From: Chris Koeritz Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2015 23:43:28 +0000 (-0500) Subject: new fortune X-Git-Tag: 2.140.90~555 X-Git-Url: https://feistymeow.org/gitweb/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=4b9b2f3943e8c58003a6fcda5c111fd717ef88b5;p=feisty_meow.git new fortune --- diff --git a/infobase/fortunes.dat b/infobase/fortunes.dat index 7daa6982..c6da1820 100644 --- a/infobase/fortunes.dat +++ b/infobase/fortunes.dat @@ -41297,3 +41297,67 @@ we can't just tell ourselves to be grateful and expect it to happen, yet it's a quality that certainly can be nurtured. -- Ezra Bayda, from "Beyond Happiness: The Zen Way to True Contentment", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +In the Great Perfection (Dzogchen) teachings, the issue is always whether or +not we recognize our true nature and understand that the reflections of that +nature manifest as experience. The dream is a reflection of our own mind. +This is easy to believe after we wake up, just as the Buddhas know—after +they are enlightened—that the entities and objects of samsara are illusory. +And just as it takes practice to recognize the illusory nature of dream while +asleep, we must practice to realize the illusory nature of waking life. + + -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep", +published by Shambhala Publications + +~ + The jewel in the lotus is a wonderful metaphor for the essential nature of +mind. It integrates two very different approaches, recognizing that there is +a worthy role for striving, for engaging in methods, for growth and +development; and at the same time recognizing that all these methods are +fundamentally designed simply to bring to light what is already there, in all +of its perfection, in all of its completeness. This is the pure fountain of +loving-kindness and wisdom we are trying to cultivate. + The mantra OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ is associated with Avalokiteśvara, +the embodiment of enlightened compassion, and the mantra is the verbal +articulation of that same quality of compassion. Among the many +interpretations of the mantra, here is one I find especially meaningful. Oṃ +signifies the manifest body, speech, and mind. Maṇi in Sanskrit means +“jewel.” Padme, pronounced pémé in Tibetan, means “in the lotus.” +Hūṃ, pronounced by the Tibetans as hoong, is a syllable suggestive of the +deepest, essential, transcendent nature of consciousness. So the mantra +starts out from the manifest state of the body, speech, and mind, then through +the metaphor of the jewel in the lotus, goes to the depths of consciousness. + -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Four Immeasurables: Practices to Open the Heart", + published by Shambhala Publications +~ + In general, people tend to minimize the importance of the ordinary sangha: +Buddha is a big deal, Dharma is a big deal, and Sangha is something to put up +with. Yet it’s within the ordinary sangha, monastic or lay, that the +roughest edges of our arrogance and pride can be smoothed down a little. +Americans—with their car obsessions—have a good expression for this: +“Where the rubber meets the road.” Let’s say there’s a shiny new car +on the floor. It appears to be perfect. But we still need to take it for a +test–drive. The car that never leaves the shop is like a practitioner +reciting nice words about compassion and selflessness, but removed from the +opportunity to test–drive their intentions and aspirations. How do the +bodhisattva ideals hold up when we actually interact with others? + Problems within the sangha inevitably arise because we’re talking about +unenlightened people trying to get along with each other. Jealousy, +competition, and anger inevitably erupt. Although individual practitioners +have unenlightened minds and commit unenlightened activities and get ensnared +in ignorant understanding, the ordinary sangha still offers the best +opportunity to apply dharma. + -- Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, "Turning Confusion into Clarity", published by + Shambhala Publications +~ + Silly beings, uninterested in this meaning, + Are always carried away by the river of samsara and finished. + +There are some who do not have much faith in the dharmachakra of No Mental +Activity, the essence-meaning of mahamudra. Here, Mahasiddha Tilopa does not +mean all sentient beings in general but rather some who cling to tenet +systems—those with attachment to their own system. There are quite a few +such intellectual logicians. Such intransigent stubborn “silly ones” who +lack the eye of wisdom + -- Sangyes Nyenpa, "Tilopa’s Mahamudra Upadesha", published by Shambhala + Publications