pride—even things that seemed impossible at a certain stage turn into being
+possible because of continuing effort inspired by that courage. Thus,
+determination is important.
+ How can this be developed? Not through machines, not by money, but by our
+own inner strength based on clear realization of the value of human beings, of
+human dignity. For, once we realize that a human being is much more than just
+material, much more than just money, we can feel the importance of human life,
+from which we can feel the importance of compassion and kindness.
+ Human beings by nature want happiness and do not want suffering. With that
+feeling everyone tries to achieve happiness and tries to get rid of suffering,
+and everyone has the basic right to do this. In this way, all here are the
+same, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, Easterner or Westerner,
+believer or nonbeliever, and within believers whether Buddhist, Christian,
+Jewish, Muslim, and so on. Basically, from the viewpoint of real human value
+we are all the same.
+ -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight"
+~
+Pete's Song:
+My fur reeks like
+Racoon dead six weeks.
+Feed me!
+~
+The Epic of Gesar
+
+Through aspiration prayers and arousing bodhicitta, for the noble families the
+time had come to tame the māras and cannibal demons of Tibet, and resounding
+as self-arising formless sound from the sky was this song, which invokes the
+enlightened mindstreams [of all the sages]:
+
+ E MA HO
+ Unborn primordially empty dharmadhatu,
+ Unobstructed ground for the arising of phenomena,
+ The strength of emptiness free from the extremes of existing or not,
+ Listen to this song, a self-arising spontaneously present song.
+
+ Without considering the six grains of the three months of autumn,
+ Why toil in the fields in the three months of spring?
+ Without considering the abundance of the plunder,
+ Why wave your arms to summon enemies and disputes?
+ Without considering the benefit of others,
+ Why single-pointedly practice to try to accomplish enlightenment?
+
+ Failing to know the minds of those to be tamed, one is not a buddha.
+ Failing to fulfill the welfare of others is not the sacred dharma.
+ Failing to lead others to liberation is not the sangha.
+
+ -- from The Epic of Gesar of Ling, "Gesar's Birth and Childhood"
+~
+When we meditate I encourage all of us to have the attitude that we are
+meditating to dissolve the self. That's why we meditate. Hold this
+perspective in your awareness and let your dualistic mind dissolve for at
+least a half hour, or at least for ten minutes every day. When you allow
+yourself to witness that unexpected glimpse of the truth, where the self is
+dissolved, it's like drinking nectar. It's inexpressible. We often use
+the word bliss to describe that state. Bliss is a good word, but it can be
+misunderstood. The bliss that I am speaking about has nothing to do with
+ordinary bliss. It's not like the bliss of having great food or other
+sensual pleasure. This is nonconceptual bliss that is not based on emotions
+but is based on awareness. We often say that realizing the true nature of who
+we are is like drinking the nectar of ultimate bliss. The more we drink, the
+more we are going to be addicted, which is very good.
+ -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem: Awakening to Our True Nature"
+~
+ Why is a man condemned to death not fortunate
+ If he is released after having his hand cut off?
+ Why am I who am experiencing human misery not fortunate
+ If by that I am spared from (the agonies of) hell?
+
+ If I am unable to endure
+ Even the mere sufferings of the present,
+ Then why do I not restrain myself from being angry,
+ Which will be the source of hellish misery?
+
+ In these two verses [from The Way of the Bodhisattva], Shantideva explains
+that by not being angry and developing hatred in response to harm caused by
+others, what one is gaining is protection from potential undesirable
+consequences that might otherwise come about. Because if one responds to such
+situations with anger and hatred, not only does it not protect one from the
+injury that has already been done, but on top of that one creates an
+additional cause for one's own suffering in the future. However, if one
+responds without anger and hatred and develops patience and tolerance, then
+although one many face temporary discomfort or injury, that temporary
+suffering will protect one from potentially dangerous consequences in the
+future. If this is the case, then by sacrificing small things, by putting up
+with small problems or hardships, one will be able to forgo experiences of
+much greater suffering in the future.
+ An example Shantideva uses here is that if a convicted prisoner can save his
+life by sacrificing his arm as a punishment, wouldn't that person feel
+grateful for that opportunity? By accepting the pain and suffering of having
+his arm cut off, that person will be saving himself from death, which is a
+greater suffering. Shantideva adds that there is another advantage: not only
+will one be protected from potentially dangerous consequences in the future,
+but also by experiencing the pain and suffering which has been caused
+temporarily by others, one is exhausting the karmic potentials of negative
+karma which one has accumulated in the past. So it serves two purposes.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective"
+~
+The Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682) was perhaps the most mystical of all the
+Dalai Lamas in that he seemed to spend much of his time in a state of trance.
