new fortune.

diff --git a/infobase/fortunes.dat b/infobase/fortunes.dat
index 850e34eda4cda46f4fc185bff2d6e670e10116f5..6047cd36689c4f1d1e3bc2a9f27d8955debb564a 100644 (file)
--- a/infobase/fortunes.dat
+++ b/infobase/fortunes.dat
@@ -41729,4 +41729,48 @@ And the Red Queen's off with her head
 Remember what the dormouse said
 Feed your head
 Feed your head
+~
+How can we integrate these teachings into our lives?  I think that only
+happens when we are faced with challenges and respond to them in a new way,
+not according to habitual self-importance.  In other words, we respond by
+applying the exchange of self and other.  When tonglen becomes our familiar
+way of being, the entire path unfolds easily in front of us.  This difficult
+modern age turns out to be the perfect setting for our spiritual practice,
+proving far more hospitable to our growth than past eras of idealized calm and
+simplicity.  When we figure out for ourselves how to apply the wisdom of books
+to whatever difficult circumstances arise in life, then that wisdom becomes
+part of our mind.  We become transformed.  My hope for every reader—as well
+as for myself—is that we will apply these lojong teachings again and again
+until they become part of who we are.
+  -- Dzigar Kongtrul and Joseph Waxman, in "The Intelligent Heart: A Guide
+     to the Compassionate Life", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Siddhis?  Cities.
+
+Honolulu: a relaxed city, like an uncrowded bar where everyone is clean and
+rested.
+
+Los Angeles: a scattered city, like a teenager's sexual curiosity.
+
+San Francisco: a clean city, like an elegant, genteel Christian graveyard.
+
+Santa Fe: a picturesque city, like a painter’ s bright, simple palette,
+imitating Tibet.
+
+Boston: a sophisticated city, like London without queens and dukes and falling
+bridges.
+
+New York: a no-more-nothingness city,
+where gentle, quiet audiences sit in theaters listening to classical concerts;
+where rough, noisy audiences sit in stadiums in pandemonium watching boxing;
+where there are clean people with dirty minds;
+where there are dirty people with clean minds;
+where hundreds of nihilist people reject spiritual teachings;
+where hundreds of spiritual teachers reject samsara's teachings;
+where poor people sleep underground on low subway platforms;
+where rich people sleep aboveground in high skyscraper penthouses;
+where many non-practitioners stay for their nightclub retreat to find pleasure;
+practitioners leave for their countryside retreat to find pleasure.
+  - Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, from "A Brief Fantasy History of a Himalayan",
+    published by Shambhala Publications