new fortunes.

diff --git a/database/fortunes.dat b/database/fortunes.dat
index 8db68eac4e97266b9461f2dd54baf816aca5ed8b..b1e6a42f30667092030b5af33e0477f180212680 100644 (file)
--- a/database/fortunes.dat
+++ b/database/fortunes.dat
@@ -37628,3 +37628,55 @@ an example for accomplishing the path.(p.150)
      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