+During these trances many gurus of past ages, as well as mandala deities,
+buddhas, and bodhisattvas, would appear directly to him and give him secret
+transmissions, initiations, and teachings. As the Thirteenth Dalai Lama says
+of the Great Fifth later in this chapter, he "was continually absorbed in
+the wisdom dance that experiences all appearances as pure vision."
+ -- Glenn H. Mullin, from "From the Heart of Chenrezig: The Dalai Lamas on
+ Tantra"
+~
+Wishing others to be happy doesn't mean we give them everything they want,
+because sometimes what they want can be harmful. Wishing them to be happy
+entails wanting them to be free from pain and loneliness. Wouldn't it be
+wonderful if they were free from these and all other miseries? In order to
+love others, we have to be able to overcome our anger and hatred toward them.
+We have to be able to forgive them for the wrongs they've done. To do that,
+we have to get "me" out of the way and see that when people create harm,
+it is a reflection of their own pain, confusion, and misery. We just happened
+to walk across their path. We may even have done something to antagonize
+them, either deliberately or accidentally, but the reason that they got so
+upset is because of what is going on inside of them. We might also look at
+how we made ourselves into a target or accidentally became a target onto which
+they projected their confusion. Maybe we weren't very considerate of them.
+Maybe we have certain bad habits of which we're not aware and to which
+they're reacting.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "How to Free Your Mind: The Practice of Tara the
+ Liberator"
+~
+We humans are actually not that far from enlightenment. Our five senses are
+like the Emanation Body of a Buddha; our dream body, which is similar to the
+after-death form, is like a Buddha's Beatific Form; and the basis of both of
+these is the subtle mind of clear light which shares the nature of a
+Buddha's Wisdom Body. All we have to do is learn to transform these
+ordinary elements into their pure natures. Then buddhahood naturally comes
+into our hands.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Path to Enlightenment"
+~
+ There are three kinds of people [who practice Buddhism]. Like all other
+beings, the lowest person wants happiness and not suffering or rebirth in the
+lower realms of existence, so he practices Buddhism to create the causes of
+rebirth in the human realm or in the heavenly realms of the gods. He does not
+have the power or the courage to leave worldly existence completely. He only
+wants the best parts of worldly existence; he wants to avoid the worst parts,
+and that is why he practices the Buddhist religion—to gain a higher rebirth.
+ The middling sort of person understands that the whole of worldly existence,
+no matter where one is born, is suffering by its nature, just as fire is hot
+by its nature. He wants to get out of it altogether and attain nirvana, the
+state that is entirely away from suffering.
+ The highest person realizes that just as he himself does not want to suffer
+and does want happiness, so also do all living beings have the same fears and
+wishes. He knows that since we have been born again and again from
+beginningless time in worldly existence, there is not a single sentient being
+who has not been our mother and father at one time or another. Since we are
+that close to all sentient beings, the best person is one who practices
+Buddhism in order to remove all these countless beings from suffering.
+ -- H.H. Sakya Trinzin, from "Treasures of the Sakya Lineage: Teachings from
+ the Masters", by Migmar Tseten
+~
+ To take refuge in the Buddha means to take refuge in the dharmas that
+constitute a buddha (a nonlearner). These consist of a buddha's knowledge
+of the termination and nonarising [of the obscurations]. Together with the
+associated factors [of this knowledge], they consist of the five
+uncontaminated skandhas.
+ To take refuge in the sangha means [to take refuge] in the dharmas that
+constitute the sangha, which consists of [all] learners and nonlearners except
+for buddhas. It is by virtue of having attained their respective [dharmas]
+that the eight persons* are not separated from the path by [anyone], including
+gods. Therefore, they are called "sangha." In other words, [the sangha]
+is represented by the five uncontaminated skandhas in the mind streams of said
+eight persons.
+ To take refuge in the dharma means [to take refuge] in the analytical
+cessation that is nirvana, that is, the two nirvanas [with and without
+remainder] of the noble ones.
+
+*The eight persons are also known as "the four pairs of persons"--stream-
+enterers, once-returners, nonreturners, and arhats, each divided into
+approachers to, and abiders in, these states.
+
+ --from "Groundless Paths: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear
+ Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Nyingma Tradition",
+ translated by Karl Brunnholzl, from Shambhala Publications
+~
+Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary
+Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
+ -- Benjamin Franklin
+~
+ We need a clear mind-training map to keep us from missing the correct path.
+If we want to go to New York we need to know the roads and directions. Just
+jumping in the car and starting to drive may get us there, but most likely we
+will end up in another place or take much longer than is necessary.
