new fortunes

diff --git a/infobase/fortunes.dat b/infobase/fortunes.dat
index b2f713a9293f680568053c98207600fe55d3e7a7..8c1caadf616006b6d8f70e648039a0c8560a76da 100644 (file)
--- a/infobase/fortunes.dat
+++ b/infobase/fortunes.dat
@@ -42772,3 +42772,94 @@ carried by warriors that vanquish all the enemy hosts.
   -- Machik Lapdrön, "Chöd: The Sacred Teachings on Severence", by Jamgön
      Kongtrul Lodrö Taye, translated by Sarah Harding, published by Shambhala
      Publications
+~
+The system of two truths is propounded solely for didactic purposes, as an
+entry to the path.  On the ultimate level, the division into two truths has no
+place.  There is only the inconceivable dharmadhātu, pure suchness, the
+ultimate mode of being.  As it is written in the sutra,
+
+      There is but one truth: absence of all origin,
+      Yet some will crow about there being four.
+      But in the essence of enlightenment,
+      Not one is found—why speak of four?
+
+But whereas on the ultimate level, the two truths are not posited, on the
+relative level, they are.  For there is certainly a difference between the way
+things are and the way they appear.  As was said earlier, "These the two
+truths are declared to be."
+  -- The Wisdom Chapter: Jamgön Mipham’s Commentary on the Ninth Chapter of
+     The Way of the Bodhisattva, translated by the Padmakara Translation
+     Group, published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+    People who embark upon the path of the Mahayana, the supreme path of
+beings of great scope leading to omniscience, should try to acquire four
+circumstances.  They should (1) live in solitude, in a place that has all the
+necessary conditions and is in harmony with the Dharma.  They should (2)
+frequent a teacher who is learned in the Tripitaka and steeped in the practice
+of the three trainings.  By doing this, they will avoid the inferior attitudes
+of ordinary folk as well as the wrong behavior that leads to suffering, and
+they will acquire all the good qualities deriving from the Dharma of
+transmission and realization.  They should in addition (3) nourish an intense
+wish to practice in accordance with the teaching expounded by their master and
+should (4) zealously adopt the supreme protection afforded by the merit
+accumulated in their past and present existences.  The venerable Nagarjuna
+refers to these four conditions as the ‘‘four wheels,’’ the idea being
+that, just as someone riding in a (horse-drawn) chariot can cover in a short
+time a distance that would take many days for a cow or ox, a Bodhisattva
+taking advantage of these four conditions will progress speedily toward
+omniscience.  Nagarjuna refers to them in his Suhrllekha when he says:
+
+        Your dwelling place befits the task,
+        You keep the company of holy beings.
+        With highest aspirations and a store of merit,
+        You have indeed the ‘‘four wheels’’ all complete.
+
+  -- from "Treasury of Precious Qualities, Book One: Sutra Teachings", by
+     Jigme Lingpa, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published
+     by Shambhala Publications
+~
+
+    We are far removed from eighth-century Tibet, where we meet her, but
+Yeshé Tsogyal continues to be present and available.  She lives outside
+linear time, but visits it: her limitless emanations form a bridge from her
+lifetime to the present.  She promised to remain accessible to any spiritual
+seeker wishing to follow her lead.  In her own words,
+
+        And so, from now until the scouring of samsara,
+        My stream of emanations, primary and secondary,
+        Will flow unceasing.
+        Especially to those who in the future meditate
+        Upon the subtle veins and energies,
+        I’ll show myself--at best directly,
+        Else in visions, or at least in dreams,
+        Appearing as a common person, or as the secret consort.
+        I shall clear the obstacles of those who keep samaya,
+        Bringing progress to their practice,
+        Helping to attain with speed the blissful warmth and thence
+            accomplishment.
+
+    As promised, she continuously appears to lead and inspire the faithful in
+dreams, visions, and real life.  As well, her human reincarnations ceaselessly
+return to the world, guiding others in whatever capacity is needed.
+  -- from "The Life and Visions of Yeshé Tsogyal", by Drimé Kunga and Yeshé
+     Tsogyal Translated by Chönyi Drolma, published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+    It is impossible to conceive how many beings, from beginningless time in
+samsara, have been related to us--as parents, as enemies, or as people
+indifferent to us.  In fact, all beings have been linked to us in these three
+ways innumerable times.  When they were our enemies, they injured us; when
+they were our parents or our friends, they cherished and aided us; when they
+were neither, they ignored us.  It would be impossible to calculate the number
+of relationships that we have experienced.  Once when the noble Katyayana went
+begging for alms, he came across a group of people and, perceiving the karmic
+links that bound them together, commented:
+
+        He strikes his mother, eats his father’s flesh;
+        His hated foe he dandles on his lap.
+        Here is a wife that sucks her husband’s bones--
+        At this samsara how can I not laugh?
+
+  -- from "Treasury of Precious Qualities, Book One: Sutra Teachings", by
+     Jigme Lingpa, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published
+     by Shambhala Publications
+