new fortune.

diff --git a/database/fortunes.dat b/database/fortunes.dat
index e868ea87781319b60e2c5f71a7b8d34e9b06b17e..a6fb92f0499c81c1db5efa79c3225b7442d0dabf 100644 (file)
--- a/database/fortunes.dat
+++ b/database/fortunes.dat
@@ -38258,3 +38258,23 @@ 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.