+ I have seen this happen with students who tell me of doing years of
+meditation without seeing any changes. They may blame themselves, meditation,
+or the Dharma, yet most often the problem is not knowing or applying the
+correct techniques or methods. Meditation is both easy and not easy. With
+the correct techniques and methods, applied with diligence, meditation can
+become a swift path to clearing confusion and unhelpful habits. Without them,
+we may wander in fogginess or agitation, never having engaged in true
+meditation even after years of "sitting."
+ At Namdroling Monastery we practiced both resting and analytical meditation.
+The renowned teacher Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche believed that both types of
+meditation were important, but he thought it was best to begin with analytical
+meditation, because gaining familiarity with the true nature of reality would
+naturally lead to a clearer understanding of resting meditation and how to
+engage our mind constructively.
+ -- Khenpo Gawang, "Your Mind Is Your Teacher: Self-Awakening through
+ Contemplative Meditation", Shambhala Publications
+~
+ Never think, "Even though I have confidence in the Three Jewels, it is not
+really certain that this work will be accomplished." Instead, one should
+know that the Enlightened One is surely able to protect those who surrender
+and act in accord with his words, because the Enlightened One is endowed with
+the transcendental wisdom which knows all the paths of practice that are in
+harmony with the intelligence and nature of all living beings, because he has
+the compassionate desire to establish his disciples on the right path after
+turning them from wrong ways, and because he has accomplished the two
+accumulations of merit and transcendental wisdom and has accomplished the
+resolve to help beings. So even though one has not yet attained liberation
+from worldly existence, it is one's fault for not having trusted and not
+having acted in accord with the words of the Three Jewels, not because the
+Three Jewels have no compassion.
+ In brief, those who do not entrust themselves to the Precious Jewels, who
+are arrogant and who assume they are intelligent have no certainty in
+accomplishing their schemes. Even if they are accomplished, it is not certain
+whether those schemes will turn out well in the long run. So it is important
+to entrust oneself always to the Precious Jewels.
+ -- Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub, "Three Visions: Fundamental Teachings of the
+ Sakya Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism"
+~
+Setting out on a spiritual path is a little like planning a trip—to Machu
+Picchu, for example. Some travellers will approach the project by investing a
+lot of time in reading travel books or Googling Internet sites about the best
+route to take and where to stay--a method that works, but only to a certain
+extent. Other travellers prefer a much simpler and safer method: to ask
+someone they know and trust who has already been to Machu Picchu to go with
+them and show them the way. Similarly, those wishing to follow the Buddhist
+path to enlightenment should rely on what are called in the teachings the
+"four authentics": the authentic words of the Buddha (his teachings); the
+authentic clarification of the teachings that can be found in the shastras
+(commentaries) written by great masters of the past; the further clarification
+that is the result of authentic personal experience; and for this experience
+to find expression, an authentic guru.
+ -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, "Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called
+ Preliminary Practices", Shambhala Publications
+~
+With regard to selflessness, it is necessary to know what "self" is--to
+identify the self that does not exist. Then one can understand its opposite,
+selflessness. Selflessness is not a case of something that existed in the
+past becoming non-existent; rather, this sort of "self" is something that
+never did exist. What is needed is to identify as non-existent something that
+always was nonexistent, for due to not having made such identification, we are
+drawn into the afflictive emotions of desire and hatred as well as all the
+problems these bring.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight", Shambhala
+ Publications
+~
+ The essence of mind is somewhat difficult to explain, so we look at it from
+the negative point of view, that is, what mind is not. First of all, we see
+that it is not something which arises or ceases or abides. It is free of
+these three things. From beginningless time, there is no arising, no
+cessation and no abiding in terms of staying in one place, not moving, or not
+changing. It is completely free of all three of these.
+ It is also free of being a thing or a substance composed of particles. The
+essential entity, or substance, of mind is not something that can be defiled
+or stained by grasping at subject and object. It is completely free of the
+stains from those activities.
+ Further, when we look at the essential substance of mind, we find that no
+matter how much we search for it, no matter how much we analyze it, there is
+no thing there to be found. There is no entity that we can come up with by
+searching, evaluating, and analyzing. No matter how much we seek for its
+essential substance, we cannot find it. The searcher, the one who does the
+search for essential substance of mind, cannot find it. Therefore it is said
+that the essential substance of mind itself is emptiness.
+ -- Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, "The Practice of Mahamudra", published
+ by Shambhala Publications
+~
+ "Like a cloud." This is a simile for how the wisdom mind benefits sentient
+beings without conceptual thought. For example, in the summer, clouds gather
+in the sky without effort, causing crops and so forth to grow perfectly
+through the rain falling on the ground without conceptual thought.
+ Likewise, the activities of the wisdom mind ripen the trainees' crop of
+virtue through the rainfall of Dharma without conceptual thought.
