new fortunes

diff --git a/database/fortunes.dat b/database/fortunes.dat
index 2c6e739e975ac62e33be79678bed0ed0aadb290f..8f0d22e836fd5ae91b1166b16c2dfa6fff3feed8 100644 (file)
--- a/database/fortunes.dat
+++ b/database/fortunes.dat
@@ -37532,3 +37532,33 @@ control over how one will be reborn, it is possible to take what is called
   -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard:
      Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey
      Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+  Without an acute awareness of our personal suffering and a deep, heartfelt
+determination to be completely rid of both this suffering and its causes,
+there is no way to begin the spiritual quest authentically.  For just as
+Prince Siddhartha's sudden and unexpected visions of old age, sickness and
+death shocked him out of mistaking the world to be a pleasure palace, so too
+must all spiritual seekers confront the unsatisfactory nature of their lives
+so directly that they become thoroughly disenchanted with the ordinary human
+condition.
+  If we do not take a long, hard look at the uncomfortable truths of our
+impermanent existence, we can easily waste the time between now and our
+inevitable death in essentially worthless pursuits, never taking advantage of
+this precious opportunity to do something truly meaningful with our life.
+Like the foolish prisoner who becomes so accustomed to the confines of his
+cell that he turns a blind eye to all chances of escape, we shall be
+condemning ourselves to spiritual stagnation and the endlessly recurring
+miseries of cyclic existence.
+  Yet it is not enough merely to become discontent with our present condition;
+everyone experiences discontent at one time or another but very few do
+anything of real significance about it.  In fact, the usual ways of dealing
+with problems and disappointment--blaming them on someone else or drowning
+them in forgetfulness--only bind us tighter to the wheel of suffering.  What
+we must do is recognize that the true causes of all our misery lie rooted in
+our own ignorant misconceptions and that these can only be eradicated through
+the development of a clear, penetrating insight into the nature of reality.
+Only through the continued cultivation of such penetrating wisdom will it
+eventually be possible to attain liberation from all states of existence
+conditioned by ignorance and be free of suffering.(p.45)
+  -- "Images of Enlightenment: Tibetan Art in Practice", by Jonathan Landaw
+     and Andy Weber, published by Snow Lion Publications