new fortune.

diff --git a/database/fortunes.dat b/database/fortunes.dat
index 4b240fb40c58c94cbcc198e8b4a5bdd5b9b9d4cc..c07e8b41d8083909c1348c573f172f5c2ccb4301 100644 (file)
--- a/database/fortunes.dat
+++ b/database/fortunes.dat
@@ -38383,7 +38383,7 @@ 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.
+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
@@ -38473,18 +38473,18 @@ 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,
+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
+  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
+  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.
+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
@@ -38494,7 +38494,7 @@ and effect.  This is a message worth considering seriously.
 ~
   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
+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
@@ -38503,9 +38503,31 @@ 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
+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
+