+ -- Gampopa, from "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation: The Wish-fulfilling Gem
+ of the Noble Teachings"
+~
+ Psychologists tell us that a strong sense of self is essential to be
+psychologically healthy. But it seems Buddhism says there is no self. How
+can we reconcile these two views?
+ When psychologists speak of a sense of "self" they are referring to the
+feeling that oneself is an efficacious person, someone who is self-confident
+and can act in the world. Buddhists agree that such a sense of self is both
+realistic and necessary. However, the sense of self that Buddhism says is
+unrealistic is that of a very solid, unchanging, independent "I." Such a
+self never has and never will exist. To understand this is to realize
+emptiness.
+ Strange though it may sound, someone may have a psychologically weak sense
+of self that in Buddhist parlance would be considered strong self-grasping.
+For example, a person with poor self-esteem may focus a lot on himself and
+have a strong feeling of the existence of an independent self that is
+inferior, unlovable, and a failure. From a Buddhist viewpoint, such an
+independent self does not exist, although a conventional self does.
+ --Thubten Chodron, "Buddhism for Beginners"
+~
+We all depend on one another. For this reason, whenever we act according to
+self-interest, sooner or later our selfish aims are bound to clash with the
+aims of the people we rely upon to accomplish our own goals. When that
+happens, conflicts will inevitably arise. As we learn to be more balanced in
+valuing others' concerns with our own, we will naturally find ourselves
+involved in fewer and fewer conflicts. In the meantime, it is helpful to
+acknowledge that conflicts are the logical outcome of this combination of
+self-interest and interdependence. Once we recognize this, we can see that
+conflicts are nothing to feel shocked or offended by. Rather, we can address
+them calmly and with wisdom.
+ -- Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, in "Beyond Anger: How to Hold On to Your
+ Heart and Your Humanity in the Midst of Injustice", Shambhala Publications
+~
+Cyclic existence continues to evolve through the power of the unbroken
+relationship of the twelve links of dependent origination. What are these
+twelve? They are (1) ignorance, which afflicts wandering beings by keeping
+them from seeing true reality. In obscuring the perception of true reality,
+ignorance also functions as the source for the subsequent links, such as
+karmic formation, by grasping as if there were an "I" and "mine." (2)
+Formation afflicts wandering beings by implanting the seeds of subsequent
+existence in the consciousness. In this way, when the root text states:
+"Wandering beings are afflicted due to…," it should be understood to
+apply to all the remaining links as well, from consciousness on. Accordingly,
+(3) consciousness becomes infused with habitual tendencies and leads sentient
+beings to the place of their birth. (4) Name and form take hold of the body
+of one's coming existence. (5) The six sense sources bring the state of
+name and form to completion. (6) Contact determines the experience of an
+object based on the coming together of three factors: object, faculty, and
+cognition. (7) Sensation experiences the various types of enjoyable and
+painful karmic ripening. (8) Craving creates the cohesion necessary for a
+future existence. (9) Grasping totally binds one to such an existence. (10)
+Becoming brings about the actual acquisition of this birth. (11) Birth serves
+as the support for the suffering of old age and so on. (12) Aging and death
+is the essence of suffering.
+ -- Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham, "Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's
+ Madhyantavibhaga with Commentaries"
+~
+Compassion and generosity must be accompanied by detachment. Expecting
+something in return for them is like doing business. If the owner of a
+restaurant is all smiles with his customers, it is not because he loves them
+but because he wants to increase his turnover. When we love and help others,
+it should not be because we find a particular individual likable but because
+we see that all beings, whether we think of them as friends or enemies, want
+to be happy and have the right to happiness.
+ -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, in "On the Path to
+ Enlightenment: Heart Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters",
+ Shambhala Publications
+~
+Examining the understanding of heat in Vajrayana gives insight into tantra's
+somewhat different embrace of classical Buddhist imagery. From this
+perspective, the experience of mental burning is indeed the central suffering
+of our lives. It is the experiential dimension of the intensity of our
+obscurations, whether emotional, conceptual, or habitual. But rather than
+attempting to put out the flames with meditation methods, it is important to
+allow the burning to occur during practice. Certainly in the foundational
+stages of the path we must learn not to become engulfed in the flames, to tame
+the wild mind and emotions, and to train ourselves to open further to
+experience. Finally, however, through Vajrayana practice under the guidance
+of a guru, the burning we experience becomes a great teacher and a great
+blessing.
+ -- Judith Simmer-Brown, "Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in
+ Tibetan Buddhism", Shambhala Publications
+~
+Life is mainly froth and bubble,
+Two things stand like stone--
+Kindness in another's trouble,
+Courage in your own.
