new fortune

diff --git a/infobase/fortunes.dat b/infobase/fortunes.dat
index 1f462d80b874fe56a077245b02073bdd8f2508a6..32f238a0d6e647be2608f36af39af467a2fef668 100644 (file)
--- a/infobase/fortunes.dat
+++ b/infobase/fortunes.dat
@@ -43025,4 +43025,29 @@ you see he gets so high,
 mind expanded to sky;
 real world grokking just not ready.
   -- fred t. hamster
+~
+    Generally speaking, when we are too desirous of something in life, we’re
+less likely to attain it.  Success seems to increase in direct proportion to
+the diminution of our desires.  The same logic applies to our need for
+recognition.  We might want to be appreciated and respected, but we have only
+a limited ability to influence how other people respond and we can’t make
+somebody show us gratitude any more than we can force someone to love us.  If
+we show love without expecting it to be reciprocated, we will have more chance
+of finding love than if we simply yearn for it.  Likewise, doing something
+without expecting gratitude is more likely to elicit appreciation for what we
+do.  Whether someone can acknowledge our actions or not should be no concern
+of ours.
+    We simply commit ourselves to doing things to the best of our ability and
+in as thorough a manner as possible without sloppiness.  We should never think
+that other people are indebted to us or obligated to help us in return.  We
+should simply do things because we love doing them, not because we want other
+people to feel indebted to us.  Shantideva says:
+
+        The work of bringing benefit to beings
+        Will not, then, make me proud and self-admiring.
+        The happiness of others is itself my satisfaction;
+        I do not expect another recompense.
+
+  -- Traleg Kyabgon, from "The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion
+     through Training the Mind", published by Shambhala Publications