From a7334d5859c44ff077088db79b987b6cfbc83dd4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Chris Koeritz Date: Mon, 9 May 2016 09:07:36 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] new fortunes --- infobase/fortunes.dat | 56 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 56 insertions(+) diff --git a/infobase/fortunes.dat b/infobase/fortunes.dat index 9bc89df5..efef4152 100644 --- a/infobase/fortunes.dat +++ b/infobase/fortunes.dat @@ -41532,4 +41532,60 @@ okay if you don’t. - You are a deeply selfish person. - + You are a deeply compassionate person. + * You are a deeply deep person. * +~ + Buddhism asserts that the mind can be changed. I doubt whether anyone +would dispute that point although we often feel as if we are stuck with an +obstinate mind that refuses to do what we want it to. In addictions this +feeling of being stuck can be very powerful. But Buddha said that all this +can change, no matter how bad it is. + Buddha was a top psychologist. He taught methods for dealing with +immediate and urgent situations as well as methods that look into long-term +change. For the long term, meditation is an important method. When he was +teaching about how to meditate, he suggested a number of tools from which we +can benefit. We are going to use three of these tools to help us: +mindfulness, introspection, and equanimity. Mindfulness keeps our mind on +whatever we have decided to do. Introspection checks whether we are being +mindful or not. Equanimity stops the dramatizing and catastrophizing that we +get into when we do not get what we want (the craving and grasping that arise +from attachment) or we get what we do not want (aversion which gives rise to +hatred, jealousy, and depression). + -- Chönyi Taylor, from "Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release +from Addictive Patterns", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +It is said in the Supreme Continuum of the Great Vehicle: + Earth is based upon water, + Water on wind, and wind on space, + But space is not based on anything. + Similarly, the aggregates and sensory sense fields + Are based on deeds and afflictive mental states. + Deeds and afflictive mental states are always based on mistaken attention. + Mistaken attention is based on the purity of mind. + But the nature of mind is not itself based on any of these things. + -- Choying Tobden Dorje, from "The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to +Tantra, Books 15 to 17, Volume 1", published by Shambhala Publications +~ + First, I’ll begin with self, which sometimes goes by the name ego, or +more familiarly, I and me. What is this self, really? We can investigate by +trying to analyze this self, to locate it or pin it down, to see if it even +exists in the first place. This can be a highly illuminating contemplation, +but for the purposes of this book, I would like to focus more on our everyday +experience. Let’s identify how having a self feels. In our mind stream, +there is always some kind of feeling of having a self, which is at the center +of all our thoughts and emotions. One Tibetan phrase targets this phenomenon +precisely: dak che dzin. Dak means “self”; che means “important” or +“dear”; dzin means “holding” or “regarding.” This term has various +translations, which all capture different nuances: self-centeredness, self- +clinging, ego-clinging, self-absorption. I like to use all of these terms in +different contexts, but my favorite translation is “self-importance.” + This word may make us think dak che dzin has mostly to do with being proud +and arrogant, but such pride is nowhere near the whole story. Self-importance +includes both self-cherishing and self-protection. It is the source of the +five main types of painful emotions, known as the “five poisons”: +attachment, aggression, jealousy, arrogance, and stupidity. It can manifest +as feeling like we’re better than others, but just as easily it can manifest +as low self-esteem, or even self-hatred. The bottom line is that we regard +this self—whatever or wherever it is—as the most important thing in the +entire universe. + -- Dzigar Kongtrul, from "The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the +Compassionate Life", published by Shambhala Publications. -- 2.34.1