+ -- Adam Lindsay Gordon
+~
+With regard to one's behavior, one must relinquish all the limitations
+implied in subject-object duality (gzung 'dzin gyi la dor ba). One should
+abandon all ordinary ways of assessing outer and inner phenomena, and the
+engagement or withdrawal of the mind with regard to "good" and "bad."
+One must not, through mindless clinging to sense objects, stray into the five
+ordinary mental poisons. For when approached with skillful means, all are but
+the display of the great and perfect equality.
+ -- Jigme Lingpa, from "Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book Two: Vajrayana
+ and the Great Perfection", by Shambhala Publications
+~
+ Recollection is the path of meditating on
+ The nature that was seen with awareness.
+ Constituted by the aspects of enlightenment,
+ This serves to eliminate the stains.
+
+ Recollection involves repeatedly recalling and realizing, in the context of
+the path of cultivation, what was realized when the intrinsic nature was
+directly seen with individual self-awareness at the prior stage. In this way,
+the term recollection refers to all that constitutes the factors of
+enlightenment. The path of cultivation is [referred to as such] because it
+involves eradicating those stains that are eliminated through cultivation.
+ -- from "Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature: Maitreya's
+ Dharmadharmatavibhanga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham",
+ Shambhala Publications.
+~
+ The Capable One spoke of the following attributes as the seven noble riches,
+for they are the causes of untainted happiness and are not in any way
+ordinary. Faith—that is, the three kinds of faith in the Three Jewels and
+confidence in the law of actions and their effects. Discipline, the avoidance
+of harmful actions. Learning that comes from listening to the holy Dharma
+that leads to liberation, with the intention of gaining complete knowledge.
+Being generous—with a desire to make offerings and to help beings, to give
+away all one's possessions without expecting anything in return or any
+karmic reward. A sense of shame with respect to oneself that prevents one
+from indulging in negative actions, and that is unstained by such things as
+jealousy or seeking veneration. A sense of decency with regard to others that
+stops one from engaging in unvirtuous practices. And wisdom, that is,
+knowledge of the particular and general characteristics of phenomena.
+ You should realize that other common things that the world calls
+riches—gold, for instance—are of no value in obtaining untainted
+qualities; they are worthless, hollow, and without essence.
+ -- from "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend With Commentary by Kyabje Kangyur
+ Rinpoche", Shambhala Publications
+~
+All apparent phenomena are nothing but delusion, and there is, moreover, no
+freedom from delusion to be achieved by dispelling delusion. Delusion is, by
+its own essence, completely pure and, hence, enlightened. All phenomena are,
+in this way, primordially, fully, and completely enlightened. Phenomena
+appearing as various attributes are, therefore, indeed the mandala of vajra
+body, speech, and mind. They are like the Buddhas of the three times, never
+transcending the essence of complete purity. Sentient beings and Buddhas are
+not differentiated in terms of their essence. Just like distinct causes and
+results appearing in a dream, they are nothing but perceptions of individual
+minds brought forth by the power of imputation.
+ -- Heidi I. Köppl, "Establishing Appearances as Divine: Rongzom Chökyi
+ Zangpo on Reasoning, Madhyamaka, and Purity", Shambhala and Snow Lion
+ Publications
+~
+ "Emptiness" is a rough translation of the Sanskrit term shunyata and the
+Tibetan term tongpa-nyi. The basic meaning of the Sanskrit word shunya is
+"zero," while the Tibetan word tongpa means "empty"—not in the sense
+of a vacuum or a void, but rather in the sense that the basis of experience is
+beyond our ability to perceive with our senses and or to capture in a nice,
+tidy concept. Maybe a better understanding of the deep sense of the word may
+be "inconceivable" or "unnameable."
+ So when Buddhists talk about emptiness as the basis of our being, we don't
+mean that who or what we are is nothing, a zero, a point of view that can give
+way to a kind of cynicism. The actual teachings on emptiness imply an
+infinitely open space that allows for anything to appear, change, disappear,
+and reappear. The basic meaning of emptiness, in other words, is openness, or
+potential. At the basic level of our being, we are "empty" of definable
+characteristics.
+ -- Tsoknyi Rinpoche, from "The Best Buddhist Writing 2013", published by
+ Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications.
+~
+ The Lama is the ecstatic, wild, and gentle figure who short-circuits your
+systems of self-referencing. The Lama is the only person in your life who
+cannot be manipulated. The Lama is the invasion of unpredictability you allow
+into your life, to enable you to cut through the convolutions of interminable
+psychological and emotional processes. The Lama is the terrifyingly
+compassionate gamester who reshuffles the deck of your carefully arranged
+rationale. To enter into vajra commitment is to leap from the perfect
+precipice. To find yourself in the radiant space of this choiceless choice is
+the very heart of Tantra. To leap open-eyed into the shining emptiness of the
+Lama's wisdom display and to experience the ecstatic impact of each dynamic
+gesture of the Lama's method display is the essential luminosity and power
+of the path.
+ -- Ngak'chang Rinpoche, quoted in "Dangerous Friend: The Teacher-Student
+ Relationship in Vajrayana Buddhism", Shambhala Publications
+~
+ When clouds cover the sky, we cannot see the pure nature of space.
+Likewise, when conceptual thoughts occupy the mind, we cannot see the pure
+nature of the mind. To see whether this is true, we can meditate so that the
+mind becomes relaxed and peaceful, and then there is room to develop
+compassion, love, and bodhicitta. But when our mind is occupied by conceptual
+thoughts and negative thoughts, there is no space to develop good qualities.
+Our mind becomes full of suffering and we cannot disentangle ourselves from
+confusion.
+ When our mind emphasizes positive, calming, and relaxing thoughts, it leaves
+no space for negative thoughts to arise. Then we can maintain a peaceful,
+harmonious mind regardless of external conditions. This becomes a matter of
+how much we habituate ourselves to the Dharma teachings.
+ -- from "Opening the Treasure of the Profound: Teachings on the Songs of
+ Jigten Sumgön and Milarepa", by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche,
+ Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications.
+~
+What is true patience and how can we develop it? Patience is imperturbability
+in the face of harm and hardship. Responding to these difficulties with anger
+is extremely destructive because it creates unpleasant consequences and
+destroys positive energy. There is no austere practice to equal the practice
+of patience, which calms the turbulence of the disturbing emotions. It is
+cultivated in meditation and implemented in everyday life. There are three
+main kinds of patience: the patience of taking no account of those who inflict
+harm, the patience of willingly accepting adversity and the patience of
+gaining certainty with regard to the teachings. Their opposites are
+animosity, discouragement and reluctance to engage with the teachings.
+ -- from "The Six Perfections: An Oral Teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen",
+ Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications.
+~
+Bodhichitta can be understood as a quality of intention, sometimes called a
+“great will.” This great will does not come from the ego; it is
+paradoxically an intention that arises through the surrender of the ego. As
+the ego lets go of its assumption that it has a real understanding of what is
+needed in the path of awakening, it surrenders to a deeper quality of will and
+wisdom. The shift from the ego’s center of will to the intention of our
+buddha nature to awaken us for the welfare of others aligns us with a source
+of will far beyond our limited sense of self. I have often described this
+will as a river of intention, which once stepped into becomes an undercurrent
+in all we do in our life.
+ -- Rob Preece, "Preparing for Tantra: Creating the Psychological Ground for
+ Practice", published by Shambhala and Snow Lion Publications.
+~
+ In fact, one of the things that I hope all of us have learned these past few
+weeks is that it turns out smart, effective government is important. It
+matters. I think the American people during this shutdown had a chance to get
+some idea of all the things, large and small, that government does that make a
+difference in people's lives.
+ We hear all the time about how government is the problem. Well, it turns
+out we rely on it in a whole lot of ways. Not only does it keep us strong
+through our military and our law enforcement, it plays a vital role in caring
+for our seniors and our veterans, educating our kids, making sure our workers
+are trained for the jobs that are being created, arming our businesses with
+the best science and technology so they can compete with companies from other
+countries. It plays a key role in keeping our food and our toys and our
+workplaces safe. It helps folks rebuild after a storm. It conserves our
+natural resources. It finances startups. It helps to sell our products
+overseas. It provides security to our diplomats abroad.
+ So let's work together to make government work better, instead of treating
+it like an enemy or purposely making it work worse. That’s not what the
+founders of this nation envisioned when they gave us the gift of self-
+government. You don’t like a particular policy or a particular president,
+then argue for your position. Go out there and win an election. Push to
+change it. But don’t break it. Don’t break what our predecessors spent
+over two centuries building. That's not being faithful to what this country
+is about.
+ -- Barack Obama, after the US government shutdown of 2013 had ended.
+~
+When the teachings say we need to reduce our fascination with the things of
+this life, it does not mean that we should abandon them completely. It means
+avoiding the natural tendency to go from elation to depression in reaction to
+life’s ups and downs, jumping for joy when you have some success, or wanting
+to jump out the window if you do not get what you want. Being less concerned
+about the affairs of this life means assuming its ups and downs with a broad
+and stable mind.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in "On the Path to Enlightenment: Heart
+ Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters", from Shambhala Publications and
+ Snow Lion Publications.
+~
+Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for Excellence in
+Critical Thinking, 1987
+
+ Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and
+skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or
+evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation,
+experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and
+action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values
+that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision,
+consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and
+fairness.
+ It entails the examination of those structures or elements of thought
+implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue;
+assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions;
+implications and consequences; objections from alternative viewpoints; and
+frame of reference. Critical thinking — in being responsive to variable
+subject matter, issues, and purposes — is incorporated in a family of
+interwoven modes of thinking, among them: scientific thinking, mathematical
+thinking, historical thinking, anthropological thinking, economic thinking,
+moral thinking, and philosophical thinking.
+ Critical thinking can be seen as having two components: 1) a set of
+information and belief generating and processing skills, and 2) the habit,
+based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behavior. It
+is thus to be contrasted with: 1) the mere acquisition and retention of
+information alone, because it involves a particular way in which information
+is sought and treated; 2) the mere possession of a set of skills, because it
+involves the continual use of them; and 3) the mere use of those skills ("as
+an exercise") without acceptance of their results.
+ Critical thinking varies according to the motivation underlying it. When
+grounded in selfish motives, it is often manifested in the skillful
+manipulation of ideas in service of one’s own, or one's groups’, vested
+interest. As such it is typically intellectually flawed, however
+pragmatically successful it might be. When grounded in fairmindedness and
+intellectual integrity, it is typically of a higher order intellectually,
+though subject to the charge of "idealism" by those habituated to its selfish
+use.
+ Critical thinking of any kind is never universal in any individual; everyone
+is subject to episodes of undisciplined or irrational thought. Its quality is
+therefore typically a matter of degree and dependent on, among other things,
+the quality and depth of experience in a given domain of thinking or with
+respect to a particular class of questions. No one is a critical thinker
+through-and-through, but only to such-and-such a degree, with such-and-such
+insights and blind spots, subject to such-and-such tendencies towards self-
+delusion. For this reason, the development of critical thinking skills and
+dispositions is a life-long endeavor.
+ -- from a statement by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul, presented at the 8th
+ Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education
+ Reform, Summer 1987.
+~
+Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to
+reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think
+critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically.
+They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when
+left unchecked. They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and
+sociocentric tendencies. They use the intellectual tools that critical
+thinking offers--concepts and principles that enable them to analyze,
+assess, and improve thinking. They work diligently to develop the
+intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual humility,
+intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and
+confidence in reason. They realize that no matter how skilled they are as
+thinkers, they can always improve their reasoning abilities and they will at
+times fall prey to mistakes in reasoning, human irrationality, prejudices,
+biases, distortions, uncritically accepted social rules and taboos, self-
+interest, and vested interest. They strive to improve the world in whatever
+ways they can and contribute to a more rational, civilized society. At the
+same time, they recognize the complexities often inherent in doing so. They
+avoid thinking simplistically about complicated issues and strive to
+appropriately consider the rights and needs of relevant others. They
+recognize the complexities in developing as thinkers, and commit themselves to
+life-long practice toward self-improvement. They embody the Socratic
+principle: The unexamined life is not worth living, because they realize that
+many unexamined lives together result in an uncritical, unjust, dangerous
+world.
+ -- Linda Elder, September, 2007
+
--- /dev/null
+(define (batch-whiteboard-clean pattern)
+ (let* ((filelist (cadr (file-glob pattern 1))))
+ (while (not (null? filelist))
+ (let* ((filename (car filelist))
+ (image (car (gimp-file-load RUN-NONINTERACTIVE
+ filename filename)))
+ (drawable (car (gimp-image-get-active-layer image))))
+ (plug-in-dog RUN-NONINTERACTIVE
+ image drawable 6.0 2.0 FALSE TRUE)
+ (plug-in-c-astretch RUN-NONINTERACTIVE
+ image drawable)
+ (gimp-file-save RUN-NONINTERACTIVE
+ image drawable filename filename)
+ (gimp-image-delete image))
+ (set! filelist (cdr filelist)))))
+
--- /dev/null
+
+how to clean whiteboard snapshots in general:
+ http://matthew.mceachen.us/blog/how-to-clean-up-photos-of-whiteboards-with-gimp-403.html
+
+script for whiteboard cleaning in batch can be found in this folder also.
+the batch-whiteboard-clean.scm script should go in: ~/.gimp-2.6/scripts
+command:
+ gimp -i -b '(batch-whiteboard-clean "*.png")' -b '(gimp-quit 0)'
+from site: http://registry.gimp.org/node/19822
+
--- /dev/null
+
+
+==============
+
+find all the tables that have a CreatorID column:
+
+ SELECT DISTINCT TABLE_NAME
+ FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
+ WHERE COLUMN_NAME IN ('CreatorId')
+ AND TABLE_SCHEMA='opensim';
+
+=> yields assets inventoryitems prims primitems
+as tables matching the column.
+
+==============
+
+replace all the creator ids with fred's id on ducky:
+
+ update inventoryitems set creatorid = 'NEWGUID'
+
+=> do for each of the tables.
+
+==============
+
+checking to make sure the changes to creatorid took effect:
+
+ select * from assets where creatorid != 'YOURGUID'
+
+=> there should be no matches after running a setting operation.
+
+==============
+
+if you have a more selective update to do, try replacing using a pattern:
+
+ update assets set creatorid = replace(creatorid, 'OLDGUID', 'NEWGUID')
+
+==============
+
+note: replacing all creator ids like above still does not secure total
+ownership for everything in inventory or even in the sim; nested objects in
+inventory do not seem to be affected, and the contents of objects nested in
+live objects also are not affected.
+
--- /dev/null
+\r
+Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.\r
+\r
+Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.\r
+\r
+But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate... we can not consecrate... we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us\97that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion\97that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain\97that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom\97and that government : of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.\r
+\r
--- /dev/null
+
+
+pattern that automates making changes in a lot of files with vi.
+system_config is to be changed to path_config. substitute as needed.
+
+:1,$s/system_config/path_config/g
+:wn
+
+
--- /dev/null
+
+:1,$s/\/\*\([a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*\)\*\//formal(\1)/g
+:wn
+
+
+
--- /dev/null
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<html>
+<head>
+ <meta http-equiv="content-type"
+ content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
+ <title>no matches for your search...</title>
+</head>
+<body style="color: rgb(153, 255, 153); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"
+ link="#ccffff" alink="#ffcc99" vlink="#66cccc">
+<center>
+<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"
+ style="text-align: center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 100%; height: 100%;">
+ <tbody>
+ <tr>
+ <td style="vertical-align: middle;"><br>
+ <br>
+ <img src="/yeti/pictures/no_matches.jpg" alt="no matches"
+ style="width: 394px; height: 484px;" align="middle">
+<br>
+<br>
+(thanks to
+<a href="http://constructivereality.com/">Karlsville</a>
+for this beautiful photo of matches which we have defaced horribly.<br>
+check out the original and other images on his
+<a href="http://constructivereality.com/photography.html">photography page</a>.)
+ </td>
+
+ </tr>
+ </tbody>
+</table>
+</center>
+</body>
+</html>
keyword=sources
[database]
-source=$FEISTY_MEOW_DIR/database
-target=$TARGET/database
+source=$FEISTY_MEOW_DIR/infobase
+target=$TARGET/infobase
recurse=1
keyword=sources
cp show_directory_listing.sh \
/usr/lib/cgi-bin
-cd ~/feisty_meow/database
+cd ~/feisty_meow/infobase
cp fortunes.dat \
/usr/lib/cgi-bin
##############
# set this so nechung can find its data.
- export NECHUNG=$FEISTY_MEOW_DIR/database/fortunes.dat
+ export NECHUNG=$FEISTY_MEOW_DIR/infobase/fortunes.dat
# ensure we use the right kind of secure shell.
export CVS_RSH=$FEISTY_MEOW_SCRIPTS/security/ssh.sh
echo "Content-type: text/html"
echo ""
echo ""
- cat /home/www-data/feisty_meow/database/pictures/no_matches.html
+ cat /home/www-data/feisty_meow/infobase/pictures/no_matches.html
fi
echo "Content-type: text/html"
echo ""
echo ""
- cat /home/www-data/feisty_meow/database/pictures/no_matches.html
+ cat /home/www-data/feisty_meow/infobase/pictures/no_matches.html
fi
# tunnels to the khandroma machine for vnc access to the win7 box and for the jenkins
# server.
-soundfile=$FEISTY_MEOW_DIR/database/sounds/my_mind_is_going.wav
+soundfile=$FEISTY_MEOW_DIR/infobase/sounds/my_mind_is_going.wav
if [ ! -z "$1" ]; then
soundfile=$1
fi
#hmmm: these variables should be configurable from plug-ins someday.
-TUNNEL_ALERT_SOUND=$FEISTY_MEOW_DIR/database/sounds/woouoo.wav
+TUNNEL_ALERT_SOUND=$FEISTY_MEOW_DIR/infobase/sounds/woouoo.wav
if [ ! -z "$1" ]; then
TUNNEL_ALERT_SOUND=$1
fi
#ssh_host=khandroma.cs.virginia.edu
ssh_host=mason.cs.virginia.edu
-soundfile=$FEISTY_MEOW_DIR/database/sounds/woouoo.wav
+soundfile=$FEISTY_MEOW_DIR/infobase/sounds/woouoo.wav
if [ ! -z "$1" ]; then
soundfile=$1
fi
projects / feisty_meow.git / commitdiff
